Guacamole

 3 large ripe avocados - remove seed and scoop out pulp. Pulp should be easily scoopable.

Fat green chillies - 2 or 3 - use jalapeno peppers if available - very finely chopped

Garlic - very finely chopped - 7-8 pods

Coriander leaves - a handful

Crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp.

Half a firm red tomato - chopped finely with no seeds.

Half an onion - chopped finely.

Lemon juice, salt, olive oil 

Procedure:

Can be mashed with a fork or spoon, but I prefer to blend. 

Put avocado pulp, coriander leaves ( garlic and green chillies also if you prefer to grind) in a mixie and blend.

Add in crushed black pepper, salt, lemon juice, olive oil.

Stir in the raw onion and raw tomato (can use red bell pepper also)

Pumpkin Soup

Deep yellow or Orange pumpkin - 2 cups peeled and cubed.

Carrots - 1/2 cup peeled and cubed.

Cinnamon, Cumin, Black Pepper.

Milk - 300ml

Onion - 1 large - chopped.

Garlic - 7-8 pods.

Olive oil - 2 tsp.

Turmeric, Thyme, Chilli flakes, Oregano.

Salt.

Pumpkin seeds

Heat oil, add garlic, onion, cinnamon, pepper,  cumin - saute.

Add pumpkin, carrot, turmeric - saute.

Add milk, close and cook.

Cool and puree.

Bring back to pan and add water as required, add turmeric, thyme, chilli flakes, oregano, salt ( experiment with the spices)

Bring to boil.

Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds

Knolkhol Kurma

Dice knolkhol and cook in pressure cooker for minimum whistle.
Soak in water for 15 mins - 7-8 cashews, 2 tsp poppy seeds.
Grind with 1 tbsp coconut. Keep aside.
In little oil, fry chopped onion, chopped tomato, grind and keep.
In oil, add masala - jeera seeds, saunf seeds, bay leaf, 4 cloves, a piece of cinnamon stick, a pod of cardamon, ginger-garlic paste and fry.
Add tomato- onion paste and fry till rawness is gone.
Add cashew paste and continue to fry. Add the cooked knolkhol with some water.
Add salt, chilli powder, boil for 5-10 mins. Switch off.
Stand the kurma for some time. The longer it stands the better the knolkhol absorbs the masala.

Narthangai Pickle

Ingredients:

1. Citron/Narthangai/Herlekayi - 2 or 3
2. Red chillies - around 10 Guntur chillies + 4-5 Byadagi
3. Gingelly oil - 5-6 tsp.
4. Fenugreek/Methi seeds - 1-2  tsp
5. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp.
7. Rock salt - 2 tsp. (Adjust as per taste)
8. Hing/Asafoetida - 1 inch solid piece

Procedure:

1.  Wash and clean the Narthangai. Wipe with a towel and cut into 1 cm cubes. Remove the seeds while chopping.
2.  Add rock salt to the pieces and toss well. Keep covered for 24-48 hours, stirring once in 12 hours. If the Narthangai is not fleshy, you may to wait for 2 more days. The salt will get absorbed, the Narthangai will become tender and will leave out more juice.
3. Dry roast the methi seeds and keep aside.
4. In half tsp. of oil, roast the asafoetida and keep aside.
5. In the same pan fry the red chillies 
6. Powder the above in a dry mixer.
7. In a pan heat the oil. When he oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds crackle, switch off. Add the turmeric powder and the ground powder above.
8. Pour this into the soaked Narthangai and stir well.
9. Soak it for 3-4 more days at room temperature and start using it.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Chettinad Khara Chutney

This is a recipe taken from kannammacooks. Adding it here for easy bookmarking.

Keep the following ready - 2 onions chopped into big chunks. 2-3 tomatoes chopped into big chunks. 10 pods of garlic - peeled. You can microwave the garlic for around 20 seconds for easy peeling. 3-4 red chillies.
In a 2-3 litres cooker, add 4-5 spoons of gingelly oil, add all the above ingredients, a small piece of tamarind (one inch strip), a small piece of jaggery and pressure cook for 3 mins or until the first whistle.
Release pressure and grind with required amount of salt.
Chutney is ready.

Maida Halwa

Maida - 2 cups
Sugar - 3.5 - 4 cups
Ghee - 1.5 cups
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp.
Food color orange - 1/4 tsp.
Cashews - 20 chopped into half inch pieces

1. Dissolve 2 cups maida in 3-4 cups of water to form a lump free batter. Strain if required to remove any lumps.
2. Add the food color to a tsp. of water and dissolve well into the maida batter.
3. Roast cashews in 1 tsp. of ghee till they turn golden. Keep aside.
4. In a pan ( I used nonstick) add sugar and 1/2 cup water and start boiling while stirring continuously to form a syrup of 1 string consistency. This takes 7-10 mins on medium flame. Don't bother about exact one string consistency. A thick , lightly sticky syrup should do.
5. Pour in the maida mixture and keep stirring continuously to blend the sugar and maida without lumps. Use medium flame.
6. At one point it will form a single large orange blob and come out of the pan.At this point start adding ghee 1 tsp. at a time and continuing to stir.
7. The ghee will get absorbed readily by the blob as you add. Use the ladle (wooden spatula) to mash the blob and expose maximum surface area of the halwa to the added ghee.
8. At one point the ghee will stop getting absorbed and remain on the sides. Add in the roasted cashews, cardamom powder and stir once.
9. Remove from fire.

You can pour this onto a greased plate while it is hot and cut into slabs like barfi, or store it as is and ladle out with a spoon while serving.
Tastes better when allowed to set for longer time ( around 12 hours)

Variations to be tried:
Add a tbsp. of corn starch to the maida for a glossier texture. Maida can be reduced by 1 tbsp. in that case.
Use yellow food color instead of orange, pineapple essence instead of cardamom powder and tutti fruiti instead of cashews to get a Kerala halwa look.

Tomato Oats Upma

Ingredients:

1. Quaker Oats - 3 tbsp.
2. Tomato - 1 large or 2 small chopped finely
3. Onion - 1 medium chopped finely
4. Green chilli - 1 finely chopped
5. Chilli powder (optional) - 1/2 tsp.
6. Dhania powder - 1 tsp.
7. Oil - 2 -3 tsp.
8. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
9. Ginger-garlic paste (optional) - 1/2 tsp.
10. Curry leaves - 5-6
11. Salt - to taste.

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a kadhai and splutter the mustard seeds. Add ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, curry leaves and saute.
2. Add onions and lightly fry till golden brown.
3. Add tomatoes and stir fry till the tomato becomes pulpy.
4. Add chilli powder, dhania powder and salt.
5. Add oats and stir in. Add around 1 cup of water and boil as you keep stirring.
6. When it reaches the required consistency ( like saffola masala oats), switch off and enjoy it while it is hot.
7.