Beans-Carrot Poriyal / Green Beans and Carrot Stir Fry

Beans-carrot Poriyal / Green Beans and Carrot Stir Fry

Beans-carrot poriyal is a very common side dish for meals in any south Indian home. excellent side dish for sambar or rasam or curd rice. 

Chow-Chow Poriyal / Chayote Curry

Chow-Chow Poriyal / Chayote Curry

I wonder how many of you like the chow-chow or chayote. Those who don't like this vegetable.. try this recipe. You will start liking it. Actually I never knew how to cook it tastefully. I used to make kootu/dhal with it. That's all. This recipe, I came across in an monthly women's Tamil magazine. First time I tried this recipe as side dish with kara kuzhambu. It was such a great balance of taste with kara kuzhambu. You all too should try this poriyal and tell me how did it come out.

Maangaai Pachadi / Green Mango Pachadi - Use the Season - Summer's Sweet-Sour-Spicy

Green Mango Pachadi - Sweet-Sour-Spicy

This green mango sweet-sour-spicy pachadi is the seasonal dish. Summer comes.. mango comes.. this mangaai pachadi also comes!! Maangaai pachadi has sweetness from jaggery, sourness for mango, and spiciness is contributed by chilli powder.

Kovakkai Varuval / Tindora Roast

Kovakkai / Tindora Roast

I tasted kovaikkai fry when I was doing my post graduation. (believe me.. till then i haven't tried kovakkai at all).

Vaazhaithandu Poriyal / Plantain Stem Stirfry.

Vaazhaithandu Poriyal / Plantain Stem Stirfry

Vaazhai thandu poriyal is another simple dish made with vaazhai thandu (means plantain stem).

vaazhai thandu can be added in sambar, or with dhal as kootu. But this vaazhai thandu poriyal is a dish where you can feel the actual astringent taste of the vaazhai thandu. We keep this poriyal light and mild and end it up with a fist full of coconut grating.

Mullangi Keerai Poriyal / Radish and its Greens Stirfry

Mullangi Keerai Poriyal

Mullangi keerai or radish leaves/greens has a very unique astringent taste. In Tamil the taste is called as "துவர்ப்பு". 

I tried to find an English word equivalent to this Tamil word "துவர்ப்பு", but then i came to know that the English has 5 tastes only excluding துவர்ப்பு. On further search i was able to the find the word "astringent taste" whose meaning was close to  துவர்ப்பு. 

Brinjal-Capsicum Sauté - Keep it Simple and Easy

Brinjal-Capsicum Sauté

Brinjal-capsicum sauté is a simple dish made with basic ingredients and makes a elegant side dish for rice or chapathi. It is a easy to make and good to eat dish. During festivals or any day which calls for special food, this is a right choice.

Cluster Beans / Kothavarangai Usili

Cluster Beans / Kothavarangai Usili (With gram dhal)

This cluster beans / Kothavangai podimas recipe is again from my mother. As soon as my mother makes podimas, I used to eat this as 11am snack. My mom used to yell at me that if I eat it off like that.. then it will not be enough for lunch. 😂. Pss.. never bothered to take it seriously.. took it in this ear.. left it in the other. 😈.

Murungai Keerai Poriyal / Drumstick Leaves Stirfry

Murungai Keerai Poriyal / Drumstick Leaves Stirfry

Murungai keerai poriyal is what I love from my childhood. One of our neighbours used to make raagi koozhu / porridge during the Tamil month of Aadi. They used to make dry-fish kuzhambu and murungai keerai poriyal along with this porridge. I loved that raagi koozhu/poridge along with this murungai keerai poriyal. Anyone who had this raagi porridge with murungai keerai poriyal or dry-fish kuzhambu will know what an unique country-food combination it is.

Peas - Potato Roast - All Rounder !

Peas - Potato Roast (Urulaikizhangu Pattani Varuval)

Peas-potato roast is.. i guess.. every second person's favourite. it is such a saviour during bulk cooking. in south india, what better recipe you can end up doing when you have fresh peas in hand.

Ponnaanganni Keerai Poriyal - Country Food

Ponnaanganni Keerai Poriyal - Country Food

Ponnaganni keerai (Alternanthera sessiles) is a very common green available in Tamil Nadu. We generally used to make poriyal with this keerai. There are three varieties of this green which is widely used like naattu ponnanganni, sigappu ponnanganni and seemai ponnanganni. 

Bitter Gourd / Paavakkaai Podi

Paavakkaai Podi

This is a very simple dish / podi / fry of the bitter gourd or the paavakkai (we fondly call it as Momordica charantia). This paavakkai podi is made with very few ingredients. The sauteing process takes little time. But worth waiting. Personally, I like this recipe made with paavakkai than other dishes as the others are more bitter. 😁

Sorakkai / Bottle Gourd Poriyal with Peanuts

Sorakkai Poriyal with Peanut Shower

This recipe is again from my dad's native. Since they cultivated peanuts, they had peanuts whole year round. As I told you earlier in my agathi keerai poriyal recipe post, my dad grew up eating peanuts as morning snack, evening snack, before-bed snack and even mid-night snack.

For snack, we roast peanuts, boil peanuts, roast them in hot red fuming coals in the aduppu, burn them with other dry twigs or plants, or if nothing else.. just eat it raw !

Karunai Kizhangu Varuval / Elephant-Foot Yam Fry

Karunai Kizhangu Varuval / Elephant-Foot Yam Fry

This karunai kizhangu varuval / elephant foot fry is my favourite from my childhood. I wait for my mother to move out of the kitchen after making this.

Simple Potato Roast

Simple Potato Fry

Potato - almost everyone likes this tuber. It is an omni present and used vegetable. This particular potato fry dish is simple with very few ingredients. No tempering too. The speciality of this dish is the fact that it has few ingredients so that flavour of caramelised potato is a deliciously expressed.

Myself and my hubby love any dish if it turns slightly brown or we are even okay if it is slight burnt. We fish out the brown or black ones and eat. 😋. 

I generally use the iron skillet or kadai to do the roasts. It is non sticky and better than a non stick as its non toxic too. People, you have to try iron kadais ! It is user friendly too. And you have to check out the flavour of this potato fry roasted in iron kadai.. !

For more - Poriyals / Varuvals

Lets see this easy quick recipe.

Vazhakkai Varuval / Green Plantain Fry

Vazhakkai Varuval/Green Plantain Roast

Vazhakkai is such a time friendly vegetable. It cooks in no time. It is the best choice for the morning time cooking and festival menu. This green plantain is such a humble vegetable which never makes fuss to be cooked when we do not have enough time. Most of time, when I am running out of ideas of what side dish to pack with rice for the next day lunch.. vazhakkai is my saviour! Vazhakkai varuval.. another simple dish with basic ingredients... when joins with rices.. completes the meal. The recipe for vazhakkai varuval follows.

For more poriyal recipes click here - Poriyal

Vazhakkai Varuval / Green Plantain Fry

Beetroot Poriyal / Beetroot Stir fry

Beetroot Poriyal / Beetroot Stir fry

Beta vulgaris - fondly known as beetroot - always made me wonder how mother nature could store such abundant pigment into a part of a plant - that too in roots!! Beets are such a versatile root-veg for salad, stir fry, juice, halwa etc., I frequently make stir fry / poriyal and halwa. One tiny thing which makes me happy to cook beetroot is that.. my palm become pinker when I cut it! I know that sounds kiddish.. but that is all making me more happy to work in kitchen. Today I will share my beetroot poriyal  / stir fry recipe.

For more - Poriyal

Beetroot Poriyal / Stir fry

Peerkankai Curry / Ridge Gourd Curry

Peerkankai Curry / Ridge Gourd Curry

Peerkankai is called as ridge gourd in english, beerakai in telugu and torai in hindi. Its botanical name is Lufa acutangula. Ridge gourds are rich in water content like cucumber. They are rich in dietary fibre and low in cholesterol and saturated fat.. which makes it an excellent choice for weight watchers. The ridge gourd/peerkankai poriyal has few ingredient and has this subtle sweetness. Its a good choice for the morning time cooking as it takes less time to prepare. Lets get into the recipe of peerkankai poriyal. 

For more poriyal/curry recipes click here - Poriyal

You need not waste the ridge gourd peels. You can make chutney in that. For recipe click - Ridge gourd peel chutney.

Peerkankai / Ridge Gourd Poriyal

Agathikeerai Poriyal/country food

Agathikeerai Poriyal (Sesbania grandiflora)

This agathikeerai plant is usual grown on the edges of the paddy farms as borders along with pulicha keerai or gongura plants. As the name denotes "agathu keerai".. that means it is good for your body. My grand mother used to make it with very few ingredients. It a typical country side recipe. Choose the fresh and tender greens from the shop. Avoid any bunch with ripe leaves or some leaves with some white lines on it. Remove the leaves from their main stalks. This is one of the greens which can be easily cleaned. Wash them just before cooking. Lets go to the recipe..