Okra/lady's finger bonanza

The summer of 2016 was okra/lady's finger/vendakka time for us. The five or six plants that I grew from seeds bought from the Kitasawa company produced so much!
 This is what I did with them.

 Our basic mezhukkupuratti

Punjabi mode:

Kerala Kichadi:

A stirfry with home grown tomatoes:

Another Punjabi dish:

Pakodas:

Kerala Pachadi:

Kerala Theeyal:

Gumbo:

Clay pot Chicken and vegetables

Last summer gave me a whole bunch of tomatoes, as I said before, and also a  lot of one dangerous veggie -- the ghost pepper. Hot stuff. The chicken was so moist and tender and flavorful. I had onions and garlic thrown in there along with the pepper and  the potatoes, celery and carrots. All great.  Only thing is to remember to remove all the peppers lying in there looking like tomatoes.

Ready for the oven:

Bath buns

Another British teatime item.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

The old English favorite is my favorite too. Used golden syrup instead of treacle.

English baked beans

The one without molasses, and with garlic. More like one of the Kerala lentil soups/curries. Flavorful.

Crumpets and pancakes

apple banana blueberry muffins

Vetekrans or Swedish tea ring

Another delicious loaded cinnamon roll, with a cardamom surprise. Since we cannot have nuts, I added candied pineapple to the filling. Eminently edible!

bits and ends

The bits and ends from the spiralized veggies were chopped up and stir fired with some shrimp. O course the usual onion, garlic, crushed red pepper suspects were thrown in. Result - one delicious side dish.
The beets made it red, naturally.

Apple banana muffins

Again, one lone banana and two apples that no one wanted.

basic Kerala spicy ground beef with mixed vegetables

This is a favorite of my family, and it is  recipe that grew out of necessity and convenience.
Again, the possibilities are endless with this one. As a filling in a wrap,for  a bun, for a puff pastry shell, for a samosa, for a pita pocket. Or as a topping for noodles, traditional or spiralized vegetable, for pizza,  a side for hot rice, with plain yogurt or Kerala yogurt salad, or the Kerala buttermilk curry, ..... Great with bread, it work well as a sandwich filling, a side for roti. Could be served in lettuce leaves, could be cooked wrapped in cabbage leaves. It is the Kerala meat masala and the onion , ginger and garlic that gives it its special flavor. like I said, endless.

blueberry muffins

The go-to muffin made with whole wheat flour.

Spiralized

I resisted this till now.

And once I got my spiralizer, I found that it is quite interesting and helps create some beautiful fun meals. Started with a simple garlicky zucchini-shrimp combo. Delicious!

beets and shrimp

Then couldn't wait to incorporate other traditional Kerala tastes. Did a mix and match noodles, topping and side thing. Sauteed the spiralized vegetables and onion in some olive oil with some garlic, red pepper flakes, salt/ And they did not disappoint. Very nice!

spiralized potatoes, carrots, beets, zucchini

And to go with the noodles, Spicy ground beef, pan-seared spicy fish, lamb chops .

And here are a few ways to serve the above. Of course, there are a lot more options here.

We could mix the beef with the noodles, saute them together too, of course. and we can go the way of any world cuisine here. say, Italian, Indian.... The other day I had it with the Keralan yellow lentil soup - parippukoottaan. And it tasted fabulous. Possibilities are endless.

Isn't it lovely?

Chelsea buns

An English tea time favorite, Chelsea bun is my favorite too. The other day, in my little breakfast room, with the sun shining warmly on me, and sipping a cup of tea, I bit into one of those. It was a pleasing experience that took me back in time, back home. Brought back the taste of those tutty-fruity raisin buns from then. Chelsea buns are loaded cinnamon rolls and the Swedish julbullar.

Chelsea buns

Banana muffins

Over ripe banana that everyone avoids looking at, and that no one would throw away, as no one wants to be the wasteful one? Make banana muffins,  and try making it a bit healthy by using whole wheat flour, oil for butter and a little less sugar. Or forget the sugar altogether, and pretend you meant to do so all along because the bananas were so sweet! ;) or make  my favorite pazham unda. Should get hold of a pic of that now.

banana muffins