Rajma Kuzhambu / Red Kidney Beans Curry

Once in  a week, I prepare kuzhambu (or curry) with whole Moong Dhal or Channa or Cow peas (Thattai Payir). This week I just wanted to prepare something different and tried the same curry with Rajma.  Mostly I run out of Drumstick while preparing these curries, fortunately I had them and with no further thoughts, I added it. This came out excellent and we had a feeling of eating something new though the preparation is the same.

Ingredients:

Rajma / Red Kidney Beans 1/2 cup
Tomato 2
Drumstick 2
Brinjal - small -2
Sambar Powder 2 1/2 tbsp
Grated Coconut 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida a pinch
Tamarind a small gooseberry size
Salt
Water and Oil


To temper:

Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Urad Dhal 1/4 tsp
Pearl Onions few
Curry leaves few

Preparation:

Soak Rajma overnight. Chop Pearl Onions. Chop Tomato and make puree.. Chop Drumstick and Brinjal into small pieces. Grind grated coconut along with little water to a fine paste.

Method:

Pressure cook Rajma for 5-6 whistles or until done.

Heat oil in a Pan. When hot, add Mustard seeds. When they start popping up, add Urad Dhal, Pearl Onions, Curry leaves, Turmeric Powder and Asafoetida. Fry till the onions turn translucent.

Now add the tomato puree and fry till the oil separates. Now add chopped brinjal, Drumstick and Sambar Powder.

Mix well and fry for a while. Now add water and salt. Allow boiling. When the veggies is almost cooked, add coconut paste. Mix well and allow further boiling.

When the curry thickens to the desired consistency and the coconut paste gets combined well, add the tamarind paste. Boil for few more minutes until done.

Serves: 2-3
Serve with steamed rice and any vegetable stir fry.

Participate in 'Eat Vegetables; Stay Healthy' event and win JUSTEAT.in vouchers.

Brinjal stir fry and Awards II

I get allergy when I eat brinjals after my surgeries. So I never picked these for a while. Even done, I used to add this in any kuzhambu (gravy) and avoid eating it. 

This is a simple regular stir fry. It tasted excellent as I made this after many months. I remember a saying "Heard Melodies are sweeter; those unheard are sweetest. Something that is made after a long time tastes the best and gets more appreciation as if we have not cooked so good before..

 Ingredients:

Brinjal - small - 1/4 kg
Sambar Powder 1 tbsp - levelled
Big Onion (smaller in size) -1
Oil
Water

To temper:

Mustard seeds
Urad Dhal
Curry leaves

Method:

Chop Brinjals and onions into thin strips lengthwise.

Heat oil in a Pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they start popping up, add urad dhal, curry leaves and onions.When onions turn translucent, add chopped brinjals. Fry for a while and then sprinkle sambar powder and salt.

Fry for few minutes until the masala and salt gets combined well. Sprinkle little water and increase the flame to medium heat. When the water is evaporated completely, simmer the flame and fry till it turns brown, crispy and done.

Serves: 2
Serve with steamed rice and sambar or curd rice. 

And, now coming to the awards.. I've this habit of preparing and distributing awards to fellow bloggers. To know about my first set of awards and why I started this, check out here. I am not very good in photoshop but did my best to personalize awards..

Who else can motivate others other than Priya suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes. She is enthusiastic, completes challenges on the day 1 and innovates recipes with different combination of ingredients. I think she can cook with anything and everything. Few months back, I saw a cookie recipe in her blog and thought would give a try. Somehow I forgot to bookmark it. When I went to her Recipe Index page, I was scrolling on and on, It didn't come to an end. Meanwhile, I got interested in many other recipes and bookmarked them without forgetting . At last, I forgot what I was searching for. Till now, I am not able to recall it..  As a person, she is really wonderful. She comments even in a beginner's blog when I find some experienced bloggers do not love to. I think Divya Pramil has also mentioned this in one of her posts. Well, she deserves this Motivating blogger Award.

Shanavi of Kitchen secrets and snippers gets this Stylish Blogger award. I like the appearance of her blog, so neat and organized with awesome clicks. I simply like her power point presentation in the main page. She is very lovable. She told me my blog is neat and organized; I was really shocked as I was just waiting for a chance to tell her the same. I've much more reasons to explore her blog. I've bookmarked a few of her non veg recipes and sweet recipes.

I came to know about her and her blog very recently. She is famous not only for her clicks but also for her cutlery she collects. Who is she? She is none other than Preeti Tamilarasan of Indian Kitchen. In FB, few have commented that they are going to steal her cutlery. I think all of us would like to see her haul post with all those materials she uses while clicking. She makes her image much more artisitic with those different cutlery and background. She knows what to use. She is very lovable person to help me when I chatted with her for the first time. I wanted help to resize images; she told me how she does. She gets this Fantastic Food Photographer award.

Another stylish blogger is Divya Pramil of You too can  cook. I think she needs no introduction. She runs the SNC event successfully. Her blog is stylish and looks very professional and ofcourse with mind blowing clicks. Can anyone think of making a desert with Idli? She does. Her recipes are stylish too as her blog. I do not know her much personally. But I've heard through others how lovable she is..

I've so many favorite recipes from you all gals. This time, it is very difficult to name a few. I request the awardees to collect the awards from this page. I've some more bloggers in my mind to be awarded. I will try to create awards personally for them in future..

Brinjal Gravy

Fever has ruined our normal life since last week. Both my son and I fell ill. All my plans for Vinayaga Chadhurthi and my son’s b’day were collapsed and we celebrated in a very simple way. Now we are okay.

Sometime back, I received this award from Nupur. Thanks Nupur..

Coming to the recipe, this goes well with curd rice, especially with seasoned curd rice (thayir sadham - thalichadhu). This can also be mixed with rice and would be a perfect tangy lunch. I learnt from Vimitha to use Oven for peeling the Brinjal’s skin.

Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:

Brinjal (small) 4

Extract from small gooseberry sized Tamarind

Tomato (small) 1

Chilli Powder ½ tsp

Coriander Powder 1tsp

Cumin Powder ¼ tsp

Turmeric Powder 1/8 tsp

Asafoetida 1-2 pinch

Pearl Onions 3-4

Curry Leaves

Mustard Seeds3/4 tsp

Urad Dhal1/2 tsp

Salt

Oil

Preparation:

Peel and chop Pearl Onions. Cut Tomato into four halves.

Method:

Puree the Tomato.

Cook Brinjals in Oven until mushy. Remove and scoop the flesh out of the brinjal when cooled.

Heat Oil in a Pan. When hot, add Mustard seeds. When they complete popping up, add Urad dhal. Few seconds later, add Pearl onions, Curry Leaves.

When Onions turn golden brown, add Tomato Puree and fry till the oil separates.

Now add the Brinjals, all the Powders and Tamarind extract. Fry on a low flame till done.

Serves: 2

Serve with Curd Rice or can be mixed with steamed Rice.

   

 Coming to the seven links game passed to me by Sobha Shyam of Good Food,

The most beautiful post – Beans Paruppu usili and Awards

This post is really colorful not because of the recipe, but because of the awards I created and gave to some of my blogger friends.

The most popular post – Whole Moong Dhal(Pachai Payiru) Kuzhambu

This recipe has got the highest number of hits in my blog. I make this healthy curry atleast once in a week. I am surprised that many are not much aware of this curry.

The most controversial post – nothing so far.

The most helpful post – How to prepare Idli and Dosa Batter??

I gave many tips related to Idli and Dosa Batter to some of my friends. It was a hit with them. So I put all the tips known to me to prepare this Post. Unfortunately, I am still not able to upload any pics and may be that is the reason I didnt receive any comment though it has more hits.

The post that was surprisingly successful – Dates-Banana MilkShake

I made this milkshake with leftover fully ripe bananas. I am really surprised that many liked it and got more comments.

The post that did not get the attention it deserved – Baby Food Ideas

This post has huge hits but unfortunately with no comment. I sat down hours together to think and type this post. I really do not know whether this post helped any Mother.

The post I am proud of – Chettinad Chicken Kuzhambu

I am really proud of this post as I searched for this recipe days together in internet. I found many recipes and this is a combined version of those.

I am passing this seven links game to some of my friends..

1. Rinku Naveen of Rinku’s Kitchen Treats
2. Reshmi Mahesh of Easy Cook
3. Soujanya of Souju’s Home
4. Charishma of cherie’s stolen recipes
5. Nupur of UK Rasoi – Day to Day Recipes