Guacamole

Ingredients
1 avocado
1 tomato
4-5 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1-2 jalapeno or regular green chili (as per your taste)
5-6 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves or cilantro
juice of half a lemon
salt for taste

Method
De seed the avocado and peel it. Remove the flesh of the avocado and put it in a bowl. De seed and chop the tomato into small pieces. De seed the jalapeno chili and chop it finely. Put all the ingredients in the bowl and mash and mix all the ingredients with the back of a fork or a spoon. Serve immediately with tortilla (corn) chips.

Potato Gojju

Potato gojju is a very frequently made side dish at my home. It goes well with dal chawal or rasam. It is a very flexible dish to make and can be made with which ever ingredients are available on hand. It can be made with just potatoes or a tomato can add a tangy-sour flavor to the gojju.

Ingredients
2 boiled potatoes
1 medium tomato
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 green chili or as per taste
4-5 curry leaves
1 teaspoon coconut oil or any other oil
salt for taste

Method
Wash and roughly chop the tomato. Cook the tomato well with very little water in the microwave or stove top. Chop green chilies. Mash the tomato, green chilies, salt and potato well with your fingers. Add water as per desired consistency. Season the gojju with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Moong Dal Idli

I saw this recipe on the The Indian Food Court blog. Click here to view the recipe. Instead of rice rava, I soaked wheat rava for around 30 minutes in water, and added it to the batter 15 minutes before making idlis. It is a good change to the normal idlis and tastes different too.

Arbi Sabzi / Arvi Sabzi

Arbi also sold as taro root in the US is a very tasty vegetable. It cooks in no time. Here is a tasty arbi sabzi recipe.

Ingredients
10-12 arbi or taro root
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon jeera or cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon amchur powder or dry mango powder
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon ajwain
2 tablespoon oil
salt for taste

Method
Wash the arbi thoroughly and pressure cook till it is soft. Don't overcook it to make it mushy in texture, the arbi should remain firm. Peel the arbi and cut it into quarters. Heat oil in a skillet and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add jeera, turmeric powder, ajwain, coriander powder, chili powder and asafoetida. Add the cut arbi and amchur and mix it well with the masala. Add salt for taste and cook uncovered for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve hot with roti or rice.

Preparation time: 40 minues
Serves: 2

Roasted Pumpkin and Pepper Soup

I always love to try new soup recipes using a varied variety of vegetables. I tried roasted pumpkin and pepper soup this weekend and it was a great comfort during the cold weather week.

Ingredients
2 cups cubed pumpkin or squash
1/2 cup red pepper (use green pepper or capsicum if red pepper is not on hand)chopped into big pieces
1/4 cup onion chopped into large pieces
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves or parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
salt for taste

Method
Roast the cubed pumpkin, pepper and onions on all sides till they slightly caramelize(or get a lighr brown color). They can be roasted in the oven or on a grill or a tava. Grind with milk, chili powder, cumin powder into a smooth paste. Add the chopped coriander leaves or parsley. Get the soup to a boil and serve hot.

Sambar Powder / Kolumbo Pitti

Here is the recipe for the ever versatile sambar powder. Ingredients 1 cup coriander seeds 1 cup red chilies (or as per taste) 1 1/2 teaspoon urad dal 1 1/2 teaspoon chana dal 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon pepper corn 10-12 karipatta leaves 1/2 teaspoon heeng 1/2 teaspoon methi seeds 

1/2 teaspoon jeera seeds 

Method

Dry roast these ingredients one by one on a medium flame till crisp and hot. The ingredients should not burn or blacken in color. Put all the ingredients in a dry grinder (I use a coffee/ spice grinder) and make a fine powder. Store it in an airtight container. I use this powder for rasam, sambar and to make sambar rice. It can also be used with puffed rice.