Fried Potato/Batata Bhajun Upkari

My husband's all time favorite. Most of the time he prepares this upkari at our home and I must say he is a good cook, probably better than me :). I am not a potato lover but like this simple fry with dalitoy and rice. Easy to prepare and tasty to eat.


Ingredients:
3 large potatoes
1/4 cup cooking oil
5 red chillies
1/4 tea spoon mustard seeds
5 curry leaves
1 table spoon salt


Method:
Cut potatoes into desired shapes, sprinkle salt and leave it for 30 mins.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chillies.
When it starts spluttering add potatoes. Drain the salty water from potatoes before adding it.
Keep frying this on simmer until potatoes are cooked.
Serve hot with rice and dal.

Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 45 mins

Note: While frying add salt only if required.

Horse Gram Bamboo Shoot Curry/ Kulithu Kirla Koddel

Horse Gram is also known as Moth Beans and it is used as daal or lenthils. I remember my granny used whole seeds of horse gram to feed cattle. She also used to prepare soup which can be served with rice. I will be posting it once I try it out.

We call horse gram as "kulithu" in konkani. This curry will have a garlic taste in it and people who dont like garlic may not like this dish. Having said that the aroma of fried garlic is one of the key factor which makes this dish so tasty. This goes very well with hot rice, I prepared par boiled rice which was heavenly :)


Ingredients:
1 cup bamboo shoot, cut into cubes
1 cup horse gram, soaked in water for 8 hours or overnight
1 cup grated coconut
7 red chillies
1/4 tea spoon tamarind extract
1 table spoon vegetable or cooking oil
5 garlic pods
Salt

Method:
Pressure cook bamboo shoot and horse gram upto 5 whistles.
Make a paste of grated coconut, red chillies and tamarind extract.
Mix the mixture with cooked horse gram, bamboo shoot, salt and boil it for 8-10 mins.
In a small pan heat oil and fry the garlic for sometime.
Pour this on the curry.
Serve hot with rice.



Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 35 mins (exlcudes soaking time)

Note: Horse gram takes longer time to cook compared to other daal or lenthils. 5 whistles or more is a must.

Vegetables cooked in Coconut Milk/Valval

Valval is very similar to Avial. It is prepared with different types of vegetables and the main ingredient is coconut milk. This has a very sweetish tinge and people with sweet tooth may not like this. This is usually prepared during any festivals and I remember this was a must dish in our house during Ugadi. This time I prepared this on Ganesha Festival.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup ridge gourd pieces
1/2 cup long beans pieces
1/2 cup winter melon pieces
1/2 cup pumpkin pieces
Cashews (optional)
4-5 slit green chillies
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 tea spoon oil
1 tea spoon jeera (cumin seeds)
3 red chillies
4-5 curry leaves

Method:
Pressure cook all the vegetables along with slit green chillies and cashews upto 1 whistle.
Boil cooked vegetables in coconut milk for 5-7 minutes. If the mixture is too thick add water.
In a small skillet prepare the seasoning with oil, cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
Pour this into the dish.

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 35 mins

Note: You can cook vegetables even in a vessel instead of pressure cooker to avoid over cooking.
I used the ready coconut milk. My granny used to prepare the coconut milk by grinding fresh grated coconut and few cashews in it.
Raw cashews are a perfect match for this dish. Since I dont find these here, I soaked the normal cashews overnight.