Sev Tomato Sabji

I tasted this recipe at a Rajasthani restaurant in Chennai. I just loved it with roti. Since it didn’t have any vegetables I thought it should be real easy to make this one. The following Sunday, I googled and landed on this recipe. The tangy taste of tomatoes and the light sweetness of jaggery mixed together gives this recipe a wonderful flavour. Just try it and you will love it. Please make sure you use good quality sev because that’s the highlight of this sabji.

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 2
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Corriander powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves 3-4
Jaggery 2 tsp
Asafoetida – ½ tsp
Oil 1 tsp
Sev
Salt to taste
Cilantro for garnishing

Method

Cut the tomatoes into small cubes. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.When they start to splutter add hing and curry leaves. Add the tomato pieces, chilli powder, turmeric powder, corriander powder, cumin powder and salt as per taste. Add 3/4 cup water, mix well and let it cook till the tomatoes become tender. Add jaggery and cook till it melts completely. At the time of serving, fill half of the serving bowl with the tomato gravy and top it with the sev. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Add sev and serve the recipe. (Mix sev at the time of serving otherwise it will lose its crispiness). Serve hot with roti, wheat dosa or puri.

Chow Chow (Vegetable Pear/Bengaluru Brinjal/Chayote/ Alligator Pear) Chutney

This chutney is an alternate to our regular coconut white chutney. I am person who gets very conscious while eating coconut chutney, because too much coconut is not good for health. But the fact is most of the south Indian items like idly, dosa, pongal go well with coconut chutney. I always wished we had some alternative which would just taste the same as coconut chutney but doesn’t have coconut. Wow that sounds nice but I did realize that in fact we can make something like that with our Chow Chow. This chutney has the same ingredients as the coconut chutney but minus coconut and add Chow Chow. Please try it and you too will realize like I did and love this one. In the picture the chutney looks a little pale because I didn't have green chilles so I added red ones.

Ingredients:

Chow Chow – 1 medium
Green chillies – 2
Tamarind – 1 very small ball
Roasted Channa Dhal – 3 tbsp
Ginger – 1 inch
Curry leaves – 1 strand
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
For Seasoning:
Mustad seeds – ½ tsp
Urad dal – ½ tsp
Channa Dhal – 1 tsp
Red chillies – 1
Gingely Oil- 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – 1 strand

Preparation:




Peel the skin from the Chow Chow and cut into small cubes. Add 1 tsp oil to a pan and fry the chow chow for a 5 minutes. Add all the mentioned ingredients and the chow chow to the mixer and blend them to a smooth paste. Next heat oil in a pan and get the seasoning ready and add it to the chutney. Mix well and serve with hot idly, dosa, pongal etc

Rice flakes (Aval) Uppuma

This is my favourite uppuma. I have always had this dish made by my mother and it will be ready in a matter of 20 minutes. I tried this one fine day and it came out well. Now I don’t wait till I go to my mum’s place to have rice flakes uppuma. The mouth watering combination for this is coconut chutney. Please keep in mind that you always have to serve this dish hot else the rice flakes will be become dry and hard.

Ingredients

Aval (Rice Flakes) - 1 cup
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Split channa dhal – 1 tbsp
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies – 2 Split into two vertically
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind water – 3 tbsp
Lemon – ½
Curry leaves - few
Salt to taste

Method :

Squeeze the lemon juice and mix with the tamarind water. To this add the turmeric powder and salt. Clean and wash the rice flakes. Mix and soak rice flakes in the tamarind water mixture for 10 Min's. Heat oil in a wok and add the mustard seeds and urad dhal. When it splutters add channa dhal, asafoetida, curry leaves, green chillies and fry well. Add the soaked rice flakes to it and mix well and cook on low flame for 2 Min's and serve hot immediately.