Banana Squash fry:





I tried to bake banana squash with salt and pepper. It took a long time and I wasn't really satisfied with the taste. Then I decided to try it the Indian way. It tasted great!

Ingredients:

Banana Squash - 2 cups chopped
Onions - 1/2 - finely chopped
Chilli powder - 1 tspn
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt
Curry Leaves
Water - 1/2 cup

How to:

Take off the skin of banana squash and cut them into 1 inch pieces. Heat a kadai, add heat 1 tbspn oil and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal. Add onions and curry leaves and fry for 5 minutes. Add squash, turmeric, chilli powder, salt and water and mix well. Close the lid and let it cook until the squash is tender. Stir gently once in a while. Serve with sambar and rice.

Green Tomato chutney:

This is a yummy chutney and the recipe comes from Mom. It tastes delicious with chapathi or just with plain hot rice. I have tried this recipe with tomatillos, but it doesn't taste quite right. So, if you get hold of green tomatoes, give it a try. I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Ingredients:

Green tomatoes - 3 medium or 2 big
Green chilles - 6 or 7 (adjust to your taste)
Garlic - 3 pods
Cilantro - 1 cup
Tamarind paste - 1/2 tspn ( or tamarind - little)
Cumin seeds - 2 tspn
Coconut - 1 tbspn


Method:

Heat a kadai, add 2 spns of oil. Add chopped green tomatoes, green chilles and fry.
Wondering about red chillies in my snap? I have a red chilli plant in my yard and I used them.

You just let them fry and get cooked and slightly browned, stirring once in a while. This takes about 30 minutes. Do not add any water. This will take some moisture away from the tomatoes actually. Now, add cumin seeds and stir for 2 minutes and take it off the stove and let it cool.

Grind the following first : Green chillies, garlic, salt, tamarind. (Just run the blender or mixie for a minute). Then add the green tomatoes, coconut, cilantro and grind well. You are done!

Nature's Colors:

I picked these colorful bell peppers by myself from the farm. They had U-pick this weekend and I was so excited to see so many colors and such huge ones.










Bell Pepper Fried rice:

Real tender beauties:

Last weekend we had been to a nearby farm and I was really amazed to see these yellow beans. A real love at first sight.

Appam and Kurma:








Appam:

This is mom's recipe and it is different from most of the ones I have seen. The result is heavenly soft appams.


Idli rice - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Coconut Milk - 1 can


Soak the above ingredients for 4 to 5 hours and grind adding coconut milk. It takes about 1/2 cup maximum. Add salt and mix well and let it ferment. Next day, add the rest of the coconut milk and mix well. Heat the appam pan to medium to high heat. Pour a ladle of the batter and hold the pan handles and rotate the batter so that it spreads into a round shape. Close the lid and let it cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove the lid and take the appam off the pan. Appam is cooked only on one side. Serve hot with kurma or sweetened coconut milk or any other curry.

Cauliflower Kofta:


This recipe was adapted from Indian Breads, Rice and Curries. I made couple of changes to suit my family.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1/2 - cut into large florets
Garlic - 3 - chopped finely
Salt
Green Chillies - 2 - chopped finely
Garam masala - 1 tspn
Turmeric - 1 tspn
Cilantro - 2 tbspn - chopped finely
Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup
Oil - for deep frying

Steam the cauliflower florets for 4 - 5 minutes and cool. Mash the cauliflower with the rest of the ingredients except oil. Make them into balls and deep fry. Serve hot. It tastes delicious on its own.