Green Pears Pickle

Ingredients                                        

Green pears (very firm & raw)	2 or 3
Lemon	1 big
Mustard seeds	½  tspn
Hing/Asafoetida	¼  tspn
Pickle masala	2 tbspn
Salt	As per your taste
Oil	1 tspn

Method

1. Wash and cut the pears into very tiny pieces.
2. Squeeze lemon juice and put it in a bowl and keep it aside.
3. Add pickle masala and salt and mix it thoroughly. If you are using readymade pickle masala, then only add a tiny bit of salt as the masala already contains salt. If you don’t have readymade pickle masala, then fry about 10 red chillies and 1 tsp of methi seeds without oil and when it is cool, powder them.
4. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add hing and pour this over the pears and mix it. Store it in an air tight container in the fridge. It will last up to 2 weeks. 

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Green Apple Pickle

Ingredients                                        

Green apples	2 or 3
Lemon	1 big
Mustard seeds	½  tspn
Hing/Asafoetida	¼  tspn
Pickle masala	2 tbspn
Salt	As per your taste
Oil	1 tspn

Method

1. Wash and cut the apples into very tiny pieces.
2. Squeeze lemon juice and put it in a bowl and keep it aside.
3. Add pickle masala and salt and mix it thoroughly. If you are using readymade pickle masala, then only add a tiny bit of salt as the masala already contains salt. If you don’t have readymade pickle masala, then fry about 10 red chillies and 1 tsp of methi seeds without oil and when it is cool, powder them.
4. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add hing and pour this over the apples and mix it. Store it in an air tight container in the fridge. It will last up to 2 weeks. 

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Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients

Cauliflower	1 big
Spring onions	1 bunch
Green chillies	4 or 5
Ginger/garlic paste	1 ½ tbs each
Soy sauce	40 ml
Tomato ketchup	100 ml
Oil	For deep frying
Corn flour	1 cups
Ajinomoto /MSG (optional)	½ tsp
Salt	As per taste
Chopped coriander leaves	2 tbs

Method

1. Wash and cut the cauliflower into small flowerets and keep it aside.
2. Chop spring onions and green chillies.
3. Make ginger garlic paste.
4. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan. Add green chillies and then ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes.
5. Add chopped spring onions and ajinomoto and fry for about 3 minutes.
6. Add soy sauce, tomato ketchup and salt and fry for 1 minute.
7. Heat oil in a pan to fry the cauliflowers. Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, mix corn flour with water to make a thin batter (like bhajji). Take a few flowerets and dip it in the batter. Fry in hot oil until it is crispy.
8. Once everything is fried, put them together in the sauce and fry for 2 minutes in medium heat until the cauliflower is thoroughly coated with sauce.
9. Sprinkle coriander leaves on top and serve it with ghee rice or fried rice.    

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Aamb Vade/Aam Vada/Aam Vadai

Ingredients

Channa dhal/split chick peas	2 cups
Thoor dhal	¼ cup
Red chillies	6 -8
Green chillies	1-2
Freshly grated coconut	½ cup
Curry leaves	A few
Oil	2 cups
Asafoetida	¼ tspn
Salt	To taste

Method

1. Wash and soak the dhals for at least 5 hours. Drain the water completely. 
2. Grind the dhals coarsely in a mixie jar and keep it aside. It is very important not to make it into a smooth paste.
3. Grind coconut, salt, chillies and hing, without adding water, into a fine powder and mix it along with the dhals. Add chopped curry leaves.
4. Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry the mixture on a medium heat.
5. Make small balls of the ground mixture, roughly about the size of a lime. Put the ball in the middle of your palm and press it gently to form a patty.
6. Gently put the patty in oil and let it fry until it is golden brown.
7. Drain on a paper towel.

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Vangibath/Eggplant curry

Ingredients

Eggplant	250 gms
Urid dhal	1 tsp
Channa dhal	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Turmeric powder	¼ tspn
Vangibath powder	2 tbspn
Curry Leaves	1-2 sprigs
Salt	As per taste
Oil	1 tbpsn
Asafoetida/hing	¼ tspn

Method

1. Wash and cut eggplants into thin, long pieces and place in cold water in a bowl to remove bitterness.
2. In a pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds, turmeric, hing, urid dhal, channa dhal and curry leaves.
3. Fry for a minute or two until the dhal turns red.
4. Next, add eggplant and fry for few minutes until it is soft. Add vangibath powder, salt and mix well. This curry goes well with rice.

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Vangi bath powder

Ingredients

Channa dhal	100 gms
Urid dhal	100 gms
Dhania/coriander seeds	25 gms
Red chillies	25 gms or 10-12
Cinnamon sticks	6-7 pieces
Cloves	2-3
Oil	1 tsp
Asafoetida/hing	2 pinches
Dry coconut( grated)	25 gms

Method

1. Heat ½ tspn of oil in a pan on a medium flame. When it is hot, add cinnamon sticks, cloves, red chillies and hing and fry for 1 minute, taking care not to burn the cinnamon and keep it aside.
2. In the same pan, add channa dhal and dry roast for 2 minutes and then add dhania and roast for another minute.
3. Add urid dhal and dry roast for a further 2 minutes. Roast everything together until they are light brown colour, taking care not to burn them. Otherwise the aroma of the powder will change.
4. Finally when it is cooled, powder it along with shredded coconut and store it in an air-tight container. This powder can be used to make not only vangi bath but also other vegetables like capsicum, cabbage, potato and beans.

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Broccoli Curry

Ingredients

Broccoli	2
Carrots	2
Peas (fresh or frozen)	50 gms
Onions	1  large
Tomatoes (fresh or canned)	2 big ones or half can
Cumin seeds	1  tsp
Oil	1 ½ tsp
Coriander powder	1 tsp
Salt	According to taste
Chilli powder	2 tsp
Garam masala( Kitchen king)	1 tsp
Turmeric powder	1 tsp

Method

1. Chop onions finely.
2. Wash and cut broccoli into small flowerets and carrots into long, thin pieces.
3. Steam cook broccoli, carrot and peas.
4. Heat oil and add cumin seeds. When it splutters, add onions and fry until golden brown.
5. Now add all the powders and fry for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and salt and fry for another 3 minutes.
6. Add all the vegetables and fry until everything is mixed properly.
7. This curry goes well with chapatti and puri. Also, if you can’t find broccoli, you can use cauliflower instead.  

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Carrot Halwa

Ingredients                                        

Carrots (grated)	1 cup
Sugar	1cup
Ghee	3 tbsp.
Cardamom powder	1 tsp.
Milk	½ cup
Chopped cashews	2 tbsp
Sultanas	1 tbsp

Method

1. Peel and grate carrots.
2. Put milk and carrots in a heavy saucepan. Boil until thick, stirring occasionally.
3. Once it starts thickening, add sugar and cook further until all the moisture evaporates.
4. Add ghee and cardamom powder.
5. Stir on low heat for a further 2 minutes.
6. Fry cashews and sultanas in ghee and pour it over the halwa and mix it.
7. Serve hot or cold.

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Vegetable Sambar/Huli

Ingredients

Carrots	1 or 2
Beans	A handful
Potatoes	1 or 2
Chokoes	½
Peas  Fresh/frozen	a handful
Thoordhal	1 cup
Channadhal	2 tbs
Coriander seeds	½ tbs
Methi seeds/fenugreek	½ tsp
Red chillies	5/6
Dry coconut (grated)	6 tbs
Tamarind	Lemon size
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Oil	1 tsp
Asafoetida/hing	¼ tsp

Method

1. Wash and cut all the vegetables.
2. Pressure cook thoordhal and vegetables.
3. Meanwhile, fry all the dry ingredients except coconut with 1 tsp of oil until light brown in colour. When it is cool, wet grind with coconut and hing.
4. Mix cooked dhal and Vegetables along with tamarind juice and the ground mixture. Add salt and boil it.
5. Heat a tsp of oil and add mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing and when it splutters, mix it with the sambar.
6. Serve hot with rice.

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