Thakali Kurma / Tomato curry in coconut based spicy gravy

Before marriage, my mom doesn't make any kurma varieties as my dad doesn't eat garlic, cinnamon or any of the whole spices. So my mom never tried any recipes which requires whole spices as a major ingredient. In a way even i am not used to a strong flavor of cinnamon or garlic.

Story changed after my marriage and my hubby loves the flavor of cinnamon / garlic and other spices. Though he likes chutney and sambar varieties as well, his preference goes to these kurma varieties only. Though i have tried various versions of kurma, i didnt get the perfect taste and flavor for a very long time. 

After researching many websites, getting the recipes from many of my friends and doing lots of trial and errors, i have finally ended with this recipe, which goes very well in my family now. This kurma is a very good accompaniment for Idiyappam, appam, idly, dosa, chapathi.....

On the health aspects, tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, biotin, molybdenum, and vitamin K. They are also a very good source of copper, potassium, manganese, dietary fiber, vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), vitamin B6, folate, niacin, vitamin E, and phosphorus. On the other hand coconut has its own health benefits. Its unique combination of fatty acids can have profound positive effects on health. This includes fat loss, better brain function and various other amazing benefits other than offering exotic flavor to the dish.

Ingredients:

Ripe tomatoes - 4 (cut into small cubes)

Onion - 1 (cut into small cubes)

Turmeric powder - a pinch

chilly powder - 1 tsp or adjust according to taste

corriander powder - 1 tsp

Salt - as required

For seasoning:

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cinnamon stick - a small piece

cloves - 2

curry leaves - 1 twig

For grinding:

Coconut - 4 to 5 thin slices

green chilly - 1 or 2 (adjust as per taste)

garlic - 2 pods

ginger - a small piece (half as that of garlic)

Poppy seeds - 1 tsp

Cashew - 4 or 5

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds to it. Once the mustard splutter, add the whole spices and then onion and curry leaves. Add salt as required. Saute them for a while till onion turns translucent. 

2. Now add the tomato pieces and saute the tomato again with onion.

3. Add the dry powders now and lower the flame. Let the tomato get cooked in the spice powders now.

4. Now add the ground coconut paste to the mix. Adjust the consistency of the kurma if its too thick.

5.  Let the kurma get cooked for few mins.

6. Once the correct consistency is reached, switch off the flame and transfer the kurma to a serving bowl. Sprinkle finely cut corriander leaves on top of it.

7. Serve hot with Idiyappam/Appam/idly/dosa. 

Tips:

1. Sambar powder can be used instead of chilly powder and corriander powder.

2. Cashew can be replaced by fried gram when grinding coconut. Cashews give a richness to the dish, but it is completely optional.

3. Instead of whole spices used during seasoning, a tsp of garam masala can be used when dry powders are added.

Rice Idiyaapam / Arisi Sevai / Rice String hoppers

Whenever i think of rice sevai, i become so nostalgic of my childhood days when my mom used to make this. It's a 'not so often' dish at my home due to the difficulty in squeezing and so it's always a longing for this special one. Another loving memory on this dish, is the aroma of rice flour getting steamed spreading all over the house!!!! My mom makes coconut chutney as an accompaniment for this, while i always prefer sugar :)

I couldn't enjoy the happiness of making and having this after marriage as my dear hubby is not a great lover of steamed foods starting from Idly to any sundal varieties, and so the tradition started to get into my kids as well.....!!!!

So i thought of exposing these kind of 'our' food to my kids and started making some spicy accompaniment for them so that my hubby can also have it...(he needs some kurma or chutney very very hot for these  kind of steamed dishes)

This time i made idiyappam with Thakali kurma and the combination was really heavenly and went on well with my hubby and kids. (In fact my daughter has started asking me to make white noodles more often nowadays :))

Another reason for me liking this dish is that it can be had during sick times as well. So there is a healthy alternative for idly for people who fall sick...!!

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 3 cups

Salt - as required

Water - Not so hot, but more warmer inorder to make the dough

Oil - very little

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Boil water and when its starts to leave out small bubbles on the side, remove water from stove and carefully make a soft dough of rice flour. Use spatula at the earlier stages and finally use hand to finish the dough making. At the end add little bit of oil if required.

2. Grease the idly plates with little oil and keep them ready.

3. Squeeze the dough into sevai maker and start making shapes with the dough on the idly plates. You can either squeeze into the idly pit alone to make it look like idlies or sqeeze them all over the plate like rings. It's up to you...!!!

4. Steam the idly pot for 3 to 4 mins. After 4 mins, reduce the flame and make sure the idiyappam is cooked. Switch off the flame and transfer it to the serving plate.

Enjoying steaming hot idiyappam with Tomato Kurma !!!

If  you like this post, do leave a comment....:)

Eggplant Lasagna

After having access to conventional oven, i always wanted to try new recipes which we could only eat at restaurants, the quantity being one-third of what i would make at home for the same cost or probably less. Being outside India, other important reason for not preferring restaurant for these new cuisines is the vegetarian part of it. I don't believe if they can make a complete vegetarian version of any dish excluding egg or fish and that's another motivating factor for me to try out new recipes at home.

Coming to Lasagna, my dear hubby had tasted it somewhere when he went out for lunch and that's when he started telling me to try that out at home. He was very sure i will like the taste. The next thing we did was to get the ready-made 'Wholemeal Lasagna sheets'. My interest plunged when i started researching recipes for 'Vegetarian Lasagna' and that's when the lasagna sheets went to a corner of my grocery shelf and i just ignored it then. Everytime when i cleaned the shelf and set things right, this one gets a quick attention and disappeared from my mind at the same speed...:))

Okay, one day i decided to try this completely eggless and see how its gonna turn out....One thing i was sure by that time , was that the veggies to be used is absolutely our choice. So i went on making the veggie sauce, cut the eggplant into small cubes and kept my grated cheddar cheese ready to be assembled together....

Final step was to pre-heat the oven and during the time it was getting heated, i arranged lasagna sheets/Veggie sauce/eggplant/Cheese, layer by layer and kept it ready. Once the oven is preheated, i baked the lasagna and the result -- in one word --- just AWESOME...!!

yeaaahhh, i made a completely veggie version with no egg layer in between and it was sooo yummy....most importantly well received by kids.....:))

For weight watchers, this is a not-so-frequent recipe to be tried and which requires a lot-of-workout later due to the amount of cheese being added.

Ingredients:

Wholemeal Lasagna sheets - 6 (broad ones)

Cheddar Cheese or any cheese of your choice - shredded

Vegetables (Onion, Red Capsicum,Green Capsicum, Zucchini,Eggplant) - cut into small cubes - about 2 cups heaped

Tomato - 5 or 6 juicy and riped ones

Garlic - 3 pods minced

Dry Italian herbs - 2 tbsp

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Method:

Veggie sauce:

1. Make a puree of the tomatoes or use 2 cans of ready-made tomato puree.

2. Heat olive oil, add onion & garlic and saute them till golden brown. Sprinkle required amount of salt.

3. Now add the vegetables one by one saute them till they get half cooked. Do not add the eggplant.

4. Now add the tomato puree, italian herbs, pepper powder and allow the sauce to get cooked. Simmer the flame.

5. Once the sauce comes to the right consistency (it should not be too watery or too thick) switch off the flame and keep it aside and allow it to cool.

Assembling Lasagna:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°

1. Grease the baking tray (i used cake pan) with olive oil.

2. Make a thin layer of veggie sauce first. 

3. Spread a layer of Lasagna sheets on top.

4. Spread a layer of veggie sauce.

5. Spread a layer of eggplant/Spinach/basil/pumpkin.

6. Spread a layer of cheese (be liberal in this step as this makes the lasagna very tasty).

7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 till the baking tray is full.

8. Make sure the top most layer is cheese.

9. Cover the baking tray with aluminium foil and feed it into the oven for 20 mins.

10.Remove the foil and bake it again for 10 mins.

11. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 mins.

Now the lasagna is ready to be served. Cut the lasagna into squares and serve it hot.

Give a try and let me know your comments. :)