Experimenting with the tried and tested

More Kozhambu / Majjige Huli, literally translates to a stew(?!) made of curds. This is a dish usually made with vegetables like pumpkin or okra. I had to substitute with zucchini.

Short recipe: Soak a spoonful of toor dal till it is slightly soft and grind with a small piece of coconut, green chili and an onion. Meanwhile, cook your vegetable of choice with salt and turmeric. When the vegetable is cooked, pour in this ground mixture and boil. When this is done, set the vessel off the stove and let it cool. Pour in a few spoons of sour curds.

Well, I took the recipe from my sister, but again my measurement of things was off. I put in too much of dal and didn't get the taste I had hoped for.
That's the thing with the tried and tested. Unless you make it perfect, you can never be satisfied. May be that's why I like wild experiments; it is nicer to be surprised than disappointed.

Move over Mom!

Vangi bath.
A ground mixture of fried red chilies, coriander seeds, cloves and a bit of coconut.
Chop brinjal and a small onion and fry in oil, put in the ground mixture and washed rice. Add salt and water and allow to cook.

I am almost certain this recipe is not what the traditional one is like.
Yet..
Move over mom! My vangi bath rocked!

Portions

Brown rice and boiled dal with radish - chopped and fried with chilies and chopped parsley.
Simple, easy, yet delicious. I had initially thought of grinding radish to make a kind of chutney, but it would have been such a waste of this beautiful colour on the plate!

There is a certain kind of art form that allows you to cook with as few vessels as possible. This is a rare and difficult form that requires you to stand upside down and literally go without food for days. To cook this simple meal, I used all the various utensils I have with me.

Perfect Celebration!

Yay! I have a successful invention!

First I ground coriander seeds, red chilies, 1 tomato, a small piece of coconut and a handful of fresh parsley into a fine paste.
Then, I fried sliced spring onions in oil, and then poured in the ground mixture and added one chopped red capsicum into the pan and added salt.
Finally, when the mixture looked and smelt cooked, I took the pan off the stove and cooled it. To this I added some cream and then chopped mozzarella!
The cheese was a bit out of place, but the final product was delicious! How's that for a celebration.

Trials and errors

Attempt at mooli paratha and potato raita. Radish and its greens, chopped and fried with chilies. Then mixed into some wheat flour with a little water and oil, patted into thick flat cakes and cooked in a little oil. Well, the recipe seemed to be right, even though it was based on assumptions and faint memories, the parathas did not turn out soft and fragrant as I thought they would, but were crisp and brittle.
Raita: mashed potatoes, chopped onions and curds.
The effort that goes into making these dishes is not something that I would like to carry out everyday, but it is still a nice deviation from the routine once in a while.

Wish you were here

You would like this.

Spirelli with parsley, capsicum and cheese.

Some colour on my plate

Chapati with curry: capsicum, tomatoes, spring onion, ground coconut and red chilies. Toss all these into a pan with oil followed by a little salt and water and cook!
It is so wild outside with a wind that threatens to huff and puff and blow the house down. I hope I see a little of the sun tomorrow.

Subtlety

Subtle flavours: slightly fried tomatoes and fresh parsley over sliced mozzarella, with pepper and salt.
I intended to eat this with bread, but after I saw the way this looked, I decided to have it just like that and then have bread separately.

Veggie Delight!

It was almost like a huge industry and quite a bit of time to cook this dish but it was worth it!


This was just one of the several batches that I fried. Here is the final product. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Ratatouille!



Ingredients: 1 aubergine, 1 zucchini, 1 red bell pepper, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tomatoes, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
How to: Slice all vegetables thin. Fry onions and garlic in a pan, put into a pot. Fry all the vegetables in oil, except for tomatoes separately and put it inside the pot. Finally, put the tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper into the pot. Cook the whole mixture for around 10 minutes and it is ready to eat. The vegetables give out moisture themselves, so there is no need to add any water.
Every bite sent out a huge rush of flavours and it is now officially one of my favourites. I have always wanted to try this dish, ever since the movie of course.
The only problem with this dish is that it takes so many ingredients. So unless you find a mini zucchini, a mini aubergine and so on, you end up with a huge dish of it, that you have to split over more than one meal if you eat alone. But I'm not complaining!
If you want to try the meal but can't find some of the ingredients like zucchini, go ahead and make it without them anyway with all the ingredients that you can find.

Not bread and cheese again!

Pita bread and a dish made of mozzarella (panneer-like cheese), spring onions, fresh mint leaves and red chilies.

This was a dish I invented as I went, so there is not much of a how-to. Heat a pan with half a teaspoon of oil. Once heated, add the red chilies, chopped mint leaves and spring onions for a minute, ensuring that the onions are fried well but not cooked completely.Add salt. Add the chopped cheese into the pan but don't keep it on for more than 15 seconds, it melts too much.
The bread of course was store bought and just heated up.