Raita

This is a yoghurt based dish with raw vegetables. Best used as a side for North Indian dishes and also known by the name of pacchadi in the southern states.

You need:-
* 3 cups yoghurt
* 1 tbsp chat / raita masala
* 1 carrot
* 1 tomato
* some sliced olives
You are free to choose the vegetables, but commonly used are onion, boondi, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots.

Method:-
Beat the yoghurt and make it fine. Chop the carrots and tomatoes. Mix all ingredients together.

You can also whip the ingredients to make it smooth entirely like a cream based cold soup and then add the olives in the end.

Spicy Carrot

My grandmother was the inspiration for this one.

You need:-
* 5 to 6 carrots
* mustard seeds (1 tbsp)
* olive oil (1 1/2 tbsp)
* salt to taste
* chilli powder (as needed)
* green chillies (2)

Method:-
Peel and cut the carrots to small pieces and slit the chillies and keep aside.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Once they have crackled, add the chillies and saute until they turn light green. Add the carrots, chilli powder and salt, simmer and cook with a cover until carrots are tender. Chilli powder can be added as needed, however, carrots are very sweet, so try to add more than your usual amount to get the spiciness.

Best with warm plain rice.

Spicy Brinjals

Usually this dish is made by slitting the brinjals and filling them with the spices, but since the brinjals were partially rotten, I had to cut the bits up but the spices and the preparation were the same.

You need:-
* 5 to 6 small brinjals
* olive oil - 2 tbsp
* salt to taste
(all of the following - 1tbsp)
* cumin powder
* garam masala
* coriander powder
* turmeric powder
* Aamchur

Method:-
Cut the brinjals to tiny pieces.
Heat olive oil in a pan. Add all the spices and saute until the mixture no longer smells raw.
If chopped to pieces, then add the brinjal to the pan and cook until tender.

Another way of doing it is as follows, if the brinjals are hale and healthy.
Make 2 cuts lengthwise such that the brinjal opens like a 4-petalled flower, held together by its stem. Mix all the spices with salt and spread generously within the brinjals. Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute until the brinjals are cooked.

This dish is best served with roti.

pulao

With due apologies for the prolonged absence, here begins my muse after my mum declared that she was too unfit to cook!

You need:-
* frozen peas and carrots - 1 cup
* frozen corn - 1/2 cup
* cumin - 2 tbsp
* coriander powder - 1 tbsp
* turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp
* salt to taste
* cooked rice - 2 1/2 cups
* green chillies - 2
* olive oil - 2 tbsp

Method:-
Heat the peas, carrot and corn to defrost in the microwave and keep aside.
You can cook rice by having 1 cup rice to 2 cups water (in case of basmati rice) and to 3 cups water (in case of parmal rice) in a pressure cooker. Put a couple drops of olive oil in the water and raw rice mixture prior to cooking. After it is cooked, keep aside.
Pour olive oil into a pan and heat. Add cumin seeds, green chillies, coriander powder and turmeric powder and saute until the cumins have turned a darker colour. Now add the peas, carrots and corn and lower the heat to sim. Cover and cook until carrots feel tender. Add the cooked rice and salt and mix.

Pulao is best served with raita ( a spicy yoghurt mixed with either vegetable or fried gram balls).