recent cooking

I have returned to Project Learn to Cook Indian Food after a hiatus due to Christmas and then being sick. At the moment I'm trying to focus on south Indian food, although I do keep seeing recipes from other regions that tempt me.

Here are the highlights from what I've cooked recently (I'll happily post recipes if anyone would like me to):

Lamb with vinegar and mustard seeds (this is a dish popular among south Indian Christians, hence its not being vegetarian; it's good in its assertive, take-no-prisoners way, and as I discovered tonight, it becomes even better after it's been in the fridge for a couple of days)

Buttermilk sambhar with ivy gourd (ivy gourd is an Indian vegetable that vaguely resembles zucchini/courgettes in taste and texture; here it's served as a kind of stew in a tart, spicy, complex sauce that despite the name is made with yogurt, not buttermilk; the result is fantastic)

Onion pakoras (onion and potato with chiles and cilantro in a chickpea flour batter, fried--how could they be anything but delicious? and now I have a ton of leftover pakoras for future delectation)

Bell pepper poriyal (a poriyal is a dry, which is to say non-sauced, vegetable dish; I was glad to find an Indian recipe using bell peppers/capsicums, which I like a lot; basically it's just peppers--I used red--lightly braised with mild spices and a tiny bit of yogurt)

Carrot and cashew payasam (a sort of pudding made from milk, the aforementioned carrots and cashews, and cardamom; OMG YUM even though I scorched the milk a bit; sounds like an obnoxious "wholesome" hippie dessert but doesn't taste like one)

ETA: Recipes have been requested, so they're under the cut.

( click here for recipes )