Ridge Gourd or Chinese Melon curry

(AKA) Beerakaya Kura(Telugu), Beerkankai Kuttu(Tamil)

Growing up I never liked this vegetable until once I tasted this preparation done by my dear dear aunt(My Father's sis). It was so simple and yet tasted so great with just plain rice. A perfect accompaniment for this rice and vegie is a south Indian pappad.

My mom used to cook this vegie along with fresh or dried prawns too. I still remember my how dearly dad used to enjoy this combo preparation of hers. Being so far from home I often miss the pleasure to cook for my parents especially for my dad. Anyway coming back to one other way of preparing this vegie, is to cook it with mutton also..Again what ever is the preparation or combination this vegie is mostly good with just plain rice itself..

An important feature of this vegetable is that it is a must in all the south Indian households especially in Andhra when they have to prepare a meal for a lady who has just delivered. They believe that including this in the diet of a women who has given birth will help her in nursing of the baby. So all soon to be moms add this into your diet when you give birth to your baby.

Another feature of this vegetable is we don't need too discard its thick coarse skin..The skin can be combined with spices, lentils and made into a spicy tasty chutney, which I will publish in my next post.





As much as it is Indian, I'm happy that even in this part of the world we can easily get them in Indian or Asian stores under name Chinese melon

And here is my simple South Indian preparation of this Chinese melon:
Note : Chinese melon is reduced in its size drastically once cooked, so when u are seasoning it with salt take care not to add lots. Here less is more.

Ingredients:
2 large Ridge Gourd/Chinese melon(Beeakaya) - Skin removed
1 Tbsp oil
5 - 6 Garlic pods
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 Red chillies slit
1 tsp Channa dhal(yellow lentils)
8 - 10 Curry leaves
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
Salt to taste

Directions:
Peel the rough edges of the skin first, discard it and then peel off the skin totally and reserve for later use to make chutney. Now cut the melon into cubes.
In a wok or kaddai, add oil after heated allow mustard to splutter.
Add channa dhal, and fry till color changes slightly.
Add cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves and fry.
Add garlic and fry till nice aroma emits.
Now add the melon cubes and season with little salt and chilly powder.
Mix thoroughly to coat the vegie with the spices and oil.
Cover and cook on medium till the melon emits waters completely. Around 5-7 min.
Remove lid and let the water evaporate as the vegie cooks till done and oil emits.
Once the oil emits remove from heat and serve with plain rice.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

In this increasingly conscious diet world, healthy food choices are a must than ever. We are under constant look out to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates, or in good carbs or rich in protein. One such Vegetable which falls into this health group is "sweet potato".

Sweet potato is ranked high in nutrition of all vegetables, for content of dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars and complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium.

It has almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!

Among root vegetables, sweet potatoes offer the lowest glycemic index rating. That’s because the sweet potato digests slowly, causing a gradual rise in blood sugar so you feel satisfied longer. Many of the most popular diets these days have this in the "good" carb list.

Growing up I and my brothers used to enjoy a sweet potato each, as an after school evening snack..passionately boiled by my great grandmother. At present I go one step further to bake the semi boiled sweet potatoes, brushed with a little butter and sprinkled with brown sugar to get the best flavour and caramelized effect.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
1 tbsp Butter/PAM/I can't believe its Butter/Becel Margarine
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
Salt to taste
Pepper dust as required
Aluminium Foil
1 Baking Tray

Directions:
Semi Boil the sweet potatoes with enough salt, cut into large chucks and discard water
Remove skin and cut into 1 inch semi circle pieces.
Mean while pre-heat the oven to 325F
Spread a foil on the baking tray.
Spray some PAM or any kind of melted butter on the foil and arrange the sweet potato pieces

Pour the remaining butter on the top the pieces to coat them moist
Now sprinkle brown sugar and pepper dust on the pieces and bake them for 20 - 25 mints.
After 12- 15 mins, flip the pieces to the other for even browning on both sides.
Remove from the oven and serve as side dish for any main course.
Mostly good for spicy meat or chickpeas or beans.

Going green w/ Pesarattu and Peanut Coriander Chutney

For some good reasons I was missing in action in food blogging and this post is due from the first week of July, when the Wimbledon finals took place. I composed this post then, but some how couldn't work with the pictures till now. Anyway better late then never.

Wimbledon has a special place in my childhood memory. Back those days I use to watch Steffi Graf win the grand slams, munching summer pineapple slices or enjoying a juicy mango. Ever since my Father introduced me to tennis I have been watching Wimbledon from my school days till college. Though I left it for the past few years, now catching it up with my husband...at least I have to watch the finals, that too when the William sisters were playing.
Thought of making it special for us as it was breakfast time and any special breakfast got to be South Indian, and that day I decide to make Andhra special "Pesarattu".

Pesarattu is Andhra's traditional authentic breakfast dish. It is a thin crape made with green gram lentils batter spread on a greased pan, garnished with finely chopped onions, cumin seeds, chopped ginger and green chillies. A good combo for pesarattu is upma apart from a array of chutneys - peanut, ginger, coconut etc.
This time I wanted to try the peanut coriander chutney which I saw on Sailu's Kitchen blog. Usually whenever I try a new dish its doesn't come out that great, but this time the peanut coriander chutney was a hit.
My husband liked it too. and we all enjoyed the famous pesarattu this this chutney as we cheered the Williams sisters in the final match of Wimbledon 2009.

Pesarattu Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups Dark green whole Gram (Pesara pappu/Paasi Pairru/Moong Dhal)
2 hand fulls of raw rice
2 inch ginger piece finely chopped
5-10 green chillies finely chopped
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 large onions finely chopped
Salt to taste
Enough oil for frying the Dosas
Directions:
Soak green gram + rice in enough water for at least 3 hours.
Drain the water and grind the dhall along with little ginger, green chilly into a smooth paste, adding enough water. The batter should resemble some what like ithick dosa batter.
Add salt and keep aside for 10 to 30 mins.
Heat a iron tawa or nonstick pan, grease it with oil.
Now add a ladle full of ground green gram batter in the middle of the tawa, and spread it in circular motion away form the centre and towards the edges of the tawa...similar to dosa making. Add a few onions, ginger, green chillies and sprinkle cumin seeds on the top side of the dosa/crape
Pour enough oil on the top and edges of the dosa.
Cover with a deep bottom lid on medium flame for 2-3 minutes or till the bottom of the dosa changes color and becomes crisp.
Flip on to other side and cook for another 2 mins till the dosa and onions are cooked.
Fold and remove from heat.
Repeat the procedure for the rest of the batter.
Serve hot with chutney of choice.
Actually the garnish on the top of the dosa is enough to eat this pesarattu as it is.


Peanut and Coriander Chutney:

One of the simplest chutneys out there...with very few ingredients and less steps, a flavourful chutney is made with ease...usually I'm not so fondly of trying new twists and combo when it comes to cooking..but this chutney didn't disappointment me. Well you can't go wrong with any dish which has coriander in it - India's keeper herb.

Some other time I wish to blog the authentic coriander chutney that my grandmother use to make in my childhood.
Recipe :
Ingredients :
1/2 cup roasted peeled peanuts
1 small bunch coriander leaves,
4-5 green chillies
A big marble size Tamarind ball
Salt to taste
Oil to saute coriander and green chillies.
Directions:
Soak tamarind in just enough water to make it soft for grinding.
Remove the thick edges of coriander stems and wash it thoroughly.
Chop the coriander and keep aside.
Remove stems and slit green chillies into half
Heat a small pot add 1 tsp of oil.
Add the chopped coriander leaves and slit green chillies and saute till nice aroma comes from the roasted leaves.
Remove from heat and pour the soaking tamarind on top of it to bring the heat down quickly.
After this comes to room temperature, combine it with peanuts salt and a enough water and grind into a smooth chutney.
If you want you can add a few cumin seeds while grinding if desired. I skipped it.
Transfer to a serving container to enjoy with dosas, idly, pesarattu, vada etc.
I actually wanted to temper the chutney like how i do for regular peanut or coconut chutney. But it didn't need it..
As it is, it was delicious great tasting, made a good condiment for pesarattu.

Spicy Ham Egg Omelet with Indian fusion

Indian food is all about spice and flavour. Be it vegetarian or non-veg, there's got to be lot of flavour and this omelet is no exception. Cheese and ham omelet is quiet familiar in this part in the western world and a spicy omelet with lots of onions and green chillies is quiet common in South India..So this Spicy Egg Ham Omelet is the fusion of both.

This is so simple to make. Be it for a breakfast/brunch/snack or dinner, for a meaty full feeling you have the ham and for the goodness of veggies, herbs and spice we have the onions, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves and the seasoning of salt and ground black pepper.I actually don't like the smoky smell of the ham...so the best way to cover this is to add the flavour from onions, green chillies, curry leaves and coriander..the aroma of the end product is exceptionally good.

Ingredients :
2 Eggs ( 1 whole + 1 white) - U can use 2 whole too. or use Egg substitute
1 Thick slice cut from a Smoked Processed Ham (I usually use black forest seasoned ham..but any variety will do) - either cut into small cubes or thin 1 inch length slices
1/2 inch wide cheddar cheese cut into cubes ( I usually don't use..I prefer mine w/o cheese)
1/2 onion cut breath-wise almost like semi circles
2 - 3 green chillies slit and cut into pieces
6-8 curry leaves
1/ tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste

Directions:
Beat the eggs till lathery, add the cut ham, onions, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves, salt, pepper and cheese if you are using.
Mix together.
Apply oil or spray on a heated non-stick pan.
Spread the Egg ham mixture evenly on the surface of the pan and cover with a lid.
Cook on medium till one side is slightly brown.
Flip to the other side and cook till the onions are cooked and then remove from heat.
Enjoy it with a piece of whole wheat toast for breakfast or if you are having it for dinner with a cup of tempered chickpeas/kidney beans/white beans for a whole meal.

Usually I don't go near processed foods...but sometimes if I buy Ham on sale this the best way I enjoy it. Another best combo for ham is cranberry sauce...I can never eat ham just like it in a bland way...Little spice & flavour is always good. And my friends out there who eat ham..try out this indianized version of Ham omelet..and trust me,you will not be disappointed.

Egg and Spinach Gravy

Spinach and Egg Curry/ Palak aur Ande/Palakura Goddu Pulusu/Aarekeerai Muttai kuzhambu
There are these days where you want to have two side dishes for a meal, but don't have the mood or energy to make both. Usually I make a yummy Thick Egg gravy and a vegie dish separate to accompany it. One Day I didn't want to invest time making both but wanted the goodness of both dishes..So experimented this Spinach Egg gravy, which turned out to be good.

For those who don't eat Eggs, you can simply make the spinach gravy, and have it with rice and pappad.

Ingredients :
5 - 6 Large Eggs
1 Bunch/Pkt Spinach
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 medium onion
4-5 green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 lemon size Tamarind ball
1/4 cup tomato puree
1 tsp chilly powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp semolina/rava
Coriander leaves to garnish - finely chopped

Directions:
Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup warm water for about 1/2 hour. Squeeze the juice into 2 cups of water. Keep aside.
Clean, wash and cut spinach leaves. Keep aside.
Boil egg till hard and peel of shell, make slits on all sides and fry them in oil for a minute or two, keep aside. The skin of the egg cracks a little while frying unlike being smooth.
My mom always use to fry hard boiled eggs before she dropped them into the boiling gravy.
To hot oil, add mustard and allow to splutter, add cumin seeds, wait for a few seconds and add green chillies, curry leaves, saute'
Add onions, cut into thin slices and fry till they cooked
Add the cut spinach, saute' for a minute, add salt and cook till greens are almost done.
Now add the tomato puree, and cook till raw tomato smell is gone.
Add the 3 spice powders and mix well and cook for 2 minutes
Now add the tamarind juice, and bring it to boil.
Once the gravy is bubbling, add the rava and the egg and mix well.
Once the rava expands in size you can remove the gravy from heat.
Add coriander leaves if desired.
Serve with hot plain rice with crunchy papad or roti.

Spicy Shrimp or Prawn Curry - Andhra Style

Andhra is supposed to be the spiciest state in India. So most of the NV dishes are all spiced up to the core. Andhra style prawn/shrimp curry is no different. Usually the dry spices like cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, cloves are not accompanied with the Seafood varieties. But this prawn dish is an exception. It gets its unique spice flavour from the crushed cinnamon and cloves. Also a generous amount of ginger garlic paste makes this dish a real spice of Andhra.

Growing up mom never use to make it so spicy. she never added the garam masala powder and sometimes even omitted the GG paste. So I used to taste this special prawns curry sometimes in take outs or restaurants. I remember one such occasion where the taste of this prawn curry had left its memory with me..

Here I tried to duplicate that taste...
Ingredients:
2 lb shrimp or prawns - medium size, deshelled, deveined
2 Tbsp oil (Vegetable/Canola/Sunflower)
2 large tomatoes or 1 cup tomato puree
2 large onions finely chopped
5 -6 green chillies slit
12-15 curry leaves
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
2 tsp red chilly powder
1 tsp turmeric power
1 tsp finely crushed cinnamon + cloves or garam masala powder
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves.
Salt to taste

Directions:
Place the cleaned shrimp/prawn in a bowl and add enough salt, turmeric and chilly powder.
Allow to marinate for 5 - 10 min.
In a Kadai/pot, heat oil add the seasoned prawns and saute till prawn smell is gone and a wonderful aroma starts to come, the prawns are almost cooked here...
Remove from the kadai and keep aside.
Add more oil to the kadai and after the oil heats ups, add the crushed cinnamon + cloves, saute' till nice aroma is smelled.
Add cut onions, green chillies, curry leaves, and saute' till onions are fried and cooked fully.
Add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell is gone.
Add crushed tomatoes and cook till smell changes.
Add red chilly powder, salt and cook till oil leaves the thick gravy.
Add the sauteed prawns and mix well to coat them with the masala evenly.
Add a bit of garam masala powder now.
Once the red color is achieved, and the gravy is very thick sticking the prawns add the finely chopped coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Serve with hot rice and sambar.

This prawn curry dry is best accompanied with sambar though you can just mix the thick gravy with plain hot rice.

Mutton or Lamb Dum Biryani Rice

Finally the wait for Biryani Rice post on my space is over...friends keep asking me "how come you have not published the famous Biryani recipe for which India is known for so much?"...No doubt the land of spices has this one drooling dish as jewel on its crown.

I would have made Chicken/Mutton/Lamb/Veal/Beef Biryani umpteen number of times in my 10 - 11 years of cooking experience, and in these 2 years of Food blogging, some how I never got an opportunity to shoot this Biryani dish whenever I made. One reason being that most of the times it is a special occasion for which I'm cooking and you can imagine how crazy rush I would have been into..and other reason is just thinking I will be cooking it many more times latter, so I won't brother to click. Somehow this time it just happened..though I was extremely busy I took time to click some pictures.

Well, Biryani is done in a few different ways...India being such a culturally varied country, each region adapted this recipe and added a few changes to accomadate their taste. I will have to probably post 3-4 varieties from time to time. For now I'm posting the Dum Biryani. Recently when I was chatting with my SIL we shared the recipes and one of it was the Biryani recipe, which she emailed to me..So I adapted some variation of my original recipe from hers...especially the coconut paste addition. Hubby is a huge fan of my biryani and my little ones call it "Brown rice".

We accompanied it with Chicken Karahi curry. BTW I should see if this qualifies as an entry for MM Ravishing Rice food blog event, this time hosted by Nags, originally created by Meeta.

Lets get into the making of this much awaited "Lamb Biryani - Dum style"
Ingredients:
Raw : pound boneless lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes or 3 lb in with bones.(preferable for biryani)
2 lb Long grain basmati rice
2 large onion, cut into thin slices
4 Whole Tomatoes
4 Green chillies slit

For marination:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1//2 tsp garam masala powder
1/4 cup very finely chopped coriander and mint leaves
1/2 tsp salt

Dry Spices:
3 Star anise
6 bay leaves
6 cardamom pods
6 cloves
6 small cinnamon sticks
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 Nut meg
1 Tsp mace
1 tsp whole black pepper balls

Other Masalas/Spice powders:
1 tsp chilly powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste

Pastes :
2 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste

For the other paste grind :
1/4 cup grated fresh coconut
6 green chillies
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 cup yogurt
1 tsp black pepper balls
1/4 cup mint leaves
1/4 cup coriander leaves
Enough water

Oils:
3 - 5 tablespoons butter/ghee

Garnish :
Fried Onions form 2 large onions, cut into thin slices
A few lemon wedges/circles
finely chopped coriander and mint leaves
Hard boiled egg halves - optional
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped cashews

Directions:
Marinate lamb with the marinade items, for atleast 3 hours or overnight.
Wash and soak basmati rice for half an hour.
Soak saffron strands in milk.
Separately fry the garnish onions, cashew and raisins in ghee/oil and keep aside.
In a pot/pressure cooker heat ghee/oil and add the dry spices and saute' till the color changes.
Add the onions, green chillies and cook till onions are translucent.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry till the rawness is gone.
Add the meat pieces along with marinade and fry them for about 1-2 mins
Add the spice powders - chilly and garam masala powder. You can omit chilly powder if you don't desire that chilly flavour or too much spicy.
Keep mixing thoroughly on high heat for the mutton/lamb pieces to absorb the spices.
Add the ground coconut + mint coriander paste and mix well.
Now add the cut tomatoes and salt, mix well.
Add 1/2 cup of water mix well and pressure cook for 15 - 20 mints
If not using a pressure cooker than cook till the meat is almost done.

If the meat gravy is too watery, increase the heat and let the water evaporate to make it a medium thick gravy. But not too thick that the gravy cannot penetrate thru the rice layers.
Mean while cook rice till 3/4 done separately and keep aside. You can either strain the rice till it is 3/4 done or if using a rice cooker put 1:1 ratio and cook.
Once the meat and the rice are ready for the dam process, arrange them in layers alternatively in an aluminium foil tray or any oven proof glass/porcelain ware.
For each rice layer add some amount of saffron milk, lime circles and coriander mint leaves.
And for the end layer of rice add the fried onions, cashew and raisins.

Preheat the oven to 350c.
Cover the Biryani tray with foil and seal on the edges.
Place in the centre of the oven rack and bake for 1 hour, reducing the heat to 150 - 200c.
After 1 hour turn down the oven and let the Biryani rest for 1/2 an hour.
Remove from the oven decorate with more garnish items.
Serve with raita, eggplant masala or karahi gravy.