Category Archives: Food

Recipes: Mor Chaar

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This recipe is from my memories. My mother used to go to the market and do her rounds of the temple in Matunga about thrice a week from time I can remember. It has stopped now because of COVID, and had reduced to about twice a week a couple of years back, but this used to be the routine all through my growing up years. On those days, she would have to come back home and then make dinner for us. Some days, when time was short, she used to rustle this dish up to go with rice and any leftover stir fry vegetable. An extremely quick recipe, this can be made in less than 10 minutes start to finish. My mother used to add tomatoes to it, which, because of the quick cooking time would be slightly raw and which I hated at that time. So I would make sure I avoided getting any tomatoes in my plate. My sister, on the other hand, loved the tomatoes, so to us, it was a win-win situation. My version does not have any tomatoes, but you can add them if you want. This can also be a version of Kadhi, albeit one without any thickening agent like coconut or chickpea flour.

This dish is prepared across Tamil households and made when you need to make something very quickly. It can also be drunk as a cooling yoghurt based dish when it is hot outside as it will cool the body down. I served this with a carrot thogayal and a vegetable stir-fry for lunch with brown rice.

Mor Chaar

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup yoghurt, thinned to about 2 cups and beaten well
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
  • ¼ tsp asafoetida
  • 5-6 curry leaves
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • 2-3 dried red chillies
  • Finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Whisk the yoghurt to thin it, add salt to taste and keep aside.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and when the oil warms, add the mustard seeds
  • When the mustard seeds pop, add the fenugreek seeds, dried red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves and let the curry leaves crackle.
  • Add the turmeric powder and stir for a couple of seconds.
  • Now reduce the flame of the gas and pour in the whisked yoghurt, continuously stirring so the yoghurt does not curdle.
  • Keep stirring and whisking the buttermilk and on a low to medium flame, let this come to a nice rolling boil.
  • Boil for a few minutes and switch off. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice and a vegetable.

Recipes: Indian Style Vegetable Soup

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Back in the days when I was a teen and in my early twenties, I used to diet and soups was a huge part of that diet, especially for dinner. And the soup I am sharing today is inspired by those soups that my mother used to make for me. It is quite easy to make and is pretty much a one pot meal which is cooked in the pressure cooker.

The colour of the soup will be dependent on the vegetables used and mine turned a bit greenish because of the green vegetables I used.

Indian Style Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups chopped vegetables (you can use any combination you like, this time I used potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and frozen green peas)
  • 2 medium sized onions, roughly chopped
  • 1 bulb of garlic, peeled
  • 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
  • 1 small bunch of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
  • 2-3 dried red chillies
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 4-5 cloves
  • 4-5 cardamom pods
  • 1 inch piece of cinnamon
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • Pepper powder to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp oil

Method:

  • Chop the vegetables and keep aside
  • Roughly chop the onions and the garlic and ginger and keep aside
  • Heat oil in the pressure cooker and when the oil warms up, add the cumin seeds first and when the seeds start spluttering, add the fennel seeds and then the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and give it a good stir.
  • Next add the garlic and ginger and stir it for a while till the garlic starts to brown.
  • Then add the turmeric powder, stir a bit and then add the vegetables and the coriander leaves. Stir a bit, add the bay leaf and add just enough water that the vegetables don’t stick to the bottom of the pressure cooker.
  • Let the pressure build up and cook for about 4-5 whistles. Switch off the flame, let the pressure ease and the vegetables cool.
  • If you are cooking on the stovetop, then cover and cook until the vegetables are completely cooked and starting to fall apart. Switch off the gas and let it cool.
  • When the vegetables are cooled enough, transfer to a blender and in batches blend it as fine or as chunky as you like.
  • When it’s blended to your liking, transfer it back to the pan, add enough water to bring it to the consistency you want and let it come to a nice rolling boil. Season with salt and pepper.
  • When it has been boiling for about 10 minutes in a low medium flame, switch off the flame and have hot with some croutons.

Notes:

  • The coriander leaves add a green colour to the soup and can be omitted if this is a vegetable you don’t like.
  • Tomatoes are also a wonderful addition to the soup. If adding tomatoes, make an x cross at the stem of the tomatoes and put it whole on top of the vegetables while cooking. Once the vegetables are cooked, remove the tomato with a slotted spoon and it can be easily peeled. Then blend it along with the other vegetables.

Recipes: Sambar without using Sambar Powder

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I usually get my stash of Sambar Powder from my mum who makes it at home, either when we go down to India or she comes to Singapore. But because of travel restrictions in the past 18 months and no travel happening, as expected, my stock of Sambar powder finally finished. I then asked my mother for the recipe to make the powder, but because she told me it was a tedious process, I kept putting it off. And then last month, I needed to make Sambar and with no powder available, I decided to use the recipe that mother gave me and tweaked it slightly to make a paste which I used to make the Sambar. It was super tasty and I thought it’s a good alternative to those who don’t have access to a good quality powder.

For this recipe, I used raw bananas, but you can use any other vegetable you like including potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, bell peppers etc.

Sambar without using Sambar Powder

Ingredients:

  • 1 lemon sized ball of tamarind, soaked in hot water for 20-30 minutes
  • 1 cup tuvar dal, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
  • 1 cup peeled and chopped raw bananas, cut in bite sized pieces which are then soaked in a bowl of water to prevent oxidation
  • ¾ tsp chana dal
  • 1 tsp tuvar dal
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 4-5 dried red chillies (reduce this amount if you want it less spicy)
  • 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
  • ½ tsp peppercorns
  • ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 tbsp jaggery powder (You can use brown sugar instead, but the taste would not be the same)
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/8 tsp asafoetida
  • 2 tsp oil
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and in the following order fry the spices for the sambar paste, making sure you fry each ingredient for about 30 seconds before adding the next ingredient. Fry the tuvar dal, chana dal, coriander seeds, dried red chillies, coconut, peppercorns and fenugreek seeds and let the dal become brown and the coconut become brown and crisp and loses all water. Do not let them burn. Take off from the flame and let it cool.
  • Once cool, blend with some water to a fine paste. You can also powder this and use it as a powder.
  • Cook the tuvar dal in a pressure cooker or on the stovetop and whisk it to a fine paste and keep aside.
  • Mash the tamarind and strain it to get just the water and thin it to get the preferred sourness.
  • In the same pan, heat the balance 1 tsp oil and when the oil warms up, add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Then add the asafoetida and the turmeric powder and stir for a couple of seconds.
  • Now add the peeled, chopped and soaked raw banana pieces and stir for a few minutes.
  • Add half a cup of water, just enough to cover the bananas (or any of the vegetables used) and let it cook covered for about 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are about half cooked.
  • Now add the sambar powder or paste, depending on how you have blended it and the tamarind water as well as the jaggery powder and salt and cook until the vegetables are almost cooked, like about 90%.
  • At this point, add the cooked dal and check for seasoning and add what seems to be missing.
  • Let it boil together in a medium boil for another 5 minutes, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice and as an accompaniment to a South Indian meal.

Recipes: Mixed Vegetable Stew/Curry

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Most weekends, we don’t want to eat rice or chapati which is our staple diet, so I am always on the lookout for new dishes to make which can be eaten without rice or rotis. One of my recent experiments was this dish which is inspired by dishes originating from the western part of India, my home state of Maharashtra and our neighbouring state of Goa. We ate it as a stew with a crusty French loaf, but S also mentioned that it would be lovely to eat with rice or even rotis.

Mixed Vegetable Stew or Curry

Ingredients:

  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1 medium sized cauliflower, chopped into small florets
  • 2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 2 medium sized onions, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1 green capsicum, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • ½ cup mixed dals (I used moong dal and toovar dal)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ cup grated coconut
  • 1 lime sized piece of tamarind
  • 5-6 fresh red chillies
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp peppercorns
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp oil
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Blend together the coconut, tamarind, red chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns and fennel seeds to a smooth paste and keep aside.
  • Soak the dal in hot water for about 20 minutes and then cook it till it becomes a smooth paste. You can cook the dals in a pressure cooker and then whisk it with a beater or even in a blender when it is cool. Keep aside.
  • Heat the oil in a large pan and when the oil warms up, put in the onions and let the onions cook and become translucent.
  • Add the other chopped vegetables, the turmeric powder, salt and cook covered till the vegetables are about 80% cooked.
  • When the vegetables are almost done, pour in the blended coconut paste and the whisked dal and stir well. At this point, add water to thin the stew or curry to the level you want. Remember, the dal and coconut will thicken the stew, so add a bit more than you think you need.
  • Let it all come to a nice rolling boil and then cook on a low to medium heat for about 10 minutes.
  • Check for seasoning and add what you feel is missing, switch off the gas and enjoy it with some crusty bread, rice or flatbread.

Notes:

  • If you don’t have access to fresh red chillies, you can also use dried red chillies, and depending on the spice intensity, reduce or increase the number of chillies
  • When blending the tamarind, make sure you remove any seeds in it as well as any extra fibers. You can also use about one to two tsps of tamarind paste or pulp.
  • The dal should be very smooth so that when you add it in the stew, it will disappear. So make you cook it completely and then whisk or blend it.

Recipes: Raw Mango Pachadi

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On the occasion of the Tamil New Year, we usually make the raw mango pachadi. This traditional dish is made on the occasion is packed with 6 flavour of tastes like sweet, salt, spicy, bitter, sour and astringent. It is believed that eating this on the new year will ensure that the year ahead will be perfectly balanced with all flavours infused in your life. The dish signifies that life is a combination of different emotions like good, bad, happy, sorrow, victory and defeat and we have to face them equally. Jaggery is used for sweet, salt for salty, dried red chilli for spicy, neem flower or fenureek seeds for bitter, raw mango for sour and turmeric for astringent.

I made this recipe for the first time earlier this year during the Tamil New Year. Actually what triggered this recipe was my mother moaning that she had not been able to get hold of raw mangoes because of the situation in Mumbai and so since I had some mangoes, I decided to make them. It was a huge hit in my house and since then, I have made it a few more times, and each time, it has been gobbled up soon. It’s a very easy recipe and from start to end, should not take more than 30 minutes.

Raw Mango Pachadi

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium sized raw mangoes
  • ½ cup grated jaggery, (more or less depending on the sourness of the mangoes)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds or 1 tbsp fresh or dried neem flowers
  • 2 dried red chillies, broken into half each

Method:

  • Peel and chop the mangoes into largish pieces and then in a pan, add a bit of water, just enough to cover the mangoes, and the turmeric and cook till the mangoes are cooked, but still retain some of their shape.
  • While the mangoes are cooking, in a separate pan, add the jaggery and 1-2 tbsps of water and let the jaggery dissolve into a syrup. Let the syrup cool down.
  • When the mangoes are cooked, strain the jaggery syrup into the mangoes using a strainer. This is so that none of the impurities found in the jaggery make their way to the dish.
  • Let the mangoes and jaggery come to a nice rolling boil. Add the salt, stir well and switch off the gas.
  • Using a smaller skillet, heat the oil and when the oil becomes warm, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds or neem flowers, dried red chillies and stir for a few seconds each before you add the next ingredient. Stir for about 10 seconds in total and pour this over the mango pachadi.
  • Serve hot with any south Indian meal and enjoy a beautiful blend of flavours.
  • Served cold, this can also be served as a cold salad or starter or even a dip with your starter.
  • You can also cook the mangoes in a pressure cooker. If using a pressure cooker, cook the mango with a bit of water and turmeric and pressure cook for 2 whistles.