Carrot pudding

Ingredients:

Carrots 1/2 lb
Milk 1 cup
Sugar 2 cups
Ghee or clarified butter1/2 cup
Cardamon powder 1 teaspoon
Cashew nuts 10 pieces
Raisins 10

Method:

Grate the carrots finely.Fry the cashews till they turn golden brown in a teaspoon of ghee and keep aside.Fry the raisins till they plump up and turn whiter in a teaspoon of ghee and keep aside.Boil the milk in a heavy bottom saucepan ( a must or it will burn). Add the grated carrot and cook it.( It is cooked when the carrot breaks apart if you take it out with a spoon and pinch it.) Now add the sugar. The sugar will melt and mix well with the carrot. Keep stirring till it thickens. Add half the ghee now. Keep stirring. Add the nuts, the raisins and the remaining ghee and keep cooking and stirring till it becomes one mass and turns around without sticking to the spoon. The clarified butter will start to leave to the sides of the pan at this point. Add the cardamon powder and give it a stir.Remove from heat.

Carrot curry

Ingredients:

  1/2 lb carrots, peeled and cubed or sliced
Optional: Fresh coconut scrapings 1/4 cup
Salt 4 teaspoons or to according to individual taste
Whole red chilies 2 or 3 broken into pieces
Optional: Turmeric powder a pinch*
: Asafoetida a pinch*
Optional: 1 teaspoon black/brown mustard seeds*
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon or more cayenne pepper or red chili powder

Method:
Note:

 Carrots can be peeled, diced and steamed or just peeled and diced and cooked in the pan. Carrots can also be peeled and shredded Heat oil in a pan or saucepan. When hot add the optional mustard seeds.After the mustard seeds pop and crackle (make sure to cover the pan while the seeds are popping so they don't splatter everywhere) add the optional broken red chillies, optional asafoetida, optional turmeric powder, salt and the cubed or diced or sliced carrots and give it a good stir. Add a cup of water, cover and cook till the carrots are tender but not mushy which should be around 20 min. Keep checking often so the water does not evaporate and if necessary add water and cook till the carrot pieces are tender. After the carrots get cooked add the cayenne pepper powder and the optional fresh grated coconut and give it a good mix and remove from heat. If extra spicy is preferred add 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper powder or red chili powder and give it a good mix before removing from heat.

Bindi(okra)chutney

Ingredients:

  Okra 10 pods
Green chilies 4 to 5
Tamarind* soaked, size of a small lemon or tamarind paste 2 teaspoons
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil

Method:

Heat the oil and fry the okra and green chilies till they turn brown in color. Grind in a blender the okra, chilies, tamarind and salt. Just give it one quick pulse grind. Note: If the okra's are ground fine or too much they will turn out mushy and sticky. The salt and tamarind content can be adjusted and more added if necessary at the end and mixed in. So add less at first and after grinding, taste and add more or leave it if it is fine.

Yoghurt okra(bindi)

Ingredients:

1 cup plain regular yogurt (low fat, 1%, 2% or whole does not matter)
10 fresh okra's (choose tender ones) cut into thin round slices
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt or according to individual taste
Optional: 1/4 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
2 to 3 green chilies cut into pieces, regular chilies like jalapeno or Serrano can also be used

Method:

Heat 2 teaspoons oil and scald or fry the okra's till they turn crisp. It will be fried when they are not sticky anymore and turn slightly brown. Keep frying every 2 min. When done remove and keep aside. Add the salt to the yogurt and mix well and keep aside.If the below step is left out fry the green chilies along with the okra. This step is optional. Heat the other 1 teaspoon of oil. When hot add the mustard seeds. After they crackle and pop add the green chilies and scald them or give it a fry or two.Pour this over the yogurt and mix well. Just before serving add the fried okra and mix well and serve.

Bindi(okra)soup

Ingredients:

  10 okra pods
Tamarind paste 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2tsp teaspoon paprika or any other kind of red chili powder or even chili flakes
1 teaspoon rice powder or tapioca or corn starch
Salt 3 teaspoons
Brown sugar 2 teaspoons
Optional: Sambar powder 2 teaspoons (spice powder for soups)
1 tablespoon oil (vegetable or any kind)

Method:

Cut the okra into 1 inch cubes and keep aside.Heat the oil and add the vegetable, 1teaspoon salt and the turmeric powder.Give it a fry and cover and cook on medium heat. Give it a fry every min or so.After the vegetable is cooked (when it easily breaks apart) fry it further till it turns a slight brown and a little crispy and remove and keep the vegetable aside.Mix the tamarind paste in a cup of water and bring it to a boil.Add the red chili powder, remaining salt, optional sambar powder and the brown sugar. Next dissolve the rice powder in a tablespoon of water and add this to the boiling tamarind water. The rice powder thickens the soup.Bring everything to one last boil and remove from heat. Add the fried vegetable to the soup and give it a good stir.

Radish soup

Ingredients ;

  1 cup split yellow peas/lentils ( toor/tur dal), cooked soft and mushy with water
1 daikon or a bunch of radishes, peeled, sliced or diced into cubes
3 tsps tamarind paste
2 Tbsps spice powder for soups (sambar powder/madras sambar powder)
3tsps salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp oil
1/4 tsp black mustard seeds
1 or 2 dried red chilies, broken into big bits
Optional: a pinch of asafoetida powder
Optional: 4 to 5 curry leaves, fresh/dried

Method:

Heat a heavy bottom saucepan with the oil.When hot add the mustard seeds. After they pop add the dried red chilies, optional asafoetida powder and curry leaves. Give it a fry and immediately add the radish just give it a fry. Now add a cup of water and cook the radishes half covered until well cooked. Add more water if needed. The radish should easily break apart when pressed between fingers. Now dilute the tamarind paste in 1/2 a cup of water and add this to the cooked radishes. Bring it to a full boil so that the raw smell of the tamarind goes away.Add the cooked split yellow peas, a cup of water, sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder and bring it all to another full roaring boil. Remove from heat and serve. The consistency should be like a thick soup.

Red or white raddish curry

Ingredients:

1 radish/daikon or a bunch of radishes peeled and cut into cubes
Salt 2 teaspoons or more according to taste
Whole red chilies 1or 2 (depending on how spicy the curry should be) broken into 4 to 5 pieces Optional: Fresh grated coconut 2 tablespoons
Vegetable oil 1 tablespoon (any kind)
Optional: Black mustard seeds (available in most Indian grocery stores)
 1/2 teaspoon Optional: 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder (available in most Indian grocery stores), used for color.
2 Tsp Curry powder

Method;

Remove the skin of the radish with a peeler and then cut into 1 or 2 inch cubes and keep aside.Heat oil in a pan. When hot add the optional mustard seeds. Cover the pan as the mustard seeds start to crackle and pop.After the popping noise of the mustard seeds stops, open the cover of the pan and add the red chillies and immediately add the cubed radish pieces.dd the optional turmeric powder and give it a good stir so the color of the turmeric gets evenly coated. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook the radish covered for 10min checking now and then (so as to not burn the curry) and adding water if necessary till the radish is soft and breaks easily.Add the salt and stir it well and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. At this point all the water must have evaporated or used up to cook the vegetable and the vegetable should be moist but not watery. Lastly add the curry powder and the optional fresh grated coconut, mix it in well and remove from heat.