Kolam by Sudha Balaji

    One of the most popular paneer recipes is the paneer butter masala, an all time favourite with adults and kids alike.The images below give the step by step procedure to make this the traditional  way and hence cannot be categorised as the restaurant style paneer butter masala. Take a little quantity of butter in a vessel heated on a stove and let it melt         Add coarsely chopped onions , I have taken four onions , coarsely chopped because we will grind it in a mixer  Add half tea spoon of ginger garlic paste , any reputed brand can be used Add two finely chopped green chillies . Two will suffice because we will add chilly powder also Add a tea spoon of turmeric powder and mix  the mixture well constantly with a ladle.  This will ensure that parts of the onion is not over cooked. Add a few cashew nuts .  This is optional only.  However adding cashews will enhance the richness  of...

This is a traditional method of making mixed vegetable curry for Bhogi festival.  This tradition has been there from time immemorial.  Probably, this idea was started to prepare a recipe from the freshly harvested vegetables that are available during Sankranti. Usually, we prepare this as a side dish for for pooris we make on Bhogi day.  Since we live in Tamil Nadu, pooris with Bhogichi bhaji and Venn Pongal (the traditional and healthy breakfast of Tamil Nadu made with rice, moong dhal and lots of pepper) is also part of our menu. For festivals onion and garlic are avoided in cooking in our family so this recipe is without onion and garlic. The vegetables usually used are sweet potato, potato , carrot , cluster beans, flat beans, green beans seeds.  All the vegetables are cooked separately in water boiled in a vessel and not in a pressure cooker because they can become too soft and some of them will not be discrete also owing to the high temperature in the coo...

Bombay chutney Ingredients Gram dhall flour ( kadalai maavu or besan ) - one small cup Turmeric powder - half tea spoon Chilli powder - half tea spoon or less Asafoetida - to sprinkle on chutney Tomatoes - one big size finely chopped Onions - optional  Mix gram dhall flour, turmeric powder, chilli powder, sprinkle asafoetida and add salt to taste.  Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and then add water so that the solution is watery or dilute because the besan flour has the tendency to thicken or clog when we heat.  In a pan add oil, saute with mustard seeds, urad dhall, curry leaves. Add tomatoes to this and fry.  If onions are to be added they should be added first for frying before adding tomatoes. After frying the tomatoes add the solution of gram dhall flour and other ingredients and stir for a few minutes. When the solution becomes thick cooking is complete.  Remove from the stove and add coriander leaves. Some add a pinch of sugar to give a different tast...

Payatham paruppu recipe | Moong dhal recipe | Side dish for chapathi | poori  This is an easy and quick to make side dish that is tasty too.  The moong dhal and tomatoes give the sweet taste balanced by green chillies and if required red chili powder. The ingredients are as shown in the pictures above.  They are finely chopped onion, sliced tomatoes, garlic cloves sliced, green chillies, curry leaves.  For 100 grams dhal we can take one onion and one tomato, few cloves of garlic.  Actually, garlic is optional.  Finely chopped green chillies are needed to balance the sweet taste of the dhal and tomatoes. Moong dhal is cooked in a pressure cooking after adding a pinch of turmeric powder.  So that it gets cooked well as shown in the image above.  Alternatively, all the vegetables and chillies can be cooked with the moong dhal in a pressure cooker to make it easy for us and reduce the number of processes. In a vessel called van...