Chopped potato is cooked in oil along with spices. Malabar spinach is washed and finely choppped.

It is then cooked along with potato and spices. Serve malabar spinach potato curry with steamed rice or with roti.

Makes: around 2 Servings of Potato Curry. Ingredients: 2 Cups (Chopped) Potato 1 Medium Green Chiles 1 – 2 Salt to Taste Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 3 – 4 Oil 2 tsps Method of preparation: Wash thoroughly and finely chop malabar spinach leaves.

Peel, wash and chop the potato into small pieces. Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.

Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order. When mustard seeds start spluttering, add chopped potato and salt.

Fry for a minute or two or until potato starts to soften. Add the green chiles, chopped malabar spinach and sallt (if necessary).

Cook covered on low flame for around 3 – 5 minutes. Uncover and stir well and remove from heat if the spinach is cooked.

Serve malabar spinach potato curry with steamed rice or with roti. Notes: Make sure spinach is cooked well.

Suggestions: If malabar spinach is not cooked well, put the curry back on heat and cook covered on low flame till done. Variations: Add a tsp of minced ginger if you wish.

Other Names: Potato Curry, Bacchali Bangala Dumpa Kura (less)

The cooked chickpeas are lightly crushed and again cooked along with basmati rice and whole spices. Serve black chickpeas rice with any spicy raita of your choice.

Makes: around 2 Servings of Black Chickpeas Rice. Ingredients: Basmati Rice 1 Cup Black Chana/ Chickpeas 1 Cup Onion 1 Garlic 2 Cloves Green Chiles 3 Salt to Taste Talimpu: Caraway Seeds 1/8 tsp 1/8 tsp Cloves 2 1 1 Mace a Small Piece Star Anise 1 Broken Dried Red Chiles 3 – 4 5 Oil 2 Tbsps Method of preparation: Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.

Peel and slice the onion. Peel and grate the garlic.

Soak basmati rice in a cup of water for few minutes. Soak black chickpeas in water overnight and pressure cook in 2 cups of fresh water for 3 whistles.

Cool to room temperature, strain the cooked black chickpeas and reserve the water. lightly crush the cooked black chickpeas using a pestle and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan on medium heat, add all talimpu ingredients. When cumin seeds change color, add sliced green chiles and garlic.

Fry briefly, stir in sliced onion. Fry till onion is translucent, add basmati rice.

Fry for a minute or two, stir in crushed black chickpeas, water from basmati rice, a cup of reserved water from black chickpeas and salt. Cook covered till all the water has been absorbed.

Uncover, fluff the rice and serve black chickpeas rice with spicy raita of your choice. Notes: Make sure chickpeas is cooked well.

Suggestions: Adjust spice with red chiles or green chiles. Make sure not to burn the spices while frying.

Variations: Check other recipes Other Names: Black Chickpeas Rice (less)

/ gram flour is made into paste and added to the cooked chana dal and boiled till besan is cooked. Finally whole spices are fried in ghee and added to the chana dal curry.

Serve chana dal besan curry with roti, steamed rice or with poori etc..

Makes: around 4 Servings of Curry. Ingredients: Chana dal 1/4 Cup Besan/ Gram Flour 3 Tbsps Red Chili Powder 1/2 tsp Powder a Pinch Salt to Taste Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 4 – 5 a Big Pinch 5 Ghee 1 tsp Method of preparation: In a bowl, mix together besan, red chili powder, salt and around half a cup of water to make a smooth paste without any lumps.

Soak chana dal in water for 3 – 4 hours. Bring to boil a cup of water in a saucepot, add chana dal.

Boil till chana dal is cooked and translucent without being mushy. Once chana dal is cooked, lower the flame and stir in besan paste.

Add another half a cup of water and let the besan paste cook for around 3 – 5 minutes. Heat ghee in a small pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.

When mustard seeds start spluttering, remove from heat and add to the above besan mixture. Stir well and serve chana dal besan curry with roti, steamed rice or with poori etc.

. Notes: Make sure chana dal is cooked right.

Suggestions: Adjust the consistency of the curry with water. For more gravy, add more besan and accordingly add the red chili powder.

Variations: You can also pressure cook chana dal with 3/4 cup or so of water for 2 whistles to cook it. Other Names: Curry (less)

They are then cooked along with whole spices and onion. Serve black chickpeas gravy curry with steamed rice or with roti.

Makes: around 4 Servings of Black Chickpeas Gravy Curry. Ingredients: Black Chickpeas 1 Cup Onion 1 Large Tomato 1 Small 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder 1/2 tsp Green Chiles 1 – 2 Garlic Paste 1/2 tsp Few Sprigs Salt to Taste Oil 1 Tbsp Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 3 – 4 5 Oil 2 tsps Method of preparation: Soak black chickpeas in water overnight and pressure cook in fresh water for 3 whistles.

Strain the cooked black chickpeas and reserve the cooking liquid. Wash and finely chop the cilantro leaves.

Peel and slice the onion. Wash and finely chop the tomato.

Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles. Heat oil in a pan, add half of sliced onion and fry till the onion changes to golden brown in color.

Remove the fried onion from heat and grind into paste using a grinder. Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.

When mustard seeds start spluttering, add ginger garlic paste and green chiles. Fry for a minute, add sliced onion.

Fry till onion turns translucent, add the cooked chickpeas, cooking liquid, half a cup of water (if required), onion paste, coriander powder, red chili powder and salt. Bring to boil and let it bubble for couple of minutes.

Stir in tomato and cook for another minute. Garnish with cilantro and serve black chickpeas gravy curry with steamed rice or with roti.

Notes: Make sure chickpeas is cooked well before adding to the pan. Suggestions: If chickpeas is not cooked well, pressure cook for one more whistle or boil in a sauce pot with enough water till done.

Variations: Adjust spice with red chili powder. Check other recipes with Other Names: Black Chickpeas Gravy Curry (less)

They are then briefly cooked in oil along with whole spices and crushed garbanzos. Serve yard long beans with chickpeas with steamed rice or with chapati/ roti.

Makes: around 4 Servings of Yard Long Beans with Chickpeas. Ingredients: Yard Long Beans 2 Cups Chopped Cooked Chickpeas 1 Cup Green Chiles 2 – 3 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder 1/2 tsp Salt to Taste Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 3 – 4 a Big Pinch 5 Oil 2 tsps Method of preparation: Wash yard long beans thoroughly and remove little bit of both ends.

Chop the yard long beans on a slight diagonal into half inch sized pieces. Bring to boil around a cup of water in a sauce pot, add chopped long beans.

Add salt and boil till long beans are just soft (around 10 minutes). Strain the long beans and keep aside.

Lightly crush the cooked chickpeas and keep aside. Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.

Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order. When mustard seeds start spluttering, add green chiles.

Fry briefly and stir in cooked yard long beans and crushed chickpeas. Fry for couple of minutes, stir in coriander powder and red chili powder.

Remove from heat and serve yard long beans with chickpeas over plain steamed rice or with roti. Notes: Make sure to cook the long beans well.

Suggestions: If long beans are not cooked well, put it back on heat and cook covered on low flame till done. Add a splash of water if required.

Variations: Add a splash of lime at the end for freshness. Other Names: Yard Long Beans with Chickpeas (less)

Add more water if required during this process. When the lentils are a little softer add the cut carrots to it and cook both carrots and moong until soft but not mushy.

( I did this process in the microwave this time and it worked out well. I placed the moong lentils along with water in a large glass dish and placed in the microwave and cooked in one minute intervals adding water as required and stirring regularly until the lentils were semi cooked.

Then I added carrots to it, sprinkled a little water and cooked in one minute increments until the carrots and moong were both cooked and soft but not mushy) In a small pan heat oil. When hot add mustard seeds to it, when the mustard seeds start to splutter and split black gram lentil and stir a couple of times.

When the split black gram lentil starts to turn reddish, add the green chillies and red chillies. When the chillies start to change color slightly, pour the entire oil + mustard seeds + lentils + chillies on the cooked lentils and carrot.

Add salt to the curry and mix well. Heat this curry for another minute or two for the flavors to blend (either in the microwave or stove top) Garnish with grated coconut and cilantro and mix well and serve hot along with rice and dhal/ sambar/ rasam or with roti's/ chappathis Suggested variations You can use 5-6 curry leaves in the seasoning too, just add it after the green chillies and continue with the rest of the recipe as mentioned Notes The reason that salt is added in the end for this recipe is because I have heard that adding salt when cooking lentils impacts the cooking process such that the lentils do not cook fully, so the salt is added after they are completely cooked.

This does not impact the taste of the final curry at all. Courtesy: http://veginspirations.

blogspot.com/ RELATED RECIPES Raw banana kofta curry Instant mango pickle with moong dal Soya chunks vegetable curry Kadala curry with puttu Fish in roasted moong dal gravy Ingredients: 1/2 cup - split yellow moong lentil (moong dhal) 5 - large carrots (cut into 1/2 inch pieces) (yielded about 3 cups of cut carrots) Seasoning 1 - serrano green pepper (or Thai or Indian variety green chillies according to taste) (cut fine) 2 - dry red chillies (broken into small pieces) ( or according to taste) 2 tsp - coconut oil (or any other oil) 1 tsp - mustard seeds 1 tsp - split black gram lentil (udad dhal) salt to taste optional garnish 4 tbsp - grated fresh or frozen coconut handful cilantro (coriander leaves) cut fine (less)

The ground rice is then cooked along with masoor dal and spices till its completely cooked. Rice masoor upma can be served with mango pickle and with a scoop of yogurt.

Makes: around 2 Servings of Rice Upma. Ingredients: Raw Rice 1 cup Dalia / 3 Tbsps Green Chiles 3 – 4 2 Cups Packed Raw Mango (Grated) 1/2 Cup 1/2 Inch Piece Raw 2 Tbsps a Pinch Salt to taste Ghee 1/2 tsp Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 3 – 4 a Big Pinch 5 Oil 2 tsps Method of preparation: Wash and roughly chop cilantro leaves.

Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles. Peel and mince the ginger.

Grind cilantro leaves into coarse paste with a tbsp of water and cumin seeds. Grind green chiles separately into coarse paste.

Grind dalia /roasted gram into fine powder and keep aside. Coarsely grind the rice in a spice blender or use rice rawa if available.

Bring to boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pot, add few drops of oil, salt and rice rawa. Simmer and cook covered for around 10 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.

Remove the cooked rice rawa onto a mixing bowl and fluff it with help of a fork making sure that there are no lumps. Heat a pan on medium heat, add peanuts and fry for few seconds.

When peanuts are little fried, add all talimpu ingredients in order. When mustard seeds start spluttering, add green chile paste, minced ginger and remove from heat.

Then, add cilantro mixture to the hot oil and stir. Add the above cilantro mixture to the mixing bowl along with grated raw mango and dalia powder.

Mix thoroughly and adjust any seasonings if required. Serve rice cilantro upma with pickle or yogurt or both.

Notes: Don’t overcook cilantro mixture in oil. Suggestions: Make sure rice rawa is cooked properly before removing from heat.

If the rice rawa is not cooked properly, add few splashes of water and cook covered on low flame till done. Variations: You can also look for Other Names: Rice Upma, Kothimera Uppudu Pindi (less)

It is then briefly fried in oil along with spices and freshly ground cilantro leaves mixture. Serve snake gourd cilantro curry with steamed rice and dollop of ghee.

Makes: around 4 Servings of Curry Ingredients: 1 Long Green Chiles 2 – 3 Dalia 1/2 Tbsp a Bunch Salt to Taste Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 3 – 4 a Big Pinch 5 Oil 2 tsps Method of preparation: Peel, wash, discard seeds and chop snake gourd into small pieces (around 3 Cups). Wash, separate leaves and roughly chop cilantro.

Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles. Pulse the cilantro leaves and green chiles without adding any water or with very little water.

Grind dalia into fine powder. Bring to boil around a cup of water, add snake gourd and salt.

Boil till snake gourd is just cooked. Strain the snake gourd and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order. When mustard seeds start spluttering, add cooked snake gourd pieces.

Fry for few seconds, stir in cilantro mixture and dalia powder. Cook on low flame for a minute or two and remove from heat.

Serve snake gourd cilantro curry with steamed rice and dollop of ghee. Notes: Make sure snake gourd is cooked well before removing from heat.

Suggestions: If snake gourd is not boiled till cooked, cook covered in the pan with a splash of water till snake gourd is cooked. Variations: Check other recipes with Other Names: Curry (less)

Tomato onion gravy is prepared by roasting the tomato and onion and grinding them into smooth paste. Cooked moth beans is finished in the tomato onion gravy and powdered spices.

Serve moth tomato masala with plain or flavored rice or with roti. Makes: around 4 Servings of Moth Tomato Masala.

Ingredients: Moth Beans 1 Cup Onion 1 Large Tomato 3 Medium Green Chiles 2 Garlic Paste 1 tsp 1/4 tsp Garam Masala Powder 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp Powder a big pinch few Sprigs Salt to taste Oil 2 tsps Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 5 Oil 1 tsp Method of preparation: Soak moth beans in water for around 4 hours. Pressure cook in 2 cups of water for 2 whistles.

Wash and finely chop the cilantro leaves. Wash and roughly chop the tomato.

Peel and roughly chop the onion. Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.

Heat a tsp of oil in a pan, add chopped onions. Fry till onion turns translucent, add tomatoes and cook till tomatoes turn soft.

Cool the cooked onions and tomatoes to room temperature and grind them into smooth paste using a blender. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan, add all talimpu ingredients in order.

When mustard seeds start spluttering, add green chiles, ginger garlic paste and fry for few seconds. Then stir in ground onion and tomato paste, cooked moth beans, cumin powder, garam masala powder, red chilli powder and salt.

Cook for few minutes, stir in half a cup of water if necessary. Cook on low flame for around 5 – 10 minutes and remove from heat.

Garnish the moth tomato masala with chopped cilantro. Serve moth tomato masala with plain or flavored rice or with roti.

Notes: Make sure moth beans are cooked well. Suggestions: Adjust spice with green chiles or with red chili powder.

Variations: You can also check other recipes with moth beans Other Names: Moth Tomato Masala (less)

The ground rice is then cooked in chopped tomatoes till rawa is completely cooked. Tomato rice upma can served with mango pickle or with yogurt.

Makes: around 2 servings of Tomato Rice Upma. Ingredients: Raw Rice 1 cup Tomatoes 3 Medium Dalia 3 – 5 Tbsps Green Chiles 2 Salt to taste Ghee 1/2 tsp few Sprigs Talimpu: 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 tsp Broken Dried Red Chiles 6 a Big Pinch 5 Oil 2 tsps Method of preparation: Wash and finely chop the tomatoes.

Wash and finely chop cilantro leaves. Grind dalia / roasted gram into fine powder using a spice blender.

Coarsely grind the rice in a spice blender or use rice rawa if available. Remove stems, wash and slice the green chiles.

Heat a pan on medium heat, add all talimpu ingredients in order. When mustard seeds start spluttering, add green chiles and chopped tomatoes.

Fry till tomatoes are little soft (around 2 cups of mixture), pour 1/2 cup of water and salt. Bring the water to boil, add ghee and rice rawa.

Stir well and cook covered on low flame for around 10 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed and rawa is cooked. Remove from heat, fluff up and stir in dalia powder.

Garnish with cilantro and serve tomato rice upma with pickle or yogurt or both. Notes: Make sure rice rawa is cooked properly before removing from heat.

Suggestions: If the rawa is not cooked properly, add a splash of water and cook covered on low flame till done. Variations: Squeeze half a lime at the end of cooking process if you wish.

Other Names: Tomato Rice Upma (less)