Heerekayi Kozambu (beerekayi or chinese okra gravy)

Ingredients:

1. Heerekayi or Chinese Okra - 1 long one.
2. Toor dal - 1 cup

For grinding:

1. Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
2. Red Chillies - 3 - 4 (depends on spice level)
3. Dhania seeds - 1/2 cup
4. Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup
5. Rice Flour or Besan - 2 tsp
6. Asafoetida - just a pinch

Preparation:

1. Cook the dal and the vegetable and keep it aside.
2. In a mixer grind all the above ingredients with 1 cup water into a fine paste.
3. Add this ground paste to cooked dal and vegetables, add salt and bring it to boil.
4. Keep the consistency similar to sambar.

Kozambu is ready. Good to eat with rice.

Variations:

Instead of chinese okra, you can use green beans, peas, palak, cabbage or a combination of these.

Majjige Huli (Mor Kozhambu, vegetable in curd gravy)

Ingredients

Cucumber - 2
Yogurt - 2 - 3 cups.
water - 2 - 3 cups

For grinding:

Cilantro - 1/2 a bunch
Grated Fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2
Red chillies - 1-2
Pepper - 3-4 corns
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 2 tsps
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - just a pinch

Preparation:

1. Grind all the raw grinding ingredients above with water into a smooth paste. Keep it aside.







2. Remove the seeds from the cucumber and cut them into medium sized chunks. You may or may not peel the skin.
3. Cook the cucumber.
4. To the cooked cucumber add the ground paste, salt to taste and bring it to boil.








5. Let it cool.
6. Once it is cooled to room temperature, add yogurt. You can add less or more yogurt depending on your spice level.








Mor kolamb is done.

Alternatives: You can use capsicum, okra or ash pumpkin instead of cucumbers. When you use capsicum or okra, fry them in a spoon of oil before cooking. If you cook Okra in water without frying, it becomes very sticky and slimy. Frying capsicum before cooking it will give it a nice smoked flavour.

Rice Sevai (Spicy Lemony Rice Noodles)

Ingredients:

Rice Sevai - 1 packet (you can find it in Asian market in US)
Green chillies - 2-3
Lemons - 2
Cilantro - 1 cup chopped
Ground nuts - a handful
Salt to taste

For tadka:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - Just a pinch
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Channa Dal - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsps

Preparation:

1. Boil water in a big vessel. The soak the rice sevai for 5-8 minutes. You can break it in to half.
2. Drain all the water and keep aside.







3. In a wok heat oil. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add ground nuts, green chillies, urad dal, channa dal, turmeric and asafoetida and fry for 1-2 mts.
4. Add the soaked sevai. Mix well.
5. Now add the juice of 2 lemons, salt and mix well.
6. Add chopped cilantro.







Before adding the lemon juice, the sevai appears to be slightly brown in color. Do not worry. When you mix with the lemon juice it turns into bright yellow color. It is easier to mix with your hand.

preparation time - 20-30 minutes.