South Indian Style Crispy Pan Fried Potatoes

What qualifies as a good food item? It must be nutritious, fresh, enjoyable, and for most of us, it is also part of a great memory. I remember having conversations that start with "remember the delicious curry or dish you make.....?" The way a curry makes you feel and how much you enjoy it definitely depends on the memories you associate with it. This is the reason every time I go back to my home town, I go back to eat some of the things that I remember from my youth. Not because I cannot make it here, but to re-live those memories and try to capture the enjoyment again. I used to do this a lot when my mother was alive - it was always, "amma, can you please make xxx for me, again?"  

I am glad that in the hectic lifestyle that I have in Melbourne with my full time job and prescribed limited holidays, I still managed to create some memories for my children. I was pleasantly surprised when my daughter texted me for the recipe of the fried potatoes with the spices.  I thought I might as well go the whole way and put it in my blog because one day when I am not here, she can still refer back to it! Perhaps my son would want to make it too - which will be an added bonus!  

So here it is, the quick and easy way to make it and it takes less than 10 minutes from prep to service!

Rice and Quinoa Salad

 There can never be enough salads when you are entertaining for Christmas. Here in Australia we have hot Decembers - and hence the need for cool and cold salads. Recently we met at a friend's house for a pre - Christmas get together and everyone brought something to share. I was tasked with getting a rice salad to share and I researched to get a perfect one.

I found a salad on line and added my own twist to it. Having recently returned from Turkey, I had with me a couple of bottles of precious Nar eksisi - or pomegranate molasses. Pomegranate Molasses is dark burgundy in colour and is sour with a slight hint of sweetness. It is the equivalent of tamarind in my South Indian cooking. 

It pairs well with roasts and makes a great salad dressing. You dont need to add too much of it, a tablespoon of it gives life to the flavours on your plate.

Pantzaro Salata - Roasted Beetroot Salad

Ever since I was diagnosed as having high blood pressure, I have become a close buddy of the beetroot.  According to Dr. Michael Mosely, the humble beetroot is good for the heart, it can help reduce blood pressure and keep the brain healthy.  As I started to consume more beetroot, I realised that this vegetable is also very tasty and it is so easy to consume on a daily basis.  So I try adding beetroot in different forms and ways into my diet and this is the Greek way. I first had a taste of the Pantzaro Salata in Athens - but a very no frills salad with what seemed like just a beautiful mix of yogurt and beetroot.

After arriving in Melbourne and researching on this salad, I came across the recipe for a sexier version in this site: https://www.foodbymaria.com/ 

This recipe is adapted from Maria's, and I added a little bit of something - and took away the garlic. The garlic was omitted for a guest who was allergic to them.

Idichakka Thoran - Green Jackfruit Stir Fry

 A few weeks ago, the family and I visited a "New Age" cafe where they were spruiking "pulled jackfruit" burgers as the new vegan go to food - that tasted even better than meat. The Keralite in me came out - and I decided I was going to order that, against my husband's wise advice. The pulled jackfruit was extremely disappointing leaving me craving for the real thing. I find it really annoying that people, including me, fall for such marketing ploys and then end up hating a perfectly great dish.

Of course, I could never hate the jackfruit - it is one of my favorite fruits.  And I know exactly what it could taste like if done properly.  

On that note, as I walked past my green grocer a couple of days back, I spotted green / unripe jackfruits. I immediately picked up a piece and brought it home. Finally my craving could be satiated.

On that note, let us move on to the Idichakka Thoran. Sure, it looks like pulled pork.  But this dish has been around for decades before pulled pork became fashionable. Most people in Kerala have a jackfruit tree in their back yard - and we did too. And this dish has been a staple of many households for decades.

Ajvar - roasted capsicum and eggplant dip

 I got introduced to Ajvar a while ago by a Macedonian colleague. Her husband grew bell peppers at home and he would preserve them after harvesting them. The smoky peppers, the vibrant colour, the smooth and tangy after taste - these were all the things that made sure I got addicted to it. For several years I just bought a jar of Ajvar - it was so convenient.  But today I decided to try to make it - and as expected, it tastes so much better when it is home made!

The cherry on top was a Macedonian friend of my son's - I heard him saying to my son "Is your mum making Ajvar? I can smell it!" I must have done something right!

Stir fried ivy gourd - Kovakkai Mezhukku Purattiyathu

 Today's vegetable, the humble ivy gourd, is one of my favourites. With ivy like leaves, small white star shaped flowers and a tiny cucumber like gourd, this plant used to grow wild in my mother's back yard.  Some of the fruit would ripen on the vines turning a beautiful shade of red, self seeding and carrying on the process seemingly on an endless cycle.  this vegetable was available freely and throughout the year and it was a favourite of mine as well as my dad's. 

Of course it wouldn't survive the cold winters of Melbourne and I never expected to see it here. Once in a way I used to but the frozen vegetable that was imported from India but the taste was just disappointing. 

Each time I visited India, I used to eat it by the kilo - stocking up until my next visit.

I was pleasantly surprised to see it at my local green grocers the other day - a treat, all the way from sunny Queensland! I was so excited I grabbed a lot - and for the next 3 weeks ate it to my hearts content.  Now that I know that it has gained popularity in Melbourne, I am sure I will see it more often.

It is a vegetable that is known by different names in different parts of India. I know it as kovakkai, but in the North of India they call it Tindora.  This time, in Delhi I found out that the Delhiites call it Kundru. A kovakkai - by any other name - still tastes divine - and by the way, the botanic name of this vegetable is Coccinia Grandis.

To make this dish, you need green (unripe) ivy gourd, about half a kilo.

I have got a picture of the plant - thank you Mary Matthews for 

Baked Potatoes with Cream

 My son's absolute favourite side dish served with lamb chops. He makes it himself and has honed it down to an art form.  Browned evenly with the potatoes cooked in cream that has cooked and turned into a butter like consistency - this dish is very easy to pig out on! Using only 4 ingredients, you really cannot go wrong.

Prawns with Mango and Chilli Mayo

 In my early days in Australia, I used to wonder how people could eat prawns that were just passed through steam - unshelled and with the intestines intact.  In fact, when I asked my first ever manager in Australia how they ate the prawns without removing the intestines, he was not able to answer me. He had always eaten them like that, he said and he had not fallen sick.

I avoided having them for several years. Eventually, when I did work up the courage to eat one, I found them juicy and sweet.  This image of a prawn is of course totally opposite to what I grew up with. I now like them like this - and in Summer, most people enjoy prawns cold in a salad.  I hope you try this prawn and chilli mayo salad with ripe mango - the mango sets off the sweetness of the prawns.

Larb Gai - Thai Chicken Mince with Peanut Rice

 One of the first South Asian dishes I tried was the Larb Gai when I migrated to Adelaide. Prior to that I hadn't really travelled at all, and the restaurants in India that I had been to in my home town and even in Chennai, a metropolitan town only served continental and Indian food.  

What attracted me to the Larb Gai was the mix of the fresh lettuce, onions and lime juice with the chicken mince - a perfect blend of sweet, sour and heat. It was served in lettuce cups as an entrée and I enjoyed the dish a lot.  Over the years I have had it several times and today I have served it as a side dish with shredded lettuce along with peanut rice. 

I made up peanut rice on the spur of the moment as I wanted to marry the flavours of the Larb Gai with the rice.  I also had a jar of Mayvers smooth peanut butter that was in the pantry which looked like the perfect thing to use for the dish.

Last month one of my friends, Nimmi visited Melbourne with her husband. We met at a Thai restaurant and one of the dishes we ordered was the Larb Gai. Even though she is well travelled, it is the first time she is tasting Larb Gai too. Both Nimmi and her husband enjoyed the dish a lot and it was a pleasure to see because you do want your friends to like what you like!  And it made me very happy that she enjoyed the dish as much as I did when I first tried it!

Stir Fried Pumpkin Leaves

 What do you do when you have a backyard that has been taken over by unexpected pumpkin vines? You research them! :-) And then you find out that every bit of the vine is edible. And soon it is going to be freezing cold and all your pumpkin vines are going to die a natural death.  But before that, you tray and fit as many recipes as you can with as many parts of the vine as possible.

So starting at the top with the most tender leaves, tendrils, buds and baby fruit, I made two types of stir fry. Pumpkin leaves are a store house of vitamins and minerals and also have a high level of protein in them.  They are high in fibre and keep you fuller for longer - you guessed it - and therefore very good if you are trying to lose weight!

They can be eaten raw or cooked and today I have stir fried the leaves and garnished them in two different ways.

Egg Curry with Fresh Cream

 With Orthodox Easter just gone by, some of you might still have a large amount of boiled eggs at home which you can use to make this beautiful curry and have it with pita bread and / or rice.  It is a mild curry full of flavour and a great way to use up those boiled eggs!

Hommus - Chick Pea Dip

 Whether you are having a tough day at work or you just want a quick and easy dip for your flat bread - or may be you are fasting during Lent and want to whip up something vegan.  You cannot go past this creamy easy to make and absolutely delicious Hommus dip.

Originally from the Middle East, Hommus or Hummus is extremely popular throughout the world and it can be served with crackers, fresh or toasted breads or with vegetables as a dip.  It is vegan and gluten free and as such, favoured by a lot of my friends as well.

It is a great dip to carry to work to share with colleagues or one that you can have by your side while reading a book or just relaxing.

Akoori - Indian Scrambled Eggs

 What can be so Indian about scrambled eggs, right? Well, let me tell you - first of all it has finely diced chillies, then there is onions and tomatoes and lastly coriander leaves for garnish and an added zing.  This dish was one of appa's favourites. We used to have it with chappaties, rice or small white rolls called "buns" freshly baked and slightly sweet. This is also a very quick and easy dish to prepare and if you are tired or really hungry, this is one meal that is nutritious and yet can be classified as fast food. Literally. 

This dish is of Parsi origin and we have had it for as long as I remember in our family. My husband and children also love it and it is an easy dinner when all you want to do is sit in front of the TV on a Friday night after work.

Raw Green Mango Pachadi - Green Mango Yogurt Salad

 In Summer, when raw green sour mangoes are in season, I buy a few, wash them, chop them and freeze them. This way I can make my favourite recipes even when the raw mango season is over. In this recipe I have used frozen mango slices, green chillies and shallots.  The pomegranate makes for a pretty as well as refreshing garnish with a burst of sweetness in the mouth.

Pachadis are South Indian versions of the raita and can be made with different vegetables / fruit.  The essential ingredients are coconut, ginger, green chillies and yogurt. An array of fruit and vegetables like beetroot, ginger, okra, eggplant, pineapple, mango, zucchini, cucumber etc can be used as the "star" ingredient - and all pachadis are tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaf and dry red chilli.

It is served at room temperature and is an essential part of a Kerala meal. The South Indian equivalent of a raita, if you will.

Pomegranates have just come into season in Melbourne - they are juicy and sweet. In this version I have mixed a traditional pachadi with an unusual garnish and this was such a pleasing effect on the tongue. A dance of flavours on the palate! 

Parippukeerai - Purslane with Mung Dal

 Who would have thought! When I saw this common weed displayed as an edible on Vasili's Garden on Channel 31, I was very curious about it.  It sparked my interest and I read up on it.  It is a vegetable called purslane and it has a very high content of omega 3 fatty acids plus proteins, vitamins A, C and E and minerals like iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium. The leaves of this plant have a salty lemony flavour and hence it is called "uppukeerai" or salt spinach in my homeland.  I am lucky to have this vegetable growing in my garden freely.  It has pretty red stems and tiny yellow flowers so I have let it grow freely.  Today, however, I decided to harvest, cook and taste for myself this magical herb with so much of goodness in it.  And I must say I was not at all disappointed. Salty, tangy and just perfect with mung dal.  As Vasili would say, Maresi!! I will be making this all through summer as I still have heaps of this in my yard. Make sure that you harvest your purslane from a known area - where weed spray has not been used.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

 Its been sweltering in Melbourne!  Every meal has been an effort to cook.  I have been cooking either very early in the morning or late in the evening. This tasty salad takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, is perfect for a hot and humid day and is refreshing and filling at the same time.  It is sweet and salty, crunchy and soft, and the subtle minty coolness just forces your brain to think it is a cool day! :-)

Sundal - Chickpea Salad

 Amma used to serve this up as afternoon tea once in a while.  I was never a fan of it in my younger days. As I grew older and my taste buds changed, I realised that I have become a huge fan of chick peas. It is filling, packed with nutrients and above all, so tasty - and don't forget, gluten free. That ticks so many boxes. If you are thinking of controlling your appetite, chick peas are a great option as a small amount keeps you feeling full for longer.

In my youth, we never bought tinned chick peas. In fact, I was not even aware of the tinned chick peas until I came here to Australia! Amma did it the old fashioned way - soaking the chick peas over night and then cooking them the next day.  This recipe is however, made with the tinned chick peas - reducing the cooking time. Also, in amma's recipe there are no added raw vegetables. I added them in as I wanted something light and fresh for dinner on this hot Melbourne evening!

This is also served as a popular street food item in news paper cones in Marina Beach, Chennai. You can use your choice of legumes and /or garnishes.

Amaranth Stir Fry

 Amaranth is a versatile plant that has been around for longer than us! It is an ancient seed grain and used like a cereal.  You can eat the leaves and stalks of the amaranth. My neighbour gave me some seeds that I randomly threw in the garden beds and now I have a few plants that I can harvest the leaves regularly from.  One of these plants has grown like Goliath - and is like a small tree!  I was able to harvest enough leaves to cook a dish for lunch for the family. I was reading that in the right conditions they can grow 5 to 8 feet - which was news to me as I have only seen them in the market bundled up in bunches of 10 - 20 plants, root and all, and about 6 to 8 inches long.

There are lots of varieties of Amaranthus - my own favourite is the one that dyes everything red once it is cooked. I used to love mixing it with the white rice and having a spectacular red rice meal.  The one that is growing in my garden is a green Amaranthus and there is no colour that comes out of the cooked leaves.  Nevertheless, it is tasty and very nutritious. There are a lot of uses for Amaranthus leaves - when they are young, you add them to salads and eat them raw, the older leaves are cooked in a stir fry, with dal or even pickled. They can be stuffed into chappaties or fried in an omelette too.

Asians, Africans, Europeans and South Americans cook the Amaranthus - in fact, it was originally cultivated by the Aztecs and Incas and spread all over the world from there.  The seeds are highly nutritious and they are gluten free.  They are rich in various proteins, micronutrients and anti oxidants along with manganese, magnesium, iron and phosphorus.

Aloo Gobi - Potato Cauliflower curry

 Aloo means Potato in Hindi and Gobi is Cauliflower. This dish is a simple, rustic, vegetarian delight to take you back to simple eating after all the feasting over the holiday season.

We are all back at work and I keep looking for simple and easy things to cook, as well as use up the vegetables in the fridge.  My husband was craving this North Indian staple so here it is! It is Friday night and we decided to just get some fresh naans from our local take away Indian to go with this curry.

Bhagare Baingan - Eggplant in a rich peanut sauce

I did not know that this dish was introduced to India by the Moghuls!  Ever time I blog I try and do a little research on the origin of the dish - and this dish has been around for a long time and I love it but I never thought of researching it until now. It is a famous side dish that is served with biriyani or pulao rice and/or breads like chappaties or naan.  This dish hails from Hyderabad and it arrived in India via the Silk Road, the recipe carried by Moghul traders all the way from Tashkent which is the capital of Uzbekistan.

I love egg plant in all forms so naturally I embraced this dish when I first tasted it and have been making it fairly regularly at home. It is best to use full, small eggplants for this dish - aesthetically that is what looks great. However, with the Christmas rush and all I had no time to go hunting for baby egg plants.  I just used a couple of the big ones, sliced thickly.

This dish has a flavourful, nutty, and rich base sauce that soaks up breads and rice nicely and blends with the eggplant in a beautiful union that makes the soul happy.