Chow chow and mutton curry

   I had just left the market with an pack of chow chow.  This green vegetable, resembled potato like in texture.  I wanted to try it differently other than usual poriyal or kootu, which is why I called my aunt.  She told me that chow chow, radhish, carrot and potato are few vegetables that can pair excellently with mutton curry.  Even those who don't like veggies and prefer mutton alone, will find this curry delecious since the chow chow absorbs the flavour of mutton and portrays as same.  You can add green chillies to the masala paste instead of chilly powder, but, since we had an toddler, I sticked with latter option.

Yes, and I made the curry along with mutton and its liver.  Mutton liver or thilli is an excellant source of iron, and moreover they dominated the entire flavour and we all nourished the same.  This curry goes great with rice/idly or dosa.  I hope you try the same and let us know.  

Gongura mamsam

   There always used to be five to six types of spinach around my place, though I always end up buying palak, methi.  I, got intrigued with puntikura, after an taste of gongura chutney at my mother's place.  So, when I asked an fellow lady, who, I chanced upon picking these, she told me that they used to add in gosht prepartions.

So, I happily picked these and left home.  With my 'The Essential Andhra Cookbook' handy, I zeroed over an recipe called Chigoor ka salan.  Though these were made of tamarind leaves, this recipe also suggested any addition of spinach.  So, I nailed it replacing tamarind with gongura.  This curry had an high sour quotient along with balanced spice and salt.   This was completely unique,  and we did enjoy this as an family.   Do try and let us know.  

Kothukkari kuruma/minced meat kuruma

   Minced meat/kothukkari curry goes great with idiyappam/dosa/rice.  Here I have added precooked minced meat along with masala, this is an tempting dish for NV-lovers.

 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients required:

To temper

•  1 tbspn of oil
• 1 Bayleaf, crushed
• 1 star anise
• 1-inch cinnamon piece
• 1 Black cardamom
• 1 clove
• 1 Marathi mogga
• 1 tsp sombu/fennel seeds

Spaghetti with meat sauce

  Spaghetti is thin, long pasta from Italy.  Here, I used dried form of spaghetti packet, made of wheat durum semolina.  Spaghetti is topped usually with tomato sauce, with herbs like basil and oregano.  Here, I used meat sauce and the result was awesome.  The basic sauce, I used was Maggi's instant pasta sauce.  If you want an home-made one, click here

 

Since, this was my first Italian association, I followed each steps carefully.  These spaghetti were a bit denser than our instant noodles.  I cooked them till they were completely done and it went good with sauce.  They were heavy on stomach. One bite topped with sauce was completely heavenly.  I added both meat and vegetables here, vegetarians can replace the same amount of meat with additional mushrooms.

 

Mutton sukka

 

Sukka is a dry, very lightly sauced, preparation of South-Indian cuisine, that goes well with chicken, mutton.  They are served with hot rice and dal/rasam.  Traditionally, they require creamy masala paste, of khuskhus, cashewseeds, and coconut, and are loaded with oil.  Here, I made this sukka with simplest ingredients available on any South-Indian kitchen. Not only, is this simpler, but maintains lesser oil with an best drooling consumption.:D  :D 

 

 

 

I, usually cook two different dishes at week-ends.  One, mild soup for Varsha and secondly spicy curry for Shama.  What surprised us, was Varsha asked an taste of this sukka.  After one bite, she seemed to love it and asked for more and more !!!!!  And by the end she finished having sukka all by herself, Shama had mild soup :D  :D   I didn't know Varsha would like them as such.  Therefore, I can term this sukka as 'kid pleaser' too :)  :) 

Mutton chops fry

    Chops are referred to as perpendicular cut region from lamb/pork and contain a portion of rib and spine.  This would look like an triangular piece of meat supported by bones from two sides.  Mutton chops have increasingly found as an great option, replacing regular mutton masala.  Here I have used an set of home-pound masalas and made gravy.

Ingredients required

To dry roast and made into  masala

• 3-4 whole dry red chilly
• 1 tbspn whole dhanya
• 1-2 bayleaf
• 1/2 tsp mace
• 1 Marathi moggu
• 1-inch cinnamon stick
• 2-3 clove
• 1 Black cardamon
• 2-3 green cardamon
• 1 tsp kalpasi/dagad phool
• 1/2 tsp whole peppercorn
• 1 tsp whole Jeera/cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
• 4-5 garlic pods
• 1-inch ginger piece

Kadaai lasuni gosht

    Garlic is known for its antioxidant properties,  it also has capacity to stabilize blood pressure, cholestrol and cancer.  So, using lots of garlic does help to build your immune system, especially in your sunday brunch!!  Here I used garlic with mutton, I really liked the flavour of both resulting in tasty hybrid.

Ingredients required

To temper

• 1 tsp shahjeera
• 10-12 garlic pods thinly sliced
• 3-4 whole red chillies
• Handful of curry leaves

To be pressure cooked

• 350  gm mutton
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 cup finely chopped tomato
• 2 slit green chillies
• 1/2 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
• 1 cup water