When my father was working in Mumbai, he learnt this recipe from his North Indian friend. Whenever my dad comes to Salem for holidays, he used to cook for us. We love our dad's cooking a lot . We love his Kara kuzhambu, rasam and this onion tomato sabji. My dad used to say this tomato sabzi is their go to recipe for every day's dinner.They also make it for their lunch box as a side dish for chapathi or poori . Its so easy to make and tastes great too. Sometimes my dad make this sabji by adding boiled potato, peas and even ladies finger. We love this simple sabzi with idli,dosa as well. I don’t say this is the authentic Maharashtrian style tomato sabji or tomato bhaji. This is just an easy, one pot version which is ideal for working women and bachelors. Last weekend I made methi poori and this tomato sabji for our breakfast. It was a nice combo.Sendhil and Raksha loved it a lot. It tastes the best with roti and poori. Do try this tomato sabji recipe and share your feedback with me :)
Tomato sabji recipe for chapathi, poori
How to make tomato sabji in a pressure cooker - Easy & quick side dish for poori and roti/chapathi !
Red chilli powder - 1/2 – 3/4 tsp ( I used Kashmiri chilli pwd)
Dhania powder/coriander seeds powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt & water - as needed
To temper
Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp ( optional)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - to garnish
METHOD
Wash and chop the onion and tomato into small pieces. In a cooker base, heat oil and splutter cumin seeds.
Saute onion until transparent and then add ginger-garlic paste and curry leaves. Saute till the raw smell of g&g paste goes off.
Now add the tomato pieces and saute for a minute. Add salt, turmeric powder, sugar, red chilli powder, Dhania powder, garam masala powder and saute till tomato turns mushy.
Now add 3/4 cup of water, mix well and pressure cook in high flame for 2 whistles. Open the cooker after the steam is released. Oil would float on top. Mix well with a ladle and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Boil for few minutes if the sabji is watery. Make it thick. Serve hot with poori or roti !
Enjoy !
Note
For variations, you can add equal quantity of tomato and onion but adjust the quantity of spice powders accordingly.
You can also add some cooked peas or boiled potato cubes.
You can skip dhania powder if u wish. But flavor varies.
Adding sugar helps to enhance the taste. It gives a mild sweetness to the bhaji.
You can also make this sabji in a kadai instead of pressure cooker.
For variations, you can add coarsely crushed peanut powder ( 1 tbsp )
Try this easy, yummy tomato sabji at home and enjoy !!
Potato kurma @ Aloo kurma is a delicious South Indian style side dish for chapathiand poori, dosa too. Many readers who had tried my Saravana bhavan style veg kurma requested me to share potato kurma recipe. Usually in Tamil nadu, Potato masala is the most common side dish for poori. Its our family favorite too. So most of the time, I make urulaikizhangu masala. But sometimes I make this potato gravy for chapathi. Last weekend I made puri along with this kurma for our breakfast just for posting this recipe in my space.Its a very simple South Indian style potato kurma that can be made easily in a pressure cooker. We all love this a lot. I personally like to have potato kurma with dosa as well. Friends, do try this easy yet yummy side dish for poori and share your feedback with me. If you are looking for a no grind potato kurma without coconut, do check out this recipe. Its a very old post.So pictures are not that good. Soon I will try to update that post with a video. Now lets see how to make this South Indian Potato kurma for poori and chapathi with step by step pictures and video !
My MIL had told me to include pulses in our regular diet at least once in a week as they are a good source of protein for vegetarians with lots of health benefits. Usually I make sundal with green gram, chana, black urad dal.
In my family, we love to eat sundal recipes but not often. So when my MIL told me to include legumes, I found making some curry, gravy for roti or kuzhambu recipes for rice by adding pulses is the best way to make my family eat it. So I started preparing varieties of curries and gravies for rice, roti and even for idli, dosa. This South Indian style green gram curry is our recent favorite. Green gram also known as Mung bean in English, Pachai payaru in Tamil, moong sabut/mung sabut in Hindi, Cheru Payru in Malayalam, Hesaru kaalu in Kannada, Pacha Pesalu pappu in Telugu is a very healthy pulse with high fiber and nutrient values.
Recent days I have been eating mung sprouts salad for weight loss.So I tried this pacha payaru curry recipe from a Kerala YouTube channel “Garam masala” with the leftover sprouts mainly for Sendhil and Raksha. I made it with slight modifications to suit our taste buds. It came out really well with a mild sweet taste of sprouted green gram. We all loved it very much. It was a good side dish for roti/ chapathi , idli, dosa and rice.
As the yield of this gravy is more, we had this gravy for dinner and the next day’s breakfast & lunch as well. For variations, this curry can be made with mixed sprouts or with soaked green gram dal, chana or cowpeas. I am happy that I have got a healthy, yummy green gram dal curry recipe to include in our regular diet. Ok Friends, lets see how to make this healthy mulai kattiya pachai payaru curry/ sprouted green gram dal gravy with step by step photos and a video !
Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp ( use 2 tsp for spicy taste)
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt & water - as needed
Crushed kasoori methi – 1 tsp
Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
To grind
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup ( I used dessicated coconut)
Cashew nuts - 3 nos
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Garlic cloves - 4 nos
Big onion - 1/2 no
Water - to grind ( I used 1/4 cup)
Coriander leaves – to garnish ( optional)
HOW TO MAKE GREEN GRAM GRAVY - METHOD
For making sprouts : Take green gram in a bowl and wash it. Add enough water to immerse it well. Let it soak for 12 hours or overnight. The next day morning, drain the excess water and wrap the soaked green gram in a cloth or keep it in a closed bowl. Leave it for a day. The next day, you can see small sprouts. If you leave it for more than a day, the size of sprouts will become bigger.
For this gravy, you can use just soaked green gram instead of sprouted ones.
Grind grated coconut, cashews, garlic cloves, fennel seeds and chopped big onion to a smooth paste adding enough water. Set aside.
In a cooker base, take 1 cup of sprouted green gram and add 2 cups of water. Pressure cook in very low flame for 2 whistles. Remove the lid after steam is released and mix well. Set aside.
Heat oil in kadai and splutter cumin seeds. Add onion and saute till transparent. Add chopped tomato and saute till mushy. Add the required salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder. Saute quickly for a minute without burning.
Now add the ground coconut paste, saute for a minute and add 1/2 cup of water. Let it boil for few minutes till raw smell goes off. Now add the cooked green gram dal and mix well. Check for taste and add more salt, chilli powder or garam masala powder if needed.
Let the gravy boil for 5 minutes. Lastly add the crushed kasoori methi and mix well. Switch off the flame and serve hot with roti or rice ! Enjoy !
Note
For variations, you can replace green gram with cooked chana/chickpeas.
Adjust the quantity of chilli powder as per the taste.
You can garnish with coriander leaves at the end which is optional
If you want to omit coconut, just skip it and grind the remaining ingredients alone. In that case, add less water while boiling to get thick gravy.
Do try this healthy, flavorful green gram curry for roti and rice. Enjoy !
Many of you would have heard about and tasted brinjal kurma for biryani and rice. Even I have posted the same in my blog. But when I came across this brinjal kurma (Kathirikai kuruma in Tamil) recipe for idli,dosa and chapathi in a cookbook, it was new and interesting to me.
As I am a big fan of brinjal recipes, I tried it immediately as a side dish for thatte idlifor our weekend breakfast. It was very nice with mild flavor of masala/spices. I just loved it with idli and dosa. I hope it tastes good with chapathi/roti as well.
Sendhil is not a big fan of brinjal, still he tasted this kurma without any complaints. So I thought of sharing this yummy, interesting brinjal kurma recipe especially for all the ardent fans of brinjal like me. I have used long green brinjal in this recipe. I guess you can try with purple variety brinjal too. Friends, do try this different kurma recipe at home and share your feedback with me. Ok, Lets see how to make Brinjal kurma with step by step pictures !
Wash and chop brinjal into small pieces. Keep immersed in water till use. Chop onion & tomato. Keep aside.
In a mixie jar, take all the ingredients given under “ To grind” and grind them to a smooth paste adding enough water. Keep it aside.
In a cooker base, heat oil and temper mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions and saute until transparent. Add the chopped tomato pieces and saute till mushy. Then add the chopped brinjal pieces and saute till they shrink in size and reduce in quantity. It takes 2-3 minutes.
Now add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and ground coconut paste.Mix well. Saute the mixture for a minute. Add 1 to 1.5 cups of water and pressure cook in very low flame for one whistle. Open the lid after the steam is released. If the kurma is too thick, add 1/4 cup of water, mix well and check for taste. Add more salt or chilli powder if needed. Garnish with coriander leaves. Give a boil and serve hot with idli, dosa or chapathi.
Enjoy !
Note
Adjust the quantity of green chilli if you want more spicy taste.
Restaurant style Paneer Butter masala recipe with step by step picture- In this post, you can learn how to make North Indian, restaurant style Paneer butter masala at home. I tried this recipe from Nags Space. I made slight changes in the original recipe by simplifying its cooking procedure & the list of ingredients.It came out excellent in taste .Thanks a lot Nags. Its a quick and easy to make recipe.So I make it very often for Raksha’s lunch box. She loves the combination of soft chapathi with paneer butter masala more than other gravies.The addition of cashew paste, milk and fresh cream makes it so rich. You can make this gravy without onion and garlic too. I am sure it tastes great. I want to treasure this recipe in my blog for future reference.So here comes the yummy restaurant style Paneer Butter Masala recipe. Do try this recipe at home and let me know your feedback ladies .
Paneer Butter masala - Restaurant style
How to make restaurant style paneer butter masala at home
Paneer – 50 gms (cubed ) ( Soak in hot water till use)
Big onion – 1 no (chopped roughly)
Tomatoes – 2 nos (medium sized)
Cooking oil or butter - 1 + 1 tbsp
Ginger , Garlic paste – 1 tsp ( Or grind 1 inch ginger & 5 cloves of garlic)
Coriander powder/Dhania powder – 1.5 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp
Tomato ketchup - 2 tsp
Salt- As required.
Boiled Milk – 1/2 cup to 1 cup ( use as required)
Fresh cream - 1 tbsp ( I dint have fresh cream .So I removed a tsp of skin from the boiled milk and added it.)(Paalaadai)
Cashew – 5 nos ( to grind to a smooth paste)
Crushed Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
METHOD
Peel and chop the big onion roughly. Chop the paneer into cubes. Boil 1 cup of water and add 2 tomato. Let it boil till the skin of tomato cracks. Switch off the flame and remove the tomatoes, set aside. ( You can peel the skin of tomatoes if you wish) Add the cubed paneer pieces to the remaining hot water. Let it be in hot water till use. It helps to keep the paneer soft.No need to fry the paneer pieces. ( For variations, you can skip blanching the tomato and grind with onion mixture as shown in the next step)
In a kadai, heat oil( use butter for rich taste) and saute the onion till transparent.Add Ginger&garlic paste,saute till its raw smell goes off.Now add the red chilli powder, dhania powder , garam masala powder. Saute in low flame. Make sure you don’t burn them. Let the mixture cool down completely.
To the mixture, add the blanched tomato and raw cashews. Grind everything to a smooth paste adding required water. Heat oil ( or butter) in a kadai and saute the ground paste till thick.
Add tomato ketchup, sugar and salt. Mix well and boil the gravy till oil starts to float on top. Add the boiled milk. Mix well and check the taste. Let the gravy boil for few minutes. Gravy gets a nice orange shade. Lastly add the crushed kasoori methi, paneer cubes.If the gravy is too thick, add more milk. Mix well. Add fresh cream at the end and switch off the flame.Check for spice & salt. If its too spicy add some more milk and vice versa. Serve with roti !!
Enjoy !
Note
Use butter instead of cooking oil for rich taste & flavor.
Instead of grinding cashews along with tomato, onion mixture, you can grind it separately and add it along with milk.
You can also use almonds/badam in place of cashews. But cashews are the best !
You can peel the skin of blanched tomato, grind it to a puree and add to the gravy. But I ground it with onion masala.
Adjust the quantity of chilli powder and dhania powder as per your taste.
Adding kasoori methi gives the perfect restaurant style taste.So please don’t skip it.
Yummy Paneer Butter Masala is ready to be served hot with Chapathi , Naan.
Last week my friend Shalini was telling me about methi chaman gravy (Methi = Fenugreek leaves in English, Vendhaya keerai in Tamil, methi in Hindi, Menthe soppu in Kannada) she had in a restaurant. She told her family loved the gravy a lot and suggested me to give a try. She also shared me a link with a recipe close to the restaurant style methi chaman. Actually speaking, I have no idea about this recipe and its origin. So I browsed few more recipes to know its birth and came to know methi chaman is from Kashmir and it is very popular in Mumbai too. It is a mildly spicy curry/ gravy made using palak, fenugreek leaves/Methi leaves. It is popularly known as Hariyali Methi Chaman.Today I have shared Paneer methi chaman recipe. I am not sure this is the authentic recipe because I found many variations in this basic methi chaman recipe by adding paneer, Palak, sweet corn etc. In fact my friend Shalini tasted makai methi chaman in which sweet corn and methi leaves were the major ingredients. It is without paneer and palak. But its my first attempt for this recipe. So I blindly followed the recipe shared in the link. It came out finger licking good.Its a good side dish for roti, naan, kulcha, ghee rice and mild pulao varieties. I loved it like anything and found “Kitchen King Masala” is the star ingredient for this particular recipe. Friends, do buy a pack of kitchen king masala if you don’t have in your hand.It gives restaurant style taste and flavor to North Indian gravies. If you don’t have fenugreek leaves, you can use crushed kasuri methi ( Dried frenugreek leaves) too.Ok, lets see how to make methi chaman gravy with paneer.
Don't forget to check out my other paneer recipes in THIS LINK
Paneer methi chaman gravy recipe
Paneer methi chaman gravy recipe - Mildly spiced gravy with Indian cottage cheese & Fenugreek leaves- Side dish for roti,naan, kulcha and mild pulao varieties
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( Add more for spicy gravy)
Dhania powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder/Jeera powder – 1/2 tsp
Kitchen king masala powder - 1 tsp ( I used Kwality brand)
Boiled Milk - 1/4 cup
Salt & water - as needed
METHOD
Cut paneer into cubes.Chop tomato, slice onions. Boil 2 cups of water till water starts to roll boil.Add the paneer cubes. Take fenugreek leaves ( methi leaves) & wash it thrice to remove the dust.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai. Crackle cumin seeds. Saute onion till transparent. Add ginger pieces,cashews. Then saute tomato till mushy adding some salt. Let the mixture cool down. Grind to a smooth paste adding required water.
Heat 1 cup of water & add 1/2 tsp sugar and the washed leaves. Boil for few minutes till the leaves cook well. Cook till all the water drains out. For variation, you can saute the leaves in oil instead of blanching to reduce the bitterness.Also you can grind the cooked leaves to a paste and add to the gravy. This gives green colored base to the gravy.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in the kadai. Saute the tomato-onion paste, 1/4 cup of water, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhania powder, kitchen king masala powder, required salt. Mix well till oil starts to ooze out.
To this add the blanched methi leaves and some water, mix well and let it boil.Check for taste and add more salt, spice powders if needed.
Add the paneer cubes, boiled milk and let the gravy boil for a minute. Check the consistency and switch off the flame. Add fresh cream if you like. Mix well and serve hot with roti/Pulao/Naan.
Enjoy !
Don't forget to check out my other paneer recipes in THIS LINK
Enjoy restaurant style Paneer methi chaman recipe with roti/naan !!
I started to explore varieties of ridge gourd recipes (Ridge gourd in English, Turai/Luffa/Torai in Hindi, Peerkangai in Tamil, Beerakaya in Telugu, Hirekai in Kannada, Peechinga in Malayalam, Ghiya Tori in Urdu ) in my kitchen. Recently I shared Andhra style Ridge gourd dal / Beerakaya pappu recipe for rice.Today I have posted a North Indian style Ridge gourd curry. I followed this recipe from Mullai’s blog. It is known as Turai Ki Sabji/Sabzi in Hindi. It tastes good with rice and roti as well. Yesterday I prepared this sabzi and dal for my lunch. It was simple yet comforting. I ate this curry with plain rice adding ghee. You can make this as a side dish for roti. I am sure it tastes better with roti. Lets see how to make this easy, yummy and healthy Ridge gourd sabji recipe.
Check out my South Indian Peerkangai chutney( gravy )for rice.