Spicy Roti Noodles Stir Fry Recipe | Vegan Indo-Chinese Recipe with Leftover Roti

Learn how to make Spicy Roti Noodle Stir Fry ~ Indo-Chinese style leftover roti noodles stir fried with rainbow coloured vegetables and sauces

When the Chinese introduced their cuisine into India, little did they would have expected to see that the ever-adapting Indian would re-invent some of their most time-tested recipes to suit the sub-continental palate. Indo-Chinese cuisine is believed to have originated with the Chinese migrants who settled in one of the metropolitan cities of India, Calcutta or currently known as Kolkata. India has one Chinatown, Tangra in Calcutta and the Chinese have been living there for more than a century. It is believed that over a century the food is adapted to suit local ingredients and adjusting the flavours to reflect the local palate. So, my friends, in simple words Indo-Chinese cuisine is just an adaptation of Chinese seasonings and cooking techniques to Indian taste and in my opinion one of the best cultural remix.

Ingredients for Spicy Roti Noodles Stir Fry

Popularly known as Indo-Chinese food, it is one of the most popular street foods in India sold on roadside in a small wooden push carts. You can never miss the irresistible smell of frying garlic, onions and chillies which will grab your attention even from 500 meters distance and you will be drawn to these carts with sudden hunger pangs. Price-wise the food is dirt cheap for a plate of very filling and utterly delicious Indo-Chinese food. If you are worried about eating from roadside carts/stalls due to hygiene, then fret not as most of the small and big restaurant in India has Indo-Chinese food on their menu and even star hotels have their own take on Indo-Chinese food. But in my opinion the best Indo-Chinese food I have ever tasted are from these roadside stalls which are not just tasty and cheap but real fun to eat. But there is no denying fact that homemade ones are much healthier as they are loaded with rainbow coloured vegetables, with less oil and with no artificial flavourings.

Sprouted HuruLi Saaru And Usli Recipe | Sprouted Horse Gram Curry and Stir Fry

Learn how to make HuruLi Saaru and Usli ~ Horse gram sprouts cooked in spicy coconut gravy and garlic and Sprouted horse gram stir fry garnished with grated coconut

“Ajji, can I go out and play?” asked little girl pulling her grandma’s soft cotton saree pallu which was carefully tucked around her slim waist.

“Not today, my princess! It’s too hot outside and we don’t want the fever monster to return”, said grandma as she pressed her cool hand against little girl’s forehead to check her temperature.

“But I will play in the shade, Ajji”, said little voice laced with impatience as she longingly looked at her sister and cousins running around, screaming loudly as they chased one another in a large garden in front of ancestral home.

“I know, my darling! But who will help me with cooking then? Who will help me to open the dabba of bella (jaggery)?”, asked grandma smiling showing her trademark enchanting smile with twinkling eyes and red lips stained with the juice from ele-adike (betel leaf and supari).

“Bella?”, asked little girl with excitement oozing from her voice and eyes. “I will help you Ajji”, quickly came the reply.

“Don’t tell this to anyone, but you are my favourite grandchild”, whispered grandma who must have shared the same secret to every other 2 dozen grandchildren of hers! :)

The soft wrinkled hands lead the small chubby hands to the courtyard outside the kitchen door that connected to open kitchen at the end of the house. The family cook was grinding spices and coconut paste in a large stone grinder that made rhythmic music almost like a lullaby that would put the little girl to sleep as she lay down on her grandma’s lap on hot summer afternoons. But she was wide awake at that moment as the excitement of helping her grandma with cooking overpowered any other feeling! The grandma picked one of large brass container that was stacked neatly on the wooden shelf and placed it on the cool red-oxide floor. She then went and picked a large winnowing tray made of bamboo strands woven tightly onto a rattan frame and sat down on the floor stretching her legs in front. She looked up and smiled at the little girl and patted the space next to her suggesting lil girl to sit.

Aloo Pepper Fry Recipe | Simple and Quick Vegan Potato Peppery Fry

Learn how to make Vegan Aloo Pepper Fry ~ Simple and quick spicy potato and bell pepper stir fry

We are home after three weeks of holiday in India. Getting back to routine after vacation is always challenging, especially when it was spent with the most important people in your life! The weather is not making it easy either, coming back from literally roasting under 38 deg C of Indian summer to the cold, cloudy and windy 8 deg C of British spring will take some time… May be a lot of time! ~sigh~

But the biggest challenge of all is getting back to the rhythm of cooking after being spoiled by the amazing food we have been fed, err overfed, by our loved ones back in India. From my amma’s amazing pile of soLe rotti to MIL’s mouth-watering patrode, from our family cook’s delicious raw jackfruit pakoda to the sinful street foods, we have stuffed ourselves to the hilt and it will take months of hard work outs to shed all the extra pounds we have gained.

Aloo-Bhindi Pepper Fry Recipe | Quick and Simple Potato and Okra Stir Fry Recipe

Learn how to make Aloo-Bhindi Pepper Fry ~ Spicy potato, okra and bell pepper stir fry with assorted aromatic spices

As I grow older, I have begun to admire and appreciate simple things in life, especially the simple food. When I look back and think of about my decade long culinary journey, I can’t help but smile at my younger self who believed cooking the ‘special’ dishes was the way to prove my cooking skills. Many of the simple things get lost in the day to day life as we run frantically behind the things to make it rather a special one… every single day!

Like everything in life we forget to appreciate simple foods we cook every other day! Most of the simple food gets lost in the day to day ritual of making something ‘special’ for the dinner. Unfortunately, we don’t even realise that it is these simple dishes which makes the whole meal taste delicious. It can be a smudge of pickle that livens up any boring meal or a quick vegetable stir fry that lifts the flavour of everyday dal and rice into something quite special. Initially, as a food blogger, I was always busy focusing on posting special recipes that the everyday simple recipes were kept away from the spotlight. As the years went by, my love for simple, every day food has grown by leaps and bounds and they have been making appearance in the blog quite often. These simple dishes are my priced recipes and worth to be blogged as this blog serves not only as my journal for day to day cooking and food stories, but also it will be my humble legacy, my gift to LD and to everyone who loves cooking. To my pleasant surprise, it is these simple recipes which seem to be the favourite from my blog and made me realise that I am not the only one who enjoys and appreciates simple things in life.

For the next few months, I will be concentrating on such simple food that makes regular appearance on our dinner tables. I hope you will join me in this culinary journey and enjoy cooking and tasting the simple dishes as much as I do. :) One such dish is Aloo-Bhindi Pepper Fry. In other words, potato, okra and bell pepper stir fry with assorted spices. Sounds too simple to be true? Well, in this case it is true!

BaLekai Sippe Palya Recipe | Learn How to Make Vegan Raw Banana Peel Stir Fry

Learn how to make BaLekai Sippe/Raw Banana Peel Palya ~ Vegan hot and sour raw banana skin stir fry with South Indian spices

Last one year has been a crazy year for us, with many twists and turns which made us gasp and halt before we gingerly stepped forward. It was not an easy year for us, but at the same time it turned out to be a very special and most memorable one.

When I wrote this post a year ago about starting a new chapter of our life in India, I had no idea that we will be back in Britain exactly in a year! It’s funny how we think that we have sorted out everything, smoothed the little wrinkly problems, prepared for every challenges that life throws at us and feel that we have planned even the minute thing to last detail, there will still be a little glitch that will pop up somewhere on the way of our near-perfect and well planned life! Well, it didn’t take long to learn even the best laid plans can fail sometimes. Life has taught me many things, and the recent lesson made me realise how important it is to live in a moment and not moan over things when they fail to meet our expectations. In everybody’s life there is a point of no return, a point where we can’t go forward anymore. And when we reach that point in our life, all we can do is quietly accept the fact and face reality. Well that the thing about lessons, you always learn them when you don’t or least expect them!

BaLekai Sippe/Raw Banana Peel Palya served with Kerala matta rice and banana crisps

Tondekayi Palya (Tindla Palya) Recipe ~ A Pictorial

Tondekayi Palya/Tindla Palya/Stir Fried Ivy Gourds ~ It starts from here

I have been feeling extremely homesick today and was leafing through the photos I took when I visited home in December. I found few food related photos and thought you, my dear reader friends, might find them interesting. So here is the pictorial of one of my favourite recipes, Tondekayi Palya or Tindla Palya or Tindora Subji, which is a simple stir fry of Ivy Gourds, cooked using few basic spices and then generously garnished with fresh grated coconut. I randomly clicked few photos while our family cook prepared them at my in-law’s farm house. This delicious Tondekayi Palya or simple Tindora/Ivy Gourd Stir Fry was cooked by our family cook using very old and traditional fire wood cooking technique. The smoke coming from wood adds smoky flavour to this simple stir fry. I will not be posting the recipe as it has already been posted some 3½ plus years back. So if you are interested to cooking this simple Tondekayi Palya or Tindla Palya, please click here for the recipe.

Balekai-Batate Palya | Plantain & Potato Stir Fry Recipe

Balekai-Batate Palya

What do you do when you are in no mood to follow a recipe (which happens most of the time) and bored of eating something you have already tried? Of course you wear a cap of recipe developer or recipe creator! Or dining out or ordering a takeaway is another option.

Spicy Palak aur Makai ki Subji (Spicy Spinach & Sweet Corn Stir-Fry)

Spicy Palak aur Makai ki Subji

Lil Dumpling is ill! AGAIN! It all started two days before weekend. First it was cold and coughs and now the poor baby has to go through the piercing pain of ear infection! I am not happy. Not at all…

Aloo Fry: An ode to the versatile spud!

Aloo Fry

Fried, boiled, baked, mashed, stuffed, being stuffed(?!), roasted, grilled…

Bhindi Do Pyaza: Say No to Slimy Okra!

Bhindi Do Pyaza

What happens when you balance laptop in one hand, cloths basket in another hand, two coffee mugs dangling from fingers?
Well, nothing!
And imagine same scenario and you are climbing down the stairs, looking back and chatting away to glory?

Masala Bhindi: Going Nuts!

Masala Bhindi

There are so many things happening around me, so many things that I want to write and so many thoughts to share. But today I feel like I have run out of words. May be I’ll be able to do it once I clear my mind and focus on just one thing at a time. But I am not sure when this going to happen! :)

So, al I am going to write about is food and just food, till I bounce back with some old stories, some sweet memories, some crabby bites and whole lot of rants. Today’s recipe is something I tried few days back, it’s Masala Bhindi. It was another hectic day at office and I was seriously not in a very good mood to cook anything, let alone chop vegetables and grind spice powder. But the thought of good food and wasting big bagful of Okras that I bought for ridiculous price were enough to dive into a long process of washing, cleaning, drying and chopping slimy Okras. First I thought of making simple Bhindi Do Pyaz (recipe to come soon) but later changed my mind when I saw a cup of roasted Peanuts sitting not-so-happily in pantry. It was few days back when I had roasted these peanuts to make Coconut-Mango Pulihara/Chitranna and I wanted to finish them as soon as possible.

Peanut with Okra? Sweet okras stir fried with crunchy roasted peanuts. The idea was enough to make me go nuts and with in few mins I was roasted few basic spices along with my favourite lentils to make a spice powder. Along with spices I thought of roasting white Sesames which is not much used in my recipes. Last week I had bought big bag of Indian red Onions (also called curry onions) from Indian grocery shop. It is quite expensive when compared with the usual white onions we get from supermarket but it tastes way too better than white ones. So I picked the biggest one I could find in that 5 kg gunny bag as I like the taste of fried onions. Except for cleaning, drying and chopping of okras, it took me very little time to make this Masala Bhindi. When served with Chapatti, Rice and Dal I felt it was worth all those efforts I put into cooking after one hell of the day! The sweet taste of okra and onion was perfectly in sync with roasted spice powder, peanuts and sesame. Try this recipe if you are tired of same old Bhindi Fry or Bhindi Masala and discover the nutty combination ;)

Roasted Spice Powder, Okras & Peanuts for Masala Bhindi

Print This Recipe

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Bhindi Masala (Stir fried Okra and Red Onion spiced with ground roasted spices, Peanuts and Sesame)
Prep Time: 10-15 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves: 4-5
Recipe Level: Easy/Beginner
Spice Level: Low to Medium
Serving Suggestion: With any Indian flat bread or flavoured/steam cooked rice

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Ingredients:
25-30 small and tender Okras (about 8-10 cups), trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large Red Indian Onion, thinly sliced
2-3 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp Haldi/Turmeric Powder
¼ cup Roasted Peanuts
1 Roasted white Sesame Seeds
Juice of ¼ - ½ Lime (Adjust acc to taste)
2-3 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

For Spice Powder:
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
A big pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
½ tbsp Channa Dal/Split Chickpeas
¼ tbsp Urad Dal/Split Black Lentils
2 tbsp Roasted Peanuts
½ tbsp Roasted white Sesame
3-5 Dry Red Chillies (Adjust acc to taste)

For Tadka:
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
Few Curry Leaves
A big Pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
1 tbsp Oil

Masala Bhindi

Method:

Dry roast cumin, hing, channa dal, urad dal and red chillies in a pan till the lentils turn golden brown and aromatic. Let them cool and combine with roasted peanuts and sesame. Grind them all into a fine powder using coffee grinder or mixer. Keep it aside till needed.
Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil in a pan and add chopped okras to it. Cook them on high heat, stirring continuously, till okras turn crisp and brown spots start to appear. It usually takes around 5-7 minutes. Transfer these fried okras into a plate lined with kitchen towel.
Next heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, hing and curry leaves to it. When cumin starts to sizzle and turn golden red, add thinly sliced onion and finely chopped garlic. Sauté continuously till onions turn golden brown, about 2-3 mins.
Mix in turmeric and ground spices and toss them well. Make sure that the spices are evenly distributed among onions. Now add fried okras, salt to taste and mix well. Cook them for two more minutes making sure that the spices have coated every piece of okra.
Switch off the pan and mix in lime juice, roasted peanuts and sesame and toss well. Serve this delicious Masala Bhindi with Rice/Chapatti and Dal and enjoy.

Masala Bhindi

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Notes:

Few tips for those who find it difficult to cut, and cook those slimy Okras.
Always choose young and tender okras. The best ones are the ones that get easily snapped when you bend the tail end of the pod.
Make sure that you dry the Okra completely after washing them in water. Either spread them on kitchen towel in single layer and leave it for few hours or pat them dry with dry kitchen papers/towels. It is a must that the okras are dried properly if you don’t like them go slimy.
Next while chopping them, make sure that you have dry chopping board and knife. Keep dry kitchen paper next to you and clean the slime from knife using it whenever needed.
I have tried stir frying the okra with very little oil and ended up with really slimy okras. So then onwards I usually use little more oil than normal and cook it on a very high heat. This way the okras not only get cooked fast and retain their crispiness, but also any moisture in them disappears at high heat. And you will be surprised to see how the sliminess is reduced in short period of time.

Dondakaya Vepudu: What's in a Name?

Dondakaya Vepudu

What’s in a name?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…
~ William Shakespeare

But TonDekai and BenDekai taste different and even smell different…

For those who don’t know what I am blabbering about, TonDekai and BenDekai are the names for Tindora/Ivy Gourd and Okra/Ladies finger respectively in Kannada. Growing up back in India, I always got confused between these two vegetables. Whenever my Amma asked me to buy TonDekai from vegetable shop, I ended up getting BenDekai and vice versa. Reason? Confusion in names, between single Kannada letters!!! For a girl who always won prizes in memory games, these two vegetable names were source of frustration and irritation. I would go to nearby shop and stare endlessly at these two vegetables trying to recall which one did Amma asked me to buy. Is it BenDekai or TonDekai? TonDekai or BenDekai??? B or T? T or B? TB, TB, TB, Tuberculosis???

If rose is a rose is a rose is rose,
Then TonDekai is a TonDekai is a Tondekai is a TonDekai
And BenDekai is a BenDekai is a BenDekai is a BenDekai
~ With due respect to Gertrude Stein

At last I decided to do something about it. I decided to call Ivy Gourd as Man’s toes. Well, if Okra could be named as ladies finger for its appearance then Ivy Gourd very much looked like Man’s toes to me. Hence then onwards I asked Amma if she was planning to cook ladies finger or man’s toes for dinner! Sounds funny but was not that amusing for guests who were shocked when I told them they will be served man’s toes curry with Roti for lunch ;) Well, at last I was forced to remember their name as my parents were not very keen to develop the reputation of cooking and serving man’s toes for their unassuming friends.


Growing up I always loved Ivy gourd, even when I was one rebellious teen. There was the time when my dad grew TonDekai in backyard. This tropical vine would give beautiful white flowers which grew into crunchy green fruits with thousands of small seeds in them. Eating young raw ivy gourd was one of my favourite pass times and I continued to religiously eat them till one day my Ajji told me it’s not good for memory cells. I am still not sure if there is any truth behind it or it was one of the tricks of my granny for to keep me away from eating all tender ivy gourds before they could be used in cooking. If you haven’t tasted this very young ivy gourd then I suggest you to do so when you get a chance. It is crunchy and totally delicious. Well, I wouldn’t suggest the same for mature ones.


My favourite way to cook Ivy gourd is stir fried with cashews, simple stir fry and Mangalorean Huli-Menasina Kodhel. Amma also makes simple Tindora Rice which I will post sometime soon. Recently I was looking for some new recipes to cook with Ivy Gourd and I stumbled upon Sailu’s blog where she has posted a simple recipe of Tindora stir fry with Peanuts called Dondakaya Vepudu. There I also saw a list of common names in different languages by which ivy gourds are known. TinDora, TenDli, TonDekai, Ivy Gourd, DonDakayi, Kovaikai, etc … I have come across all these names for Tindora but did you know it is also called as Gentleman’s toes? Now my name of Man’s Toes for TonDekai doesn’t sound too alien ;) coming back to the recipe, this is a popular Andhra style stir-fry from her Amma where the sliced Tindora is cooked with a tempering of fresh curry leaves and mustard seeds and then mixed with aromatic powder of roasted peanuts, dry red chillies and cumin seeds. One look at her photographs of the final dish I was all set to create this magic in my kitchen. I almost followed her recipe but tweaked little extra ingredients in tadka/tempering, along with roasted peanuts, which we normally use in Kannadiga Palya or stir-fries to add extra crunch. With in no time this delicious stir fry was ready to be devoured with steaming bowl of white rice and simple Tadka Dal. Next day I served it with fresh Chapatti and small bowl of Yogurt and the plate was licked clean. Thank you Sailu, for posting this delicious recipe which has become our family favourite and will again be cooked shortly.

Dondakaya Vepudu

Print This Recipe

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Dondakaya Vepudu (Ivy Gourd stir fried with roasted spices and peanuts)
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Serves: 3-4
Recipe Source: Sailu’s Food

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Ingredients:
20-25 Ivy Gourds, ends trimmed, slit vertically length wise into two pieces and again sliced into thin long strips
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1-2 tbsp Roasted Peanuts, for garnishing
Salt to taste

To be Roasted & Coarsely Powdered:
Few drops of Oil
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
2-3 Dry Red Chillies, stalk removed and deseeded if needed (Adjust acc to taste)
1½-2 tbsp roasted Peanuts

For Tadka/Tempering:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal/Split Black Lentils (Optional)
½ tbsp Channa Dal/Split Bengal Gram (Optional)
1-2 Dry Red Chillies
Few Curry Leaves
A big pinch of Hing/Asafoetida (Optional but recommended)
1 tbsp Oil

Method:

Heat few drops of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. When they start to sizzle and turn light brown, add red chillies and sauté it for another 10-15 seconds on medium flame. Turn off the heat and let the spices cool. Add these roasted spices with roasted peanuts and grind into coarse powder. Keep it aside till needed.
Heat oil in a same pan and add mustard seeds to it. When it starts to pop and splutter, add channa dal, urad dal, broken red chilli and sauté till dals turns light golden brown. Mix in hing and curry leaves and stir till nice aroma comes out, about 10-15 seconds on medium flame.
Add the sliced ivy gourds and mix well. Mix in turmeric powder and salt to taste. Sauté it continuously on medium heat for about 4-5 mins, making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to low and cover and cook for another 5-7 mins, stirring in between. Make sure that you don’t over cook the gourds as it should retain its crunch.
Mix in ground powder and combine well. Cook on reduced heat for another 2-3 mins till all the flavours blend well.
Garnish with roasted peanuts and serve hot with steaming bowl of rice/chapatti, dal/rasam/sambar and enjoy.

Dondakaya Vepudu

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Reminder for JFI-Soya:

I invite you all to celebrate Jihva for Ingredients with this month’s theme JFI-Soya. Choice of Soya products, the recipe, ingredients, method etc is entirely left to you. I would greatly appreciate if you can send me any Vegan or Vegetarian recipes but I leave it to your choice. Soya foods include tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein (chunks, mince etc), miso, soya sauces, soya oil and margarine, and soya dairy alternatives.

Deadline: 31st August, 2008

Please go through the guidelines and include all the required information in your post and also in your e-mail while sending your entry. Don't forget to add Your Name, Your Blog Name, Name of the Dish, Type of Dish and Perm Link of the entry along with the gorgeous Photo of final dish.

Click Here or on the logo to find out more information on this event.