Easy South Indian Side Dishes for Rice

July 30, 2022 Post a Comment

Have any of u ordered a roti or plain rice in a restaurant? Has there been a situation, where you visit a nice restaurant, order an idly, and you are served only idly? Would you visit the same restaurant again? Anyone likes to eat a plain rice or a plain chapathi, or even a plain dosa or idly or Upma or noodles without any accompaniment? How boring and unappealing that would be!!! Any dish that we cook or eat needs an accompaniment or what we Indians commonly call, a "side dish". Though we call it as a side dish, I personally think it is the main dish, because the rice or chapathi can be relished only when there is an apt side dish to eat it along with. Our taste buds are so much used to the side dishes that in its absence a morsel of rice or a bit of chapathi wouldn't go into our mouth.

So, what is a side dish? Is it tough to make? Will it take a lot of time? These are some questions which will run in a beginners mind. Side dish is any accompaniment dish with which we eat and relish the main dish. It is very easy and quick to make and we can invent umpteen variations using our imagination and creativity. Side dishes are a great way to incorporate vegetables in its best taste into our diet. We can customize our side dishes according to an individual's taste.

The preparation of a side dish largely depends on the main course we eat it along with and the region we belong to. I have listed out some dishes here, some of which are traditionally made by our parents and some are new creative variations. All the recipes listed below has been tried by me, tasted by many friends on several occasions and has also been appreciated by all of them.

Go here to see the collection of vegetarian curry / gravy recipes.

Vegetable Fry (Sauteed, Stir-fried and Fried Vegetables)

In Tamil, these are called as the "vadhakkal curry". Here the vegetables like potato, brinjal, coccina, colocaesia (seppa kezhangu), elephant yam (senai kezhangu), ladies finger, and raw banana are chopped and shallow fried with some spices added. These go very well with variety rice like lemon rice, coconut rice, sambhar sadam or bisibela, carrot rice etc.

Poriyal is nothing but a south Indian style of stir fried vegetables with some tempering and coconut. Vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, carrot, beans, cluster beans or kottharangai, broad beans or avaraikkai are used to make this style of side dish. These go very well with spicy main course dishes like sambhar rice, tamarind rice and even rasam.

Eggplant Fry	Broccoli Poriyal	Bhindi Fry	Beetroot Poriyal
Carrot Poriyal	Turnip Greens Poriyal	Radish Poriyal	Bok Choy Poriyal
Turnip Poriyal	Brussels Sprouts Poriyal	Rutabaga Poriyal	Celery Poriyal
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Subzis (Bhaji) & Veg. Masalas

These are made using the onion and tomatoes as the basal ingredient with some spices added. These go very well with chappathi or parathas or even ghee rice and jeera rice varieties.

Aloo Methi	Capsicum Masala	Rutabaga Masala	Bhindi Do Pyaza
Palak Matar	Potato Masala	Asparagus Sabzi	Green Brinjal Sabzi
Pav Bhaji	Breadfruit Bhaji	Chettinad Mushroom Masala	Mushroom Masala
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Salads and Pachadis

They are the most nutritive and my favorite of the side dishes. These are made with curd as the basic ingredient. Here no cooking or minimal cooking is done. These go well with both chapathi and rice varieties.

Asparagus Broccoli Stir Fry	Cucumber Pachadi	Beetroot Pachadi	Yellow Squash Pachadi
Banana Stalk Pachadi	Banana Stem Mor Kootu	Zucchini Cucumber Pachadi	Pavakka Kichadi
Chow Chow Pachadi
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Vegetables with Lentils

As the name suggests, here the lentils are soaked, ground and boiled and added with vegetables with tempering. These can be eaten as a solo meal by diet watchers, as it's a perfect combination of proteins and fiber.

Beans Paruppu Usili	Cabbage Usili	Snakegourd Kootu	Broccoli Usili
Beetroot Paruppu Usili	Kala Channa aur Bandh Gobhi Ki Sabzi	Pavakkai Paruppu Kootu	Vazhaipoo Usili
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Restaurant Specials & Party Sides

These are inspired from my restaurant visit and they can be eaten as both starter and side dish.

Gobi Manchurian	Aloo Gobi	Stuffed Capsicum	Chili Paneer
Chilli Tofu	Broccoli Manchurian	Brinjal Chops	Kadai Bhindi


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Other Veg. Side Dishes

They are my innovations and discoveries in my lab. One has to try and taste the same.

Asparagus Bhurjee	Broccoli Bhurji	Avial	Cauliflower Bhurjee
Palak with Gobi	Radish Tomato Curry	Palak with Sesame Seeds	Pumpkin with Sesame Seeds
Mashed Potatoes	Drumstick Dry Mango Curry	Olan	Kootu Curry
Steamed Broccoli	Avial Without Coconut	Gram Flour Dosa (Vegan Omelette)	Pav Bhaji without Potato