Idli with Ridge gourd sambar - Soft idli with sambar

Idli or Idly is a traditional breakfast in almost all south Indian homes. 

Idli is always taken with sambar and chutney. We have many varieties of chutneys, but most of us prefer onion+tomato chutney or coconut chutney.

This ridge gourd sambar is an excellent combination for hot idlies, which makes you forget your favorite chutneys. 

Ridge gourd goes well with moong dal (split yellow gram). So, moong dal is used for this sambar. 

Chow Chow kootu / Vegetable pear kootu

Chow chow, known as vegetable pear is a tasty vegetable, which is normally used to make sambar or kootu. 


It cooks so fastly and it is recommended to control cholesterol levels and reducing weight. 

This chow chow kootu goes well with rasam, sambar and even with chappathi.

Sundaikkai pachadi - Turkey berry pachadi

Sundaikkai (Turkey berry) is a common and easily available vegetable. It has many health benefits. 

In Tamilnadu, Sundaikkai is consumed like cooking sundaikkai sambar, pulikuzhambu, and pacchadi. 

After soaking in curd or tamarind water, it is dried and used as sundaikkai vattral, which can be consumed by roasting in oil or by cooking sundaikkai vattral pulikuzhambu.

Vazhaikkai podimas - Raw banana fry - Plantain fry

Raw banana fry is an excellent side dish for rice with sambar or rasam. Even this will go well with lemon rice, tamarind rice, and coconut rice.

In this preparation, we bake the whole banana in steam and use very little oil. 

Ingredients :

Small bananas - 2 (raw bananas)

Coconut grated - 4 or 5 tsps

Ginger - small pc (grated)

Green chili or Red Chili 

Coconut oil - 2 tsps

Bengal gram - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds

Turmeric powder
Salt

White pumpkin kootu - Ash gourd kootu

White pumpkin or Ash gourd is an easily available vegetable with lots of health benefits. 

Ash gourd is rich in water, vitamins B, C, other minerals, and fiber.  

A small cup of  Ash gourd juice with the same amount of water can be taken in the morning on an empty stomach to cure peptic ulcers. It has an important place in our Ayurvedic medicine.