Kadala paruppu pudina thuvaiyal / channa dal mint chutney

                   Recently i was looking for something which is spicy and tasty one ,which go well with variety rice and tiffin items. I prepared this and used it in two ways. Semi liquid one for dosa and thuvaiyal type for variety rice.

Ingredients:

Chana dal - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 big
Tomato - 2 big
Mint -1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Coconut shredded - 1/2 cup
Red chilli - 2
Green chilli - 1
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - 1 " piece
Salt - as per taste
Oil - as per needed

Recipe:

* Chop onion ,tomato into small pieces.
* Chop pudina/mint and coriander leaves.
* Cut and crush ginger.
*Thaw shredded coconut ,if you are using frozen one.

1.In a kadai ,add 1 tbsp oil and add kadala paruppu and fry for 2 minutes.
2. Add crushed ginger,red chilli and green chilli.Add shredded coconut and cook till coconut is slighly brownish.
3. Next add onion and cook till onion turned translucent.
4..Next add tomato,mint/pudina and coriander leaves.Cover and cook for 7 more minutes in slow flame.Add red chilli powder and mix well.
5.Remove the lid and cook till the liquid from tomato is dried and the mix is bit dry.
6.Grind it without water when the mix cool down.
7.While serving with variety rice,serve as it is. If you are serving with idli or dosa,add little water and mix the thuvaiyal. Add tampering(oil,mustard,broken urad dal and curry leaves) to it.

Note:

*We can avoid pudina ,if you dont like its taste.
* Add tamarind,if you are packing it for travel.
* We can avoid red chilli but it gives that rich red color to the chutney.

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Tindora / kovakkai chutney

                                            I tasted this chutney first time in my co-sister's house which was my MIL recipes. I had this chutney with kolukattai. Me and my husband like it and i thought of trying it when i come home. When i prepared it by myself, it came out well. It goes well with dosa,uttapam,idli,chappathi and even we can have it with rice .The taste will be  combination of spicy and tangy.

Ingredients:

Jeera - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 2 nos
Green chilli - 2 nos
Small onion - 7 nos
Tindora - 20 nos
Tamarind - small gooseberry size
Coconut - 3 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tbsp

Recipe:

* Wash tindora and chop it in round circles.
*  Chop small onion into small pieces.
* Soak tamarind in little water.

1.Take a thick bottom kadai , pour 1 tbsp oil and fry tindora for few minutes till tindora get bit crispy.
2.In another kadai add 1/2 tbsp oil ,when oil is hot add jeera,red chilli,green chilli and small onion.Fry for few minutes.Add grated coconut and fry till coconut moist less. Finally add tamarind ,mix and switch off the flame.
3. Transfer all fried items into mixie jar,add little water and enough salt.Grind it into course paste.
4. In a small pan,pour 1/2 tbsp oil,Once it is warm enough, add mustard seed and once it splatter add urad dhal, hing ,red chilli and curry leaves.Pour the tadka on top of tindora chutney and mix well.
Have it with dosa,idli and chappathi.

Note:

* We can avoid green chilli and add more red chilli ,if we want the chutney to be more spicy.
* Instead of tamarind ,we can add chopped tomato in step 2.
* If the tindora is fired till crispy  and grinded, the taste will be different than the tindora fried half crispy. The half crispy tindora chutney will  give bit raw smell of tindora .

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Raw onion chutney

            Raw onion chutney is my appa's favorite one. whenever i am in my hometown, i used to prepare this chutney using ammikal. Raw onion chutney and dosai is my favorite. After marriage, i like variation of this chutney prepared by my MIL. I just love the taste of that chutney. I used to ask her to prepare this chutney for next day breakfast before coming to hometown. ( You know ,i used to have extra dosa and idli when i have it with this chutney). Since some don't like to eat raw onion because it gives bad smell. when you think about yummy food ,you shouldn't think about this. I just get some mouth freshener and will swallow idli's,paniyaram,some dosa's (he he he) with yummy tasty chutney.

Ingredients:
Big red onion - 1
Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1/2 gooseberry size
Sugar - a pinch
Salt - as per taste
Garlic - very small piece

Recipe:
* Soak tamarind in little water.
* Chop onion in big chunks.

                      In a food processor,add chopped onion,garlic,red chilli powder and salt. Grind  it in pulse mode.Once the onion is slightly crushed,now add soaked tamarind pulp,curry leaves ,coriander leaves and sugar.Grind till the onion is grind-ed coarsely .( I like coarse texture for this chutney,if not can add little water and grind to smooth paste).That's it. Serve along with dosa or paniyaram.

Note:
* My Mil used to add little warm oil on top of this chutney to give a different taste( pref coconut oil).
* Small onion give very good taste than big onion.(In US, small onions are bit costly so i used to prepare using big red onion)
* White and yellow onion don't give exact taste like this.
* Instead of red chilli powder, we can also use dry red chilli.

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Kothamalli thokku

                                       Generally in my home ,we prepare chutney a lot than thokku or thogayal. When i was in bangalore ,in andra restaurants they used to serve gongura thokku which goes well with rice. I like the taste of thokku and rice combination. Some used to have it as a side dish like curry but i love to mix it with rice. My friends used to enjoy it more, by adding enormous amount of ghee along with this rice mix. These thokku once prepared in large quantity ,can kept it for long time if we preserve correctly.When there is kothamalli (cilantro) season,we can buy  bunches of it and prepare this thokku( this thokku requires many bunches of kothamalli leaves). Preparation is very simple.

Ingredients:

Kothamalli/coriander/cilantro leaves - 4 bunch
Red chilli - 9 no
Tamarind - very small size( 2 tbsp paste)
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 6 tbsp

Recipe:

* Wash kothamalli in running water,pat dry and chop into pieces.Can use the stem if needed.

1. In kadai,add 1 tsp oil and roast red chilli and fenugreek seed.(Don't burn the fenugreek seed).Just remove the red chilli and fenugreek seed,powder them without adding any water.
2.Take a big kadai and add 1 tbsp oil.Once it is warm,add chopped coriander leaves.Fry till the leaves is cooked .Now add tamarind at this stage and cover the lid and cook for 2 more minutes. Cook till the tamarind is soft.Switch off the stove.
3.Now grind the coriander leaves mix,ginger along with salt and hing. Use pulse setting to grind.The thokku should be thick and coarse in texture.( Don't grind it like paste).
4.Take a wide thick botom pan and add 5 tbsp of gingerly oil.Once it is hot,add mustard seed .Once it splatters,add grinded thokku and red chilli fenugreek mix. Mix well and cook in low flame till the thokku is cooked and oil oozes out. While stirring the thokku ,it should stir without sticking to the pan(Like halwa).Once it is done, switch off the stove and cool down .Once it is cool down,transfer to a air tight container and refrigerate .

Serving:
* Cook the rice like we used to prepare for preparing variety rice.(Non sticky/Uthiri uthiriya).
* While serving, sprinkle some gingerly oil or ghee on top of hot rice and mix well.
* Now add enough thokku and mix well.
* Have this kothamalli rice with appalam or papadam or vadagam.

Note:

* Don't add too much of fenugreek seed,it will give bitter taste to the dish.
* This thokku can also be served as side dish for dosa or as a spread for bread.

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Kara chutney

                                There are different version of kara chutney. Some use to prepare it in raw version while others prepare like this one. Personally i like this version for idlies. If you prepare this chutney, everyone in home will have a extra idli . Idli is tasteless one, so most of the guys hate to have idlies but if we serve some spicy chutney along with it, idli will go inside mouth without any complaint. I also prepare this chutney for paniyaram too.


Ingredients :

Small onion -  1 1/2 cup
Tomato - 2 no
Garlic - 4 cloves
Red chilli - 4
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Salt - as per taste

Tampering :

Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp
Mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
Broken urad dhal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 stem
Asafoetida - a pinch

Recipe :

* Chop small onion length wise.
* Chop tomato, garlic into small small pieces.
             In a kadai,pour 1 tbsp oi, followed by garlic and red chilli. Fry till red chilli is crispy and slightly brown. Now add small onion, fry till they turn slightly brown. Now add tomato and salt. Cook till tomato is cooked well and blend with onion . Finally add coconut, fry it for 2 minutes. Switch off the stove and allow to cool. Grind this mixture without adding water. ( water content in tomato and onion is enough for grinding).
After grinding, transfer to a bowl. In a small kadai, add oil, followed by mustard seed, broken urad dhal,curry leaves and asafoetida. Once the mustard splattered, pour it to the chutney.

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Beetroot chutney

                          Do you like to surprise your kids with some attractive dishes, try this beetroot chutney. It is more colorful and tasty too. I heard kids used to avoid taking vegetables as poriyal, preparing chutney with vegetables in attractive way makes them to eat without hesitation. We can use this chutney as spread for bread , chappathi and even for dosa.

Ingredients :
       
Beetroot - 2 medium size
Red chilli - 4
Channa dhal - 1 tsp
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 5 cloves
Tamarind paste- 1/2 tsp

Recipe :

One way :
1. Chop beetroot  into small small pieces.
2.Broke red chili into small small pieces.
3.In a kadai, add 1 tbsp oil and add channa dhal, red chili , curry leaves. Fry it for awhile. Now add beetroot and sprinkle some water on top. Add salt and close the lid. Cook for 5 minutes, till beetroot is cooked well. Now add coconut and fry till coconut is fried well. Switch off the stove and let it cool down for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, grind it in small jar in mixie along with tamarind paste without adding water. No need of tampering.

Other way:
1. Cover the beetroot with thin wrap sheet.Keep it directly in microwave and cook it for 4+4 minutes.Once it look cooked ,take it out and pierce it with a fork. If the fork goes all the way inside,it is perfectly cooked. Allow it to cool for some more minutes. Remove the skin and chop it into small pieces.
2. In kadai, add oil, followed by channa dhal,red chili,curry leaves,coconut , bettroot and salt. Fry it for awhile and allow it to cool. After some times, grind it in small mixie jar along with tamarind paste without adding any water. If needed, can sprinkle some water.
      This chutney goes well with dosai,chappathi and bread.

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Ginger chutney( Inji chutney)

I love the ginger pickle which is served in marriage's in south india. It has an unique taste. I thought of trying it ,but i know my kid cant have it because of its spiciness . So i planned to prepare ginger chutney which all my family members can have. I prepares this as one of the side dish for dosa , i also like to have it with ven pongal too. Sounds wierd, but i like that combination.

Ingredients:

Tamarind – Big Gooseberry Sized
Ginger – 1/4 cup
Red Chilli – 7
Fenugreek Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Broken urad dhal – 2 tbsp
Jaggery – 3 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Curry Leaves – 3 stem

Recipe:

* Chop ginger into small small pieces.

* Soak tamarind in water .

          Take a kadai,add oil. Once the oil is slightly hot,add mustard seed and  broken urad dhal. Once the mustard seed pops, add fenugreek seeds.Fry till they brown,add red chilli and asafoetida . Fry for some more minutes.Finally add curry leaves and fry till curry leaves get crispier. Grind this mixer with raw ginger,turmeric powder,salt, jaggery and tamarind water. Grind it either it as thokku consistency or chutney consistency. If needed, finally can tamper this chutney with mustard seed and curry leaves.

Note:

* Some of them used to use the skin of ginger too,but in this recipe i removed it,

* Those who don't like raw smell of ginger can fry it in oil slightly and then grind it.

* Adjust red chilli according to the need and taste.

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