Aviksha's Kitchen

Well, this is the best dish for the bachelor's and freshers to start with. I had previously posted a recipe for white vegetable pulao but this is bit different from it in terms of color as well as taste. This is my mother's recipe. It takes less time and also fills your stomach. I will be using green chutney, which can be prepared and stored in fridge for a week or two and can be used for other dishes also. NOTE :   Can add any vegetables of your choice or can try with chicken, mutton or egg also . Need not have to use exactly the same vegetables what I have used. Number of green chilies depend on how spicy they are. I am using 6 as mine are not very  spicy. You can cut the vegetables to the shape you want. Optional - Can use coriander leaves at the end to garnish. I am non adding exactly 2 glass water for 1 glass rice grains so as to prevent it from getting overcooked. If you like it to be overcooked or if you are scared to add less water or if you ...

There are variety of pickles. But my  favorite  is mixed vegetable pickle. Mixed vegetable pickle is spicy and tangy with lots of vegetable flavours and no oil. You can choose vegetables you like for this dish. The lifespan of this pickle is more than 2 month. Easy and very easy dish that goes well with rice, paej/rice soup, idli or dosa. In Konkani, Nonche means pickle and this dish has a lot of red gravy which makes it look more attractive.  NOTE :  Can add vegetables like beans, cauliflower, green chilly, lemon, ginger, carrot, ivy gourd/tendle and raw mango. Raw mango or lemon skin(keylime) should be fresh and sour.  Vegetables should be fresh too.  Lemon skin(keylime) should not have it's skin dried.  Use green chilly with no black seeds. Make sure that all the bowls,spoons, mixer jar, blender and vessels used during making pickle should be dry and clean with no water drops.   The pickle tastes best after 3-4 days once th...

Tomato Chutney is not the exact chutney that we make using coconut. It is more like a curry or gravy and I like it the most. It is a little spicy and sour with the brilliant color. It goes very well with any kind of dosa, plain rice, chapathi and paratha. NOTE :   Number of green chilies depend on how spicy they are. I am using 4 as mine are not very  spicy. Don't add water as tomatoes have little water content in them. Optional - turmeric powder, garam masala powder and coriander powder. Preparation time : 2 minutes Cooking Time : 3 Minutes Total Time : 5 Minutes Yield : 2-3 servings Ingredients: Green Chilies 5 finely chopped Coconut Oil / Normal Oil 2 tbsp Cumin Seeds / Jeera 1 tbsp Mustard Seeds / Saasama 1 tbsp Tomato 2-3  chopped Curry Leaves 7-8 Salt as needed Onion 1-2 finely chopped Turmeric Powder 1/4 sp Garam Masala Powder 1/2 sp Daniya Powder / Coriander Powder 1/2 sp            ...

My husband and I like the bitter gourd Fries.  Bitter gourd was one such vegetable that I hated as a kid and slowly started to like the fried bitter gourds after marriage.  We love to have it on rainy seasons and that was the reason for me to get the bitter gourd from the market. But unfortunately we both fell sick and I wanted to avoid the fried items but I had bitter gourds in my fridge and I had to use it. I tried to find out bitter gourd dishes but I was interested in none of them. Finally, decideD to make bitter gourd pickle that goes well with rice soup/paej.  Bitter Gourd Pickle/Karathe Kudko has a spicy coating and that tempted me the most as I love spicy food. This dish turned out to be so tasty and  mind blowing that now I prefer this instead of bitter gourd fries. You too try this and experience the spicy and sour taste of it. You have to taste it atleast once and the other advantage of this dish is it can be stored for weeks in an airtight container. ...

This is my favorite dish. Sambar is called as Kolmbo in Konkani. I prepare this dish atleast once in a week. Very simple, tasty and easy recipe. It goes well with plain rice, idli, dosa and ragi balls. I use sambar powder prepared by my  mother-in-law . Before I used to make it from MTR or Ganesh sambar powder. I will post someday the recipe for my mother-in-law's sambar powder. Who ever has tasted my mother-in-law's kolmbo has become a fan of it and I too belong to that group. So my mother-in-law gets me a bottle of sambar powder every time. NOTE : We are adding turmeric powder and oil while boiling toor dal as it helps to boil fast. I am not cooking toor dal and vegetables together because toor dal will take more time to cook by then all the vegetables will get over-cooked. Better to dissolve sambar / kolmbo powder in water or tamarind water. Time Taken : 20-25 Minutes Yield : 3-4 servings Sambar / Kolmbo Ingredients: Seasoning : Red Chillies ...

Upkari means a side dish and Alsando means long green beans in Konkani. Alsande Upkari is very popular, simple and tasty dish. This recipe can be made with not only long green beans but with any veggies like small beans, snake gourd,potato or pumpkin. Alsande Upkari is a side dish for lunch or dinner. Alsando / Long green bean is my favorite vegetable and we used to get it from Mangalore specially for this dish. When I got married and moved to Singapore I had no hopes of having this dish ever again. But luckily people here loves this vegetable and it is found almost every where  and I can have it when I wish. NOTE :   Number of green chilies depend on how spicy they are. I am using 5 as mine are not very  spicy. Don't add water as long beans leaves little water on cooking or use steaming method by covering the pan with a broad plate/thali instead of lid and adding some water on top of the plate so that the water in the plate doesn't allow veggies t...

Vaali Ambat is a very famous Konkani dish. Vaali means malabar spinach or Indian spinach or ceylon spinach in English. Well, this is a traditional Konkani curry which we call it as ambat. This curry can be prepared with any kind of leafy vegetables, pulses or vegetables. Along with pulses or leafy vegetables one can add raw papaya, yellow / Mangalore cucumber,yam, fresh prawns, dry prawn / shrimps to enhance the taste. This dish is very healthy as it is rich in proteins, fiber and minerals. Malabar Spinach or Vaali grows as a creeper and we have this grown in our house at Mysore. We use it fresh when needed to make this curry and the aroma spreads in the entire house. Tender stem is used in the curry but the harder part is a waste. This curry is made out of coconut, toor dal and fried onions for seasoning. NOTE :  Number of chilies depend on how spicy they are. I am using 8 as mine are not very spicy. Adding Turmeric Powder and little oil will help to cook ...

Aloo matar is a very famous North Indian Dish. This dish is so simple that it is made with little ingredients and gives you restaurant taste. It goes well with chapathi, naan, rice, fried rice, rumali roti, kulcha and kerela paratha. This recipe is a bit different than authentic aloo matar. I have added some ingredients to make it much more tastier. NOTE :  One can also try with other vegetables like baby corn,  potatoes, mushroom and any other vegetables of your wish. Gives you almost the same taste. Number of green chilies depend on how spicy they are. I am using 5 as mine are not very spicy Can use curry leaves also. Can add little cashewnuts while making paste to make the gravy thick. Asafoetida is used to stimulate appetite and digestion and to help neutralize flatulence. Time Taken : 15 Minutes Yield : 2-3 servings Aloo Matar / Potato and Peas in Tomato Gravy Ingredients: To Be Grinded  : Green Chillies 5 nos Tomato 2 small Gi...

Andhra Chilli Chicken is my most favorite dish. This dish  is a authentic Andhra Pradesh dish. This dish is hot, attractive and very spicy. This dish is the spiciest, oiliest and aromatic. You can find this dish is almost all the Andhra restaurants in various states. We used to order this along with biryani and both goes very well together. This is not a dry item and has lots of spicy gravy with this. You can see lots of green chilli seeds in this gravy. Thus, very spicy and goes well with  dosa, plain rice, Appams, parathas, roti, naan (Indian breads), ghee rice and biryani. NOTE :  Number of chilies depend on how spicy they are. I am using 7 as mine are not very spicy. Chicken can be boneless or with bone. Can use ghee or butter instead of oil if you prefer. Optional - Can garnish with Fried Capsicum or Coriander Leaves. If the gravy is not thick then add 1 more tbsp of corn flour dissolved in 1/2 sp water. Preparation Time : 10 Minutes Cook...