Simple Coriander / cilantro Thuvayal ( chutney)

Ingredients: serves 4 (conservative estimate)
Cilantro / Coriander leaves  (washed and chopped) - 1  1/2 cup
Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Green Chilli - 1 or 2
Ginger - 1 tsp (grated)
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder (haldi) - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli - 1 or 2
Tamarind - just enough to roll up to size of a small key lime
(If using pulp - 1 tbsp)
oil to temper (1/2 tsp)
Curry leaves - 5 or 6

Process
Pour oil in a kadai and roast urad dal for a minute or so (medium flame)
Add red chillies, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and saute for 1/2 a minute or so
Add asafoetida, turmeric and transfer the ingredients onto a plate to cool
Soak the tamarind in a tbsp of water
Use the oil traces in the kadai and saute coriander leaves (cilantro) on medium flame for two minutes
take it of the stove before the leaves change colour
Combine the sauted leaves and the sauted ingredients, tamarind and salt and grind into a yummy thuvayal :)

A simple comfort food which goes well with dosa, idli, adai or pesarattu etc. Tastes divine with steamed rice as well...:) Serve with the oats and quinoa adai 

Guest Post ~ Saravana's wood apple chutney

My Soul bro is back :). I had featured Saravana's Arati poovu fry / vepudu earlier. And now he is back with a yummy chutney. I have fond memories associated with this chutney ..Amma made them when these fruits were in season...i also love the juice she made...all organic and naturally sweet!!!!:). 


Over to Saravana

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Wood Apple Chutney:  VELAGAPANDU CHUTNEY

Wood Apple, also called as Velaga Pandu (వెలగ పండు) in Telugu and Vilam Palam (விளாம் பழம்) in Tamil.   We know this fruit as it forms a part of ornamentation in vinayaka chavithi, to tie fruits for palavelli.

Both ripened and unripe wood apple is used in savories. For the current purpose, we use a ripened wood apple. Wood apple has a thick shell and has to be broken. A ripened wood apple can be spotted from long from its ripe, sweet and a woody smell.  Take a wood apple (200 gm), break it and scoop the inside paste from it.  Add 3 green chilies, sufficient salt and tamarind and blend the paste so that the ingredients mix well.

Place a pan on the stove and add 1 tsp of oil / ghee.  Add the wood apple paste in it and fry it with a lid covered for 5 min on a low flame.

Snake Gourd Perugu pacchadi (twist) ~ Thayir pacchadi ~ Yogurt Dip / dressing

I had posted snake gourd seed recipes earlier and am back with a small twist to the usual thayir pacchadi / perugu pacchadi. Snake gourd (including seeds) in curd- making a flavoured variety of curd/yogurt dressing or dip.

This perugu pacchadi is very simple and is a neat way to serve this veggie to people who dont like it :)

All you need - serves 2 or 3

Yogurt /curd /thayir -1 1/2 cup ( beaten)

Water - 2/3 tbsp

Snake gourd - 1 cup (chopped along with the seeds)

Green Chillie- 1 

Red Chillie - 1

Curry leaves - 3

Ginger - 1/2 tsp (optional)

salt- to taste

asafoetida (hing)- a pinch

Turmeric - a pinch

Tempering

mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

urad dal - 1/2 tsp

chana dal - 1/2 tsp

jeera /cumin - 1/4 tsp

coriander seeds -1/2 tsp (optional)

 cooking oil (prefer til or sunflower oil) = 1/2 tsp

Garnish (optional)

ghee or til oil - 1/tsp

cumin - 1/4 tsp 

mustard seeds - 1/4tsp

urad dal - 1/4 tsp

chana dal - 1/4 tsp  

Topping

coriander/cilantro -1/2 tsp

What you do

Wash and chop the snake gourd use the seeds as well. 

In a pan, pour the oil for tempering and add the tempering ingredients (mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, cumin seeds, coriander seeds) in that order and roast for a minute or so.

Add curry leaves, red and green chillies, ginger and saute

Add snake gourd and the coconut, salt, turmeric, hing(asafoetida) and keep stirring until its done 

Let the mixture cool and then grind it into a smooth paste (add a little water if necessary)

In the meanwhile, prepare the curd - Add 3 tbsp of water to the beaten curd and add the ground mixture to the curd 

Now tempering - in the same pan, add ghee or til oil and put in a little mustard seeds, urad and chana dals, cumin and roast it until mustard crackles and the dals turn a golden brown 

Let it rest for a minute or so and then pour it over the prepared thayir pacchadi (never pour in anything hot into curd or butter milk- it curdles it up and separates the water content from the curd)

Garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves 

On the menu 

Chinna vengayum sAmbAr, Oven roasted Cheppankazhangu with the thayir pacchadi

Serving suggestion: With steamed rice or rice varieties (jeera rice, vegetable rice, pilaf/pulao etc), parata, and works wonderfully as a salad dressing.  :)

trivia:
Tamil kitchens make podalanga kootu and mooru kootu & telugu kitchens make pappu, and perugu pacchadi with the roasted version of this vegetable. My version of the perugu pacchadi is what i call an extension of the same genre but with a twist in presentation and use of the veggie

Coconut (Thenga) Thuvayal

Thuvayal is a roasted variant of coconut chutney. Telugus call it kobbari pacchadi. This my amma's recipe (Not sure if i went ahaed and made changes unknowingly). I prefer mildly spicy food. Red chillies may be added or reduced depending on spice levels. This is a simple thuvayal and and nothing complicated about the recipe :)

Coconut thuvayal serves 4

Ingredients
Raw coconut - shredded 1 cup
red chilies - 2 or 3
Hing-1 pinch
Salt to suit your taste
chana dal - 1 tsp
moong dal- 1 tsp
urad dal-1tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
tamarind - 2 small strips (can vary the amount as per requirement)
haldi - 1 pinch
mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves


Process:
Dry roast coconut shreds in a kadai (medium flame). Transfer it to a plate to cool when you see it change to nice golden brown colour
Roasting coconut leaves a thin oily layer in the kadai, now roast mustard seeds, and dals
Add red chillies and hing jeera and haldi take it on to a separate plate to cool.
Grind all the ingredients together along with the tamarind and salt


will be back with a pic soon :)

Green apple and Gourd seeds chutney (thuvayal)

I grew up seeing my amma make use of every possible part of a vegetable.And I follow suit. I wrote about snake gourd seeds Thuvayal / chutney. >>Here. I generally come up with thuvayal on the spur, but never write down any recipe. I am used to going blank when someone asks me for a recipe...believe me I just cannot get down to writing down stuff (snob!...so excuse me that I am just putting up the picture of sauted ingredients. :P)..I forgot to click a picture after the grinding...lol...

Pic: shutterstock.com

All you need : to serve 2 (generously)
Green Apple (I used granny smith)..- 1 (big one!)
Snake gourd seeds - 1 cup
tamarind - (pulp)- 1 tsp or say the size of a marble (or lesser)
salt, turmeric, asafeotida
cumin - 1/4 tsp
mustard seeds- 1/4tsp
urad dal - 1/4 tsp
chana dal - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 4
corainder /cilantro - 1/4 cup
red chilli- 1
coriander seeds - 1 tsp
oil - 1/2tsp

process:
Temper mustard seeds, cumin, dals, red chilli, curry leaves and coriander seeds
Add snake gourd seeds and apple (cubed)
salt, turmeric powder, asafoetida/hing and saute until the seeds loose their raw smell
add cilantro/coriander leaves and leave it covered for a minute
take it off the stove and cool before grinding. Add the tamarind pulp or the soaked tamarind while you grind the thuvayal

Easy isnt it!

PS:
Tried a variant - gauva (jamakaya) as well and I loved that chutney too.
I use these chutneyz as my salad dressing...they lend a sweet and tangy flavour..yum!

Special mention - Coconut

God's own country, Kerala.

Image source: indialine.com

Think of this land of backwaters and luscious greenery and you think of long winding canals lined with coconut trees. Not just Kerala food, but cuisines from southern karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are known for extensive use of coconut, banana and jackfruit. No meal is ever cooked with out coconut making an appearance in the ingredients list (at least for one dish).

Coconut and banana in particular are two wonder plant varieties. I call them this because every part of the plant species are used in some form or the other. Take the case of coconut, apart from the edible part of this "nut". shells, fiber and the roots are used to make different things to fit into our lifestyle. Coir mattresses, ropes, door mats, carpets and much more. Icing on the cake being, any product made from coconut coir is eco-friendly and supports small and medium scale industry in regions where coconut palm grows is in abundance.

Image source: treehugger.com

Can you imagine eating a plate of Idli, dosai / dosa or oothappam with out that cup of fresh chutney? People familiar with coconut chutney would know what I mean!!!

We can make two simple varieties of coconut "dips" (too much of Food network...lol). One being the simple raw ingredients chutney and the other roasted ingredients thuvayal (or kobbari pacchadi in telugu)

I thought I would write about two very yummy coconut chunteys in this post.....one is the simple coconut chutney and the other a slight twist to the usual chutney called the Manga-thenga chutney

Coconut Chutney (serves 4)

what you need
Raw coconut - 1 cup
putana /groundnut/almonds - 2 tbps
Green chillies - 4/5
Tamarind - 1 small strip
salt - to suit your taste
hing - 1 pinch
garlic(optional)
curry leaves


Process
Grind everything together and temper it with mustard seeds, urad dal and red chilli (optional)

The variation I was talking about is called the Manga-thenga chutney (raw mango and coconut respectively in tamil).

What you need

Raw coconut (shredded) - 1 cup
Raw mango - (cubed/chopped with the skin) - 2tbsp
roasted groundnuts - 2 tbps
Green chillies -2
Red chillies -1
Sun dried tomatoes - 4-5 pieces
salt - to suit your taste
hing - 1 pinch

curry leaves
cilantro/coriander leaves
Process

Grind everything together and temper as usual with mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal and red chilly. Garnish with cilantro(coriander leaves)

Enjoy these chutneys with idli, dosai, adai or pesarattu. or mix in curd to make a yummy thayir pacchadi or raitha! PS: Coming up...Coconut thuyaval and more on my love for this very versatile "fruit. Until then take care and eat healthy!

Puli Inji with green chillies

As the name suggests, is a dish made from Puli - tamarind and Inji- ginger. This tangy, hot and sweet side dish is a favourite in any Palakkad Iyer household. Festivals and special luncheons are never served without this dish to go with Saambhaar, rasam, kootu and poriyal/thoran. Hmm.. I love a nice saadhya/saapadu served on a fresh banana leaf. Coming to the recipe, this is my amma's version with fresh green chillies and ginger. As usual, my recipes include very little or no oil at all.

What you need ...

• Ginger - grated - 3/4 cup
• Green Chillies - chopped - 1/2 cup or less
• Tamarind - size of a small lime
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
  
• coriander seeds - 1/4 tsp
  
• jeera - 1/4 tsp
• Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric powder- a pinch
  
• Red chillies- 2
• curry leaves - 4/5
  
• Asafoetida - 2 pinches
• Salt 
• Jaggery - 3 tbsp
• Oil- 1 tsp

Process

• Heat oil in a kadai and add the tempering ingredients - mustard seeds, jeera, coriander seeds, methi seeds red chillies and curry leaves
• once the mustard crackles, add green chillies and saute for a minute
• Add ginger and then add salt, asafoetida (hing), turmeric powder
• Soak the jaggery in just enough water and strain it for sediments
• Add the tamarind pulp a few minutes later, add jaggery water and cook until done (until ginger and tamarind looses their raw smell)
• Let the cooked mixture cool and then grind

Puli inji goes well with thayir saadham (Curd rice)....YUM! Can be stored in the refridgerator for over a week. You could use it as a spread for your "bombay style" sandwich. I use it to make vepudu/thoran/poriyal.  This dish is a great digestive, no wonder it is a staple during festivities. We add jaggery to balance the heat from the ginger. Tamarind brings in the acid component to blend the heat from chillies and sweetness from the jaggery perfectly. Try it and enjoy!

Snake gourd seeds thuvayal

I had written abut coconut thuvayal and chutney recipes in my previous post. The basic difference between the two being, the preparatory phase. Thuvayal requires a little roasting of the ingredients where as chutney is mostly raw ingredients. My amma has been making this thuvayal for ever. She has her ingenious ways to get me and my brother, eat healthy. And we both were basically no-fuss kids so she was quite happy dishing out her new experiments along with the traditional vegetarian food from all over India (Ah! I cant stop bragging about her cooking skills)

Snake gourd

Pic: indiamart.com

This thuvayal is more like a no-waste-of- good-stuff recipe. I make it the day after I make some dish with snake gourd (podalangai / potlakai ). I scoop out the seeds from the vegetable and store it for use the next day.You may also use the entire snake gourd for this thuvayal.

Ingredients:: serves 4
Snake gourd seeds- 1 cup
mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
jeera- 1/2 tsp
urad dal- 1tsp
chana dal - 1tsp
moong dal- 1tsp
salt
hing (asafoetida)
tamarind - 1/2 lemon size
red chillies - 3/4
curry leaves - 5/6
coriander/cilantro for garnish
coconut - 1tbsp(shredded)
coriander seeds - 1/2tsp
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Process:

• Soak the tamarind in just enough water
  
• Roast coconut shreds until it tuns a light borwn colour. Shift it to a plate to cool
• Use the thin film of oil left behind by the coconut to roast mustard seeds, jeera (cumin), all the dals and coriander seeds and red chillies
• keep them aside to cool
• saute the seeds and curry leaves and coriander/cilantro
  
• Grind all the ingredients together with salt and asafoetida

Enjoy!!!!

Serve it with steamed rice, dosai/dosa or idli. I like to use any thuvayal as a base for thayir pacchadi /raita for roti.

Onion Chutney with Red Apples

As I already told you, I experiment a lot with ingredients and flavours. My husband is my only taster and reviewer.

Now coming to what I actually wanted to write for this post, dinner menu for today: Idli, arachuvitta vengayam saambhaar, dosai molaga podi drenched in til oil, coconut and groundnut chutney, and the star of the day - Onion and tomato chutney with the sweet twist ;-).

Nothing out of the world about this recipe, I just added a red apple to the usual onion tomato chutney I make. Onion tomato chutney requires you to saute diced onions and tomatoes in a tadka (tempering) of mustard seeds, jeera, the dals (moong, chana, urad), red chilli, curry leaves, hing (asafoetida), turmeric (haldi). Add a little salt to suit your taste. Here is how it looks when it is done sauteing.

Now add a few cilantro/coriander leaves (I add a few mint leaves at times). Then let the mixture cool and grind them into yummy chutney for dosai, idli or oothappam. This time around I chopped an apple and sauted it with the standard list of ingredients. The chutney tastes good and looks great. I also make a green apple chutney with til, will post more on that later. Before I go here is what the chutney/thuvayal looks like.





















If you dont eat/like onion chutney, try a version of cabbage-tomato thuvayal with the apple twist. It tastes equally yummy I use this thuvayal as a sauce for pasta on a "down with pain" day.

Come, lets have dinner.

Ginger pickle - allam pacchadi

Ginger is among easily available ingredients across the globe. Pickle lovers who wouldn't mind spending half an hour in the kitchen can make this yummy pacchadi at home. It is a lot better than buying a pricey bottle of any name brand pickle oozing stale smelling oil (The foot print aspect is an add-on). This recipe is fairly simple. I am not sure where I learnt this from (probably my amma).

I made it for the first time while in pune and have been making it for family and friends ever since. I should admit I am a huge fan of (Indian style) pickles. My versions require far less amount of oil and taste as good, or maybe better. This reminds of me Juhi Chawla's ad which sells a pickle with lot less oil in the bottle. The ad is kind of funny and markets the product as a healthier, less fat version. It is a fairly new concept for conventional cooks. And thats my kind of recipe!


Main ingredients include fresh ginger, jaggery, tamarind and chillies and chilli powder.

What you need!

Ginger - 100 gm / 1 cup (grated)
Jaggery - 100 gm / 1 cup grated
Tamarind - 50 gm / lemon sized
Oil (olive/sunflower) - 4tbsp
Salt to taste
chilli powder - Avakkai three mango brand - 1 tbsp
Dry red chillies - 5/6

garlic - 5/6 pods (optional)
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5 /6
Hing (asafoetida)- a pinch

Process:

• soak tamarind in just enough water
• wash and grate the ginger and dry roast it for a minute or so (till u get a hint of its aroma). Let it cool.
• dry roast coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, mustard (half the quantity), chillies, chana and urad dal  one after the other separately. Dry roastthe garlic cloves separately (optional)
  
• Grind the  above ingredients to a fine powder. Keep it aside
• Grind ginger and soaked tamarind together into a fine paste.
  
• now add the powdered ingredients to the mixture and grind wet and dry ingredients together
• Heat oil in a kadai and add the other half of mustard and fenugreek seeds, then add curry leaves and asafoetida. 
• Once the mustard crackles and fenugreek turns golden brown, add the ingredients from the blender jar and saute it with chilli powder. Add the garlic (optional) now (we grind it into paste separately)
  
• Keep the flame on low and "cook" the pacchadi until you can sense the aroma of the pickle's yummy goodness!
• Let it cool and store it in an air tight glass jar.
• this pickle can retain its freshness for over three months if left outside and maybe longer if stored in the refrigerator.
  

Voila...you have ur home made allam pacchadi to go with a plate of idli or rice. I love it with thayir sadam. ah!

I tried using sundried mango pieces or kokam instead of tamarind. It worked well  both the times. Dry mango version tasted yummier!..Do try it. Ginger is known for its digestive and anti inflammatory properties. It is a great way to bring in the goodness of ginger into your diet. Other goodies such as puli inji, fresh inji thuvayal are also equally tummy friendly sidies. I will try posting about these two dishes in detail.

take care