Chilly Gobi (Chilly Cauliflower)

Overview
A very good vegetarian dish that can be served as an appetizer or as a side dish with fried rice. Florets of cauliflower are dipped in a batter made with chickpea flour deep fried and then coated with fresh made tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes. Using fresh cherry tomatoes in place of tomato sauce does bring up a tangy flavor and freshness to this dish.

Chilly Gobi

Ingredients
One head of cauliflower cut into bite size florets
1 1/2 cups of chick pea flour
Red chilly powder - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida 1/4 teaspoon
4 - 5 green chilly split in center for garnish
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro for garnish
Salt o taste
Oil for deep frying

For the tomato sauce
Cherry tomatoes 1 cup finely chopped
2 medium size red onions finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 green chilly finely chopped
Black pepper powder 1/2 - 1 teaspoon
4 - 5 green chilly split in center for garnish
Salt to taste
3 - 4 tablespoon oil

Steps
1. Take a bowl and mix all the dry ingredients for the batter - Chickpea flour, red chilly powder, turmeric, asafoetida powder and salt. Add water a make a thick batter and keep it aside.
2. Heat oil for deep frying the cauliflower florets. When the oil gets hot.dip each floret in the batter and fry on medium heat till it is golden brown. Fry all the cauliflower florets in batches drain oil and keep aside.
3. Fry the green chilly split in center and keep aside
4. In another pan heat 4 tablespoon oil. When the oil gets hot add the finely chopped onions, garlic, ginger and green chilly to this.
5. Saute few minutes add the pepper powder saute well and add the finely chopped cherry tomatoes and salt . Mix well and cover with lid and cook on low flame till the tomatoes are cooked well and a thick sauce is formed.
6. Add the fried cauliflower florets to this and mix well till all the florets are coated with this tomato sauce. Turn off heat and transfer to a serving dish
7. Garnish with the fried green chillies and chopped cilantro. Serve Hot

Vegetable Cutlets

Overview
A very popular appetizer in India made with a variety of vegetables. I have used beetroot, carrots, green  peas, green beans and potatoes to make this cutlet. Any vegetable of your choice can be used to make this cutlets. All vegetables should be finely chopped so that they cook evenly. The base that binds the cutlet is the mashed potatoes.

Ingredients for Cutlet - Beetroot, Carrots, Green Beans, Green Peas, Mashed Potatoes,
Red Onions, Ginger, Green chilly and Cilantro

Vegetable Cutlets with Onion Salad

Ingredients
Mashed potatoes - 2 cups
Finely chopped beetroot -1 cup
Carrots finely chopped - 1 cup
Green beans finely chopped - 1 cup
Green peas - 1 cup
Red Onions finely chopped - 1 cup
Ginger 2 inch piece finely chopped
Green chilly 4 - 6 finely chopped
Cilantro - 1./2 cup finely chopped
Black pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Fennel seed powder  - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Bread crumbs to coat the cutlets
Egg whites 2 to coat the cutlets
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying the cutlets

Steps
1. Boil two large potatoes peel and mash it  and keep it aside.
2. Heat two tablespoons oil in a pan. Add the finely chopped red onions, ginger green chilly to it a saute few minutes till the onions become light brown. Add turmeric and saute few more minutes.
3. Mix all the finely chopped beetroot, carrots, green beans and green peas to this  and mix well. Add salt and cook on low flame by covering the pan till the vegetables are fully cooked about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Once cooked turn off heat and let this cool to room temperature.
4. Take a big mixing bowl and add the mashed potatoes and the cooked vegetables to it. Add cilantro, black pepper powder, fennel powder and salt as needed and mix well
5. Take a lemon size ball of the mixed vegetables and flatten with hand to make a smooth round patty.
6. Dip each vegetable patty in lightly beaten egg whites and coat in bread crumbs.
7. Deep fry the bread crumbs coated vegetable patty in hot oil

Serve hot with Onion salad and Ketchup

Puff Pastry with Spicy Potatoes

Overview
Puffs is a very common Indian snack found in all bakeries in Kerala. Puff pastry is stuffed with all different kinds of fillings like meat, egg and potatoes. I have made these Puffs a little different than the traditional way. Puffed pastry sheet is covered with spicy potato filling rolled spirally and then cut into slices and baked.

Puff Pastry with Spicy potatoes

Ingredients 
Frozen Puff pastry sheet 2
Potatoes medium size - 4
Green peas frozen - 1/2 cups
Red Onion - 1 medium finely chopped
Ginger 1 inch piece finely chopped
Garlic 3 cloves finely chopped
Green chillies - 2 -4 finely chopped
Cilantro leaves chopped 1/2 cup
Red chilly powder 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1
Lemon juice 1 tablespoon
Cumin - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 3 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Steps
1. Cook the potatoes whole in 1/2 cup water in a pressure cooker or in a heavy bottom vessel till it is cooked well. Peel the potatoes and  mash it well and keep aside.
2. Cook the frozen green peas and keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil gets hot add the cumin seeds to it followed by the chopped onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. Saute few minutes till the onions turn light brown. Add the chilly, coriander and turmeric powder to this and saute few minutes.
4. Add the mashed potatoes, green peas, lemon juice and salt to this and mix well.
5. Add chopped cilantro to this and mix well. Let this potato filling cool to room temperature.
6. Thaw the frozen puff pastry sheet to room temperature.  Spread the pastry sheet flat and add half the potato filling on it and spread all over the surface.
7. Roll the pastry sheet spirally and then cut into thick slices. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for about 10 minutes till the pastry sheet turns light brown.

Serve hot as an appetizer

Olan

Overview
A simple a delicious vegetarian dish made with ash gourd and coconut milk. This is an easy to make staple dish of Kerala. Fresh coconut milk mixed with the ash gourd, ginger, green chilly, onions and spices make a delicious gravy. There are several recipes for Olan through our Kerala, this is the recipe I got from my mother.


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Olan

Ingredients
Ash Gourd   - thin sliced square pieces 2 cups
Ginger 2 inch pieces thin sliced
Green chilly - 3 - 5 split at center
Red onion - half of
one medium size thin sliced
Curry l;eaves 2 sprigs
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Chilly powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon
Thick coconut milk - 1 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

To garnish
Oil 3 - 4 tablespoons
Red Onion  one half thin sliced
Curry leaves one sprig

Steps
1. Mix the ash gourd with half cup water, ginger , green chilly, red onions, chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric, curry leaves and salt and bring to boil. Simmer heat and cook till the ash gourd is cooked well about 6 - 10 minutes.
2. Add the thick coconut milk to this and bring to boil. Turn off heat
3. In another pan heat the oil. When the oil gets hot add the thin sliced onions for garnish to this. Saute till the onions are golden brown, add the curry leaves and saute  and pout over the prepared curry

Serve hot with plain rice

Gulab Jamun

Overview
Gulab Jamun is one of the most popular desserts in India that you can get at any Indian restaurant.  It is a dumpling made with milk and immersed in sugar syrup. The word Gulab Jamun translates to Rose Berries since this dessert is flavored with rose essence and looks just like berries. This is an easy recipe to make at home. I used non fat milk powder and Bisquick pancake mix to make this.

Gulab Jamun

Ingredients
Non fat milk powder - 1/2 cup
Bisquick pan cake mix(Flour with baking soda) - 1/2 cup
Milk to make the dough - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
Ghee 1 teaspoon
Oil - 2 -3 teaspoons
Oil for deep frying

For Syrup
One cup sugar
Two cups water
Rose essence  - 1 teaspoon or Cardamom seeds powdered( seeds from 5 - 7 cardamom pods)

Steps
1. Mix the milk powder with the pancake mix.  Add the ghee and mix well. Slowly add the milk and make a smooth dough.
2. Put some oil in your hands and make small balls with the dough. Do keep in mind the size of the balls you make since they double in size when they are fried and immersed in sugar syrup.
3. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil gets hot keep the flame in medium. We need to fry the balls in medium heat so we get a the golden color and the inside of the balls also gets cooked. Deep fry all the balls in batches till they are golden brown.
4. To prepare the syrup add the sugar and water mix well and bring this to boil. Once it starts boiling add the Rose essence( or cardamon powder) and let it boil for about 10 minutes in medium heat.
5. Add the fried balls to the hot prepared syrup. Keep it immersed in syrup for about 4 hours to overnight.

Serve hot or cold

Mint Chutney

Overview
This green tangy mint chutney goes well with fried Indian appetizers like Pakodas, samosas and kabob's. This is a very flavorful and easy to make chutney that goes very well with grilled lamb and chicken too. You can make it as spicy as you like by increasing the number of  green chillies. For mild chutney just use one green chilly.

Mint Chutney

Ingredients
One cup Mint leaves
Half cup Cilantro leaves
Tamarind pulp 1- 2 tablespoons
Green chilly 1 - 4
Shallots 2 - 3
Salt to taste
Sugar 1/4 teaspoon
5 -6 tablespoon water

Steps
Grind all ingredients in a blender with water to make a smooth thick chutney. Serve with grilled meat or any fried appetizers as a dip.

Lemon Rice

Overview
Lemon rice is one of the popular rice recipes from south India. Zesty lemon rice is one of the favorite picnic lunches and a lunch box special. This dish can be made with left over rice too. Urdu Dal, Channa Dal and Peanuts adds a nutty flavor and protein to this dish. The tangy taste of lemon juice mixed with the simple spices adds a unique texture and flavor to this rice dish.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients
Basmati Rice or any long grain rice - 2 cups
Lemon Juice -  Juice of 2 big lemons
Roasted Peanuts - 3 tablespoons
Urdu Dal - 1 tablespoon
Channa Dal - 1 table spoon
Ginger 2 inch piece finely chopped
Green chilly - 2 - 4( depending on how spicy you want it to be)
Finely chopped shallots (optional) - 3 tablespoons
Curry leaves  - 2 sprigs
Whole dry red chillies - 3 - 4 cut into piece
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds  - 1 teaspoons
Oil - 4 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Steps
1. Cook 2 cups cleaned rice in 4 cups water and keep aside. Once the rice is cooked fluff it up with a fork and  let it cool.
2. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil gets hot add the mustard seeds to it and let it splutter. Add the red chilly pieces and curry leaves to this and fry them then add the Urdu Dal and Channa Dal. Saute till the Dal's are brown.
3. Add the finely chopped green chillies . ginger, turmeric and shallots to this and saute few minutes. turn off the heat.
4. Add the cooked rice, salt, lemon juice and roasted peanuts to this and mix well.

Serve hot with Raita and Papaddams