L Exploring Food

    Sambhar - Gosh I can't even begin to describe how popular and a must have this dish is to every South Indian. It goes perfectly well with rice, Idli (steamed rice cake) and Dosa (a type of pancake). And you can expect Sambhar to be made in every Malayalee household and eaten almost everyday with every meal. It's also a default dish included in the menu for every good occasion and celebration whether at a wedding reception or for Vishu or Onam. The belly just doesn't get satisfied without the Sambhar.    Sambhar  And the best thing about this dish is you get to add your choice of Veggies. You can add carrots, potatoes, shallots, cooking banana, okra, string beans, yam, eggplant, drumstick, tomatoes etc :-) - a little of any or all. It's just amazing when you think of all the nutrients you get from just this one dish.      So What Do We Need? 1 cup of Toovar Dal / Arhar Dal / Sa...

Hello Everybody :)   Today let me share with you a simple and easy Fried Rice recipe. Believe me - it's absolutely delicious.  Egg Fried Rice   So What Do We Need? 2.5 Cups of Basmati Rice or any long grain Rice Cook the Rice with 2 cloves and 1 cardamom. Add enough salt to season the rice when you boil it. Once cooked, keep aside to cool for at least half an hour. Incase you don't know how to cook Basmati rice you could click on this link :  LauraG-Simply-rice-with-twist 6 Eggs 1 long Carrot - Cut into tiny cubes - Make it as small as you can so that it cooks faster 1 Medium Capsicum - Cut into tiny cubes. 3 - 4 Spring Onions - Clean these very well. Discard the roots. Slice both the white bulb and the green leafy bit of the spring onions thinly. 1.5 Tablespoon of Dark Soy sauce Around 2 teaspoon of Garlic powder   - If you don't have garlic powder ...

Chicken Istoo Hi All. Today's recipe is an all time favorite of mine. It's enjoyed so much by Malayalees and is a popular breakfast dish in Christian households. It's even a default, must- have dish served at Christian wedding receptions - your meal is going to start off with a serving of Istoo and Appam. It's just delicious. Istoo is a coconut based white gravy dish and it's amazing how a few ingredients can just create something so yummy. It isn't a spicy dish and so it's definitely something that can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone - young and old alike. So What Do We Need? About 1 kg Chicken - including bone pieces  - Cut into small to medium size pieces Clean the chicken well. Remove the skin off the pieces and give the pieces a good wash. Then in a bowl, take the washed chicken pieces and add a tablespoon of vinegar and a dash of salt. And fill the bowl with water. Let the chicken pieces sit in this vinegar water for 10 - 15 m...

Hi there. Today's recipe is an absolute favorite dish of mine - Cherupayar Thoran Who knew these small green beans could be so tasty without having to meddle with it a whole lot. Simple ingredients just elevate the flavor and result in an amazing dish. Its a prefect accompaniment to Kanji (Rice Porridge).  And I personally enjoy having cherupayar thoran with just rice and a little chammanthi (chutney). Yummy!   Now just fyi, both thoran and mezhukkupuratti recipes are stir fry side dishes. But the main difference between them is that in thoran will have grated coconut in it - mezhukkupuratti wont. So What Do We Need? Mung Bean / Green Gram / Moong Dal  - 1 cup ( 250 ml) Wash and soak the beans in water preferably overnight (or about 6 hours). This will help soften the beans and reduce the cook time considerably. The next day -  you will see that the skin / shell would have come off from the bean. And I usually d...

  I made this salad today and I just had to share it with you all.   I call it the 'Easy - Peasy' salad. Without more ado - let's get to it. So What Do We Need? 2 tablespoon Yoghurt 1/2 teaspoon Lime / Lemon juice (Optional) If the yoghurt is tasting more tangy and sour then skip the lime/ lemon Juice. 1 teaspoon Soy sauce 1 tablespoon Olive oil 1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed Pepper - Adjust as per taste and preference. 1/2 teaspoon smoked Paprika powder 5 to 6 Lettuce leaves - Torn to bite size pieces. 1 Tomato - Sliced or chopped to bite size pieces - whichever way you prefer. 1 Cucumber - Sliced - You can peel away the skin if you want to. 6 pitted Olives Black or Green - sliced 3-4 Mint leaves - chopped 1 sprig Coriander leaves - chopped Cooked Chicken / Fish / Hard boiled Egg - cut into bite size pieces. Salt if required Let's Do This In a big bowl, whisk together yoghurt, olive oil, soy sauce, lime jui...

Here comes my second recipe in the Spinach series - the 'Eggy Spinach'. Quite obvious from the name it's a spinach and egg dish. Simply put - its Nutritious and Yummy . So What Do We Need? 1 big bunch of Spinach Cut away the roots and remove any dirty or damaged leaves. Then rinse the spinach thoroughly under running water. They will have a lot of dirt and grit. So rinse it out over and over to clean it thoroughly. Then let it dry.  Finely chop the spinach - stem and leaves 1 to 2 Eggs Add more eggs if you would like to have it more 'eggy'. But when I prepare this dish I aim to have more spinach than egg in ratio. I just try to have the egg evenly spread throughout the dish. 1 medium Onion / 3 to 4 Shallots  - Finely chopped 1 or 2 Green chillies - Based on your level of tolerance - Finely chopped 3 or 4 cloves of Garlic -  Thin julienne slices 1/2 tablespoon crushed Pepper 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric...

Hey there. Here's the first of my spinach stir fry recipes. The recipe I'm posting today is an easy, yummy and quick one to make. It's the perfect side dish and a simple way to get some greens into your system :-) So What Do We Need? 1 big bunch of Spinach  Cut away the roots and remove any dirty or damaged leaves. Then rinse the spinach thoroughly under running water. They will have a lot of dirt and grit. So rinse it out over and over to clean it thoroughly. Then let it dry.  Finely chop the spinach - stem and leaves. 1 Capsicum - chopped  1 medium Onion - finely chopped 1 or 2 Green Chilli - depending on your spice preference - finely chopped 4 Garlic cloves  - finely chopped 1 small piece of Ginger - finely chopped 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon Chilli powder  A pinch of clove powder 1 tablespoon Soy sauce 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil 1 teaspoon crushed Pepper Salt as required Let's Do This In a pan ove...