Mushroom and quinoa medley

I created this mixed rice pilaf recipe for my husband who loves mushrooms. I mixed quinoa, black rice, and basmati rice this time. I'm sure any combination of grains would be tasty. Next time I think I will try adding some sprouted wheat berries.

Here's what to do. It's very simple.

3/4 cup quinoa

1/4 cup black rice

1/4 cup basmati rice

Rinse and place in rice cooker with 2 1/2 cups of water. Add 1 Tbs olive oil, 1/2 tsp veggie broth powder (or salt). Cook!

Meanwhile, chop into small pieces 

1-2 portobello mushroom caps

1/2 of a large red onion 

1/2 inch piece of ginger (about 1Tbs minced ginger)

1-2 green chiles

Heat pan and add a spoon of olive oil. Add ginger, onion, few curry leaves and cumin seeds. Once fragrant, add mushrooms and allow to cook on medium until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp salt, pinch of garlic powder. 

Once rice is finished cooking, add into skillet with mushroom mixture and thoroughly combine. Garnish with some chopped fresh cilantro & enjoy the healthy whole grain and mushroom medley!

Sorakaya in tomato gravy

I made this gravy for our evening meal to eat with roti. The spice level is mild, but still oh-so tasty. I was licking every last bit of the gravy as I cleaned up ;)

For curry:

bite size cubes of sorakaya, approx. 5cups (save the peel to add in gravy!)

For gravy:

1clove garlic

1inch piece ginger

1green chile

1large tomato

1medium onion

Sorakaya peel

1tbs sesame seeds

1/4 cup cashews

For popu:

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp jeera 

Curry leaves

Soak sesame seeds and cashews in 1/4 cup water. Meanwhile, in a small pan, add oil and chopped garlic, ginger, green chile, onion-saute until onion is translucent. Add chopped tomato and sorakaya peels along with 1/4 cup water: Cover with lid and simmer on medium-low heat for 10 min until soft and juicy. Allow to cool. Blend with sesame seeds and cashews to make gravy.

Heat 1spoon oil in a large pan and add popu. Add vegetable pieces and salt, cover and allow to cook until soft. Add gravy, stir to combine. Then add 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp coriander powder. Again stir to combine, and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Serve it up and enjoy!!

Black bean vegetable soup

Very filling, high protein, low fat, simple ingredients, easy to make...tastes good, too! A big bowl of soup and a slice or two of whole wheat French bread makes a very satisfying and heart healthy dinner.

Ingredients & Process

2cups soorakaya cubes, or zucchini, cooked and puréed 

1cup black beans, cooked

1cup soy chunks, reconstituted 

1/2 cup corn kernels

1packet Maggi seasoning (or 1tsp salt plus 1/2 tsp chili powder)

Pinch turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder

1/4 cup ketchup 

1spoon mustard or vinegar

2spoons molasses or sugar

Add salt to taste

Combine everything in a soup pot and allow to simmer on low heat for 30-45 minutes. Can also put all ingredients in a crockpot and leave on low for 2-3 hours.

Veggie Burgers- to grill!

This burger is fairly simple to make, but does require a little planning ahead in order to ensure all ingredients are ready to go. We love to grill food in the summer, and so decided to try making our own burgers-ones that were eggless and could hold their own on the grill. This recipe is it!

Notes:
-I use soaked and sprouted pesara, however, sprouting is not required. This is one ingredient to plan ahead to have ready.
-Recipe calls for cooked rice and quinoa, which should be cooked ahead of time and allowed to cool.
-Spices can be modified according to your taste preferences and creativity :)
-When the burgers are frozen, they hold up a lot better on the grill. Again, part of the planning ahead process.
-Makes 4 good size burgers.

Ingredients & Process
To saute:
1 large clove garlic, minced
1Tbs ginger, minced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup shredded carrot
1 8oz package mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 tsp fresh sage (optional)
Dry ingredients:
1/4 cup oat flour (ground oatmeal)
2 Tbs flax meal (ground flax seeds)
1tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup DRY soy granules (also known as TVP) *Do not soak in water prior to adding
spices:
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp garam masala
pinch of turmeric, marjoram, sugar
For making paste:
1/2 cup soaked & sprouted pesara (green moong dal)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
2-3 spoons oil
To add for texture and "bite":
1/2-1 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice (or a mixture of the two)


Saute the garlic, ginger, and onion until onion is translucent. Add the carrot, mushroom, and sage and continue to cook on medium heat until nicely cooked and most of the liquid evaporates. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, set aside and allow to cool.

In a separate bowl, mix together the oat flour, flax meal, cornstarch, dry soy granules, and spices. Add into the cooked vegetables and stir to thoroughly combine.

Using a mixie or blender, grind the pesara and rice to make a paste, adding oil as needed to thoroughly blend. Add to the vegetable mixture, again stir to thoroughly combine. This is the main binding ingredient. Add the cooked quinoa, starting with 1/2 cup. If mixture still seems too sticky, add the remaining 1/2 cup and stir to combine.

Now is phase 1 of the cooking process: lightly pan fry the burgers.
Take a ball of the mixture (about a 1/2 cup makes a good size burger) and form patties. It will help to put oil on your hands and on the surface you are working on since the mixture will be slightly sticky. Put a few spoons of oil in a pan and fry on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side (should turn a light brown) Lightly cooking like this will help it hold up on the grill. Also, as noted above, we found that they grilled best with less sticking when they were frozen first. This is a perfect recipe to double or triple in order to freeze and have burgers ready to go when it's time for phase 2 of the cooking: grilling!!

 Enjoy!

Creamy White Bean Soup

I always seem to forget how simple it is to make soup, and how satisfying it is as a meal. We enjoyed this soup with a grilled cheese sandwich.


Ingredients & Process
2 cups cooked white beans (I used great northern beans, any white bean should be fine)
1 cup cauliflower, chopped
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp veggie broth powder or salt
1/4 tsp kitchen king (curry powder)
1/8 tsp black pepper
lemon to garnish

In a soup pot, saute garlic and onion until raw smell is gone. Add cauliflower and zucchini and 1/2 cup of water, cover with lid and allow to cook until softened. Can add additional water if required. Once veggies are soft, add the cooked beans. Use a hand blender to puree the soup, being careful not to splash the hot soup on yourself, of course :) Add water for desired consistency & stir in spices. Garnish with lemon slice and enjoy!

Tart Strawberry Puppu

I picked strawberries recently and was discussing my plans for how to use them with my husband. He came up with the idea to make strawberry puppu, but I couldn't find any recipes online. The following recipe is what I came up with on my own, and it tasted good- horray! :)

Ingredients & Process
1/2 cup toor dal
6 strawberries, chopped (preferably tart ones)
3 Tbs onion, chopped
1Tbs ginger, minced
For popu-
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urid dal
1/2 tsp jeera
pinch of fenugreek powder
pinch of turmeric
1/4 tsp amchur powder
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
curry leaves
green chile, split (1 or more, depending on taste)

Soak 1/2 cup toor dal for 15 minutes, rinse and drain
Add in pressure cooker with 1 cup water and cook for 7 whistles

While waiting to open pressure cooker,
Heat oil in small pan and add popu, ginger and onion. Once onion and ginger are cooked, add strawberries and cook just slightly to soften, 1-2 min on low heat. Add into the cooked lentils, stir, adjust salt per taste.  You can squeeze a quarter of a lemon to induce more sourness if desired.

Butternut Squash Yogurt Soup

Speedy preparation if you have butternut squash purée left over. Otherwise, you will need to allot a little more prep time in order to cook and purée the squash.

The proportions are based on what I was using up, but can easily be increased if making for more than one person.

Ingredients & Process

1 cup butternut squash purée
1/2 c plain yogurt (use non-fat or low-fat to make a creamy yet healthy soup!)
Seasonings- salt, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, brown sugar

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients. Whisk to combine, and heat to desired temperature. Add water if you prefer a thinner consistency. Season to taste. I used about 1/2 tsp salt, a dash of onion and garlic powder, a sprinkle of black pepper, and a generous pinch of brown sugar.

French Bread

Freshly baked bread. Enough said :)

I used my mom's French bread recipe. One batch I shaped as per instructions for a loaf of French bread. The other I put in a bread pan. Both turned out well.

Recipe & Process

2 1/2-3 cups flour (I used a combination of all purpose flour and oat flour. I added a spoon of wheat gluten too, which is optional)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs butter *can substitute coconut oil for vegan version
1 pkg dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 Tbs warm water

In a food processor with metal blade, place 2 cups flour, salt, sugar, butter, and yeast. Run machine until butter is cut in. Add half of the water. Turn processor on and off 4 times. Add remaining flour and water. Repeat pulsing, then run until dough ball forms. Let run 40-60 seconds to knead. Knead lightly on a board. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rest for 20 minutes. Roll dough 15x10 inches. Roll tightly into a 15 inch loaf. Place on greased baking sheet. Brush dough with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise 45 min-1hour and bake at 425 for 25 minutes. *I left out the last part of this recipe for an eggless version, but if desired you can beat an egg while and 1 Tbs water, brush it on the loaf after 20 minutes baking time and then bake for 5-10 more minutes. This will give it a nice golden brown, crusty finish. I just drizzled a little coconut oil instead of brushing with the egg white. It still turned out delicious!

Nana's Lemon Bread

My grandmother has the gift of hospitality. Her house is known as "the house of five desserts", a very good thing for those of us with a sweet tooth :) This is one of the treats I always associate with Nana, and even after a couple tweaks (coconut oil instead of margarine and less sugar) tastes just as good!

Nana’s Lemon Bread
(Aka Shaker Lemon Bread)

Ingredients for the bread-
1/3 c. coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup milk – divided
Grated rind of 1 lemon
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts optional (I don't remember eating it with nuts, will have to try it sometime!)

Ingredients for the glaze-
½ cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. Mix together dry ingredients. Add 1/3 to egg mixture followed by 1/3 milk. Repeat twice more.
Fold in lemon rind and nuts, if used. Spoon into well greased 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until done.

Combine glaze ingredients. Mix well. As soon as bread comes out of the oven, spoon on the glaze. Cool before removing from pan.

*This was really yummy served with tomato jam!!

Vegetarian Taco Filling

These are some seriously delicious tacos!

Lunches in our home are always rice and vegetable curry. However, our dinner menu varies. Dinner may be Indian food-with a North Indian flare of paneer and naan-or it may be Italian, Mexican, Slovakian, etc.

For our taco dinner, I wanted to make the protein filling to be something other than beans. Beans are good, but slightly boring. And definitely predictable as far as taco fillings go. 

This recipe is far from boring. Mmm, this recipe has revolutionized our taco night! We may never go back to beans again!

Ingredients for filling (enough filling for 15 tacos)

3 portobello mushroom caps

1 small red onion

1 carrot

1 cup soy granules (Nutrella is the brand we find at the Indian grocers, it's also known as TVP-textured vegetable protein)

2 Tbs taco seasoning (*I looked up a recipe online to make my own)

1 handful walnuts

1 Tbs oil

Other ingredients

taco shells

various toppings (suggestions) tomatoes, lettuce, green onions, cilantro, jalepeno peppers, shredded cheese, Greek yogurt or sour cream, salsa

Process

 Put soy granules in a bowl and cover with water. Microwave for 90 seconds and allow to soak while you prep the rest of the filling ingredients (5-10 min)

 Wash the veggies. Cut the mushrooms and onion in quarters, peel and quarter the carrot as well. Toss these veggies in the food processor, add the walnuts, and process until finely minced.

 Dump the mixture into a bowl. Drain the soy granules, rinse with cool water, and squeeze to remove excess water. (I have a fine mesh strainer that I use to do this.) Add drained soy granules to the mixture and stir to thoroughly combine. 

 Heat oil in a large skillet and add the mixture. Cook on medium heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Place taco shells in an oven safe dish, fill with 2-3 Tbs of filling and heat according to instructions on package. Top with desired toppings, 

and prepare to eat the best bean-less vegetarian taco EVER! 

Upma

This is a staple breakfast in a South Indian home. You can substitute other grains for different variety of upma.

Vermicilli
Roasted upma rava
Sooji
Cracked wheat/bulgar

made with roasted upma rava, served with coriander -green tomato chutney

The next on my list to try is quinoa.

To make 4 servings (or 3 generous servings, with a little left over...)

1 red onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1 Tbs minced ginger
1 green chile, sliced down the middle, but left intact
2-3 Tbs peanuts or cashews
2 cups grain of choice
4 cups of water, more or less depending on grain used

Dry roast the peanuts or cashews and set aside. If using sooji or vermicilli, roast the grain first before adding. Just add 1Tbs of oil or ghee to the pan and toast on medium heat until color changes and you can smell the roasted aroma. Set aside.

Add 1 Tbs oil to the pan and make popu with
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt, more or less to taste
6-8 curry leaves
Once mustard seeds begin to sputter and dal is nicely golden, add the ginger and green chile and allow to fry for another minute. Add the onion, carrot, and tomato and fry for another 2-3 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the peanuts or cashews.  Now add the water and bring to a boil. Once the water boils, add the grain. Stir to completely combine, lower the heat and allow to simmer until grain is cooked and water is fully absorbed. (You can add a pre-cooked grain, like bulgar or quinoa. If you do, then water will be considerably less, maybe only 1/2 cup is required to cook it to a nice consistency.)

Garnish with coriander leaves, shredded coconut, and a lemon slice. Squeeze lemon juice on prior to eating for nice tang. Eat it plain, with pickle, or with yogurt. Anyway you choose, you are guaranteed to love this healthy breakfast!

Baked Oatmeal

This is a favorite recipe from camp Seneca Hills. Toppings definitely make all the difference, but are not required. It's a hearty breakfast that can easily be made the day ahead-refrigerated and rewarmed = just as yummy!

4 cups quick oats (I've used old fashioned oats before with good results)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups milk
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups diced apples or peaches

Mix all ingredients together. Put in a greased 9x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 35 min or until browned.

Suggested toppings:

chocolate chips (camper favorite!)
blueberries or other berry
dried cranberries or raisins
additional apple or peaches, or other chopped fruit
whipped cream
peanuts or peanut butter, walnut or other nut/nut butter

Anything else I'm missing? Try it out and let me know!

Beetroot curry

Like many vegetable curries, you can use one vegetable as the base and add one or more additional vegetables to vary the recipe. Beetroot curry is no exception. My favorite is curry made with only beetroot and mixed with 1-2 Tbs shredded coconut. But, when you only have one beetroot and are trying to make lunch for 2 people, you have to add other filler veggies :)

Today's lunch was a nice combination of beetroot and golden carrots. Although of course, once the carrots were cooked with the beetroot, no longer looked very golden!

Ingredients & Process

1 beetroot, diced
1 cup diced carrots

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp bengal gram
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste)
6-8 curry leaves

Add 1Tbs oil to a pan, add popu (mustard seeds, bengal gram, urad dal, jeera, turmeric, curry leaves) and salt. Add diced vegetables and stir to combine. Add 1/2 cup water and cover with lid, simmer over low flame, about 20 minutes. Check periodically to prevent burning. If water dries up and the beetroot is still not tender, add little more water as required.

Countless other varieties can be made as well...I often add one (or more) of the following to the beetroot

-1 chopped onion
-1 cup shredded carrot
-2 Tbs grated ginger
-1/2 cup cooked bengal gram

Garnish with 1-2 Tbs cilantro and/or shredded coconut (optional, but highly recommended!)

Tomato Jam

We have gotten so many beautiful, delicious tomatoes from our garden. Brandywine. Beefsteak. Celebrity. Rutgers. We actually were afraid we were losing our crop mid-season. I really can't thank my husband enough for hand-picking off all those nasty army worms. One of his best traits is his persistence. Thanks to that, we have been enjoying juicy tomatoes all summer long. I've canned spaghetti sauce, frozen tons of tomato puree, made a huge tray of mutter paneer for our daughter's 1st birthday party (used about 12 lbs of our tomatoes for the gravy). And then this recipe.

My mom forwarded this tomato jam recipe to me, and ever since I read it, I was intrigued. I only had a couple pint jars, but was so fixated on making it, I decided to just half the recipe and see what happened.

Love is what happened.

I plan on stocking up on jelly jars and making more next year for sure. Now I have the pleasure of discovering the many ways and recipes for enjoying this tomato jam...

This is the recipe. Simple and delicious.

This is my finished product. My husband said it can pass as strawberry jam.
Yes. It's that good!

So far I have eaten it in the following ways:
1.) straight off the spoon (no shame!)
2.) tortilla wrap with cream cheese, tomato jam, and fresh basil leaves
3.) whole wheat crackers topped with tahini and tomato jam

And I am dreaming of lemon bread with tomato jam. Seems to me that would be a delightful combination.

What are other ideas for serving this jam? Please leave your suggestions in the comments, I would love more inspiration!! 

Roasted Pesto

I finally harvested another round of basil. I've already made some pesto, dried some, added to our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners...

This bunch was made into pesto, but with a different twist.

Roasted.

Well, the basil was not roasted, but the garlic and almonds were.

We're talking yum. Bursting with flavor yum.

Here's the ingredients & process.

2 cups basil, packed & overflowing
heaping 1/2 cup of almonds
16 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil, or more as required
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp turmeric

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put garlic cloves on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Seal the foil.
In an 8x8 oven-proof baking dish, put the almonds. Lay the garlic packet inside the dish as well.
Bake for 5 minutes. Stir the almonds. Bake another 5 minutes. Stir the almonds. Turn oven off and leave pan inside for another 10-15 minutes until the almonds are nice and toasty. By this time the garlic should be nice and sizzly as well.

Add the basil, almonds, and garlic to a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds. Add half amount of lemon juice and oil. Process for another minute or so. Add remaining juice and oil and continue to process until desired consistency is reached. Add more oil if required. Add seasonings and process to combine.

All done! Store for use now or later.

I was planning to save these for my afternoon snack, but they didn't make it.
This pesto is too good!

I like to freeze pesto and store for adding to pasta later.

What are your ideas or favorite uses for pesto? Do you have a favorite pesto recipe?

Uttapam

The idly dough has been in the refrigerator for almost a week. At this point, it would make sour, flat idly. When the dough gets like this, though, it's perfect for making uttapam!

Uttapam with a bit of ketchup for dipping

To the idly batter (approximately 2 cups remaining) add

1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
5 curry leaves, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
sprinkle of salt & pepper
1 green chili, minced

Heat small skillet with a tsp of oil. Add about a cup of the batter and press lightly to spread to fill pan. Cook over med-low heat until golden brown, flip to cook other side.

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is amongst my favorite cakes. I love hearty, dense cakes--full of goodies. That's why I added nuts to this recipe. And honestly, next time I may add in some other varieties of dried fruits, like golden raisins and dried cranberries. Perhaps almonds. Yumm-o. The beautiful thing about this cake is that there is no refined sugar added. It  gets its sweetness naturally, hence its inclusion in the cookbook, Sweet & Natural.

Carrot Cake

3 large carrots
1 egg (or egg substitute) *I used 1 Tbs ground flaxseed, whisked together with 2 Tbs warm water
3/8 cup oil
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, in juice
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Scrub & grate the carrots. Measure 1 cup and set aside.
Grease an 8x8 inch square baking pan.
In a blender, combine egg, oil, pineapple & juice, raisins, and vanilla. Process until raisins are finely chopped.
Measure flour, spices, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir well.
Add blended mixture, grated carrots and walnuts to dry ingredients, mixing until batter is uniform.
Spread batter into an oiled pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until done.
Cool.

OK- I cheated and made a cream cheese frosting,
so I can't say this is completely free of refine sugars.

For the frosting,

I just softened a package of neufchatel cheese, added barely 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, and maybe a 1/4-1/2 tsp of vanilla flavoring. Lightly sweet. And oh, so delicious!

Allam (Ginger) Chutney

Ginger has many health benefits. I'm sure it's most popular use is for soothing nausea and aiding digestion. That's why idly with allam chutney is a perfect start to the day. Idly are simply steamed rice and lentil cakes, so when paired with the ginger chutney, are very easily digested. Healthy and light on the stomach. Now that's a good morning!

Ingredients & Process

3 inch piece of ginger, cut into 3 pieces

1 spoon brown sugar or jaggery

1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate (can use dried tamarind soaked in measure of water listed below)

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

Popu made with

1/2 tsp mustardseeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1/2 tsp urad dal, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp turmeric,1/8 tsp asafetida, 7 curry leaves

In blender, combine ginger, jaggery, tamarind, water and salt. Puree until smooth. Will be thin, slightly watery is ok. Add the popu and puree for 30 more seconds to thoroughly blend ingredients.

*Ginger has a natural peppery flavor, but you can add additional green chili or dried red chili if your taste preferences are for more spicy chutney.

How to Sprout Chickpeas

Sprouting doesn't really need instructions- This is more for documentation purposes :)

Soak chickpeas overnight, at least. (24 hours is best)

Drain & rinse (Do this approximately every 8 hours).

By the first day you should already see small sprouts.

It's up to you how long you want the sprouts to get. I usually wait 2-3 days.

*Can use cheesecloth or other fine mesh. I use a paint strainer bag (bought it at Home Depot for less than $2), it's very convenient!

Popu (Tempering Spices)

In Indian cooking, seasoning dishes is done by tempering spices. In Telugu, we call this "popu" but  for this post I'm trying to just refer to it in general as "tempering".  The tempering can be done at the beginning of cooking, or at the end-depending on the dish you are preparing. For most of the vegetable curries we make, tempering is done at the beginning. It starts with heating oil in a pan, then adding spices & herbs, one by one, into the oil. This transfuses the flavors into the oil, nicely seasoning the vegetables throughout the cooking process.

When I first started cooking Indian food, I was very intimidated by the number of spices a single recipe required. However, I soon grew accustomed to it, and with a well stocked spice rack, I have mastered the tempering process. You should not try to multi-task as you are waiting to add the next ingredient, as the spices can easily burn, requiring you to begin again. (This I learned from experience :)...)

The combination of spices & herbs will vary depending on the recipe as well as the household. For example, typical South Indian tempering includes green chili pepper and dried red chili peppers. However, we eat less spicy food in our house due to health sensitivities, so our popu is made without these. Some families add asafetida to every dish, others don't.

This is my attempt to provide a mini tutorial, or at least a visual of the spices I commonly use for tempering.

* Not pictured: turmeric, curry leaves, and asafetida & salt.

Top to bottom on right: black mustardseeds,  split yellow peas, split yellow moong dal
Top to bottom on left: garam masala, cumin seeds, split urad dal
Center: fenugreek seeds

Typically, I start by heating about 2 Tbs light olive oil in a skillet, over high heat. I add mustard seeds and dals and wait for the mustard seeds to begin to sputter & pop. At this time I turn the heat to low and quickly add the curry leaves, cumin seeds, and turmeric. I give a quick stir to make sure all the curry leaves come in contact with the oil, and then quickly add in the vegetables for the curry.  This helps prevent burning the spices. 

It may take a couple tries to get comfortable with it, but once you master it, you will be able to make any vegetable into a delicious South Indian curry :)