bonellilou

          This year's jackfruit season is over, as much as I miss the fruits, I miss the seeds too. In fact my daughter doesn't like the fruit at all, but she likes the seeds very much, especially in the sambar that I make with drumstick and the seeds. Usually I'll buy a dozen jackfruit bulbs or the edible part of the fruit and always used the seeds for making the sambar. Once, I got a large quantity of the seeds alone and I wanted to try out a varuval ( curry ) with it, I made it just like the way I make potato curry. It's an easy dish and it goes very well with rice and dal/sambar..

Need To Have

• Jackfruit Seeds - about 2 cups
• Onion - 1 big, chopped
• Sambar Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Red Chilly Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fennel Seeds Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Salt to taste

Method


          I have shown how to peel and clean the seeds, usually when you remove the seeds from the fruit, it has a slimy outer skin, remove that and let the seeds dry. Then remove the outer white skin, usually I cut the seeds into half, then peel the skin, it has another thin brown skin inside.


           Either you can use it as such, or soak the seeds in water for some time, then scrape the brown skin, cook the seeds with some water and salt till cooked.


          Now heat some oil, add the chopped onion, followed by the fennel seeds powder and saute till the onion turns pink. Now add the jackfruit seeds, turmeric powder, sambar powder, red chilly powder, curry leaves and salt and keep sauteing on low heat till the seeds are well roasted.


Note
The seeds should be soft to the bite but should not become too soft or mushy.
If you like pepper powder, you can add a little towards the end and roast, it'll give a nice flavor.

          Roasted Vegetables, this is an easy and healthy side to any meal, I have sauteed vegetables on stove top, and oven roasted pumpkins and onions for a soup, but this is the first time I tried roasting a bunch of vegetables in the oven. I wouldn't even call this as a big recipe, it's just mixed vegetables roasted with some herbs and oil. Serve it with burgers, pasta or even roll it in a roti or chappathi topped with some chutney..

Need To Have

• Broccoli - a small head
• Red Capsicum - 1 medium
• Onion - 1 medium
• Baby Corns - 6
• Garlic - 8 small cloves
• Olive Oil - 1 to 2 tablespoons
• Dried Basil - 1 teaspoon
• Dried Oregano - 1 teaspoon
• Salt  and Crushed Pepper to taste

Method


          Separate the broccoli into small florets, add to boiling water, remove immediately and add to cold water, remove and keep. Dice the capsicum into big pieces, dice the onion into big pieces, separate the layers and keep. Slice and dice the baby corns into 2' pieces and chop the garlic finely. Now mix everything together along with dried herbs, salt, pepper and oil. Spread it on a baking sheet, lined with aluminium foil, bake it in a pre-heated oven at 190 C . Mix the vegetables, halfway through, remove it when you see the vegetables are roasted, it took about 30 minutes.


Note
Oven timings vary, I kept the tray in the center of the oven.
Keep checking, the vegetables should be roasted, not burnt.
You can also add baby carrots, asparagus, and you can add fresh herbs instead of dried ones and red chilly flakes too.
To make it more tasty, you can serve it topped with some parmesan cheese.

          Everybody knows about the benefits of cabbage, especially the red one is even better than the white one. Whenever I bought this, I usually added it to a fried rice, but some time back, I made a poriyal with it, and I added banana flower ( vazhaipoo ), just because I had a little in the refrigerator. The combination tasted very good and now whenever I make red cabbage, I make it this way. Another big reason, my daughter who doesn't like both cabbage and banana flower separately, for some reason, likes this poriyal with both in it. I know most kids and even some adults don't like banana flower ( vazhaipoo ), next time, do try out this combo..

Need To Have

• Shredded Cabbage - 3 cups
• Chopped Banana Flower - 1 cup
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram Dal - 1 tablespoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Green Chillies - 2, slit
• Grated Coconut - 4 tablespoons
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Salt to taste

Method


          Heat some oil, add the urad dal and mustard seeds, when it starts spluttering, add the asafoetida, green chillies followed by the curry leaves and mix for half a minute.


          Then add the cabbage and banana flower and salt, mix, cover and cook on medium heat till done. Add the grated coconut, mix and remove.


Note
Don't overcook the cabbage.
This curry goes well with rice, sambar, or even as a dry curry with rotis.

          Begun Bhaja, Baingan Bhaja, another dish that I had tried from the Bengali cuisine, some time back. It's a simple and tasty dish, we use the big eggplants for this, the slices are marinated in spice powders, dusted with some rice flour and shallow fried. It tastes very good with rice and some dal/lentil curry, but of course it can be served with rotis too..

Need To Here

• Eggplant - 1 medium size
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Red Chilly Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Amchur, Dry Mango Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Garam Masala - 1/2 teaspoon
• Rice Flour - to coat the slices
• Salt to taste

Original recipe here.

Method


          Slice the eggplant and leave it in water for about 1/2 hour. Then remove the slices, add the turmeric, chilly, amchur powders, garam masala and salt, mix it and leave for about 15 minutes.


          Then take the rice flour in a plate, coat the eggplant slices on both sides with it.


          Shallow fry the slices till golden brown on both sides, drain the excess oil on a napkin and serve it hot.


Note
We can fry the eggplants without the rice flour too, but the rice flour gives a crispy texture.
This tastes best when served hot, the crispiness is lost as it turns cold.

          Cauliflower Au Gratin, this has been on my do-list for a long time, there are so many recipes on the net, but all of them ( at least the ones that I checked ) called for Gruyere cheese, which I was not able to find here. I even tried to find it online, but the closest that I could get was Emmental Cheese Slices, but I still wanted to make this Au Gratin, so I went ahead and made it with the Emmental cheese. This is a very simple dish, just baking cauliflower with cheesy white sauce and topped with bread crumbs and more cheese, an excellent side, serve it with a light pasta dish and some soup for a complete meal..

Need To Have

• Cauliflower - 1 small head
• Milk - 11/2 cup
• Butter - 11/2 tablespoon
• All Purpose Flour - 11/2 tablespoon
• Emmental Cheese Slices - 4
• Parmesan Cheese - 3 tablespoon
• Bread Crumbs - 1/4 cup
• Nutmeg Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Salt And Pepper to taste

Method


          Break the cauliflower into big florets, add it to boiling water and leave for 3 to 5 minutes, then strain and keep.


          Mix the melted butter and  flour together, then add the milk, mix it well with a whisk and cook it till it becomes a little thick.


          Then add the nutmeg powder, 2 of the Emmental cheese slices, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, whisk it well into a smooth mixture and keep.


          Add 1/2 of the cheese mixture in a baking tray, top it with the cauliflower pieces, then pour the remaining cheese mixture.


          Top it with half of the bread crumbs, followed by the cheese slices ( I tore it into small pieces ), then add the remaining bread crumbs, add some more pepper powder, bake it at 190 C for 30 minutes till the top turns golden.


Note
If you can't find Emmental cheese, I think you can still do it with some cheddar cheese too or even with only parmesan cheese.
If you are using grated cheese instead of the emmental cheese slices, just mix it with the bread crumbs, spread over the cauliflower and bake.
Since I was using the emmental cheese for the first time, wast not too sure of the taste, so I used only four slices, but if you're using grated cheese, make sure the top is covered liberally with the cheese and bread crumbs mixture.

          Today's dish is another Vendakkai/Bhindi/Okra curry, slightly different from the regular stir fry. Whenever I made vendakka curry, I used to feel that a little tanginess would make the curry more tastier, so sometimes I add some chopped tomatoes at the end. But this time, I wanted to use some tamarind and also to make the curry more interesting, I made a spice powder along with some coconut and tamarind. This curry goes very well with rice and sambar or dal..

Need To Have

• Diced Vendakkai/Bhindi/Okra - 3 cups
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Jaggery - 1 teaspoon
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Salt to taste

Masala Powder

• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Dried Red Chillies - 2
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram - 2 teaspoons
• Curry Leaves - 20
• Grated Coconut - 3 tablespoons
• Tamarind - 2 blueberry size

Method


          Heat a little oil, add the mustard and fenugreek seeds, when the mustard seeds crackle, add the urad dal and red chillies, roast till golden. Finally add the curry leaves and roast for a few minutes, then add the coconut, switch off and mix it for a minute.


          Dice the okra into 1/2" pieces and keep, once the above roasted mixture is cooled, make a powder with it along with the tamarind and keep.


          Heat some oil, add the mustard seeds, when it starts spluttering add the curry leaves and asafoetida followed by the okra pieces.


          Mix, cover and cook the okra till done, then add the turmeric powder, jaggery, salt and masala powder and mix it on medium heat for a 5 to 7 minutes and remove.


Note
Add the salt, only after the okra is cooked, if you add it before, the sliminess from the okra will never go.

         
          For the month of February, I was paired with Lakshmi Vimala for the ' Shhhh Cooking Secretly' event, she had given me eggplant and coriander leaves as the secret ingredients. I came up with this curry with the two ingredients, I made a masala with the coriander leaves and cooked the eggplants in it. It turned out to be very flavorful, and tasted very good with both rotis and rice..

Need To Have

• Small Purple Brinjals/Eggplants - 5, sliced
• Tomato - 1, chopped
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cashews - 4, broken into pieces

To Grind

• Chopped Coriander Leaves - 1 cup, packed
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Green Chillies - 3
• Shallots - 6
• Grated Coconut - 2 tablespoons

Method


          Grind together all the ingredients given under ' to grind '.


          Slice the eggplants and keep it in water along with a little salt for 10 to 15 minutes. Then saute it in a little oil with a pinch of salt, till it's 3/4th cooked, remove and keep.


          Heat some oil, toast the cashews and remove. Heat some more oil, add the cumin seeds, when it starts sizzling, add the ground paste and saute for about 5 minutes.


          Then add the tomatoes, sugar and turmeric powder and mix for another 2 minutes, then add the eggplant pieces and mix.


          Add about 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook for 5minutes, then remove the lid and cook till the mixture becomes dry, garnish with cashew pieces and serve.


Note
Make the paste slightly coarse, not into a smooth paste.
Soaking the eggplant pieces in salted water removes any bitterness from the brinjals.
Choose brinjals which doesn't have much seeds.

          Not many people like bitter gourd, but I know people who really love it too, my family lies in between, as long as I make something with it which doesn't taste very bitter, they will have it. Today's dish is again my friend's recipe, I loved it, the first time I tasted it, before this dish, I've never seen baby bitter gourds which are slightly bigger ( the size of a lemon ), I have used only the very small ones ( you can check out the recipe here ). I think, this variety is available in Bangalore and cities in Tamilnadu that are closer to Bangalore. Anyway, coming to the recipe, we stuff the bitter gourds with a potato filling and deep fry them, of course, I agree this is not the healthy way of eating this vegetable, but you can make this as special dish for an occasion. They came out so crispy and delicious, would go very well with rice and dal or sambar saadam, but it tasted it so good, I can have this as an appetizer too..

Need To Have

• Baby Bitter Gourds ( slightly bigger ones ) - 15
• Potatoes - 4 medium
• Besan Flour/Gram Flour - 3 tablespoons
• Rice Flour - 3 tablespoons
• Fennel Seed Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Red Chilly Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Salt to taste

Method


          Wash and trim the edges of the bitter gourds and cut them into halves, scoop out the inner seedy part and soak them in salted water for half an hour.


          Boil and mash the potatoes, add the chilly, fennel seeds and turmeric powders, besan flour and rice flour and some salt and mix it very well.


          Stuff the bitter gourds with the potato mixture, you'll have some stuffing left. Heat some oil and deep fry the stuffed bitter gourd pieces.


          Fry them till golden brown, remove and drain the excess oil.


          Heat a little oil, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves, when it starts spluttering, add the leftover potato stuffing and keep sauteing, till it gets scrambled.


          Once it's scrambled and crumbly, add the fried bitter gourds, mix and serve.


Note
While stuffing, press it well, so that it doesn't come out while deep frying.
You can try to shallow fry, but in that case, cook the bitter gourds a little before stuffing, then fry it, I haven't tried this, it's a suggestion, but I am planning to try it out, the next time I make this, and I'll surely update this page with the result.

          Raw Jackfruit or baby jackfruit/palakkai, I have never cooked this vegetable until now, and, of course when staying in the US, I could find only the canned version of this vegetable. My mother used to make a poriyal/curry with raw jackfruit and I had wanted to try it sometime, when I saw them here in Bangalore, I wanted to try it and my friend helped me to pick one and she also gave me this recipe. Initially I thought peeling and preparing the vegetable for cooking was a difficult task, but it's just peeling and dicing. This dish is very easy to make and tastes really good ( like a mix of potato and cabbage ) and goes very well with rice and dal/sambar..

Need To Have

• Raw/Baby Jackfruit, Palakkai - 1 small
• Onion - 1 medium, chopped
• Green Chilly - 1, chopped
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram - 1 tablespoon
• Dried Red Chilly - 1
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Grated Coconut - 3 tablespoons
• Salt to taste

Method


          Peel and dice the baby jackfruit/palakkai.


          Add the pieces to boiling water and cook for 10 to 15 minutes till cooked, drain and let it cool down.


          Take the cooked pieces in a blender and pulse it lightly, so that the pieces are slightly minced, but not a paste.


          Heat some oil, add the mustard seeds and urad dal, once the seeds start spluttering, add the asafoetida, followed by the red chilly, mix then add the chopped green chillies and onion.


          Saute till the onions turn translucent and pink, the add the minced jackfruit, salt and mix for a minute. Finally add the grated coconut, mix and remove.


Note
Apply some oil in your hands while peeling and cutting this vegetable, it'll be little sticky.
Cook the vegetable till done but not mushy.