Masal Vada/Paruppu Vadai

Masal Vadai or Paruppu Vadai is a very common dish in South India and prepared  for many festivals.

Ingredients:

1. Channa Dal  1 cup.
2. Green Chillies 1 
3. Red Dried Chillies 2
4. Ginger 1 small bit
5. Curry leaves a few
6. Coriander leaves cut finely a Table spoon
7. Little pudina (mint leaves) finely chopped. ( optional)
8. Asafoetida  'hing' very little.
9. Grated Coconut 1 table spoon (optional)
10. 1 small onion (optional)
11. salt to taste  ( 1 teaspoon.) 

Method.
Soak the Channa Dal in water for an hour. Strain the water and  Grind in a mixer,  Channa Dal, green chillies, red chillies , ginger  to  coarse paste. It is important that the batter is coarse.

do not add water while grinding.
Take out the batter, add coconut, hing , curry leaves, cut coriander cut pudina  , salt and onions (cut into small pieces).  mix thoroughly.  (If done for any festival onion is not added, but to just munch with tea onions give a very nice taste .)

Keep a 'kadai' or a frying pan on the stove add oil.  let the oil get heated.
To test oil just put a little small ball of batter into the oil and if it comes up immediately the oil is just ready to deep fry.
take out a small ball and flatten it in your hands into a round shape and put it carefully in oil.  For one time 6 to 8 vadas can be deep fried together depending on the quantity of oil in the pan.
Turn it and once it is golden brown in color remove and keep it on a kitchen tissue so that extra oil on the masal vadai will be taken away by the tissue.  This is best eaten hot but tastes quite good even afterwards. 

Baingan Bertha

Even though  this is not a South Indian Dish,  I do prepare this as a sidedish for Chapathis.   So  the recipe may not be authentic to its origin.  But my kids love this,  the way I prepare and hence the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. One or Two big Egg Plant./ Baingan/Katharikkai.  (The variety available in US in Super Markets and in South India people buy this to make Thuvayal.)
2. Onions 2 medium sized
3. Tomatoes 3 medium sized.
4. Green chillies 1 or 2
5. Ginger  a small bit.
6. Oil 1 Table Spoon.
7. Red Chilli Powder   1 to 1 and half T spoons.
8. Turmeric Powder (Haldi Powder) little 
9. Salt to taste
10. Jeera 1/2 T spoon.
11. Coriander leaves  to Garnish

 Method:

Wash the Egg Plant and smear it with little oil.  Keep the whole egg plant on the burning stove.  Keep it on a wire mesh if you have one otherwise you can keep it directly on the fire.  Let the burner  be in medium position.  Keep turning the Egg plant so that all sides are burnt properly with  the help of  the reverse side of a steel ladle or  steel dosa  turner  which can act as a sharp stick to hold the vegetable when you turn .   (Prick the Eggplant and hold it and turn).

Olden days this was done in 'koyla' Coal stoves.

  If you do not have a gas stove you can use the Oven and the Egg plant can be grilled in the grill  but a proper aluminium foil has to be used so as  the juices of the vegetable  falls into the foil while it is being grilled.   I am not sure of the temperature but once or twice it did happen that the smoke detector alarm went off due to this grilling.  So do this if you have experience of grilling any other dish.

I have used Micro Wave oven also to do this Baingan Bertha  and it did come out quite well .  I cut the   Egg Plant  and put it in a Corning Ware dish and kept it for 12 minutes turning after every 4 minutes.  You can take out and check if the Eggplant is well cooked , if not  you can keep it for little more time.

Put the burnt Egg Plant in a container containing cold water.  Throw the water out once it is cool.  Remove the burnt skin ( cut the crown as you would have burnt the egg plant with the crown in tact )  and smash the eggplant nicely with a spoon,  adding little salt and turmeric powder.  Keep aside.

Cut Onions  into very small pieces. Cut Tomatoes into small bits.  Cut the green chillies and ginger .

Take the 'kadai' or a thick bottom vessel and pour the oil.  Put the jeera into it and once it splutters,  (it will not splutter like mustard seeds,  and  gets done faster) add the  green chillies, ginger and onion.  Keep turning till onion turns light brown and  add the cut tomatoes. add little turmeric powder, salt and Chilli powder. Once the tomatoes turn soft add the Egg plant which has been done and kept aside.  Add little water and keep it covered.  Cook this mixture for about  10 to 15 minutes till the Egg plant nicely cooked and mixed with onion and tomatoes.  Garnish with nicely cut coriander leaves and serve with hot chapathis or puris. 

Thengai Thuvayal

Today My Anu asked for this recipe and thought I would blog this.
This is kind of chutney made with Coconut but is eaten with cooked rice and not as a side dish to Dosa or Idli.
This will be very tasty when eaten with fried Appalams  (Tamilian's    Pappads)

Ingredients

1. Fresh Grated coconut 1 Cup  (  Gratings of one side of a medium size coconut)
2. Urad Dal  Ulutham paruppu  1 and 1/2 Table spoons.
3. Red (dried) Chillies   2 or 3 
4. Little Quantity of Asafetida   (Ing or perungayam)
5. Oil  just 1/2 to 1 t  spoon for frying
6. Tamarind/Imli/puli  very small quantity,  if paste less than 1/4 t spoon.
7. Salt to taste

Method.

Fry Urad  Dal, Red Chillies, and   Ing,      in  oil in a Kadai or a  thick bottomed vessel.

When Urad dal turns brown add the Imli and salt and switch off the stove.  (While frying Urad dal, you can add a t spoon of  Channa Dal  (kadalai paruppu,   but the colour of the Thuvayal will  be more reddish.)

Now Powder this in the Mixer and add fresh grated coconut to this , add little water and make it into a paste like consistency the consistency of chutney or Thuvayal. 

The dish is ready.     Remove from Mixer and Eat it  with Hot Cooked Rice.

Avial

' Avial' is a dish prepared with vegetables and can be eaten with cooked rice. Very easy to prepare.

Ingredients.

1. Raw Banana (Valaikkai) one
2. Ash gourd little portion (Pooshani kkai, )
3. Pumpkin (Parangikkai) little portion
4. Beans few
5. Carrot half
6. Squash (Bangalore Katharikkai) half
7. Potato one small
8. Drumstick (Murungai kkai) one
9. Cumin seeds (jeera) 1 table spoon
10. Green chillies 4 or 5
11. Grated Coconut 3 to 4 table spoons
12. Yogurt (Thayir) one cup.
13. Salt to taste.
14. Fresh coconut oil or ghee (optional)
15. Curry leaves (if available) few

Method:

Cut all the vegetables into square 1 inch pieces, murungai kaai into 3 inch length pieces.

Some other vegetables like egg plant (katharikkai), peas (pattani) and yam (senai kilangu) can also be added.

Be careful when you cut the Senai kilangu. just wash it and put it with other vegetables without touching it with hand as it might cause itching.

Normally Valakkai, pooshani and parangikkai are the main ingredients and you can add other vegetables depending on the availability.

Grind the coconut, jeera and green chillies into a paste. add the yogurt and keep aside.

Cook all the vegetables with very little water and salt. It can be pressure cooked but stove has to be switched off once the pressure is set in, so that the vegetables are not over cooked.

Add the paste with curd and bring the vegetable to a boil mixing it well.

Add a spoon full of coconut oil or ghee, the curry leaves cleaned and soaked in the oil. just switch off the stove and the 'Avial' is ready. Garnishing with mustard seeds is not done for this dish.

Use chillies according to your taste. I always add a little turmeric powder while cooking the Vegetables.  Hence My Avial looks a little yellow.  It is optional.
I add ghee when fresh coconut oil is not available.

Stuffed Egg Plant with Gravy

This is a very tasty dish eater with Chapathi.
You need very small brinjal/eggplant/baingan for this.

Ingredients:

1. Small eggplants 1/2 KG.
2. Channa Dhal 1 t spoon
3. Coriander seeds/dhaniya 1 t spoon
4. Sesame seeds/ellu/til 1 t spoon.(this is optional but adds to taste)
5. urad dal 1 t spoon
6. red chillies 4 or 5
7. jeera 1 t spoon
8. tamarind one small bit or paste 1/4 t spoon
9. jaggery/vellam a small bit (optional)
10. Grated coconut 2 table spoon.
11. Asafotida powder
12. oil 1 and 1/2 table spoons.
13. mustard seeds
14. turmeric powder/haldi little
15. salt to taste

Cut the crown of the eggplant and make a cross cut without cutting the whole vegetable so that you can stuff the paste into it. Keep it aside

Fry channa dhal, urad dhal, coriander seeds, red chillies, sesame seeds, jeera , asafotida in little oil. once the dals turn brown add the coconut and fry for some more time. Add the tamarind, Jaggery, and salt and then Grind this into a fine paste.
Stuff this into the eggplant.
Take a kadai. Add the remaining oil and add the mustard seeds. once it splutters add the stuffed eggplant and also turmeric powder. What ever paste is remaining add this into the kadai as this forms the gravy. Add little water and Cover the 'kadai' with a lid. Keep it in a low fire and keep turning it often. If it becomes dry add little more water. When the eggplants are cooked well remove from fire.


For a little variation,  Fry one medium size onion cut into small pieces and once it turns light  brown add one medium size tomato cut into small pieces.  Fry till tomatoes are soft and grind it along with the other masalas into paste and stuff this into the small egg plants and cook the  same way.

Milgai Podi (Dosai Milagai podi)

Ingredients:

1. Urad dal 1 cup
2. Channa dal 2 table spoons (optional)
3. red dried chilli 10 or 12
4. white sesame seeds (vella ellu) 2 table spoons
5. little mustard seeds
6. little oil for frying
7. hing or asafotida powder or the katti perungayam
8. salt 2 t spoons

Method
Take a Frying pan and add a t spoon of oil. put the mustard seeds and red chillies and the asafotida. When chillies turn a little brown remove from frying pan.
Now put the dals and fry till urad dal turns brown. remove from pan and put the sesame seeds in the pan and fry till brown.
switch off the stove and put the salt in the hot pan. mix well
Now grind all the ingredients in the mixer and the 'podi' is ready.
Note: If sesame seeds are not available podi can be done with just urad dal, and red chillies but the sesame seeds give the podi the needed added taste.

Vegetable kootu (other methods)

I am continuring with Kootu preparation other methds

Ingredients


1.Blore katharikai 1

2.payatham paruppu (green gram dal) 2 table spoons

3.fresh grated coconut 1 table spoon

4. urad dal 1 t spoon

5. red chillies 2

6. jeera 1 t spoon

7. salt to taste

8. jeera powder 1 t spoon

9. mustard seeds 1/2 t spoon, urad dal 1/2 t spoon jeera 1/2 t spoon, little oil, for garnishing

10. curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing (optional)

11.Asafotida powder little

Method
Soak the dal in water for some time.
cut the vegetable into small pieces. (you can add half a potato and half a carrot, and a little beans to this for varied taste)
Keep a Pressure cooker on the stove with little water. Add the dal. when it comes to boil add the cut vegetables . Don't add salt. close the lid. After 2 whistles switch off the stove.
Open the cooker after it is cool and the pressure comes to normal.

Fry urad dal, jeera and red chillies in oil, a kadai till brown add half the coconut stir for some time and take out from stove and grind it into a smooth paste .

Add this paste to the cooked vegetables.

Keep it on the stove add salt and jeera powder, and mix well.

Take a small kadai, and put little oil and put the mustard seeds, once it splutters, add the urad dal and jeera . when the dal is brown , add the asafotida powder and add the remaining coconut and also the curry leaves and the coriander leaves and mix well. Add this to the Kootu which is in the Cooker. Mix well and Serve.

ANOTHER METHOD.

You can do one more type of kootu with the same ingredients. Instead of the fried and ground paste of urad dal, jeera and red chillies and coconut, Grind fresh (without frying) jeera, 2 green chillies and coconut into a paste. Use the same methodology in preparing but add this paste to the cooked vegetables.

This paste will be useful while making

Vellai (white) Pooshanikkai kootu

instead of payatham paruppu soak kadalai paruppu(channa dal) in water
use only pooshanikkai (ashgourd)

method same and add the green chilli, jeera, coconut paste.

You might need some thickenning powder for this kootu as this dish tends to become watery.

So after adding the ground paste, make a paste out of rice flour, little asafotida and water and add it to kootu and stir well. this will give the kootu the right consistency.

Vegetable Kootu

Vegetable Kootu is a South Indian dish which is served in a meal. It is prepared with Vegetables and lintels.
Here we will see many Kootus and the first one is the most simple and easy to prepare dish.

Squash (Blore Katharikkai) Kootu

Ingredients:

1. Blore katharikai 1
2. payatham paruppu (green gram dal)
3. sambhar powder 1 t spoon
4. fresh grated coconu 1 table spoon
5. salt to taste
6. jeera powder 1 t spoon
7. mustard seeds 1/2 t spoon, urad dal 1/2 t spoon jeera 1/2 t spoon for garnishing
8. curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing (optional)
9. Asafotida powder little

Method

Soak the dal in water for some time.

cut the vegetable into small pieces. (you can add half potato and half carrots, and a little beans to this for varied taste)

Keep a Pressure cooker on the stove with little water. Add the dal. when it comes to boil add the cut vegetables and add the sambhar powder . Don't add salt. close the lid. After 2 whistles switch of the stove.

Open the cooker after it is cool and the pressure comes to normal.

Keep it on the stove add salt and jeera powder, add half of cocnut and mix well.

Take a small kadai, and put little oil and put the mustard seeds, once it splutters, add the urad dal and jeera . when the dal is brown , add the asafotida powder and add the remaining coconut and also the curry leaves and the coriander leaves and mix well. Add this to the Kootu which is in the Cooker. Mix well and Serve.

Alu Onion curry 4 / Puri Masal Curry

This curry is almost the same as the previous one. But this one is not dry . This is called puri masal, that is this curry is used as a side dish for poories. (A dish made out of wheat flour)

Ingredients.
1.Potatoes 4
2.Onion 1
3.green chillies 2
4.ginger one small piece
5.turmeric powder 1/2 t spoon
6.chilli powder 1/2 t spoon
7.mustard seeds 1/2 t spoon
8.curry leaves a few
9.channa daal 1/2 t spoon
10.cooking oil 1 table spoon
11.salt to taste (about 1/2 t spoon)

Boil the potatoes. peel the skin and mash it.
cut the onions, chillies and ginger into small pieces.
Pour the oil in a frying pan or a kadai or a iluppa chatti.
put the mustard seeds. when it splutters add the channa daal.
when it turns brown add the curry leaves, ginger , green chillies and onions. Add red chilli powder and stir well.
when it turns brown add the turmeric powder, salt and also the mashed potatoes. Mix well . Now add some water and let the curry boil. mix well and add some more water. let the curry boil well and become a curry with thick gravy. switch off the stove.

Alu Onion curry 4

Ingredients

1. Potatoes 4
2. Onion 1
3. green chillies 2
4. ginger one small piece
5. turmeric powder 1/2 t spoon
6. chilli powder 1/2 t spoon
7. mustard seeds 1/2 t spoon
8. curry leaves a few
9. channa daal 1/2 t spoon
10. cooking oil 1 table spoon
11. salt to taste (about 1/2 t spoon)

Boil the potatoes. peel the skin and mash it.
cut the onions, chillies and ginger into small pieces.
Pour the oil in a frying pan or a kadai or a iluppa chatti.
put the mustard seeds. when it splutters add the channa daal.
when it turns brown add the curry leaves, ginger , green chillies and onions. Add red chilli powder and stir well.
when it turns brown add the turmeric powder, salt and also the mashed potatoes. Mix well and keep on the stove for five more minutes and the curry (dry) is ready.

Alu Curry 3

Ingredients

1. Potatoes 4
2. Green Chillies 3 or 4
3. Ginger a small piece
4. Lemon half
5. Coriander leaves
6. Curry leaves
7. Fresh grated coconut (optional)
8. Mustard seeds 1/2 t spoon
9. Channa daal (kadalai paruppu) 1 t spoon
10. Turmeric Powder (optional) 1/2 t spoon
11. Oil 1 Table spoon
12. Salt to taste (approx 1 t spoon)

Boil the potatoes or pressure cook it after cutting into pieces.

Remove the skin and mash the cooked potatoes.

Take a Frying pan or a kadai or a iluppa chatti. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. let it splutter. add the channa dal. when it turns brown add the curry leaves, cut green chillies and cut ginger.Turn it well. Now add the mashed potatoes , turmeric powder and salt. Mix the curry well. Add grated coconut (optional) and mix well. switch off the stove. (This curry need not be on the stove for long. It should be kept till everything is mixed well and properly.)

Now (after switching off the stove) add the lemon juice (after removing the seeds from the lemon) and coriander leaves and mix it well. Curry is ready.

Alu Curry 2

True to what I said in my earlier recipe I will follow my own methodology to write this.
Ingredients

1. potatoes
2. cooking oil
3. salt
4. chilli powder
5. turmeric powder
6. mustard seeds

In my recipes curry means dry curry and not with a gravy.

This curry is called in our home as 'gundu' urulai curry which roughly means fat and round potato curry .
Take 4 to 5 medium sized potatoes and cut into 8 pieces and boil them well in water. It is better if you pressure cook it. Give 2/3 whistles in the cooker.
The potatoes should be well cooked.
Remove the skin and then cut the potatoes into smaller pieces roughly about 1 and 1/2 inch cubes.
Take a frying pan or kadai or iluppa chatti and put one and half to two table spoons of cooking oil.
Put 1/2 t spoon of mustard seeds and let it splutter.
Now put the peeled cut potatoes and add salt (roughly 1/2 t spoon) or according to taste, 1 t spoon of red chilli powder and 1/2 t spoon of haldi powder (turmeric powder). Cover the dish with a lid and keep the stove in medium/low flame. Keep stirring the curry without damaging the potatoes ( without smashing them). when the potatoes turn golden brown switch off the stove and curry (dry) is ready.
This can be done with another type of potatoes which is called gola potatoes which are round and small. These can be boiled or pressure cooked and peeled and made into curry directly without cutting them.

Alu Curry 1

Well, I am starting this blog so that it will be easy to cook simple dishes following the recipes. (I hope). I will not be following any orderly way as the usual cook books follow. It will be just a flow of writing as the thoughts come. (Justifying my inability to follow a proper pattern in writing a cook book I suppose).
This is the simplest way of cooking potatoes into a curry (dry).
Ingredients

1. potatoes
2. salt
3. chilli powder
4. turmeric powder
5. cooking oil
6. mustard seeds

Wash potatoes and cut into small pieces of about 1/2 inch cubes. Do not peel the skin of the potatoes. (wash very well )
Take 4 medium sized potatoes and cut them.
Take a Frying Pan or a Kadai or a Iluppa chatti.
pour 1 and half table spoons of cooking oil.
put 1/2 t spoon of mustard seeds. let it splutter.
Now put the washed cut potatoes.
add half t spoon of turmeric powder (haldi powder).
Add one t spoon of red chilli powder (mirchi powder)
Add salt to taste. (may be 1/2 t spoon)
cover the pan with a lid and let the stove burn in medium to low heat.
Keep stirring the curry off and on.
Switch off when the potatoes are cooked and some of them (in the bottom of the pan) turn brown in colour.