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

Parangikai Arachu Vitta Sambar / Spicy Yellow pumpkin Lentil soup

Sambar is a famous and common dish in South India especially Tamil Nadu. Sambar is a vegetable stew with broth made of tamarind and toor dal. Each state in south India adopts typical variations in preparing sambar. Sambar can be made with an instant spice mix called sambar powder or the spice mix can be fresh ground. The sambar made with fresh ground spice mix is called arachuvitta sambar in. I learnt to make this sambar from my motherin-law  Mrs.Jayalakshmi Narasimhan who specialises in authentic tamil cusines.  Sambar can be made with different vegetables like brinjal, carrot, tomato, potato, beans, drumstick, pumpkin, chayote squash, bell pepper (capsicum), okra (lady's finger) and so on. In this recipe I used the yellow pumpkins.

Ingredients:
Toor dal- 1/2 cup
tamarind- small lemon sized
turmeric- 1/4 tsp
asafoetida- 2 pinch
chopped tomatoes-  1
Yellow pumpkin- 1 1/2 cup (chopped, big cubes)
salt to taste

To grind
corriander seeds- 1 1/2 tsp
red chillis -10
chenna dal- 1 tbsp
cyrry leaves- a string
shredded coconut- 4 tbsp
fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp

Seasoning
oil- 2 tsp
mustard seeds- 1 tsp
curry leaves- a string
asafoetida (hing)- 1 generous pinch

Method:

• Wash and cook the toor dal with the yellow pumpkin, turmeric and asafoetida.
• Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes to make an extract.
• Heat a wok and dry roast the ingredients to grind, on a medium flame until the chenna dal turns golden brown. Cool it and grind them into a smooth paste with 1/4 cup of water.
• Now boil the tamarind juice in a vessel with a cup water until its raw smell disappears and add the chopped tomatoes.
• Once the tomatoes become tender and cooked add the ground paste and salt.
• Mash the dal slightly( Make sure you dont mash the pumpkins) and add them to the boiling tamarind juice. 
• Allow them to boil for 10 mins and turn down the heat. Sambar is almost ready except for the seasoning.
• Heat some oil in a small wok, add mustard. When it cracks add asafoetida and curry leaves and season it on the sambar

Note: I made this sambar for rice and hence the consistency was little thick. In case if you want to use this same sambar as a side dish for dosas or idly add 1/2 cup of water and a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp of crushed jaggery and boil them and garnish with cilantro leaves (coriander leaves). This would taste like the restaurant sambar.

Vazhakkai Poriyal (Raw Banana Stir fry)

Raw banana commonly know as Vazhakka in Tamil Nadu, India is a good source of dietry fibre, pottasium, magnesium, Vitamin C and Vitamin B6. I usually make a simple stir fry with these raw bananas and not adding much spices. But I got bored with the routine recipe and tried to spice up the dish and the flavour was pretty good.

Ingredients:
Raw banana - 4
tomato (chopped)- 1
shredded coconut- 1 tbsp
ginger- 1"
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
corriander powder- 1 tsp
sambar powder- 1 tsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds (jeera)- 1 tsp
asafoetida(hing)- 1 pinch
curry leaves- 1 string
oil- 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash and peel the raw banana. Cut them into cubes and put them in a dish with water and a pinch of turmeric to prevent them from turning black. Grind the shredded coconut with a piece of ginger without adding water. Boil water in a vessel and add the  turmeric powder. Strain the raw bananas and add them to the boiling water. Remove the raw bananas from the boiling water when they are half cooked. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard cracks add asafoetida, curry leaves, chopped tomatoes and saute them until the tomatoes become tender. Add the ground mixture and saute them. Now drop in the half cooked raw bananas, corriander powder, red chilli powder, salt and sambar powder. Stir them so that the spice gets mixed evenly on the raw banana. Sprinkle some water and cover it with lid and allow it to cook for 10 minutes in low medium flame and turn down the heat. This makes a great combo with rice and Vathal Kuzhambu.

Yard Long Beans Lemon Rice

I tasted this recipe in the life member prasadam counter in Mayapur. Actually I am not a big fan of Lemon Rice but this one was out of the world. The lemon rice gets a unique taste because of the yard long beans. So I decided to try this at home and it did come out well. Moreover for office goers this is a real quick dish to prepare.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Lemon - 1
Yard Long Beans – 10-12
Turmeric powder – 1tsp
Ground Nuts - a few(optional)
Green Chillies - 3.
Curry leaves – a few
Oil – 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad Dhal – 1 tsp
Channa Dhal – 2 tbsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Corriander leaves – a small bunch
Salt – as per taste

Method :
Wash and cook the rice in a pressure cooker.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon and keep it.

Cut the yard long beans into 2cm size pieces.

Heat oil in a pan, add the beans and fry well till the beans becomes tender and soft.

Remove the beans from the oil and keep it separately.

Next in the same pan to the oil, add the mustard seeds and once they burst add the urad dhal and channa dhal. When they become golden brown add the green chillies, curry leaves and ground nuts and fry well.

Next add the fried beans, then add the asafoetida and the turmeric powder.

Next add the cooked rice, lemon juice and salt. Mix well.

We can also add little dry grapes and cashew if need along with the ground nuts and fry them.(This is optional) Garnish with coriander leaves and Serve Hot.

Thenga Thogayal/ Spicy Coconut lentil chutney

Thengai thogayal is a kind of chutney made with cocoonut and urad dal from Tamil Nadu(South India) cuisine. Coconut thogayal mixed with hot rice and ghee/ gingely oil along with roasted papad makes a great combination although this can be used as side dish for idlis and dosas. I learnt this recipe from my mother-in-law. She is expert in making all south Indian dishes. The recipe is very simple and it just takes five minutes to get it done.
 Now lets take a look at the ingretients.

Ingredients:
Shreded coconut- 1 cup
Tamarind- a goose berry size
Urad dal- 1 tbsp
Hing- 1/4 tsp
Red chillies- 4 (adjust according to your spice level)
curry leaves- one string
salt to taste
oil- 1 tsp

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add urad dal, red chillies, hing and fry it until the urad dal turns golden brown. Add the shredded coconut and curry leaves and fry them for 1 minute. Transfer the contents to a blending jar and allow it to cool. Remove the seeds from tamarind and add them. Add the required amount of salt. Grind them into a coarse paste with 1/2 a cup of water. Make sure the paste is thick. Do not add too much of water.

Chettinad style Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu / Lentil Dumplings in Tangy Gravy

Chettinad is a region in southern Tamil Nadu, with Karaikudi as its capital. It is well know for its spicy culinary delicacies. Chettinad food, now is one of many reasons why people get to know about chettinad. Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu means lentil dumplings cooked in a gravy. This recipe has different versions. When I usually make this paruppu urndai kuzhambu I used to follow my mom's recipe. My huband motivated me to try the Chettinad style and briefed me what are the modifications that has to be made from my usual style. I tried and it came out really well.

Ingredient:
For the dumplings:
Chenna dal- 1cup
Toor dal- 1/4 cup
red chillies- 3
Green chillies- 1
hing- 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
curry leaves- 2 string
fennel seeds- 1 tsp

For gravy
Coconut(shredded)- 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds- 1 tsp
Ginger- 1 inch
sambar powder- 1 tbsp
red chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
tamarind- small lemon sized
tomato- 1 (medium sized)
turmeric- 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
curry leaves- 1 string
mustard seeds- 1 tsp
cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
fennel seeds- 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp
hing- a generous pinch
oil- 1 tbsp

Method:
Making the dumplings:
Wash and soak the chenna dal and toor dal for 2 hours. Strain the dals and grind them coarsely along with red chilliies, curry leaves, green chillies without adding water. Add salt, hing and 1 tsp fennel seeds to the coarsely ground paste and mix well. Make small balls out of it and steam them in a pressure cooker for 5 minutes or until the dumplings are half cooked. Do not cook it fully or over cook the dumplings. This might prevent the dumplings to get fully soaked in the gravy.
Making Gravy
Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of warm water for 10 minutres and make an extract. Finely chop the tomatoes. Grind the coconut, poppy seeds, ginger, 1/4 tsp fennel seeds into a smooth paste. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard, cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds. When the mustard crack add hing, curry leaves, chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder and saute them until the tomatoes become tender. Add the tamarind extract, ground paste, chilli powder, sambar powder, salt, 1 cup water and allow it to boil. Drop in the dumplings and cook in a medium to low flame for 15- 20 minutes. If the gravy is too thin then break two of the dumplings in the gravy and mix well to get the right consistency for the gravy. Serve hot with rice.

Chettinad Tomato Rasam

My cousin sister made this rasam when I was there in Pollachi last weekend. I was bowled over by the taste and decided this is the first thing I am going to make for Krishna when I am back in Chennai. I managed to do it. By Krishna’s mercy it did come out well. We can actually kind of have this a different type of soup also. Here you go…

Ingredients
Tomato – 5
Red Chillies – 2-3
Corriander Seeds – 3 tsps
Jeera – 2 tsps
Pepper – ½ tsp
Thoor Dhal – 2 tsps
Curry leaves – a little
Asafoetida – a pinch
Coconut Milk – ½ glass
Oil for Frying
Mustard Seeds – a little
Urad Dhal – a little
Red Chillies – 1(For Frying)
Corriander Leaves – a small bunch

Method:

Add the thoor dhal to a pan and fry till the aroma comes and the dhal turns light golden brown. Allow it to cool.Next add the thoor dhal, red chillies, coriander seeds, jeera and pepper, make a powder and Keep it aside. Next boil the tomatoes and peel the skin and grind them to a puree. Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and wait till they burst and add the urad dhal, red chilly, asafoetida and curry leaves. Next add the tomato puree, powdered mix, salt and add two glasses of water(You can add more water if you feel that consistency is thick) and allow it to boil till the raw smell leaves. Next add the coconut milk and allow it to cook for another 10 mins. Cut the coriander leaves and add it to the rasam. Spicy chettinad tomato rasam is ready.

Chettinad Masala

Chettinad Masala

This is a recipe i saw on some website (i dont really remember which one) and liked it. So i made a few modifications of my own and the outcome was good (i think so). Hence, i am sharing it here. Its simple to make and tastes yummy with hot paranthas, phulkas, and naan.

Ingredients:

For Chettinad Masala:

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

1 tsp dhania (coriander seeds)

1/2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

2 whole dry red chillies

3 cardamom (elaichi)

1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)

3 cloves (laung)

1" cinnamon (dalchini)

1 tbsp oil

Other Ingredients:

1 tbsp poppy seeds (khus khus)

1 tbsp cashewnuts broken

ginger

6 cloves

3 tbsp oil

3 tomatoes (medium) blanched and grated

1/2 tsp turneric powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

4-5 curry leaves

3 cups boiled mixed vegetables

1/2 cup coconut milk

salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak poppy seeds and cashews in little hot water for five minutes.

2. Roast the masala ingredients till the aroma arises and grind them to a fine paste along with poppy seeds and cashews and keep aside.

3. Heat oil in a pan, add ginger, and grated tomotoes and add turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder and cook till tomatoes are well blended and oil begins to seperate.

4. Add ground masala paste to this tomato mixture, add curry leaves and saute for two minutes.

5. Add 1 cup water, boiled vegetables and cook covered for a few minutes till the grave thickens.

6. Finally add coconut milk, mix well, and simmer for two to three minutes.

serve hot with chappatis or phulkas.

Thatta payir Kuzhambu (Black eyed beans gravy)

This is a typical South Indian dish. I got this recipe from a blog called Tamil recipes and made some modifications according to my taste and it turned out to be a hit.

Ingredients:
Black eyed beans- 3/4 cup
Tomatoes- 2
tamarind- small lemon sized ball
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
salt to taste

To grind:
coconut- 4 tsp
Split chick peas (Dalia)- 1 tsp
sambar powder- 1 tsp
red chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
whole black pepper- 1/4 tsp
corriander seeds- 1 tsp
cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
Tomato- 1/2 of medium sized
curry leaves- 1 string
Grind the above ingredients to a smooth paste with 1/2 cup of water.

Seasoning
oil- 2 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp
asafoetida- a pinch

Method
Soak the black eyed beans overnite or you could soak it in hot water for 3 hours. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of warm water for 10 mins and make a thick extract. Boil the beans with turmeric, chopped tomatoes and turmeric powder. Heat the oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. When the mustard crack add a pinch of asafoetida and curry leaves. Add the ground paste and saute it for 5 mins Add the tamarind extract, the cooked beans, salt and a cup of water and allow them to cook for  10 -15 mins on medium flame. Serve hot with rice.

Nutritional facts:  Black eyed beans are rich source of soluble fibres, magnesium, iron, folate and proteins.

Vathal Kozhambu (Spicy Dried Vegetable Gravy)

Vathal Kozhambu is a  traditional spicy South Indian Brahmin recipe. Vathal is a sun dried vegetable and kozhambu refers to the spicy gravy. In my recipe I have used black night shade. Fresh vegetables like drumstick, potato, brinjal(eggplant) can also be add in the gravy along the dry ones. The other dry vegetable that could be used is turkey berry.

Ingredients:
Tamarind- small lemon sized
Sambar powder- 2 tsp
Corriander powder- 1 tsp
Tomato- 1
Manathakkali Vathal (Dried Black Night shade)- 1 tbsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp (optional)
salt to taste
ghee- 1 tsp


Seasoning
Gingely oil(sesame oil)- 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp
Chenna dal- 1/2 tsp
Asefotida- 1/4 tsp
curry leaves- 1 string


Method:
Soak the tamarind in 3 cups of warm water for 10 minutes. Get a thick extract from the tamarind pulp. Chop the tomato finely. Heat a pan and add gingely oil(sesame oil), mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, chenna dal. When the mustard seeds cracks add asafoetida, curry leaves and the chopped tomato. Add sambar powder and corriander powder and fry them until the tomato becomes tender. Now pour the tamarind extract. Add chilli powder and salt and allow it to boil. Then simmer the flame and cook until the oil gets separated from the gravy. Heat one tsp of ghee in a small wok and  fry the manathakali vatal until brown and add it to the spicy gravy. This goes well with white rice and ghee/sesame oil.


Note:  Adding fried papad to the gravy also gives a nice taste.

Moong Dhal Payasam

This a delicious dessert that I love so much. But never had a chance to make it by myself. So yesterday we had guests at home and we planned to make my favourite moong dhal payasam. You won’t believe on debut it came out very well. Actually this payasam can be made very quickly. So on the days when you have guests coming with short notice then make sure you include this in your dessert menu.


Ingredients :
Green gram dhal (Moong Dhal) - 1 cup
Water – 1 1/2 cup
Jaggery (powered) - 1- 1 1/2 cups
Cardamoms - 4-5
Milk - 1 cup
Coconut milk – ¾ cup
A few cashew nuts
A few raisons
Small piece coconut, cut into tiny thin pieces
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method :
Roast dhal to a light brown colour. Remove, cool and wash.Add water and boil. When dhal has cooked, mash thoroughly.Add jaggery in a vessel and with the water, continue to cook till the jaggery has dissolved and becomes a little thick. Now add the cooked dhal and mix well and allow it to cook for 5 minutes.Add milk, boil further for 3-5 minutes. After that add the coconut milk and keep it for a minute and remove from fire.Heat ghee, fry cashew nut pieces, coconut pieces and raisons, each separately. Add cardamom powder, mix all of it into the payasam. Hot payasam is ready to serve.For people who like it cold, refrigerate and serve.

Potato Stew

This is a Kerala based dish mainly because the main ingredient here is the coconut milk. Very simple and easy to cook. This dish can be made real quick if the coconut milk is ready. Do not use the ready to use coconut milk available in the market. This dish will turn out good only if we make the coconut milk fresh at home. This is a best combination with hot idlies.


Ingredients
Potatoes – 2
Coconut – 1 (medium size)
Ginger – 1 finger size
Green chillies – 6 (You can add more based on your need)
Salt - According to taste
Gram flour (kadalai mavau) - 2 tsp

Method
First we need to make the coconut milk. For that break and cut the full coconut into small pieces and put it in the mixer and grind it first without adding water till all the coconut becomes as though it was grated, then add 2 cups of water and grind it completely till you feel all the juice from the coconut is out. Next drain the liquid alone using a strainer. This is the first milk and it will be thick. Again with the coconut that is drained add 2 cups of water and follow the similar procedure to take the second milk. Once this is done mince the ginger, slit the green chillies into two halves vertically, boil the potatoes fully and break them into small pieces with your hand after peeling the skin. Next add the potato pieces, ginger, green chillies and the second milk into a pan and allow it to boil till the water in the second milk separates and the green chillies and ginger are cooked and have become tender. This takes about 15 minutes. Next after that add the first milk, salt and mix the gram flour in little water and add it to the stew. After adding the first milk do not allow it to boil for more than 5 minutes. At this stage the stew will be a thick white gravy. The potato stew is now ready. This can be served with hot idlis, dosas or appam. We can minus the gram flour and use it for ekadhesi.

Cilantro Powder/ Kothamalli podi

It's been a long time that me and Swarnavalli were not blogging .. Now, we are in action again :-)..
Spices podis have always been a favorite one with me. Spiced powders or Gun powders are common terms for podi. There are varieties like Kothamalli podi (Coriander powder), Pudina podi (Pudina powder) ,Tenga Podi (Coconut powder). These are usually had as an accompaniment to our daily meals, idli, yogurt Rice, Plain white rice or Roti. Here is the recipe for kothamalli podi .Coriander (Kothamalli/ Dhania), also known as Cilantro is an annual herb whose leaves, stems and seeds are edible.

Ingredients

Cilantro - 3 bunches
Red Chillies - 3
Tamarind - Tiny marble size (dry)
Salt
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Hing/Asafoetida - 2 pinches
Gingerly Oil - 1 tbs

Method

Wash the coriander leaves and also the stems, if they are tender, and spread on a cloth to dry, preferably overnight
I used only the leaves with little stem ( if you want you can use the entire stem ).
Dry roast the red chillies . Once coll down , blend red chillies with salt.
Grind the dried cilantro, dry tamarind , powdered red chillies and salt into a paste. Ensure there is no water in the blender ..
In a hot pan add oil , followed by mustard seeds, asafoetida.When mustard seeds splutter, add the blended cilantro masala and fry it often so that it doesn't stick to the pan. Turn off the fire after 10 mins..
Store in a air tight container and refrigerate it.