VIRUNDHOMBAL

Avarakkai poriyal is a quick side dish for your lunch. This poriyal recipe is also prepared with the coconut cumin masala and cooked toor dal as we do for beans carrot poriyal and keerai poriyal dishes. The chopped avarakkais are cooked in a separate vessel and then mixed with the toor dal and coconut mixture. Finally, they are tossed in a pan for a few minutes. This goes well with sambar, rasam, lemon rice and puli illa kuzhambu. Cooking the vegetables in a separate vessel is the secret to get a colourful look in the dish. If you do not prefer you can add it after tempering and sprinkle a handful of water and cook for a few minutes. For these poriyal dishes, a handful of cooked toor dal enhances the taste, so do not skip it. The coconut cumin masala also gives the poriyal a delicious flavour. Similar recipes Beans Carrot Poriyal/Thuvaram Sirukeerai Thuvaram Beetroot and Green Peas Poriyal Ladies finger(Okra) Poriyal Potato Poriyal Carrot Poriyal...

Yellow pumpkin Poriyal is a super soft, tasty side dish for your lunch. The yellow pumpkins are perfect for a poriyal because they have a soft texture with quite hardness. That is why they are a great vegetable for a poriyal. Plus there is no need for any steam cooking or pressure cooking for this dish. The cubed pumpkins are sauted in the oil and cooked with the moisture in the vegetable. If you are using a month old pumpkin, sprinkle a handful of water and cook. Generally we won't add any water for this poriyal and it will be ready within 10 minutes. As usual I have added the ground coconut mixture for this poriyal also, if you do not like just add a handful of fresh coconuts. If you are using fresh coconuts, sprinkle cumin powder and then transfer it to the serving dish. This Yellow Pumpkin Poriyal goes well with any kuzhambu or rice varieties. I like to eat this poriyal as a salad before my lunch because you can enjoy the mild sweetness in the vegetable when you eat it separa...

This Cabbage poriyal is a simple and healthy side dish for your lunch. This poriyal is an easy way to use cabbage. It's best to use fresh cabbage for this poriyal because the chopped leaves were slightly tender with medium crunch. Do not over cook the cabbage,  as it produces an unpleasant smell to the whole dish. If you do not have time to grind the coconut paste, just garnish with fresh coconuts. After cooking the cabbage the final process is very simple. As we have already cooked the cabbages do not keep it in the flame for a long time. You can also add a pinch of turmeric powder while stir frying. Now let's see how to prepare this Cabbage poriyal with step by step photos. Similar Poriyal recipes Carrot poriyal Beetroot poriyal Snake gourd poriyal Beans Carrot poriyal Cabbage Carrot and beans poriyal

Sweet potato is a wonderful vegetable which can be cooked within 3 to 5 minutes. The natural sweetness in the potato is a nature's gift. You can simply eat this cooked sweet potatoes without any tempering or flavouring. This is such a great vegetable which can be enjoyed without much work. This poriyal is a best side dish for any kuzhambu and rice varieties. We like this dish very much and we finish the poriyal before lunch.  Cook the potatoes with little water for 3 to 5 minutes and then temper with the basic ingredients. For this poriyal also our classic coconut, small onion mixture is added for flavours. Check out my other vegetable side dishes recipes Carrot poriyal Snake gourd poriyal Beetroot poriyal Potato puttu

Carrot poriyal is also similar to my other thuvaram/poriyal varieties. It includes simple ingredients like coconut, small onions, green chillies, cumins and other tempering ingredients. For this poriyal, you can add cooked green peas or black eyed peas. I always recommend to cook the vegetables with little water and then sauted with the mustard and urid dal and ground coconut mixture is added for flavours. The ground coconut paste adds lot of flavours to any poriyal or thuvaram rather than garnishing with few grated coconuts. This carrot poriyal is a good side dish for sambar, puli illa kuzhambu, lemon rice and coconut rice. Checkout my other poriyal/thuvaram recipes Snake gourd poriyal Beetroot and green peas poriyal Cabbage carrot beans thuvaram Bitter gourd thuvaram Keerai thuvaram  Ladies finger (Okra) poriyal

Ladies finger/okra is a high fibre vegetable and are easy to cook. When it comes to preparing a side dish for rice with ladies finger there are many interesting dishes that tastes good.  This ladies finger poriyal is prepared with lots of chopped onions and coconuts. You can eat this poriyal simply as a salad. Be it a poriyal or sabzi, always use fresh ladies finger. Please avoid refrigeration for ladies finger because it loses its beautiful colour and texture. If you are using refrigeration use within 1 or 2 days. And one more point store them in a cotton cloth bag. After washing the ladies finger spread them in a towel for 30 minutes and then chop them. I always suggest to cook with less oil for any dishes made with ladies finger.  If you follow these simple instructions you can get perfect results. Now let's see how to prepare this poriyal.

Potato puttu - the perfect side dish for sambar, rasam and rice varieties. This is similar to vazhaikkai puttu recipe and the only difference is the potatoes are gently mashed instead of grating. This potato puttu is very simple to prepare, so flavourful in each and every bite. Everyone has a favourite potato recipes such as potato fries, mashed potatoes and countless recipes are there based on this friendly vegetable. For me and my husband this potato puttu is an all time favourite side dish for lunch. The main thing you have to follow while preparing this puttu the potatoes should not be overcooked or undercooked. If they are perfectly cooked the end result will be fantastic.  Here is a short video for Potato Puttu  

The combination of diced beans, diced carrots, cooked toor dal and coconut small onion paste makes a colourful side dish for Sambar, rasam and for all South Indian meals.This is an easy recipe that could work best for a busy weekday mornings for your lunch boxes because there is no much preparation after chopping the veggies. You don't need to cook seperate toor dal for this recipe, just add a tbsp of cooked dal from your already cooked dal for sambar. You can also leave it and just finish it with the coconut paste. As usual, I prefer to cook the vegetables with little water and then sauted with the other ingredients. We follow this method for poriyal, thuvaram and other varieties for many years and the taste is also unique. So if you trust me, do try this method, then you can feel the difference in the resulting dish.

Bitter gourd/Pavaikkai  thuvaram/Stir fry with onions and coconuts Bitter gourd is cooked in a variety of ways. It is sometimes fried, steamed or roasted. But in this recipe , the bitter gourd  is pre cooked  and sauted with equal amount of onions and in addition we have to add cooked toor dal & coconut paste. The coconut paste and the onions, add flavour, colour and taste to the dish. Usually the bitter gourd is cooked in gingely oil or sunflower oil but I recommend to use coconut oil for this thuvaram. This is because the sweetness and flavour in the coconut oil enhances the taste and reduces the bitterness in the bitter gourd.

Vazhaikkai(Plantain) puttu/podimas This is one of our all time favourite side dish for sambar, rasam and pulikuzhambu. The raw bananas(plantains) are pre cooked in water and further grated into small gratings. Then the  grated bananas are flavoured with finely chopped onions and some good amount of freshly grated coconuts. For spiciness you can either add  finely chopped green chillies or broken red chillies. The crunchiness of the onions combined with the soft banana(plantain) gratings and the sweetness from the coconuts make this dish wonderful. A few good ingredients make this dish so delicious. When making this puttu/podimas it is important to pick the correct raw bananas(plantains). The bananas should be fresh without any black spots or dull skin.  If you are not using the correct plantains, your podimas/puttu will turn mushy. So follow this simple instruction before preparing this tasty and easy puttu/podimas. We often prepare this vazhaikkai puttu for lunch. ...

Vazhai thandu(Plantain pith) thuvaram/stir fry Vazhai thandu thuvaram is one of my all time favourite side dish for meals. Vazhai thandu has a good source of fiber, pottasium, phosphorus, B6 and calcium. Having banana stem in our food will prevent constipation and ulcer problems as it contains lots of fiber. Most of time when I cook vazhai thandu(plantain pith) in the deep vessel there is a  lot of leftover juice that end up going to a healthy soup. Vazhai thandu(plantain pith) likes to retain its water, so drain the water completely or give it a slight squeeze with your hands after draining. Precooked vazhai thandu(plantain pith) is the best for thuvaram and salads. This method also helps to remove its woodiness in the stem. 

Snake gourd is a wonderful vegetable with many health benefits.Snake gourd includes a large amount of water as well as fiber, only a number of calories. It makes the cooling effect within the body. Cooking the snake gourd with little techniques will give you a tasty dish. If you choose a tender snake gourd it will take less time to cook and it tastes amazing.  There are many variations for this poriyal but my favourite is this recipe. One day we went to a short picnic trip to Karaiyar Dam, Papanasam. We had lunch in a small restaurant.They served this colourful, tasty poriyal for sambar. We all enjoyed the poriyal very much. Then we went to the hotel kitchen and asked them about the recipe details. They were friendly and told us the ingredients for the ground coconut paste and the method of preparation. From that day onwards I have started preparing this poriyal by this method. The best part about these poriyal was their texture. They were crunchy on the outside,but so light. Thi...

A very simple and tasty recipe with a great taste and flavour is this cabbage carrot beans thuvaram. This is a very good side dish for all types of South Indian dishes. This is the first side dish served on the plantain leaf during special occasions or festivals. This thuvaram is quite colourful as it includes a combination of cabbage, carrots, beans, green peas and finished with fresh grated coconuts.  I make this thuvaram quite often for our lunch as it is easy to prepare and contains lots of nutrients in it. It is also good for lunch boxes too. When cooking the vegetables always keep the vegetables on the lowest setting of heat possible. For this thuvaram you can also add a tbsp of soaked moong dal while boiling the vegetables. Cutting the vegetables uniformly helps to cook the vegetables evenly. Now we will see how to prepare this cabbage carrot beans thuvaram with step by step photos.

Usually in many restaurants they serve this beetroot green peas poriyal as a side dish for sambar combo. This is a quick and healthy side dish for your lunch. You can also use black eyed peas instead of green peas. You have to add  lots of chopped onions and coconut. This dish is colourful with the dark green peas, red beets and white coconut gratings. Checkout my other Beetroot recipes  Beetroot kurma Beetroot jam Beetroot poori Beetroot puttu Beetroot biryani Similar Poriyal recipes Carrot poriyal Cabbage poriyal  Ladies finger(Okra) poriyal Snake gourd poriyal Beans Carrot poriyal Cabbage Carrot and beans poriyal

This drumstick leaves thuvaram is a unique side dish in South Indian cuisine. They're made with little cooked toor dal and ground coconut, jeera paste. Finally 1 tbsp of coconut oil is added to enhance the taste and it prevents the leaves to stick each other. This drumstick leaves thuvaram/stir fry is a best side dish for pulikuzhambu , sambar and any South Indian kuzhambu varieties. Let's see how to prepare this Drumstick leaves thuvaram with step by step photos.

Siru keerai/ Tropical Amarnath greens is such a super nutritious green, you want it to eat it as often as you can. It has calcium and iron in abundant quantity. We can prepare sambar, kootu, vada, oothapam and many dishes with this keerai. This siru keerai thuvaram is a very popular, healthy and of course tasty side dish too. In Tirunelveli, people used to say as kothikeerai for this dish.In this recipe the ground paste adds a lot of flavour to the thuvaram and cooked toor dal enhances the taste. Try this yummy thuvaram with any type of keerai. Let's see how to prepare Siru keerai thuvaram with step by step photos.