Curry In Kadai ~ An Indian Cooking Blog

We @ Curry In Kadai, wish you all a very happy Dasara( Vijaya Dasami ). May this Dusshera light up for you and bring in happiness for one and all! For us Dussehra means celebrating it at ammamma( grandma ) house. Wow, we used to go to Kalikamma temple everyday during dussehra, and amma(goddess) would be dressed in different avatars everyday. I remember, in my grandmas place the goddesses are 5 sisters and each sister will be in different color, like yellow, white, red, etc.,


All these 10 days the goddesses or ammas come out for Oregimpu( a procession ). A person would sit behind the goddess figure and starts dancing according to the music. And sometimes the person would be possessed by the goddess( poonakam ). We when kids used to have mixed feelings, like half scared and half interested in the whole proceedings. We miss all the happenings here in US though!


Here's is a Milk porridge, Paala payasam/sirannam, rice cooked and simmered in whole milk and cooked with raisins, badam(almonds), dried coconut, cashew nuts and elaichi that is mostly offered to god as prasadam. A must in any festival in moms house!


Here are some pictures and i will post the recipe soon!!

P.S. Everyone has unique taste palette, so please adjust the ingredients according to your taste.

Happy Navaratri Everyone!! I know, how every ones home is now being swamped with coconuts everyday! Here's one simple dish using coconut that you can bring to the table in minutes, its moms Seema vankaya kobbari talimpu aka Chayote squash with fresh coconut. Ah i love this curry, its not spicy, not fancy but yet bursts with lots for flavor from fresh coconut!

This Seemavankaya kobbari kura / curry would be perfect during these Navaratri days, as people who fast wouldn't eat onion and garlic when they break the fasting at the end of the day. This curry is easy to make , and goes well with rice, rotis, or even better as it is!

Ingredients you need:

• 2 big or 3 small chayote squash/seema vankaya, peeled and chopped into big cubes
• 1/4 cup fresh grated coconut
• 3-4 green chillies
• cilantro
• curry leaves
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds / dhaniyalu
• 1 tsp urad dal / minapappu
• 2 tbsp oil

How to:

• In a pressure pan/cooker, heat oil and add tadka/tempurings, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and urad dal
• Once they start to crackle, add curry leaves, turmeric, green chillies and choppedsquash pieces( seema vankaya mukkalu ).
• Mix them together close the lid and cook for just one whistle. Alternatively you can cook covered until the pieces are softened.
• Once the pressure goes off, put the cooker back on heat and then add salt and coriander, if u you dont like any water in the curry just cook under high heat until the water evaporates, personally i would mind some water!
• Adjust salt to taste and then finish it off with fresh cilantro.

Tada!! Chayote curry with coconut is ready to be relished! you can add more coconut if youd like, also you can reduce the green chillies to one, if you prefer to eat the curry as is. One thing i love about this curry is, i can make this anytime of the day, need not wait for friday( ususally the day we get all Indian vegeatbles ), chayote squashes are abundatly available all through out the year in regualr american grocery stores like Publix, kroger, target..!! Thanks Mom, for this wonderful dish!! love you!

TIP:
Apply some lime juice before handling these squashes, and your hands would come out clean!!