Agathikerrai karamdhu

Agathi keerai is a good source of calcium and iron sure to strengthen bones. It is good to take after a fast like ekadasi as it removes toxins from the blood. Even murungai keerai or drumstick leaves can be used instead of agathi keerai.
Ingredients:
Agathi keerai or murungai keerai - 1 bunch
Coconut oil or cooking oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chili - 2
Asafoetida - a pinch
Moong dal - 2 tsp
Grated coconut - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Method:

• Soak mung dal till you clean the keerai.

• Remove the leaves from the stem. You can use the flowers found along with the keerai. Carefully remove the yellow colored leaves which may cause dysentery. Rinse twice in fresh water.
• Chop it to small bits.
• Heat the pan and add oil and mustard seeds. Add urid dal, red chili pieces and asafoetida once the mustard seeds splutters.
• Add 1/4 cup of water and soaked moong dal, chopped keerai, turmeric powder, salt. Keep the pan closed. 
• stir well after two minutes.
• Once the keerai is cooked add grated coconut. Leave it on the fire till all the water evaporates. 

Note: Keerai should be cooked well. This keerai should be used once in 15 days. Not too often.

Podi idithu pota kai

Urulai kizhangu/ potato, baby potato, brinjal, raw tomato and sweet potato can be used for this type of side dish.
 Ingredients:
Any one of the above vegetable - 1/2 Kg
Tamarind - a small bit for brinjal alone.

Seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 3tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves
Turmeric powder.
Salt - 1tsp

For the podi or powder
Channa dal - 2 tbs
Daniya/ coriander seeds - 1tsp
Red chili - 3
Oil - 2tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves
Salt -1/4 tsp
Method:

• Heat the pan add the oil for frying the ingredients to make the podi or powder.
• Fry them till channa dal turns brown. Add curry leaves lastly and fry for a second. Grind them into coarse powder.
• Wash and cut the vegetable into a bigger pieces. For potato and sweet potato cut them and cook  separately and peel the skin off. For brinjal cook in a dilute tamarind water. Other vegetables can be cooked directly. But care should be taken that the vegetables are not over cooked. Drain the water after cooking and leave it aside for sometime.
• Heat the oil for seasoning and then add mustard seeds. After the seeds splutters, add asafoetida, curry leaves, turmeric powder, salt and the cooked vegetable.
• Stir well leave it on the low fire for 2mins.

Note: If you like the taste of coconut, you can fry a spoon of coconut while seasoning and fry it to brown color.

Sepanghizhangu or tara root or arbi fry/roast

Sepanghizhangu/Taro root/Arbi fry

Ingredients:
Sepanghizhangu - 1/2kg
Oil - 8 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Asfoetida - a pinch
Chili powder - 1tsp
Tamarind paste - 1 tbs
Salt - 1tsp
Curry leaves
Method:
1. Pressure cook sepanghizhangu. Allow only one whistle. Do not over cook. It will get smashed.
2. Peel off the skin. Chop them into thick slices.
3. Add salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, and tamrind paste to the slices and mix well.
4. Heat the oil in the pan add mustard seeds and asfoetida. Add curry leaves after the mustard seeds splutters.
5. Add the mix and stir well. Leave it in the low flame for deep fry. stir very occasionally.
Note: This can be roasted in more oil. For roast add little channa dal flour to the mix and strait away drop them slowly. A handful of slices can be added to the oil and it should be dropped slowly one or two at a time. You can have the sepanghangu as a whole and roast.

Kosmari or carrot salad

Ingredients:

Fresh carrot - ¼ Kg
Green chili - 1
Ginger - a small piece

curry leaves
Coriander leaves
Salt - ½ tsp
Lemon - ½

Sugar - a pinch (optional)

Grated coconut - 1tsp (optional)

For seasoning 

Urid dal - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Oil - 1 tsp 

Mustard seeds - ½ tsp 

Method:

• Wash and remove black spots from carrot as it may have mud particles and bacteria and grate it using carrot grater.
• Add salt, sugar, grated coconut and chopped coriander leaves. 
• Squeeze lemon.
• Heat oil on the pan and add mustard seeds. After it splutters, add the rest of the ingredients we have for seasoning. Finally add the curry leaves. Add to the grated carrot mix. Stir well.

 

 

 

Parupu usili

We can use beans, banana flower, kothavarangai, avaraikai, pudalangai, cabbage and capsicum to make parupu usili.
Mor kuzhambu, Vatha kuzhambu and verum kuzhambu with parupu usili will be a good combination.

Ingredients:

Toor dal(thuvaram parupu) - 1cup
Chana dal(Kadalai parupu) - 2tsp
Red chili - 7

For seasoning:

oil - 5tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
turmeric - a pinch.
Salt - 1 ½ tsp/ as needed
Any of the vegetable - 1/4 kg

Method 1:

1. Soak both the dals in water for 20 minutes along with red chilies.
2. Drain the water and grind in to a coarse paste with 1 tsp of salt and a pinch of asafoetida.
3. Cut the vegetable into very small pieces only then it will merge with the dal paste.
4. Cook the vegetable. Use the drained water to boil the vegetable adding ½tsp of salt, asafoetida and turmeric powder. Do it in a low flame. Drain the water.
5. Heat the pan, add oil followed by mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves.
6. Add the dal paste and stir well. Keep the pan closed. Stir frequently till the paste in such a way that you it gets crumbled.
7. Now add the cooked vegetable and stir well. Keep the pan closed and keep it on the fire for 4 to 5 minutes.

Note: If you use banana flower you have to remove the stamen and soak the cut flower in water adding 2 spoons of butter milk over night. Drain out this water when you cook the flower. Check my blog for cleaning the banana flower.
Use less water for cooking the vegetable so that you need not through the water out which will contain the nutrients. 
You can add pepper powder and drink this as soup.

Method 2:

The method will be the same for except the dal paste can be made into balls and flattened and steam cooked. For this method you can use less oil. Just 2 tsp will be enough. 

Then it's can be crumbled and used repeating from step 5 onwards.

vegetable fry

Vegetable fry: 

Vegetables like lady’s finger, brinjal, potato, kovaikai, vazhakai, senai (yam) and pavakai(bitter guard) can be fried with little more oil.

Lady’s finger fry:

Ingredients:

Fresh lady’s finger – ½ kg
Oil – 5 tsp

Mustard - ½ tsp

Asafotida – a pinch

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Chilli powder – 1tsp

Salt -1 tsp

Curry leaves

Method:

1. Soak lady’s finger in water for a while. Then wash it in running water. Leave it aside for 2 minutes to drain the water completely. Chop it into thin slices. 
2. Heat the pan and add oil, mustard and asafetida. When mustard splutters, add curry leaves and the copped vegetable. 
3. Add salt and turmeric powder. Stir well once. Now stir gently and occasionally. 
4. Do not add water. Do not stir too much. Keep the pan open to retain the green color.  It takes just 5 to 7 minutes for cooking.   
5. Add chilli powder and switch off the stove. Do not close till the pan is cool.

Brinjal fry:

Ingredients:

Potato – ½ kg
Oil – 5 tsp

Mustard - ½ tsp

Asafotida – a pinch

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Chilli powder – 1tsp

Salt -1 tsp

Curry leaves

Method:

• Soak brinjal in water for a while. Then wash it in running water. Chop it lengthwise. 
• Heat the pan and add oil, mustard and asafetida. 
• When mustard splutters, add curry leaves and the copped vegetable. 
• Sprinkle handful of water, add salt and turmeric powder. Stir well once. 
•  Now stir gently and occasionally. Sprinkle handful of water again and stir when the all the water is dried. Do not stir too much. 
• Keep the pan closed for fast cooking. It takes just 5 to 7 minutes for cooking.  Add chilli powder and switch off the stove.

Potato fry: 
Ingredients:
Potato – ½ kg
Oil – 5 tsp
Mustard - ½ tsp
Asafotida – a pinch
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Chilli powder – 1tsp
Salt -1 tsp
Curry leaves
Method:
1. soak  potato and wash thoroughly. cut potato into small cubes. Fry as we do for lady's finger without adding water. Or you can sprinkle water as we do for brinjal but you should keep the pan open or it will be smashed.
2. you can pressure cook potato, peel off the skin, cut into 4 or 8 peices and add all the ingredients mix well and then fry as we do for lady's finger. You can add 1 onion cut into lengthwise. This does not take much time. Just 2 or 3 minutes will do.
Tips: You can cut the potato 8 pieces and pressure cook. Either fry them as such or peel the skin and fry.
Baby potatoes can also used. Leave it on the stove in lower flame for more time to get deep fried.

Kovaikai fry:

Ingredients:

Kovaikai – ½ kg
Oil – 5 tsp

Mustard - ½ tsp

Asafotida – a pinch

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Chilli powder – 1tsp

Salt -1 tsp

Curry leaves

1. Soak kovaikai in a bowl of water for 10 minutes. Clean the impurities and soak again in water for a while. Now wash in running water. Drain the vegetable. Chop it into thin slices.
2. Heat the pan and add oil, mustard and asafetida. When mustard splutters, add curry leaves and the copped vegetable. Add ¼ cup of water, salt and turmeric powder.

Stir well. 
3. Keep the pan open to retain the green color.  Stir occasionally. It takes just 5 to 7 minutes for cooking. 
4. Add chilli powder and switch off the stove. Do not close till the pan is cool.

Vazhakai fry:
 Ingredients:Vazhakai – big size2
Oil – 8 tsp
Mustard - ½ tsp
Asafotida – a pinch
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Chilli powder – 1tsp
Salt -1 tsp
Curry leaves

• Peel off the skin. Cut vazhakai into thin slices. 
• Repeat step 2 to 5 as we did in lady's finger fry.

Note: It requires more oil than other vegetables. If you want to reduce oil, you can either sprinkle tamarind water or buttermilk to get it cooked and then you can leave it to fry in a non stick pan for more time in low flame.

Senaifry:
Ingredients:
Senai – ½ kg
Oil – 8 tsp
Mustard - ½ tsp
Asafotida – a pinch
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Chilli powder – 1tsp
Salt -1 tsp
Curry leaves
Method: 

• Peel the skin and chop them into small cubes.
•  Heat the pan and add oil, mustard and asafetida. When mustard splutters, add curry leaves and the copped vegetable. Add ¼ cup of water, salt and turmeric powder.Stir well.
  
  
• Keep the pan closed. Once the vegetable is cooked, leave it for more time to get fried and add chilli powder finally and switch off the stove after a second.

Pavakai fry:
Ingredients:
pavakai – ½ kg
Oil – 5 tsp
Mustard - ½ tsp
Asafotida – a pinch
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Chilli powder – 1tsp
Salt -1 tsp
Curry leaves
Method:

• Wash and chop pavakai as you wish. you can either cut into small peices or into semicircles. 
•  Heat the pan and add oil, mustard and asafetida. When mustard splutters, add curry leaves and the copped vegetable. Add ¼ cup of water, salt and turmeric powder.Stir well.  
• Keep the pan open to retain the green color.  
•  Stir occasionally. It takes more time for pavakai to get cooked. Add ¼ cup of water again when the water is dried. 
• Add chilli powder and switch off the stove.

Vegetable side dish -Podimas

Vegetables like potato and vazhakai can be used for podimas.

Urulai kizhangu (potato) podimas:

Method: 1
Ingredients:
Potato - ½ kg
Green chillies -2 or 3
Ginger - a small piece
Curry leaves
Lemon -  ½

Mustard - ½ tsp

Oil - 1tsp

Urid dal - ½ tsp

turmeric powder - a pinch

salt - 1 tsp

1.     Wash well and pressure cook the potatoes.
2.          Peel the skin and smash.
3.          Heat the pan, add oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida.
4.          Add urid dal after the mustard seeds splutters.
5.          Add chopped green chilies, chopped ginger and curry leaves after the urid dal turns brown.
6.          Add turmeric powder to the oil and then the smashed potatoes
7.          Add salt. Stir well. Keep it on the fire for 2 minutes.
8.          Squeeze lemon after it gets little cooled.

Method:2

Ingredients:

Potato - ½ Kg

Mustard seeds - ½ tsp

Oil - 3 tsp

Urid dal - ½tsp

Red chili - 1

Chili powder - 1tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - 1tsp

Asafotida - a pinch

Method:

• Follow step 1 to 4 from the 1st method.
• Follow step 5 except the green chilies and ginger. Instead add red chili pieces along with urid dal.
• Add salt and red chili powder finally. Sir well.

Vazhakai podi(mas)

Ingredients:
Vazhakai (Raw banana) - 2
Coconut oil -1tsp
Cooking oil - 1tsp
Mustard - 1/2  tsp
Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli - 1
asafoetida - a pinch
Ginger -  small piece
Green chili - 2
curry leaves
Grated coconut -2 tbs
Salt - 1tsp
Method:

• Remove a small portion of the top and bottom of the raw banana. Cut it into two pieces. 
• Place the pieces in the pan and add water till the pieces immerse. Boil the water. Turn the pieces after sometime.
• When the raw bana is half boiled (Do not cook too much), remove it from fire. Leave it to cool.
• Peel the skin and grate it using carrot grater.
• Grate giner and chop the green chilies.
• Heat the pan add cooking oil. Add mustard followed by urid dal, asafoetida and red chili pieces. Fry till urid dal turns brown. Add cocnut oil, green chilis, ginger and curry leaves and fry for a second.
• Add grated raw banana and salt. Stir well in low flame. Add grated coconut and stir well.

 Note: If the raw banana is over cooked the dish will become lump. So it should be half cooked. Once the skin turns dark, you can just poke with a knife and check.