Mullangi Kosambari | Radish and Moongdal Kosambari | Easy Salad varieties

While I was poring over my cookbooks for some different kinds of salads for Blogging Marathon this week, I remembered that our own Kosambari (aka Koshimbir / Kosumalli) served as part of the South Indian Thali (or even everyday meal) is a great salad. I have posted the cucumber, plain Moong dal and Carrot versions previously. 

Today is a version with radish - credit to my mom who got us eating radish in both raw and cooked form right from our childhood. In many households till date, save for a handful of veggies, children (and adults) dont eat veggies as must as they ought to. And radish tastes yummier in the winters and we have started buying this veggie on a bi weekly basis to enjoy it fresh and crunchy :)

Simple, quick, light to digest - thats all salads ought to be. So, after the Kachumber salad and sweet potato-chickpea salad, today's too takes off most of the guilt off the Diwali binge eating :D 

Hope you enjoyed the series, will come back next week with another theme :)

Radish Kosambari - radish salad with Moong dal (split green gram) 
(Vegan and Gluten Free recipe)

Prep time : 15 mins, serves : 2

Ingredients:

• Radish - 1 medium
• Soaked moongdal - 2 TBSP
• Salt - to taste
• Tempering : Oil (1/2 tsp), Green chillies (1 no.), Mustard seeds (1/4 tsp)
• Garnish : grated coconut (1 tsp) - optional, chopped coriander (1/2 tsp) ,  2 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Method:

1. Soak moong dal in warm water for 15 mins. While its soaking, wash, peel and grate radish into a bowl. Add the soaked and drained dal to it, add grated coconut, coriander and mix well. Let it sit for 5-8 mins.
2. Now just before serving, make the tempering with oil, green chillies and mustard seeds. Pour onto the salad. Finish with salt and lemon juice. 
3. Serve immediately

Zero Oil Sweet Potato and Chickpea Salad - Vegan and Gluten Free | Easy Salad Recipes | Diabetic Food

After yesterday's Kachumber, today we have a zero oil but very yummy and hearty Sweet potato and Chickpea Salad. I had received this gift hamper from Eastern Masala which contained this Chaat Masala along with the Shahi Paneer Masala I had reviewed earlier.

This masala - unlike its competitors , is very low on salt, which is the way we love it. Not an over powering taste, we used it for this Chaat as well as to top it on Dahi Batata Puri Beetroot Cutlet, and a whole of other raithas . All in all, a great addition to your kitchen if you like mildly spiced masalas. 

Winter brings so many varieties of veggies into your kitchen and sweet potato is one of them :) We love Sweet potato in most forms - a simple and delicious way to eat this is to just scrub the skin clean, steam cook and sprinkle salt and bite into it.

By the way, research  says that Diabetics are in fact benefitted from the low GI of Sweet potato and can safely consume upto 2 medium sweet potatoes in a week for satiation as well as upping their fibre intake. Unlike potato, this tuber doesnt upset the diabetic diet too much


Lets get to how to assemble this zero oil Salad in minutes. 

Prep time : 15 mins (if you have pre-cooked Chickpeas), Assembled in 5 mins
Serves : 2

• Boiled Chickpeas - 1 cup
• Sweet potato - 1 medium sized (100-150 gms)
• Eastern Chaat Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Crushed Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
• Garnish : Lemon juice (1/2 tsp), Chopped Fresh onions (2 TBSP), Chopped coriander (1 tsp)

How to make:

1. Pressure cook Sweet potato for 3 whistles till firm but not mushy. With the skin on (or after peeling), chop into chunks (I simple kept the skin on and chopped to thickish half rounds).
2. Saute the cooked chickpeas (without water) with a dash of salt in a dry pan (skip this step if you are using freshly cooked chickpeas, but I was using cooked and frozen version so dry sauted this till it reached room temp).
3. In a bowl, mix all ingredients except garnish.
4. Just before serving, add the garnish, toss once and serve immediately.

Spicy Kachumber | Easy Salad Recipes | Diabetic Recipes

Post all that Diwali binging (and swearing off sweets and fried stuff for the nth time), we surely need some respite in oily and fatty food ! So, here come 3 salads this week on Blogging Marathon to the rescue :)

Today's is almost no recipe . Like all other salads, a little of this, a lot of that , a pinch of this , a dash of that :) and you have a new salad recipe !!

A simple Indian salad called Kachumber - basically a medley of salad veggies topped with a handful of sprouts :) 

Healthy, Hearty and Oil free. Isnt that your goal for Post-Diwali ??

If you are still curious about the recipe, read on ....

Zero cook Kachumber 

Serves : 2, prep time : 5 mins. 

You would need:

• Long green english cucumbers - 1 medium
• Tomato  - 2 large or 3 medium
• Moong Sprouts - 1/4 cup
• Red Onion - 1 medium
• Dressing : Lemon juice, salt, black pepper, red chilli powder, Jeera (roasted cumin) powder, Chaat masala, dash of coriander leaves chopped

How to make:

1. Wash, peel and cut cucumbers into batons. Similarly, wash and deseed tomatoes, cut into long strips. Peel onions and make thin slices. Mix all these with moong (whole green gram) sprouts and refrigerate. 
2. Just before serving, mix all the dressing ingredients together. Mix into chopped veggies. Serve immediately

Spicy Urulai Podimas | Potato Dry Saute

Potato gotta be the most versatile and favourite veggie on this planet (yes, there are no takers also, but they are definite minority). Today after Cabbage Palya, Brinjal-potato saute, I have another favourite which is most definitely made on most sundays for brunch / lunch at home. Urulai Podimas - or simple potato dry saute. Sending this to Day 3 of BM

This again is made in a zillion ways in households, but this is my family favourite. Goes amazingly well with any Sambhar, Pearl onion Puli kozhambu (tamarind gravy), some roasted papad and steamed rice with a drop of ghee :-)) Heck !! my mouth is already watering, and guess we dont need to wait till Sunday to dish it up. 

We love to dress up Potato in many other curries like Til wale Aloo (sesame crusted potatoes),  Batata Saang, and of course the healthy Potato Roast (another Sunday favourite), Chettinad style  Baby Potatoes, Chutneywale Aloo (baby potatoes in a minty dressing). 

So whats your family's favourite Potato dish ??

Spicy Urulai Podimas - a tamilnadu style potato curry
Vegan, Potato curry in a south Indian style
Accompaniments : Rasam / Sambhar / Pearl Onion Spicy Gravy (Chinna vengaya Kara Kozhambu)

Prep time : 10 mins, Cook time : 10 mins, serves  : 2

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - firm ones - 200 gms
• Oil - 1 TBSP
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Hing / asafoetida - a pinch
• Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp 
• Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Wash, scrub the potatoes. Cube them into bite sized pieces. In a pan, heat oil. Splutter mustard seeds and hing. Add potatoes, turmeric and salt. Saute well for 3-4 mins. Sprinkle water, cook covered till done, but has a bite. 
2. At this stage, you can slightly mash them up, but we like them to have a bite, so we retain them as cubes. 
3. Add the chilli, pepper powders, and tamarind powders, Saute further for 2 mins
4. Serve hot.
5. If (and IF) there are any leftovers, wrap them inside a chapati and enjoy the spicy veg roll :)

Badanekaayi - Aloo gadde Masala Palya | Simple Stir fry

The dear husband is actually non-fussy when it comes to food. Except for his pet peeves. Like today's dish.

Right from the start of marriage (including the wedding menu, where we 'forgot' to ask for his micro preferences), he fails to understand why should two vegetables be mixed when they can be eaten separately. Like Potato and Brinjal are brilliant veggies. Separately. He wouldn't touch this in the initial days.

I pursued making them though, for I love this combo a LOT !! When the girls were born and he grew wiser, he wanted to be a model father, and now both elder one and the dad tolerate this. 

The special magic in this is the spice powder thats used and that gives a super kick to the whole dish. I use the spice powder as in this curry, and even add capsicum (bell peppers), carrots and even fresh peas (more mixed veggies in one dish means more vexed husband :D). And it teams up so well with Curd rice or plain rice + Rasam / Sambhar

Lets get to make this...

Prep time : 10 mins, cook time : 15 mins, serves :2

Course : Side dish / accompaniment, vegan 

Ingredients:

• Brinjal (long variety - green or purple) - 150 gms - 2 medium
• Potato - 1 large or 2 medium
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 TBSP
• Vangi bhath powder - 2 tsp**
• Jaggery - 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp (substitute with 1/4 tsp amchur / dry mango powder)
• Dry coconut grated - 1/2 tsp (totally opt.)

**For the Spice powder (Makes 1 serving):

• Dry coriander seeds - 1 TBSP
• Channa Dal - 1/2 TBSP
• Dry Red chillies - 3 or 4
• Clove - 1 or 2
• Cinnamon - 1/4 inch stick
• Grated Dry copra / dried coconut - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Wash and scrub potatoes, with the skin on (thats how we prefer it), cut into 1.5 inch long thickish batons and reserve in slightly salted water.
2. Wash brinjals and cut them lengthwise the same size as the potatoes and also add them to the water along with the potatoes.
3. **If you dont have spice powder, In a pan, heat 1 tsp of oil. Fry the dry coriander seeds, dry red chillies and channa dal. Keep aside. In the same oil, turn off the flame and roast the rest of the ingredients for 1 min. Cool and grind the spice mixture. If you have the spice powder, skip this step
4. Meanwhile drain the potato and brinjal onto a kitchen towel and pat them dry.
5. In a pan, heat oil, splutter mustard, asafoetida, curry leaves, turmeric. Saute well. Add the pat dried veggies, saute for 2-3 mins on medium heat. Add salt , sprinkle very little water and cook covered for 8-10 mins (keep sprinkling water if required totalling not more than 3 TBSP)
6. Once veggies are done (they should be still cooked but firm), add whole spice powder, tamarind paste, jaggery. Saute gently for 1 min.
7. Finish with grated coconut if using.

  Sending this to Blogging Marathon

Cabbage Palya | Vegan Cabbage stir fry | Simple Stir Fries

This week at Blogging Marathon, we start with simple Stir fries or Dry Veg Sautes . Call it Palya (Karnataka), Vepudu Koora (Andhra Pradesh), Poriyal (Tamilnadu), Thoran (Kerala) these are quick to make side dishes which go well with chapatis or Rice and Rasam for lunch or dinner. 

Back at my place, all (read most) of these stir fries are completely satvic (no onion or garlic) and even vegan, and mostly without any additional masala, and made with just 1-2 tsp of oil. This is one of the reasons they find their way into Festival Thalis when all items are sans garlic and onion

We love to tuck them in with a simple meal of Rice, Rasam and Curd. Nothing could beat that.

Today is a favourite at home - cabbage stir fry. You could skip the asafoetida to make it completely Gluten Free too. Guess we didnt know these fancy terms back then and kept coming back to these simple stir fries again and again :)

There are 3-4 ways this is generally made, but I follow my mom's method here. Lets get to the recipe, then. 

Similar dishes include:
Beetroot Poriyal
Beans - Carrot Palya
Chow Chow Poriyal

Cabbage stir fry / Elai Kosu Palya / Muttai Kosu Poriyal 
Course : South Indian, Vegan (can be made GF too)
Spice : low to medium ; 
Served with : Hot Rice + Rasam /  Curd Rice / Mor kozhambu /Majjigehuli (yoghurt gravy)

Prep time : 10 mins, Cook time : 15 mins , Serves: 3 

Ingredients:
Cabbage (shredded fine) - 1.5 cups (packed slightly)
Oil - 1 tsp 
Tempering : Mustard seeds, Urad dal (1/2 tsp), red or green chillies (2 nos), asafoetida (a tiny pinch)
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp (opt.)
Garnish - chopped coriander, fresh or frozen coconut - 1 tsp each
Lemon juice - to finish (optional..)

Method:

1. Wash, shred cabbage (I use the potato slicer / mandolin) to fine shreds. Boil 4 cups of water, when it comes to a rolling boil, add little salt and the turmeric. 
2. Now add the cabbage and cook covered for 5-8 mins (till its cooked, holds up al dente). **
3. Drain the water and let the cabbage stand. 
4. Now, heat oil. prepare the tempering, once the dals are golden brown, add the drained cabbage and saute lightly taking care not to mash it up.
5. Add little salt and sugar, and stir once last. Switch off stove , garnish with coconut and coriander leaves and lemon juice if using.
6. Serve hot