Prarthana's Vegetarian Delight

Every time we go to a restaurant, first thing my husband orders is this sweet corn soup. He is a great fan of this sweet corn soup. Even my mom and grand mother prefer this soup in restaurants. But, I don't like it much since I feel its a bit bland. It was my husbands birthday recently and since it was a weekday we didn't go out for dinner. So I thought of preparing a hotel style 3 course meal. I made some of his favorite dishes and first one was this sweet corn soup. INGREDIENTS: 1. Sweet corn- 1 cup + 1 spoon. 2. Onion- 1. 3. Garlic- 2-3 pods. 4. Ginger- 1 small piece. 5. Green chilly- 1. 6. Salt- To taste. 7. Pepper- To taste. 8. Carrot- small piece. 9. Cloves- 1 10. Butter- As needed. METHOD: 1. Chop onion, ginger, garlic and green chilly. Heat a pressure cooker and add butter. Once the butter melts, add the cloves, ginger, garlic and green chilly. Saute for a minute and add the chopped onions. 2. Once the raw smell of onion goes off, add 1 cup o

I prepare spinach at least twice in a week. Palak dal is a quick side dish recipe for roti or rice. It is very easy to make when I have less time to prepare dinner. My husband and brother are a great fan of this palak dal. My brother can eat this palak dal even daily. This palak dal and ladies finger fry goes well together. INGREDIENTS: 1. Palak leaves - 2 cups 2. Moong dal/ Pasi paruppu- 1/2cup. 3. Onion-1 4. Tomato- 1 5. Ginger- 1 small piece. 6. Garlic- 3-4 pods. 7. Green chilly- 1 8. Mustard seeds- 1tsp 9. Cumin seeds- 1tsp 10. Turmeric powder- 1tsp 11. Salt- To taste 12. Chilly powder- To taste. 13. Coriander powder- 1tsp. 14. Garam masala- 1tsp. 15. Oil- As needed. 16. Coriander leaves- For garnishing. METHOD: 1. Pressure cook moong dal/ pasi paruppu with enough water into mashing consistency. Chop finely onion, tomato, ginger and garlic. Slit the green chilly. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard and cumin seeds. Don't let it burn. Add the finely chop

I usually order malai kofta in restaurants, but my family members don't prefer malai kofta since its a slightly sweetish dish. So, when I prepare at home, I make the dish bit spicy. This is my version of spicy malai kofta. I made this yesterday for my husband's birthday special dinner. INGREDIENTS: FOR KOFTA: 1. Potato- 1 big sized. 2. Green chilly- 2. 3. Coriander powder- 1tsp. 4. Garam masala- 1tsp. 5. Besan/Kadala mavu/Gram flour- 2tbls. 6. Salt- As needed. FOR GRAVY: 1. Onion- 1 medium sized. 2. Tomato- 1 3. Green chilly- 1 4. Ginger- 1 small piece. 5. Garlic- 2-3 pods. 6. Cashews- 6-7 7. Milk- half cup. 8. Salt- to taste. 9. Kitchen king masala/ garam masala- 1tsp. 10. Chilly powder- 1/2 tsp. 11. Coriander- For garnishing. 12. Oil- As needed. 13. Butter- 1 tsp. METHOD: 1. Pressure cook potato for 10mins. Allow it to cool and peel its skin. Mash the potatoes and add chopped green chilly. Add all the other ingredients mentioned under kofta.

Sambar is a very important dish in south Indian cuisine. My dad is a great fan of this arachivitta (freshly grounded masala) onion sambar. He always asks me to prepare this sambar with arbi(sepakezhangu) fry curry. I make this sambar mostly every weekend and enjoy with fried curries like potatoes, arbi or ladies finger. INGREDIENTS: 1. Shallots/small onions- 5-6 pcs. 2. Drumsticks- 3-4 pcs. 3. Toor dal/ Thuvaram paruppu- 3 tbls. 4. Mustard seeds- 1 tsp. 5. Fenugreek seeds- 1tsp. 6. Cumin seeds- 1tsp. 7. Oil- 2 tsp. 8. Tamarind- gooseberry sized piece. 9. Salt- As needed. 10. Coriander leaves- for garnishing. 11. Dried red chilly- 1 12. Curry leaves- few. 13. Turmeric powder- 1tsp. FOR GROUND MASALA: 1. Coconut scrapped- 3 tbls. 2. Urad dal/ ulutham paruppu- 1 tsp. 3. Channa dal/ Kadalai paruppu- 2tsp. 4. Coriander seeds- 3tsp. 5. Red chilly dried- 3-4. 6. Sesame seeds- 1/2 tsp. METHOD: 1. Peel shallots and keep it aside. Pressure cook toor dal with 2 cu

I had a big bunch of spinach and I wanted to make something out of it for dinner. I didn't have panner. So couldn't make palak paneer. So I thought of using potato in the spinach gravy. I used normal potatoes. It would be more wonderful if we use baby potatoes for this dish. This is a very simple yummy side dish for phulkas or naan for dinner. INGREDIENTS: 1. Spinach- 1 bunch. 2. Onion- 1 3. Tomato- 1 4. Green chilly- 3 5. Ginger- 1 inch piece. 6. Garlic- 2-3 pods. 7. Cashews- 4-5 pcs. 8. Potato- 2 medium sized. 9. Salt- As needed. 10. Kitchen king masala- 2tsp. 11. Cumin powder- 1tsp. 12. Coriander powder- 1tsp. 13. Salt- As needed. 14. Oil- 2 tbls. 15. Sugar- 1 tsp. 16. Cumin seeds- 1 tsp METHOD: 1. Wash and clean the spinach leaves. Separate the leaves from its stem. Heat a pan and add the spinach leaves with little water. Add sugar and cumin seeds. This helps to retain its greenish color. Cook for 2-3mins and switch off the flame. Allow it to cool

I usually make simple aglio olio pasta at home. I recently saw this pasta recipe using pesto sauce in a cooking show and wanted to give it a try. I was searching for basil leaves but it was always out of stock. Finally yesterday bought a pack of basil leaves and I made this creamy pesto pasta for dinner. INGREDIENTS: 1. Pasta- 1 cup (I used penne). 2. Onion- 1 small. 3. Garlic- 1 cup. 4. Basil leaves- 1 pack. 5. Walnuts- 1/2 cup. 6. Olive oil- 1/2 cup. 7. Cherry tomatoes-7-8 8. Lemon juice- 1 tsp. 9. Pepper powder- 2 tsp. 10. Salt- As needed. 11. Parmesan cheese- 1 tbls. 12. Mixed Italian herbs or Oregano- 1 tbls. 13. Fresh cream- 2 tsp (Optional) METHOD: 1. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8-10 mins until it becomes soft. Add little salt and 1tsp olive oil while boiling. Once it gets cooked, keep it aside. 2. In a mixer, add basil leaves, 1/2 cup of garlic, parmesan cheese, walnuts, lemon juice, 2 tbls of olive oil and pepper

I had to make lunch for myself alone since husband was having lunch at office with his colleagues. I was so lazy to prepare but hungry too. I had some left over rice and I prepared this masala kichadi with that. This kichadi is a very simple yet tasty one pot meal. You can add raw rice and adjust the water quantity according to that. INGREDIENTS: 1. Rice- 1 cup ( I used left over cooked rice) 2. Lentils- 1 cup (Masoor dal, Green Moong dal, Yellow moong dal) 3. Chopped veggies- 1 cup(I used carrot, beans, green peas, sweet corn, cauliflower). 4. Onion- 1 5. Tomato- 1 6. Garlic- 2-3 pods 7. Ginger- Small piece 8. Whole black pepper- 1 tsp. 9. Cumin seeds- 1 tsp. 10. Bay leaves- 2. 11. Cloves- 2. 12. Coriander powder- 1tsp. 13. Chilly powder- 1 tsp. 14. Salt- To taste. 15. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp. 16. Asafoetida- 1 tsp. 17. Oil- 1 tsp. 18. Ghee- 2 tsp. 19. Green chilly- 1 20. Coriander leaves- For garnishing. METHOD: 1. Finely chop onion, tomatoes, ginger