Aloo Palak (Dry Sabzi)

It is a Punjabi dish prepared with spinach and potatoes... This will give a good consistency and make the food as much tasty. This is the fantastic side dish for chapatti, roti, naan, parota, dosa, idli and rice.It is so versatile that there are thousands of recipes that can be prepared with potatoes. Aloo Palak is one of the famous dry curries that is found on every Indian restaurant menu. It is a very simple dish yet delicious and goes well with rice and rotis.It is sometimes made even simpler with just cumin seeds and chillis without much spice with a pale yellow look. 

Related recipe links:

Seppankilangu (Arbi/Taro Root) Roast

Grated Carrot Dill Stir Fry

Lima Beans and Dill Sabzi

Brinjal fry (Kathirikkai Poriyal)

Grated Radish Stir fry (Mullangi Poriyal) 

 

Prep  time	cook time	Serves
15 mins	10 mins	4  persons

Recipe type:  Poriyal varieties

Cuisine:  Indian cuisine

Ingredients Potato(Aloo) -2 big Spinach (Palak) -1 bunch Cumin seeds -1/2 tsp Onion -1 no Garlic -2 tsp Chilli powder -3 tsp Curry leaves -1 sprig Coriander leaves - ½ tsp Oil -2 tsp Salt – to taste

Method

1.Pressure cook potatoes till soft peel the skin and make into small pieces, then prick holes in it with a fork.

2. It helps the potatoes to cook faster. Then sauté the potatoes, by adding little bit salt & 1 tsp of oil. Keep aside.

3. Wash spinach leaves and chop it into small pieces. In a pan, heat oil then adds cumin seeds, onion, chopped garlic , curry leaves and red chili powder.

4. Now add the spinach leaves and keep cook for about 5 min. Then add chili powder and sauted potatoes. 

5. Mix well and covered for cooking 3 min.Keep cook for 2 min. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serving options

It goes well with rice based dishes and roties.It is a dry subzi so it is always accompanied with a dal.

Notes

If you prefer you can add some garam masala powder to it.

If you are making for fasting period you can toss it in ghee.

Papaya Cucumber Salad

Papaya has the texture of a mango, but it wasn't overly sweet so I decided to make a crunchy salad of it by adding diced cucumber. The idea is to use equal proportions of lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar. Combine the lime, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, and chilies in a bowl and whisk to combine. Let this sit for at least 30 minutes to let the the flavors meld and the garlic lightly pickle. I have found this salad so delightful that I have begun to have it first thing in the morning at breakfast and a great source of energy to begin the day. This light refreshing salad is the perfect combination that will delight your family and can be served to your family whenever they feel like snacking.

Papaya is highly recognized for its antioxidant properties, its fiber content, natural laxative abilities, and the enzymes that help with balancing stomach acid for healthy digestion. Cucumber contains 95% water and eating them is a great way to keep yourself hydrated. And with tomatoes rich in vitamin C, Collagen, the skins support system, is reliant on vitamin C as an essential nutrient that works in our bodies as an antioxidant to help prevent damage caused by the sun, pollution and smoke, smooth wrinkles and improve overall skin texture...

Prep  time	Cooking time	Serves
30 mins	15 mins	5persons

Recipe type:  Salad

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients Papaya  (diced)–  2 cup Cucumber  (diced )-1 cup Tomatoes  -1/4 cup Cilantro -2 tbsp. Dressing Lime juice – 1 tbsp. Extra virgin Olive oil – 1 tsp Pepper powder – 1 tbsp. Salt –to taste Chat masala -1 tsp Rice Vinegar -2 tbsp. Minced garlic -1 clove Chiili sauce -1/4 tsp

Method

Preparation
Prepare and chop the vegetables, taking care to scoop the seeds out of the papaya and cucumber. Sprinkle cucumber with salt and let drain in a colander for 20 minutes

Chop coriander leaves finely... Put the papaya and cucumber in a mixing bowl. This salad stands up well to time, so feel free to make in advance to bring it on a picnic or eat later. 

Dresssing
To make the dressing, lime juice, rice vinegar, ginger, scallions, cilantro, chili sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl, whisk well, cover and refrigerate.Mix all the above ingredients nicely in a big bowl and refrigerate for 1/2 hr.  Serve chilled. 

Arrangement
Arrange the salad greens on a plate and spoon the fruit over them. Sprinkle with toasted seeds.

Just before serving, sprinkle chaat masala and mix again

Notes

Line a serving platter or 4 individual plates with lettuce leaves (optional) and top each with about 1/2 cup salad.

Adding chaat masala makes the papaya give off water, so do not store after adding it. Serve immediately. Semi-ripe papaya lends natural sweetness to the salad – no added sugar is required.

Aval Payasam (Poha Kheer)

The Tamil New Year is celebrated on the first day of the Hindu Solar Calendar. Popularly known as Puthandu, it is celebrated with feasts in Hindu homes and the entrances to the houses are decorated elaborately with kolams. Every year in the month of Chithrai (the first month of the Hindu calendar), Tamil New Year is observed with much gaiety and fervor.

The auspicious things include gold and silver jewelry, betel leaves, nuts, fruits and vegetables, flowers, raw rice and coconuts. It is followed by people taking a ritual bath and then they visit the temple to pray.The highlight of Tamil New Year Festival in Tamil Nadu is the 'Maanga Pachadi' and Sweet dishes.I have posted Aval payasam to start my New year with happiness.

Aval payasam is a quick and easy to make dessert / pudding. The reason is that aval or beaten rice does not need a whole lot of time to cook; in fact, it becomes nice and soft and good enough to eat once you soak it in water for a few minutes. You can do this soaking when you are getting the other things ready. This is very easy to prepare which will not take more than 5 minutes. So suitable for beginners and bachelors.

Aval payasam is a healthy kheer/payasam perfect to make for poojas/ guest visits. It’s made using Aval aka poha which is said to be the favorite of Lord Krishna. So South Indians, usually prepare this during the gokulaashtami festival. Nowadays this payasam is served as thinner in consistency and served in glasses or cups in most of the places even in marriages But in our south Indian menu, it should be served between rasam and buttermilk. Here in this recipe I have used sugar for sweetness. 

Prep  time	cook time	Serves
5 mins	10 mins	4 persons

Recipe type:  Payasam varieties

Cuisine:  Tamil Nadu cuisine

Ingredients Poha (Aval) – 1 cup Sugar – ½  to  ¾  cup Water – 3 cups Milk – ½ cup Cardamom powder – ½ tsp Cashews - 6 to 10  no’s Raisins - 8 no’s Ghee -1 tbsp. Cardamom -2 no’s Condensed milk -1 tbsp. (Optional)

Method

1. Heat ghee in a pan, fry cashew nuts until light golden in color on low heat. Then add in the raisins and fry until fluffy and transfer it to a bowl.Now add 1/2 a cup of water to roasted Aval and cook in the fry pan. (Time may differ according to the thickness of Aval)Transfer to a bowl and keep it aside.

2. In a sauce pan, add in the milk and let it boil. Once boiled, reduce heat to low and cook until the milk is slightly reduced. Stir occasionally.Then add in the roasted rice flakes, sugar and combine well. Cook until the rice flakes are soft and the kheer is semi-thick. Stir occasionally. 

3.When it melts completely, you can switch off the stove and add milk. Remove from heat and serve warm.

This can be served either warm or you can cool down in a refrigerator and serve chilled. 

4. Garnish with fried cashewnuts, dry grapes and pinch of cardamom powder.

Notes

You can use white or red rice flakes. I used thick rice flakes.

If you are using thick rice flakes, gently rinse it in color water for 2 times. Drain immediately and set aside.