A simple alleppey mixed vegetable curry is very easy to make with lots of colorful veggies cooked in a rich and creamy coconut milk. I love coconut milk based dishes because of its rich and delicious in taste. I got this recipe from my neighbour uncle, he is a chef at star hotel in Chennai. He gave me one book which has a lot of vegetarian dishes. This is one of the dish which I tried from that book. This coconut milk based vegetable curry is supposed to be little watery but I made it thick with little sauce. I cooked the veggies in a coconut milk by the time I open the pan, vegetables has absorbed all the coconut milk. When I tasted the vegetable it was so soft and yummy because of addition of coconut milk which adds a nice flavor to the curry and makes it more appetizing. Try this alleppey vegetable curry cooked in a coconut milk and serve it with chapathi or roti or phulka or rice. Just roll it with chapathi and eat it for lunch or dinner.

Ingredients

2 Medium Size Carrots, Finely Chopped
1/4 Cup of Peas
10 Green Beans, Chopped
1 Medium Size Potato, Chopped
3 Big Mango Pieces
1/2 Cup of Red Onion, Chopped
10 Curry Leaves
1 Inch of Ginger, Minced
2 Green Chillies, Slit
1/2 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
1 Tsp of Red Chilly Powder
Salt to Taste
1 Cup of Water
3/4 Cup of Thick Coconut Milk
1 Tbsp of Coconut Oil

Method

• Heat coconut oil in a pan, add curry leaves, chopped onions, ginger and green chillies. Saute this for 2-3 mins until onion turns golden brown.
• Add raw mango slices and saute this for 2 mins.
• Add all the vegetables (carrot, beans, peas and potato), saute this for 2 mins in a medium high flame. Add turmeric powder and red chilly powder and saute for a min.
• Add the coconut milk and a cup of water, give a quick stir, cover the pan and cook for 7-10 mins until the vegetables turns soft. Turn off the heat.
• Serve hot with chapathi or rice.

Tips

• Adjust the amount of red chilly powder and chilly according to your spicy level.
• You can make this curry thin by adding little more water and coconut milk and cook for few mins.
• Addition of mango pieces gives a tangy taste to the curry.

Health Benefits of Mixed Vegetable

• The nutrients in vegetables are vital for health and maintenance of your body.
• Eating a diet rich in vegetables may reduce risk for stroke, other cardiovascular diseases and type-2 diabetes.
• Eating a diet rich in vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet may also protect against certain cancers.
• The high levels of potassium in vegetables may reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and help to decrease bone loss.

          Vendakkai poriyal / okra (or) lady’s finger stir fry is a tasty south Indian side dish and I make often at home. Also this is worldwide used versatile vegetable. I use this vegetable to make sambhar, puli kulambhu , subzi and stir fries. Lady’s finger is very good for our health and My mom used to tell that eating raw lady’s finger helps us to solve maths problems quickly. But I don’t know the scientific reason behind that and here it comes the delicious okra stir fry without coconut,onion and garlic, that goes well with sambhar and rice.



    Ingredients

            15 Lady’s Finger / Okra, Medium Size
            2 Tsp of Oil
            1/2 Tsp of Mustard Seeds
            1/2 Tsp of Urad Dal
            Few Curry Leaves
            1 Tsp of Sambhar Powder
            Salt to Taste


    Method

• Wash the okra / lady’s finger in a cold running tap water. Wipe it dry with a paper towel. Cut the head and tail part and then cut into thin pieces.

• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves, after it splutters, add the lady’s finger, fry well for a min.
• Add sambhar powder and salt, fry well for 2 mins, sprinkle little water, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 3-5 mins until it turns soft and reduces in volume. Give a quick stir and turn off the flame.
• Vendakkai poriyal is ready to serve with rice and sambhar.

    Tips

• If you don’t have sambhar powder, add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder and 1 tsp of red chilly powder.
• You can add 2 tbsp of chopped red onion while tempering.
• Add grated coconut at the end if you like coconut flavor.
• Always use tender okra for frying, you can check that by bending the tail part,  if it is broken easily, then it is tender in nature.

        
    Health Benefits of Okra/ Lady’s finger

• Rich source of vitamin A and Antioxidants.
• Fiber in okra helps to maintain the health of GI tract.
• Ideal vegetable for weight loss and lot of health benefits provided it is cooked in a medium flame to retain its properties.
• Okra has laxative treats irritable bowels and treats ulcers.
• Excellent for feeding the good bacteria(probiotics)
• Protects you from pimples and helps in maintaining beautiful skin. 
• Normalizes blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

      Oats dosa is one of my favorite breakfast dish, as it is so crispy, tasty and healthy. In this dosa preparation, roast the oats and sooji, mix all the ingredients in a bowl along with enough water and make a dosa. Here you don’t need anything to soak, grind or ferment the rice and dal to make dosa. This instant dosa can be made in a jiffy.This post was in my draft for a long time and here it comes the crispy, healthy oats recipe.

   Ingredients

            3/4 Cup of Oats
            1/2 Cup of Rice Flour
            1/4 Cup of Rava (Sooji)
            1/4 Cup of Maida
            1 Tsp of Whole Black Pepper
            1 Tsp of Whole Cumin
            1/3 Cup of Red Onion, Finely Chopped
            2 Green Chillies, Finely Chopped
            10 Curry Leaves
            Salt to Taste
            3 Cup of Water

   Method

• In a medium flame, heat a pan and dry roast the sooji and oats separately, for 2-3 mins until color changes and nice aroma arises.
• In a mixie( Spice grinder), grind the oats to a fine powder.
• In a wide bowl, add sooji, oats powder, rice flour, maida, onion, pepper, cumin, green chillies, curry leaves, salt and water. Mix well with a spoon or fork and the batter should be too watery, not thick. Let the batter sit for 30 mins.
• Heat a griddle (Dosa pan), just sprinkle the batter with your hand, in a circular motion to the pan, drizzle some oil over the dosa or on sides. When it is cooked, flip carefully to the other side. Cook both the sides until it turns crisp. After it is cooked, remove from heat.
• Repeat the process for the rest of the batter.
• Serve this dosa with tomato chutney or any chutney of your choice.           

      
   Tips

• Here I used multigrain cereal which has 80% of oats and 20% of other grains.
• Always cook dosa in a medium flame.
• Adjust the number of green chilly according to your spicy level.
• You can also spread dosa batter with laddle, just pour the batter to the pan in a circular motion like you do for rava dosa.
• Consistency of batter should be watery as we do for rava dosa.
• You can also add 2 tbsp of curd to give a nice flavor to dosa.        

    Health Benefits of Oats

• Lowers cholesterol levels.
• Reduces the cardiovascular disease.
• Enhances immune responses to infection.
• Lowers type 2 diabetes.
• Controls the blood pressure.
• Increase appetite control hormones.