Basics in South Indian Cooking

When I was checking the traffic of my site I found out that some of the visitors are searching for basic recipes. Then suddenly I remembered how I used to search for simple recipes 1 year back. So I decided to start posting them. Before that here are the 3 basic recipes which can be used with almost every vegetable that is normally used in Indian cooking.
These basics were taught to me by my brother & mother when I was nervous about cooking. So it is a mixture of Bachelor cooking and expert cooking. They helped me a lot. They are easy and quick. Here are the recipes as I remember them now:
There are 3 types of dishes you can make:
1. dry curry i.e., fry
2. semi liquid curry
3. liquid curry

When you have one variety of vegetable in bulk and if it is going to spoil if left for 2 more days. Then go for the first recipe. ( Small amount of curry with large amount of raw vegetable)
If you have onion and one or more vegetables
When you have less amount of the vegetable and want to make a curry in bulk, then go for the third recipe. ( large amount of curry with small amount of raw vegetable)

Ingredients that should always be present in home:
Salt
Oil
Red chili powder
Turmeric (optional)


Fry:
Ingredients:
Vegetable
Oil
Salt
Chili pd
Turmeric
Method:

Cut the vegetable you have into small pieces.
Heat oil in pan. This recipe takes more oil than other dishes.
Add vegetable. Keep stirring until the vegetable becomes soft.
Add salt, chili pd and turmeric.
Stir and serve hot with rice/ roti.
Cooking rice is easier than making roti.

2nd recipe (iguru):
Ingredients:
Whatever vegetables you have at home, cut them into small/ medium sized pieces
Onion- chopped into small pieces
Salt, oil, turmeric and chili pd.
Method:
Heat oil in pan.
Usually we need to add onion first. But sometimes the hard vegetable like Ivy gourd, egg plant needs to be added first. You'll know it by experience.
So add onions and saute until they turn into golden brown colour.
Add vegetables- saute until they are soft.
Add salt, chili pd and turmeric.
If the vegetables are not being done, add little amount of water and cook with lid.

3rd recipe(pulusu):
Additional ingredient that is required apart from those in 2Nd recipe, is Tamarind
Method:
Take lemon sized tamarind if you are cooking for 2 people, transfer into a bowl of water. Microwave it for 1 min.
Heat oil in pan.
Add onions-saute until they are done.
Add vegetable. Saute for 2 min.
Add salt, chili pd, turmeric.
Squeeze tamarind in the water.
Add this tamarind extract to the pan.
Add water depending upon the amount of curry you want to make.
Add a little bit of tamarind if required.
Keep the lid.
Let the liquid boil.

This is it.
When I got married and entered this so called married life, I was nervous about my cooking. I never showed interest in cooking. So I knew nothing about it. These 3 recipes helped me in those initial days. My mother says that for any dish, if you cook on low- medium heat, it tastes good rather than high heat. That is true because the pieces will be uniformely cooked in low heat.
And of course always be cautious in kitchen. Never wear loose and hanging garments while cooking etc.
I hope this helps for beginners. They search as Ivy gourd pulusu etc. For any vegetable, these are the procedures.