Nellikkai Thokku - Gooseberry Preserve (Savory)

Prep time: 0 min                                Cooking time: 20 min                                  Makes: 1 small cup

Gooseberries (nellikkai/ amla) are rich in Vitamin C and anti-oxidants. It is said that the fruit provides a host of health benefits including reduction of bad cholesterol, insulin production, anti-ageing, preventing constipation, etc. And from what I've heard, as a bonus, it makes your hair and skin glow :-)

As a child (why, even now), I loved the tingling sweet taste when one sipped water after chewing a bit of it... 

Thokku Kattu or Kollu Paruppu Rasam

Prep time: 5 min                       Cooking time: 15 min                          Serves: 4

Kollu/ Kaanam in tamil is the pulse also known as hurali/uruli(in kannada), muthira (in malayalam), kulith (in marathi) and gahat or kulath (in hindi)... wait wait.. i am not so multilingual, this is from wikipedia, listed here so that you all can get associated with this wonderful lentil. It is rarely ever  found as a regular ingredient in North Indian kitchens and is only slightly more popular in the South. But this NO-OIL recipe is something which no paruppu/dal loving person should miss. It is very tasty, quite filling and what more, it is considered to be very very nutritious.

(Kovil) Puliyodharai - Tamarind Rice

Prep time: 20 min                  Cooking time: 20 min                                    Makes: 8-10 servings

Puliyodarai / Puliyogare / Pulihora / Chitrannam / Puli saadham / Tamarind rice... Call it by whatever name you want. This spicy-tangy rice dish is something that every South Indian household swears by :) The long-shelf-life, ready-to-mix paste makes it ideal for packing for long travel, picnics, weekday lunchbox, hostel-life staples, bachelor cooking, etc. And like the many names it has, there are a multitude of variations too :) Every household in the South has its own version of making this lip-smacking dish. But the most popular version is the 'prasaadam' we get in our Perumal (Vishnu) temples.. I am a die-hard fan of this puliyodharai and was extremely delighted when I came to know that my mother-in-law had a key to its secret recipe :)

Keerai Rasam + Poriyal

Soppu-Soppu Rasa / Soppin Rasa in Kannada

Prep time: 15 min                            Cooking time: 6-7 min                           Serves : 4

Greens are very versatile ingredients. You can fashion them into most South Indian staple dishes like sambar, masiyal, koottu, poriyal, etc. And they are also easy to incorporate into vadas and pakodas (fritters). Nowadays, greens soups, puris, variety rices have also become commonplace in most health-conscious households. Moreover, they cook very fast and are extremely handy in quick fix situations.

Four-ingredient Mutton Curry

Prep time:  5 min           Cooking time: 15 min                         Serves : 4

Making non-vegetarian dishes usually involves a lot of preparation  - peeling pearl onions and garlic, grinding fresh ginger garlic paste, chopping loads of onions and tomatoes, grinding masala paste, et al. All this labour mean non-vegetarian dishes being usually reserved for Sundays. So, when my mother-in-law told me about this simple mutton curry with very little prep and no ginger-garlic, I was surprised and even wary of trying it fearing that the taste might be traded off for all the effort saved. But when I did try, what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be!

Milagu Muttai Kuzhambu

(Egg with peppery gravy)

Prep time: 8 min          Cooking time: 5 min               Servings: 2

I wanted to begin the blog with this one since this is my first original recipe. I had travelled from my place of posting to my home for the weekend and reached just around dinner time. V was about to start from his office and I wanted to make a quick dinner for us before he reached home. I looked in the fridge and what was there.. Just a couple of eggs and 2-3 not-so-fresh onions. No veggies or tomato or coconut to even lend that usual gravy base in typical South Indian cooking.