Aloo~Bhindi Masala Gravy | Potato~Okra Gravy for Chapathi

I normally include chapathi in the menu twice a week and always there will be confusion on what to make for the side dish. Most of the time, I will make some gravy with paneer or mushroom. Some of the time capsicum takes the job to compliment. Here are some more other options for the side dish for chapathi. (Click here)

When I went through the net, I saw this recipe in a blog which sounds great. I saw this on few of the restaurants and I never dare to opt this, worrying about the taste. But when I tried it at home, I felt totally in love with the masala. If okra is ur favorite veggie, I would definitely recommend you to give this a try. 

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Madurai Style Chicken Salna Recipe | Chicken Salna for Parotta

Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 mins

Paneer Butter Masala

I previously posted a recipe for Butter chicken and this one is for the vegetarians. This time it is Paneer Butter Masala, PBM. I made this as a side dish for Naan without yeast (recipe coming soon). I used the same recipe for PBM as like butter chicken, but substituted cashews with heavy cream, since I got some in the fridge. You can even try with high fat milk instead of heavy cream, but believe me heavy cream gives an extraordinary flavor and texture to the gravy. 

It was the perfect combo with the tandoor naan. It can also be served with simple vegetable pulao, jeera rice or pea’s pulao. 

Preparation time: 5-8 mins

Cooking time: 15-20 mins

Creamy Veg Curry for Chapathi | Veg Curry Recipe

So here I come up with another recipe which goes with chapathi, most of the time and also a great combo for poori and naan. It just needs ur patience to slice the veggies thin and it can be done in a jiffy. If u have a chopper, then the work is so simple. Take all the veggies u have in hand. I used carrots, French beans, capsicum and also green peas. I used few Anaheim peppers which I love to use in my recipes. If u don’t find any in ur place, just skip that. This idea struck me when I had extra heavy cream in my refrigerator after using it for Crème Brulee. You can replace the cream with milk too. Even cashew paste works well in replacing it. Just soak the cashews in hot water and grind into a smooth paste. TH just loved this combo with chapathi and he says it tasted like Jalfrezi. Here is the recipe for creamy veg curry.

Lauki Kofta Curry | Bottle Gourd Kofta Curry Recipe

Lauki Kofta or Bottle gourd kofta can be served with rice or chapathi. In tamil we call as sorakkai and am not a great fan of it. I never knew that we can make kofta using bottle gourd until I find it online. TH loves kofta generally and I served it for chapathi for our dinner.

It is very important to squeeze out all the water from the grated bottle gourd else it would be difficult in making balls and also in deep frying. Add besan if u need it more. As soon u mix the mixture for the kofta, deep fry it quickly. Else it will become watery because of the bottle gourd and also the onions.

It is always better to serve this immediately you prepare. Prepare kofta and gravy separately and while serving add kofta in the serving bowl and then pour the gravy on to it. Keep for 5 mins or so and then serve. 

Palak Paneer Recipe

Palak Paneer is basically a North-Indian Side dish which is majorly accompanied with chapathi or roti. Spinach leaves which are pureed and cooked with Indian Cottage cheese give an extraordinary flavor when cooked with the Indian spices. Trust me; I haven’t tried with Palak Paneer in any of the restaurants before I make it myself. I was lighter, since I dint use cream in my dish. Even cashew paste can also be added instead of cream. We had it for our dinner on a busy day with a Simple Vegetable Pulao (Recipe Coming soon). 

Preparation time: 5-8 mins 

Cooking time: 15-20 mins

Boondhi Kuruma | Kara Boondhi Kuruma | Side dish for Idli/Dosa

Are u looking for a different side dish or gravy recipe for idli and dosa? I have a new recipe to satisfy your need… I used the store bought boondhi which lessen my cooking time. You can even make ur own boondhi which needs much time to do. If u has excess of boondhi in home, try making this delicious recipe and serve with idli or dosa.

This is an apt combo for dosa especially than the idlis. I used coconut paste to get the thick version of gravy. Coconut milk can also be used or even kasa kasa (poppy seeds) or cashew pastes are sufficient to make this kuruma. Boondi which is added in the kuruma absorbs water and bulges in size. So make the gravy thinner than the usual kuruma recipe. Now, to the recipe… 

Preparation time: 5mins

Cooking time: 15-20 mins

Raw Mango Pickle | Cut Mango Pickle | Instant Mango Pickle

Raw Mango Pickle / Cut Mango Pickle are the easiest pickle recipe which can be made in a minute. This can be done instantly when u have just raw mangoes at home. Just chop the mangoes and temper!!! That’s it; the pickle is ready to serve for a grand meal. How could our Indian meal get completed without a pickle?

I always have different varieties of pickle at home to accompany our lunch menu. Sometimes it goes either for parathas or with dosas too. Tomato thokku are the best one which I make. It can be served as a pickle or chutney. And the other pickle I mostly prepare is chilli-garlic pickle which suits best for all parathas. Click on the link to get the recipe. This pickle joins the hand when I found raw mangoes in the nearby shop. Check out my other recipe with raw mangoes.

Preparation time: 3-4 mins

Cooking time: 1-2 mins

Chicken Manchurian | Indo-Chinese Manchurian Recipe with Step-by-Step Pics

Here comes my next chicken recipe for the weekend special . Manchurian has been my very first dish which I tried at home on amma’s guidance. I got the recipe from one of my fren and tried at my home. Amma helped me in deep frying the chicken and all that. She never allowed me to play with hazardous in the kitchen… Soooo caring she seems to be … but now I don’t have any option. I need to take care of myself,  uhhhf!!!

My first dish was a great success and I passed some to my aunt’s place and she was amazed on seeing me doing all this ...I don’t know wat wonder!!! They loved the dish and my uncle cleaned and wiped off the box and returned back for some more …

You can use cauliflower or paneer to make a veggie version of Manchurian. I served it with Egg Fried Rice and Chicken 65 (recipe soon).

Preparation time: 1 hour

Cooking time: 20 mins

Chicken Tikka Masala

After a long gap, a post on non-veg recipe and that too with a chicken. It was almost a month I prepared non-veg at home. I got bored of making it and left a gap in between for the NVs. And now the time arrived to bug up with the recipes.  In this post am not gonna write more about chicken tikka since we had a blog post of it previously. Click here to check out. Here am gonna make a masala out with the tikka which we prepared already. If u have any left out tikka, you can use up in this way and make a awesome side-dish for rice and rotis.

Preparation time: 5 mins (excludes Chicken tikka preparation) 

Cooking time: 20 mins

Punjabi Style Capsicum Masala | Side Dish for Roti/Chapathi

Capsicum/bell peppers has a unique taste and flavor of its own. It doesn’t need much time to cook. You can just sauté and add to ur salads and it tastes yummy. It can also be eaten raw. In this recipe I just roasted the capsicum and added it to onion-tomato gravy. This can be served with chapathi and roti and also be taken with jeera rice topped with some onions. I tried it with the green bell peppers. You can even try this with red or yellow bell peppers.

Preparation time: less than 5 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Paneer Mattar Masala | Side-Dish for Roti/Pulao

I most of the times prefer taking chapathi for dinner. I already listed the side dish for chapathi column separately. (Click here tocheck) even though I make different side dish for roti, paneer is my favorite ones.  Paneer with green peas are the best combo forever. Try this recipe out and u ll know why am telling like that.

I served it with roti for dinner and had the left for the next day lunch along with brown rice pilaf (recipe coming soon)

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 10 mins

Mushroom Peas Masala | Side Dish for Chapathi, Parathas, Roti & Naan

I was hitting my head to make some gravy with mushroom to complement the chapathi for dinner. I had some frozen green peas in the refrigerator and I thought of giving it a try to make gravy. This recipe is so simple with the usual ingredients. If u have no time to spend in the kitchen yet wanted to make some delicious side dish for the chapathi, u can definitely try this out.

Check out my other recipes with mushrooms.

Preparation time: around 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Chayote Kootu | Chow-Chow Kootu Recipe

I always love to make kootu. It can be made in just 10 mins or so. Amma gave a simplest recipe for making kootu. Put all the ingredients in a pressure cooker and finally temper it… the kootu is already in mins. I love to have it with plain rice, chapathi and dosai. This kootu will make u addictive when it is had with any kuzhambu along with pappad and steamed rice topped with ghee. I served it with karamani kuzhambu (Recipe Coming Soon) and steamed rice. Hummm!!! Delicious..

Check out other recipe for kootu.

Preparation time: less than 5 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

Chicken Curry Recipe - Side Dish for Idli, Dosai, Idiyappam

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 15-20 mins

Black Pepper Lamb Curry | Gosht Kali Mirch Recipe

 Are u a pepper freaky? Then am sure you will definitely love the recipe. If u doesn’t get lamb in your place, try doing with mutton (see notes). It can either be served with plain steamed rice or with roti/chapathi. I love to have with idli and dosa too. 

 

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 10-20 minutes

Butter Chicken | Murgh Makhani

Butter Chicken or Murgh Makhani is made with the left over tandoori chicken in mild-spicy and silky tomato gravy. Because of the not-overpowering spiciness it is been loved by all, especially non-Indians. I can see lots of ready-to-serve packs of butter chicken in most of the stores here in US. They love to have the butter chicken with the plain tandoor naan which is also readily available. It can also be served with jeera rice and I served it with peas pulao.

You will be wondering, I haven’t tasted this butter chicken in any of the restaurants until I make it myself. After looking at the people here craving for butter chicken I thought of trying at home. The original recipe has cream and I replaced it with few cashew nuts which give a creamy texture to the gravy. Most of the restaurants uses tandoor chicken. Here am using the shallow frying method to cook the chicken. You can also deep fry the chicken. This is just a step to avoid the chicken oozing out excess water while cooking with the gravy.

Preparation time: 10-15 minutes

Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Chilli-Garlic Pickle Recipe

This is my first pickle recipe which I learnt from one of my friend in a surprise outing.  The simplicity of the recipe made me to try as soon as I reach home and more importantly TH loved it. 

Both of us were not a great fan of pickles. I always use store bought pickle mostly with a garlic flavor and use that for almost a year… but as soon as I make this chilli-garlic pickle, TH started using it as a side dish for almost all the dishes… let me know ur reviews about this pickle and  here comes the recipe…

Preparation time: 5-10 minutes

Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Rajma Masala Recipe | Red Kidney Beans Masala ( Punjabi Style)

Rajma Masala/ Red kidney beans Masala, which is very new to me and am not a great fan of this red kidney bean. So I rarely make recipes with rajma. Check out my recipe for Rajma pulao.

Rajma masala is very popular among the North Indians and I had tasted this recipe in a Dhaba in Manali. TH loved it and he wanted me to try it out.  Rajma takes a hell lot of time to cook. So it is always better to soak it overnight to make it soft. Pressure cooking after this step eventually reduces the time span for cooking. In this recipe I used milk and this is entirely an optional. You can also try adding cream to it which gives creamy texture to the dish. I served it with jeera rice and some sliced onions on top. 

Ingredients

½ cup Rajma (Red Kidney Beans)

½ tsp Garam Masala

Pinch of kasoori methi

1tbsp milk

Coriander leaves (to garnish)

1 tsp cumin seeds

Salt

1tsp oil

1tsp butter

To sauté and grind

2 cloves

¼ inch cinnamon

3-4 garlic cloves

½ inch of ginger

1 onion

2 tomatoes

2 tsp coriander seeds

4-5 red chillies

How to make it

• Wash and rinse rajma in running water. Soak it overnight atleast for 8 hours. Then pressure cook the beans until it turns soft. It took around 7-8 whistles for me. It depends on the variety of rajma you use. Reserve the drained water to make the gravy.
• Heat a pan with little of oil and sauté the items given. Allow it to cool at room temp and grind into a smooth paste with no water. Set aside.

• In a wok heat oil and butter and add cumin seeds when the oil is hot.
• Then add the ground paste and cook for 2-3 mins in medium flame. 

• Add garam masala to the paste and mix well. Cook for another 2 minutes.

• Add the reserved drained water to the paste and allow it to boil.
• Then add the cooked rajma to the boiling gravy and add salt to it.

• Cook by covering the lid and allow the gravy to thicken.
• Add milk at this stage and stir well.

• Crush kasoori methi in between ur palms and add to the boiling gravy.

• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/chapathi.

Dum Aloo Recipe - For Roti, Paratha, Naan

I always loved to make trials with potatoes. Potatoes are the only veggie which will never ruin me when I try. I make different recipes with potatoes and the Spicy Potato Curry hits the maximum view count in my blog…

I saw a bag of baby potatoes in the market and I grabbed it to try another version of potato recipe. On a continuous search for a dum aloo recipe I finally got one which is very easy to make. Dum aloo is a kashmiri recipe in which the aloo/potato are slow cooked in a traditional dum style. But here I have used the aloo as such. The recipe is adapted from Tarla Dalal. 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes