Tag Archives: no onion no garlic

Chayote Apple Salad with Chili Lime

1 Dec

Apple Chayote Salad

Each kitchen stint with the chayote teaches me something new. When I began cooking with this gourd, peeling it was hard – till I learnt the techniques of making triangular notches around its folds and boiling it before peeling. Soon I discovered a different variety of the chayote: the “Ooty chow chow”, which has a smooth exterior that demands no fiddling with folds at all.

So I switched loyalties to the Ooty chow chow, as my observant regulars would have noticed in the post on chayote dal.

While cutting raw veggies and fruits, I sometimes pop a few chopped pieces into my mouth. A reflex action if you will, this usually leads me to grimace and move on – but when I did this with the Ooty chow chow I stopped in my tracks. This vegetable didn’t just look like a pear, it tasted startlingly like one. Do I even need to cook this, I wondered. (more…)

Pan-Roasted Spicy Sweet Potatoes

19 Oct

Pan-Roasted Spicy Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potato’s starchy sweetness plays off the robust flavors of sookhi sabzi masala in this recipe. The spices make this dish taste so exotic, you can hardly tell that putting this together was so easy.

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Carrot Cucumber Rava Cheela

15 Sep

Carrot Cucumber Rava Cheela

Take the basic semolina pancake recipe up a level: fortify it with carrot and cucumber, flavor its base with a dash of dahi, spice it up with ginger and chilies. Carrot cucumber rava cheela works really well for brunch or in the lunchbox with tomato pickle on the side.

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Karela Masala Fry: Bitter Gourd Side Dish

29 Jul

Karela Masala Fry - Bitter Gourd with Spices

In this karela masala fry recipe, spice-coated bitter gourd slices are pan-fried on low heat leisurely till they crisp up and lose all but a hint of their native bitterness. Serve karela masala fry to folks who shun bitter gourd – watch them be pleasantly surprised at how mellow this dreaded vegetable can be!

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Chickpea Sundal: Vrat-Friendly Chickpea Recipe

10 May

Chickpea Sundal

Quick, easy, lightweight chickpea sundal. Just right for those times when our default chickpea preparation – channa masala – feels too elaborate and time-consuming, or when we need a break from the onion-garlic-ginger-tomato masala ensemble. The ingredient list in this recipe is “vrat-friendly” – that is, suited for festive occasions when onion and garlic are avoided.

Chickpea sundal tastes great warm or cold. It can be had as a standalone salad or as a side dish with a bigger meal.

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Pudina Rice: Mint Rice (No Onion Or Garlic)

26 Mar

Pudina Rice - Mint Rice - No Onion or Garlic

Pudina rice – fragrant basmati with the freshness of mint leaves, the zing of ginger and lime, and nutty cashew goodness to round it all off.

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Patta Gobhi Aloo Matar: Cabbage Potato Peas Curry

22 Mar

Cabbage Potato Peas Curry

You will find a delicious mix of flavors, textures and colors in this patta gobhi aloo matar ki sabzi (cabbage potato peas curry). There’s crunch from cabbage, tender starchiness from potatoes, a slight sweetness from peas, all ensconced in a mustard and spice flavor base.

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