Chilly Stir Fry

This is one of the simplest recipes and goes well will most of the meals as a great side dish. The chilly used for making this recipe is on the lower side of Scoville scale. My mom makes this whenever she finds fresh chillies in the market. My grandmother makes similar salted-stir-fried recipes with vegetables like brinjal and bitter gourd. Stir frying with just a little bit of salt out the natural flavors of the vegetables very well. You can try it with the veggies that you like!

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Ingredients:

* 2-3 Chilies (the long ones)
* Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
* Pinch of salt




Steps:

1. Cut the chillies in 1" long strips or squares or whatever shape you like. You can also choose to half them along the length.
2. Heat oil in a pan.
   
3. When oil heats up, add the cumin seeds and fry them till they are golden brown.
   
   
   
   
4. Add the cut chilly and fry it for 4-5 minutes (or till the chilly is a little tender). Usually when the chilly is done the skin will get a little wrinkly.
   
   
   
   
5. Chilly stir fry is ready.
6. Serve it with any meal as a side dish. (I like it with rice and dal.)
   
   
   
   

Enjoy!

Stir fried Raw Banana (Vazhaikkai Vadhakal)

Yet another simple and yummy recipe from Tamil cuisine.

A stir-fried vegetable made with raw banana. Most of the Indian houses in old days had a banana tree planted in the back yard, so the banana's were readily available (and they were easy to cook!).

In the Indian culture the banana tree symbolizes the 'fertility'. Every part of the tree is useful. The ripe banana is one of the best sources of calcium and dietary fibers. Raw banana, banana flower and stem are used in cooking. The banana leafs are used in religious ceremonies as well as to serve food traditionally. Isnt that quite impressive?

Okay's, lets move on to the recipe.

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Ingredients:

* Raw banana - 1
* Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
* Split black gram - 1-2 tsp
* Asafoetida - a pinch full of
* Curry leaves - as much as you like!
* Chilly powder - 1 tsp (more if you like it hot!)
* Salt to taste




Steps:

1. Cut the raw banana into small cubes and soak it in salted water so they dont turn black




2. In a nonstick pan heat vegetable oil and add mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds pop




3. Add the split black gram and fry it till it turns light brown or golden.



4. Add the curry leaves and fry for a minute (more if you like them crispy, be careful not to burn them!)



5. Add the cut raw banana and stir fry it for a 1-2 minutes.




6. Cover and cook till the raw banana turns tender (usually 5-7 minutes)




7. Add chilly powder & asafoetida and mix well



8. Stir fry for 2 minutes and the stir-fried raw banana is ready! Serve with Indian bread or rice & dal.





Happy cooking and eating!