Pavakkai Poriyal with Tomato Recipe | Bitter gourd Stir-fry with Tomato

Pavakkai Poriyal with Tomato 

Pavakkai Poriyal is a simple stir fry made with Bitter gourd. This is my mother's version of Pavakkai Poriyal, made using tomato. I have already posted a different version of Pavakkai Poriyal without tomato. My mom makes it by pre-cooking the bitter gourd with turmeric and salt and then stir frying it. This version is also to easy to make and quite delicious. I love this poriyal and everytime mom makes it, I will finish it fully. The usage of tomato in the stir fry cuts down the bitterness of Bitter gourd. Mom makes this stir fry at least once a week. Bitter gourd is diabetic friendly vegetable and it is said that this vegetable keeps blood sugar level in control.

Oats Upma Recipe | Oats Breakfast Recipe | Easy South Indian Oats Recipes

Oat Upma Recipe

Oats Upma is a simple and easy to make Vegan dish. Upma is a South Indian style dish made with sooji or semiya or aval in this case it is made with Oats. As lots of people, prefer eating oats for weight loss or other health reasons  like being diabetic etc., I wanted to post some oats recipes here. First I will post some very basic oats recipes, later will post something fancy too. My last post was Oats Bagalabath and today I am posting recipe for Oats Upma. No South Indian needs an introduction to Upma. We make upma almost with everything like sooji/rava, semiya, Aval etc., Oats upma is equally and even more easy to make and is very healthy too. You can add in some veggies of your choice too to make it even more healthy and colorful. But I have posted a simple version of oats upma here.

Oats Bagalabath Recipe | South Indian style Spicy Oats with Yogurt | Easy Indian Oats Recipes

Oats Bagalabath Recipe

Oats Bagalabath is nothing but oats prepared in thayir sadam style -  Oats is cooked, mixed with curd/ yogurt and is seasoned. Very simple and easy to make dish yet it is very delicious and hearty. I had got oats long time back and was waiting to try different recipes with it. Since I went into blog hibernation, I was putting it off. Suddenly got this idea and prepared this for my breakfast. It just took few minutes and it was ready. This can be had any time, breakfast or lunch. I also wanted to blog about it here. So you can expect some healthy south Indian oats recipes here.

Chicken Ghee Roast Recipe - Mangalore Style | Spicy Chicken Roast recipe

Chicken Ghee Roast is an aromatic and spicy chicken side dish. Our family loves chicken and I wanted to try something different for them than the usual and was googling recipe for Chicken ghee roast and came across this Mangalore style Chicken ghee roast from Cherie's Stolen recipes. I followed the recipe and did 1 or 2 changes like I didn't have kashmiri red chillies so instead used the regular long red chillies I had at home. Kashmiri red chillies are less spicy comparatively and give beautiful color to the dish. Nonetheless, the dish came out really well and everyone at home really loved it. You must try this dish to know what I am talking about. The kitchen was filled with aroma of ghee and spicy and tangy taste of the dish sure did tickle our taste buds. This can be had as an appetizer, side dish for rice, even for roti. 

Chicken Ghee roast

Rava Kesari Recipe | Recipe for Easy and Delicious Kesari

Rava kesari needs no introduction at all. It is a south Indian dessert which always has place in any special meal. It is a easy and quick to make dessert. It hardly takes 15-20 minutes to make. When there are unexpected guests, kesari can be made in a jiffy. For any festivals or special occasions, even if you have no time to make other sweets, kesari can be made in the last moment too, provided you have all the ingredients ready at home.

Rava Kesari

Kovakkai Poriyal | Ivy gourd (Tindora) Stir fry

Kovakkai Poriyal is nothing but stir fried Ivy gourd. It is a simple and easy to make side dish. This is healthy and vegan dish.

Kovakkai Poriyal

Chicken Curry recipe (Semi-gravy type) | Easy chicken curry using pressure cooker

Chicken curry recipe that I am posting today is semi-gravy i.e., it is neither gravy nor a dry curry but it is in between. This chicken curry can be had as a side dish for rice or roti. I made this chicken curry using pressure cooker. It is easy to make this flavorful chicken curry. 

I made this Chicken curry as a part of Virtual treat for our dear friend Sangee Vijay's Birthday. This is her mom's recipe and she has mentioned that it is her most favorite chicken recipe, so I wanted to try this semi dry chicken curry for her. It was so delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed this flavorful chicken curry.  

Happy Birthday, Sangee!!

Chicken curry

Onion Chutney Recipe (with coconut) | Vengaya Chutney (using coconut) | Side dish for Idly & Dosa

Onion Chutney is a easy to make delicious chutney. This vengaya chutney is made using coconut. This chutney can be served as a side dish for Idly or Dosa. This is vegan too.

Onion Chutney

Kodi Vepudu Recipe | Andhra style chicken fry recipe

Kodi Vepudu

Kodi Vepudu is a spicy Chicken fry made in Andhra style. Kodi Vepudu is very flavorful and delicious, but it is very easy to prepare. First marinate the chicken with the required ingredients then cook till its done and water is evaporated, mix it with the prepared spice powder and garnish and serve. Isn't it so easy? You can serve this with Kodi Kura (Andhra style chicken curry) or with rasam and rice.

Pallipalayam Chicken Fry Recipe | Chicken Pallipalayam Recipe | South Indian Chicken Recipes

Pallipalayam chicken fry is the easiest  and delicious chicken fry made with few ingredients. Pallipalayam is a place near Erode and this dish is very famous around this region. Pallipalayam chicken also has its place in the menu of most of the South Indian restaurants. It can be either had as an appetizer or as a side dish for rice.  

Pallipalayam Chicken Fry

Rava Kichadi Recipe | Sooji Kichdi | South Indian Breakfast recipes

Rava Kichadi is a traditional South Indian Tiffin. It is made of Sooji/ semolina and has loads of vegetables. Rava Kichadi is one of my favorite. Even my hubby who is not a fan of Rava upma eats Rava kichadi without any complaints. What makes the difference between the upma and the kichadi is the addition of tomatoes, veggies, turmeric, ginger and ghee in the kichadi. I usually serve this Kichadi with coconut chutney. You can also serve it with sambar or you can eat it with pickle too. One of my friend likes to eat this kichadi with yogurt. Each has different preference right? But they cannot say no to this melt in the mouth yummy rava kichadi.

Rava Kichadi

Tamil New Year Recipes | Special Recipes for Tamil New Year

Dear Readers, Wish you all a happy and prosperous Tamil New Year!

I have compiled here list of recipes for Tamil New year.

Sakkarai Pongal

Kalkandu Pongal

Payasam Varieties

Gothumai Payasam

Javvarisi Payasam (using microwave) 

Ravai Payasam

Aval Payasam

Carrot Payasam

Mambazha Payasam

Semiya Payasam

Hope you liked this collection. If you try any recipes from this collection, please do share your feedback and a picture (of the sweet/snack you prepared). You can send it via email or in my Facebook page. In case if you have any queries please feel free to mail me. I will try to answer you as early as possible. 

My e-mail id is blogadmin@divyasculinaryjourney.com

Facebook Page: Divya's Culinary Journey

Have a wonderful and happy Tamil New Year!!

Aval Ragi malt Ladoo - Healthy Dessert | Guest post by Vijayalakshmi of Virunthu Unna Vaanga

Hello friends, It is time for another guest post and this week's special guest is Vijayalakshmi Dharmaraj of Virunthu Unna Vaanga. She is a sweet person who is like a little sister to me. She is a very friendly person and a enthusiastic blogger. She is a vegetarian, so her space has lots of delicious unique vegetarian recipes that are healthy. Though she tries various interesting and delicious recipes, she also shares basic recipes like how to make black pepper powder, condensed milk, paneer etc., at home. I call her Dessert queen as she has a lots of different sweet recipes  in her space. Even today she is sharing with us a healthy and delicious sweet recipe. Over to Viji now.

Semolina Yogurt Cake | Basbousa | Guest post by Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats

Dear Friends, Please welcome Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats here. Sangee needs no introduction at all. We all know she is a dedicated blogger and a wonderful photographer (Food stylist).Personally, she is a very good friend of mine with whom I have spent hours chatting and whenever we talk the conversation will never be less than one hour. She always has the ability to bring smile in my face. In the blogging side,  I love the way she clicks pictures- the props she uses, the composition, lighting. everything. Also the combination of ingredients she comes up with each time for the recipes is unique. There will be always something interesting and unique in her recipes and also she concentrates on healthy recipes. The other thing I wanted to mention is her love for Broccoli. She has tried  many recipes with it, from pasta to pulao to rasam to kootu there are so many recipes using broccoli. Check out her Broccoli recipes. Also I must mention here her passion for baking. You can find n number of baking recipes in her blog. Today She is sharing with us a special baking recipe - Semolina Yogurt Cake.

Semolina Yogurt Cake

Now off to Sangee for the guest post..

Honey Cake- Egg-less & Butter-less | Easy Snack Cake Recipes | Egg-less Baking

Honey Cake is a soft and moist cake made with honey and can be had as a snack cake with tea. This version of honey cake that I am posting today is egg-less and butter less. I have already posted Honey Cardamom Cake (it has both egg and butter), it is a hit among my friends and almost everyone has tried this cake and has given very good remarks. One of my friend loved the cake but she wanted egg-less version to try at home. So for her searched and got the recipe and tried it. The cake came out so soft and moist and tasted delicious. 

Honey Cake

Cabbage Kootu (using channa dal) | Muttaikose Kootu (using kadalai paruppu) | Kosu kootu

Cabbage kootu is a very healthy and comforting vegetable side dish. This Muttaikose kootu is made using kadalai paruppu (Channa dal).  Recently one of my friend made this kosu kootu for a potluck lunch and I instantly fell in love with it and I wanted to try this at home and got the recipe from her and made few changes to suit our taste. I have prepared this few times now and everyone at home loves this comforting kootu. I serve this with rasam rice and if there are any leftovers I would serve this with chappathi too.

Cabbage Kootu

Roses Briochées Garnies - Rose shaped mini brioche bread with stuffing | Guest Post by Priya Suresh Akka

Hello Friends, Please welcome Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes to DCJ for a wonderful guest post today. Since I am in India now, to keep my blog from going into a hibernation,  I had requested few of my friends for a guest post and they have readily agreed to it.  The first of the posts is today's Roses Briochées Garnies by Priya Akka. It is a rose shaped mini brioche bread with potato and soya kheema masala stuffing. It is a Indian french fusion just like Priya Akka. Indian chef in french kitchen. :) If I have write about Priya Akka then these pages won't be enough. She is one of the bloggers whom I look up to with much respect and admiration and I am really proud to say that I am friends with her now. She is such a down to earth friendly person and was very encouraging when I began blogging, even when I asked for guest post immediately without any second thought, she agreed to it and sent me a post. Thank you Priya Akka for the wonderful post. Over to Priya Akka...

Kulcha Recipe | Easy recipe for home made Kulcha | How to make soft Kulcha ?

Kulcha is a soft leavened North Indian flat bread originated from Punjab. Soft kulcha is popular item in restaurants menu. It is usually baked in Tandoor oven  and is served with Chole (spicy chickpea curry). But it is easy to prepare soft kulcha at home too. Here I have posted the easy stove top method for making kulcha.  

While taking about kulcha, there is always a question regarding what is the difference between Naan and Kulcha? Naan is leavened using yeast while kulcha is leavened using baking powder, baking soda and yogurt. Kulcha can be either plain or stuffed. This is a recipe for plain kulcha. 

I tried this Kulcha recently and was a great hit at home. Every one loved this soft kulchas especially the kids. I have already made this Kulcha second time this week.  If you are looking for perfectly soft kulcha, that can be easily prepared at home, then your search ends here. 

Soft Kulcha

Malai Kofta Gravy Recipe | Restaurant style Malai Kofta Curry

Malai kofta gravy is spicy dumpling of paneer and potato deep fried and simmered in creamy tomato based gravy. Malai kofta is very famous in any restaurant menu. This restaurant style malai kofta gravy is rich and high in calorie. This gravy can be served with Roti, naan or rice.

 Though I prepared this gravy almost a week ago, I couldn't post it on time. Better late than never right, so am posting this recipe now. I have heard from some of my friends that the dumplings while frying will may disintegrate and I was so worried about that. But following this recipe, the dumplings (kofta ) came out perfect and the gravy tasted delicious .

Restaurant style Malai Kofta Curry

Microwave Brownie in a Cup Recipe (Egg-less) | One Minute Microwave Brownie in a Mug | How to make brownie in microwave?

This is the best and easy microwave mug brownie I have ever tasted. This easy microwave brownie is made without egg in a mug. It takes just few seconds to put the ingredients together and a minute in the microwave.. Voila!! the brownie is ready. If you are a fan of fudge type brownies, then you will definitely love this microwave brownie. This is sure to satisfy your cravings instantly. If you are like me, who doesn't like to share their sweets, then this can be called as single serving. 

Microwave Brownie in a Mug

I am so happy to share with you all that  Divya's Culinary Journey has crossed over One million views and I am sharing this easy egg-less microwave brownie recipe to celebrate it. I would like to thank all of you for your continued support. 

Cranberry Rice Recipe | South Indian style Cranberry rice recipe

Cranberry Rice is a simple and delicious rice made with fresh cranberries. This rice is made in South Indian style and is Vegan. This rice has the tart flavor and lovely color from the cranberries. It takes just minutes to prepare this cranberry rice and is easy too. This rice can be served with appalam, fryums or even chips. While googling about cranberries, I came to know, in tamil it is known as' Kuruthinelli'. It tastes almost like nelli (gooseberry) and is red in color like blood. I have seen these cranberries after coming to US only and my son loves dried cranberries a lot and he has it with snacks and with cereals and I was under the misconception that the cranberries are sweet until I got some fresh cranberries and tried them. They are tart. Using fresh cranberries I have baked Cranberry Coffee Cake and now tried this Cranberry rice. 

Cranberry Rice

Aloo Paratha Recipe | Potato Paratha | Potato stuffed Paratha | Stuffed Paratha Recipes

Aloo Paratha is a famous Indian flat bread (paratha) stuffed with spicy potato filling. Aloo Paratha has become my daughter's favorite when she had it in a recent party. So I started making aloo parathas specially for her. When I make it, she eats it without any complaints. Not only her, even my little one loves these parathas. These parathas can be served with raitha and pickle, even tomato chutney makes a good combination.

Let us see how to make these delicious Aloo Paratha now. 

Aloo Paratha

Tomato Biryani Recipe | Thakkali Biryani | Tomato Rice in Biryani Style

Tomato Biryani is a flavorful rice made with tomatoes and spices.It is nothing but tomato rice made in biryani style.This tomato biryani is a easy to make one pot meal that can be prepared quickly making it perfect for packing lunch on busy mornings. It can be served with raitha.

Tomato Biryani

Chicken Curry Recipe (made without coconut) | Quick and Easy Chicken Curry | South Indian Chicken Recipes

Chicken curry recipe that I am going to share today is easy and quick to make. Also this curry is made without coconut and does not require grinding too. This chicken curry is so delicious and flavorful. It can be had with rice and also roti. We were in Canada for a brief period that time I did not have any blender/ mixie with me, then I came up with this recipe. If you do not want to spend much time in the kitchen, or a beginner in cooking who doesn't want to try a complex method for making chicken curry, yet want to have something delicious, then this recipe is for you. You will definitely love this simple and flavorful chicken curry.

Easy Chicken Curry

Broccoli Fried Rice Recipe - Indo Chinese Style | Easy Broccoli Fried Rice (Vegan)

Broccoli Fried Rice is a simple fried rice made using broccoli in Indo- Chinese style. Every one in our home loves Broccoli a lot, so I always look for different ways to incorporate it in our cooking. One lazy afternoon, I tried this Broccoli Fried rice for lunch. It took just minutes to prepare this delicious rice and so easy to prepare too. I wanted to blog about this easy broccoli fried rice and here I am posting the recipe.  

Broccoli Fried Rice

Pink Velvet Cupcakes Recipe

Pink Velvet cupcakes are pink colored cupcakes with velvety soft texture. Pink color makes it perfect for a girl's birthday party and also for Valentine's day. This recipe can be used to make regular cakes instead of cupcakes too.Using this recipe, I made doll cake for my daughter's birthday. But couldn't post the recipe that time. Now I made these pink velvet cupcakes for Valentine's day potluck, I didn't want to miss the chance to post this recipe again. So as soon as I finished baking, though the lighting was poor, I clicked some pictures. Here I am posting the recipe of Pink Velvet cupcakes with butter cream frosting.

Pink velvet cupcakes

Rose Panna Cotta Recipe | Easy Panna Cotta Recipes | Valentine's day special

Dear Readers, fellow bloggers and Friends, Happy Valentine's day!!

Rose Panna Cotta is an elegant panna cotta made in rose flavor. Panna cotta is a light and elegant dessert, perfect for any special dinner. It can be prepared in different flavors. I have already posted espresso Panna Cotta, now I have made rose flavored panna cotta. Rose flavor, pretty pink color - that makes it perfect for a Valentine's day dessert. This dessert is so easy to make and it requires 3-4 hours to set. Here I am posting the recipe of easy to make, rose flavored panna cotta made using gelatin and rose extract.

Rose Panna Cotta

Kongu style Chicken Fry | Kongu Nadu Kozhi Varuval | South Indian Chicken Recipes

Kongu Nadu Kozhi Varuval is a spicy chicken fry made with freshly ground spices & ground coconut. Chicken doesn't require marination for this type of fry. This chicken fry is on the dry side and I like to serve with rasam rice.  Even when mixed with rice and eaten, the spices just tickles the taste buds making a delightful meal.

Kongu Style Chicken Fry

Nankhatai Recipe | Indian Shortbread Cookies | Egg-less Cookies

NanKhatai is cardamom flavored Indian Shortbread Cookies. Nankhatai cookies are light and crunchy. They are easy to make and can be baked in few minutes. These cookies are great to be served with evening tea and also great as edible gifts. I was introduced to these cookies, when a friend came over for dinner to our house brought these cookies. Since then I have been baking these cookies every now and then but it has never made it to the blog. Here I am posting it today- Nan Khatai Cookie recipe with chickpea flour, sooji and cardamom. 

Nan Khatai

Keerai Masiyal (Kadaiyal) | South Indian style mashed spinach

Keerai masiyal / spinach masiyal is cooked, mashed and seasoned spinach. It is easy and simple to make. I usually make this masiyal without dal - just cook the spinach, mash and season it.  Traditionally the spinach is mashed with 'mathu' (a wooden masher) but I like to puree it in blender. Any type of spinach like arai keerai, mullai keerai, pasalai keerai can be used to make this masiyal. It is a healthy and comforting dish and can be had with rice. I used the leftovers as spread for sandwich too.

Keerai Masiyal

Corn Pulao - Pulao using sweet corn | Easy Corn Recipes

Corn Pulao is a flavorful rice made with freshly ground spices and sweet corn. It is a one pot meal which is very easy to put together. Since it is so quick to prepare, it is perfect for busy mornings, to pack for lunch. Not only for a simple lunch, this flavorful rice is great to be served as a part of fancy meal too.

Corn Pulao

Chettinad Muttai Masala Recipe | Spicy Egg Curry- Chettinad style | South Indian Egg Recipes

Chettinad Style Egg Masala Recipe

Chettinad Muttai masala is a spicy and flavorful egg curry made in Chettinad style. This egg masala is made with freshly ground spices, making it more flavorful and delicious. This gravy can be served with rice and also for roti/ chappathi. 

I made this recipe from Nalini's space. She is celebrating her birthday today and so we friends decided to give her virtual treat. Nalini's space has a wonderful collection of recipes with beautiful pictures in different cuisine but she gives importance to South Indian cuisine.  Also she runs a event Tamizhar samayal Tuesday giving importance to Tamil cuisine. So we picked Tamil cuisine as the theme for her virtual birthday party and I made this gravy. Happy Birthday Nalini!!

Chettinad Egg Masala

Espresso Panna Cotta with Cocoa Whipped Cream | Easy Panna Cotta Recipe

Panna Cotta is a classic Italian dessert which is easy to make and is elegant. I had been wanting to make Panna Cotta for quite some time now and was looking for the right time. Today being my blog's second birthday, I wanted to prepare something special so I prepared this Espresso Panna Cotta with Cocoa Whipped Cream. This is light dessert with silky smooth texture and a rich coffee flavor. The Cocoa whipped cream adds to elegance of this dessert. This dessert is very easy to prepare and took just minutes to prepare, though the time taken to set was around 2-3 hours. My site has lot of easy to make recipes with which even the beginner can cook like a pro, then what dessert can be more apt to celebrate my blog's birthday than this easy to make yummy dessert. 

Avarakkai Kootu (using pasi paruppu) | Avarakkai Poricha Kootu | Avarai Kootu | Indian Broad beans Kootu with moong dal

Today I am sharing here Avarakkai Kootu made with pasi paruppu. It is also known as avarakkai poricha kootu. Kootu is usually made with vegetables like snake gourd, ridge gourd, cabbage, Indian broad beans and dal adding freshly ground spices with coconut. Here I have used Avarakkai / Indian Broad beans and pasi Paruppu / pachai paruppu / split yellow mung beans. This is a healthy and comforting South Indian dish that can be served with rice or even can be had as a side dish for Chappathi.

Avarakkai Kootu 

Tutti frutti Cake recipe with almonds | Fruits and Nuts Cake Recipe | Snack Cake | Bakery style tea cake (using loaf pan)

Today I am posting the recipe for Tutti frutti cake. It is a snack cake  made with tutti frutti (candied fruits) and almonds. I am a great fan of tutti frutti and like adding it to everything when I get a chance. This cake can  be Fruits and nuts cake when you can replace or add other dried fruits like dates, dried cranberries, raisins etc., and nuts of your choice too. This cake is similar to tea cakes served in the bakeries and also this tutti frutti cake is perfect to be served as snack with tea.

Gobi Paratha Recipe | Cauliflower Paratha | How to make Gobi Paratha? | Stuffed Paratha Recipes

Today I am posting here the recipe for Gobi Paratha or Cauliflower Paratha. Gobi Paratha is the Indian flatbread (paratha) stuffed with spicy cauliflower stuffing. The paratha is made out of whole wheat flour and cauliflower stuffing makes it a wholesome dish. Cauliflower is known as gobi or phool gobi. My kids never complain to eat vegetables when they are stuffed in parathas.  I served these gobi parathas with boondi raitha. 

Gobi Paratha

Easy Fish Fry Recipe | Poricha Meen | Vavval fish fry | Pomfret fish fry - Simple South Indian style fish fry Recipe

Today I am posting the recipe of simple and easy fish fry made in South Indian style. We call this as Poricha meen or Varutha meen or Meen Varuval in Tamil. I have used Pomfret fish / Vavval meen here. But other fishes like king fish(vanjiram), Mahi mahi, cat fish, salmon, tilapia, etc., can be used too. Fish is marinated in spices and are deep fried in Oil. How easy is that? One can never go wrong with this fried fish. It is so easy to make and tastes delicious. 

Poricha Meen

Methi Thepla Recipe - Healthy flat bread made with Fenugreek leaves

After all the festival food, I am back with a healthy and vegan recipe today. It is Methi Thepla. It is a Gujarathi flatbread. It is made with whole wheat flour and besan along with some spices and Methi (fenugreek leaves). It is very healthy and is soft and it stays good for a long time which makes it best for travel. This methi thepla doesn't need an elaborate side dish , it can be had with pickle or raitha. 

Kalkandu Pongal | Pongal Festival Recipes

Kalkandu Pongal

The  recipe I am sharing with you all today is Kalkandu Pongal. I made this Kalkandu Pongal today to celebrate Pongal festival. This is a sweet pongal made with Kalkandu (sugar candy). It is easy to make and is yummy. I have already shared the recipe of Sakkarai Pongal here. Coming to today's recipe,