Sweet pumpkin palya

My owner gave me a farm fresh medium sized sweet pumpkin which was very raw...I kept it for 2 full months...but it was not ready for cooking. ..It still looked raw, yellowish nearing orange, its regular color. Waited for a week and having lost my patience,  I decided to cook it....

As I chopped, I was thinking what can I prepare with this vegetable. Earlier I had made haasi kuuto with this and this time I wanted to prepare a palya..

Ingredients:

1 small sweet pumpkin chopped to desired shape

4 to 5 Curry leaves
3 tbspn Oil
1 tspn Mustard seeds
1 tspn hing

Blend the below ingredients to coarse powder:

2 tbspn Coriander seeds
7 to 8 Red chillies
1 tbspn salt
1 tspn Turmeric

1 md cup grated coconut

Pressure cook the pumpkin for 1-2 whistles max. Meanwhile take a kadai, add oil and once it's hot add mustard seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add the cooked pumpkin and saute it. Add the blended pwdr, hing and curry leaves. Cook for 10-15mins and it's ready to serve.

Baby Potatoes Curry...

When I went for veggie shopping, I spotted small and cute baby potatoes. I knew what I can prepare, so it went straight to my bag.

Clean the potatoes and pressure cook it with 2 whistles, with a pinch of salt, turmeric and oil. We can either peel the potatoes either before or after it cooked

Ingredients:

2 tbspn oil

1 tspn jeera

1 tspn garam masala

1 tspn salt

Blend the below Ingredients:

1 bunch pudina leaves

1/2 bunch coriander leaves

3-4 green chillies

1 md sized onion

1 tbspn ginger garlic paste

Take a kadai, add oil and once it's hot add jeera. Once they crackle, add potatoes and saute them. Add the blended mixture, salt and garam masala and allow it to cook for 10 to 15 mins, in low flame.

Enjoy eating with chapathi or poori.

Matar Paneer..

Deciding on what curry / palya to make with chapati is always a tension.....

With lots of paneer at home, I decided to experiment paneer curry. Just paneer, was a no no...any other vegetable along with paneer, was a big yes...that's where I had my hands of fresh peas..

Ingredients:

1 md cup fresh peas
5-6 cubes paneer, sauted in oil
1 small cup fresh cream
1 tbspn salt
2 tbspn oil
chopped coriander for garnishing

Blend the below ingredients to a fine paste:
1 md sized onion
1 tbspn ginger garlic paste
2 md sized tomatoes
3 green chillies
1/4 tspn turmeric
5-6 cashewnuts

Take a kadai, add oil and once it's hot, add the blended mixture and also add fresh peas and salt. Bring it to a boil and then add the paneer. Mix it completely with the curry. Turn of the flame, add fresh cream, mix slowly. Garnish with chopped coriander

Serve hot with hot chapatis or pooris.

Khara/ Spicy pongal for Sankranthi...

This is generally prepared during Sankranthi.

Ingredients:

1 md cup rice
1 md cup hesar bele
1 md cup avarekallu
1 tbspn jeera
1 tbspn pepper
5 tbspn ghee
1 tbspn salt
1/2 md cup grated coconut
few curry leaves
1 tspn turmuric
5-6 strands of chopped coriander

Wash and pressure cook rice, hesar bele, avare kallu with little jeera and pepper along with turmeric. Now take a kadai, add ghee. Once the ghee melts add jeera, pepper, salt, grated coconut and curry leaves. Add cooked ingredients and mix it thoroughly. Garnish it with coriander and serve hot.

Sweet Pongal for Sankranthi...

I had cooked this for my first Makara Sankranthi festival after marriage and I'm posting the recipes now. Maybe it's too early for the new Sankranthi... 

Spicy and Sweet Pongal is very common for this festival.

Sweet Pongal recipe follows:

 Ingredients:

1 md cup rice

1 md cup hesar bele

4 md cup grated jaggery

cashew, almonds, raisins for garnishing (as desired) 

5 tbspn ghee

3 elachi crushed

3 cloves crushed

2 md cup water

Wash and pressure cook rice and hesar bele together along with 1 elachi and 1 clove. 

Take a kadai and add ghee. Once the ghee melts, add dry fruits and crushed elachi and clove. Now add grated jaggery and also water. Once the jaggery is completely melted, add the cooked rice and hesar bele. 

Mix it throughly and enjoy eating it hot or cold.