Asparagus sauteed in spicy pepper blend.
Asparagus Curry / Asparagus Fry / Vepudu / Thoran / Varuval
Shallow fried Indian Bitter Gourd prepared with an unsual tomato pulp marinade.
Bitter Gourd – Karela
Kale greens are highly nutritious vegetable relating to the wild cabbage family. Fresh kale leaves when sauteed and seasoned in our Indian style taste similar to that of Murungai keerai (Drumstick leaves).
Poriyal ~~~ Dry saute / Dry fry / Vepudu / Thoran
Kale Greens Thoran / Kale Saute / Kale Vepudu / Kale Curry / Porial / Dry Kale Fry
Dill with sateed mushroom in peppery masala. Fresh Dill is very fragrant and sweeter with little bit of fennel and ajwain flavour. Suits well for soups, pickles and some curries. Here is my attempt to combine it with Mushroom and pepper.
Mushroom Masala / Dill Masala / Mushroom Pepper Masala with Dill / Dill Curry / Dill Saute / Dill Fry / Dil
German ~ Dill
Hindi ~ Sowa
Tamil ~ Sataguppi, Guppai
Paruppu Usili is a South Indian dry lentil curry preparation. Paruppu ~ lentil, Usili ~ Crumbled is teamed with Asparagus to form a scrumptious poriyal. Asparagus ??? quite a scary veggie for first timers to inculcate in Indian cooking. But trust me… it tastes pretty decent compared to Broccoli. In my opinion, fresh raw asparagus tastes like raw peanuts (crunchy and munchy) and cooked tastes somewhere between soft green peas and beans.
Green brinjals sauteed in Idli milagai podi with rich seasonings. This quick veggie fry is very popular among Mudaliar community in some parts of Tamil Nadu. Happened to taste in one of my friends place and since then was craving for this dish. Traditionally its made with purple brinjals but tried mine with Thai eggplants for a change.
This dish is with black gram beans and tomatoes blended into a thic richy spiced butter sauce. Ideally served as main dish with jeera rice, naan / chapatis..
Long beans, are like any other beans except, its pod grow longer, about half a yard long and hence its also known as Yard long beans. They belong to the legume family (Cowpea / Blackeyedpea) and taste similar regular green beans but with less sweetness. Good when stir fried or steamed. Here's a simple stir fry version seasoned with Indian spices.
Normally a bunch might have about 50 to 60 beans, my recipe is for half of that. They can be refridgerated for 2 days but taste better when fresh and bright green.
Masoor dal, is a kind of red lentil mostly used in Northern India. They come as Saboot (whole ) or in split form and are quite bland tastwise. They suit for dhal preparations, sambar or khathi lentil or mudda varieties but something extra needs to be added to make it palatable. Normally we would prefer this dal with combination of veggie, well seasoned and spice it up to include in our diet. This is a thick version of sambar with my choice of veggie(brinjal), flavoured with garam masala included sambar powder.
Fuzzy Melon is a winter squah, rather call it this way, as it has got all the qualities of a winter squash than a melon. Grown in abundance in South East Asia and quite popular in other countries too. Though the name looks unfamiliar, its quite native to our region and in simple nothing but immature Neer Poosanikai.
English ~~~~ Ash Gourd, Fuzzy Melon, Wax Gourd, Winter Melon, White Gourd
Tamil ~~~~ Neer Poosanikai
Telugu ~~~~ Boodida Gummadikaaya