Traditional cooks who, when prompted upma, say “semolina” in a word association game, will probably raise quizzical eyebrows at this recipe. Upma without its core ingredient! No doubt the brainchild of someone with a large loaf of bread on hand along with a batch of tomatoes and an allergy to sandwiches. Bless the sandwich-hater for this brilliant recipe – "bread tomato upma", the nicest way to use bread when it’s best-before date has arrived.
Curry Leaves
Tomato Pickle with Garlic and Curry Leaves
With tomatoes at throwaway prices in these parts nowadays, who wouldn’t be tempted to buy the red juicy vegetable (fruit?) by the sackful? I gave in to the lure and have been happily cooking tomato-based stuff since – pasta in tomato sauce one day, potatoes in tomato gravy the next.
Eggplant Tomato Curry
As promised in the last post on moong dal salad, here comes my recipe for eggplant tomato curry.
I most often use the fat purple eggplant for bharta, but on long workdays the whole roasting process seems too labor-intensive and I want to make a curry that moves from kitchen to dinner table quickly. This no-onion-no-garlic recipe is a godsend on such days.
Curry Leaves and Peanut Chutney
Inspired by the chapter on curry leaves in Ratna Rajaiah’s fascinating book How the Banana Goes to Heaven, I recently resolved to eat curry leaves as much and as raw as I possibly can. The prospect wasn’t enticing, let me say that up front! Though I like curry leaves, I find their taste overpowering and use them sparingly even in tadka. I would have to steel myself to eat curry leaves raw – or so I thought.
How wrong I was.
A hesitant stab at making curry leaves and peanut chutney turned out to be hugely successful. Roasted peanuts balance the slight bitterness of curry leaves, making this chutney delicious.
Amla Dal: Gooseberry Dal
Those beautiful pale green berries on the vegetable vendor’s cart looked so bewitching, I had to pick them up. I used them in this delicious amla dal (gooseberry dal) and loved the result, I can heartily recommend the recipe to you.
Upma with Moong Sprouts
From my mom’s kitchen, a wholesome upma fortified with beans, carrots, sprouted moong and amla. My only contribution has been in clicking pictures and wolfing it down for breakfast.
This is the 100th post on The Steaming Pot. How lovely that it should coincide with the first post of the New Year! Best wishes for 2012 to each one of you. If you like this blog, please pass on the link to your friends, "Like" the Steaming Pot’s Facebook page and follow @steamingpot on twitter. Thank you VERY much for reading!