Maangai thuvayal / Raw mango chutney

A very simple, no-cook dish. I love it from my childhood. When my mom makes it I will be waiting nearby her to get that first tasting experience. Remembered it after a long time and asked my mom for the recipe and here it is for you all. The fresh smell of raw mango, pearl onions, green chillies and ginger makes this dish divine !!!

Ingredients :

Raw mango- 1 small, sour one

Pearl onions / shallots - 2-5 nos, depending on its size

Green chillies- 4 nos

Coconut piece- 2 big ones

Ginger- a small piece

Salt to taste

Method :

Cut everything into pieces and grind them together using a food processor. Maangai thuvayal will be ready. It tastes excellent with rice congee, pazhaya saadham ( previous day rice soaked in water), curd rice and also makes an excellent companion for idlies.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Never do tempering. Use only fresh coconut. You can also use red chillies in the place of green ones. Do not forget ginger.  Happy cooking !!!

Ellu thuvayal/ Nuvvulu pachadi/ Seasame chutney

 

A very simple side-dish for lemon rice, idly, dosa and curd rice. I just love the smell of seasame. I love cocnut too. They together form a perfect combo. I have tasted this from one of my friends tiffin box :). Most of the time she used to bring lemon rice and ellu thuvayal. I just loved it. Very easy to prepare. This thuvayal can be prepared in no time when you have all the ingredients in hand. Wikipedia has some very good and interesting info about these small seeds. 

Ingredients :

Black seasame seeds- 4 tbspns

Coconut meat- 2, one inch pieces. (cut them into small pieces so that it is easier to grind)

Urid dhal- 1 tbspn

Dried red chillies- 6 nos (adjust according to your taste)

Tamarind- size of a big gooseberry

Garlic- 3 pods

Salt to taste

Method :

Heat a pan. When it is hot enough add seasame seeds, urid dhal and red chillies. Fry until the urid dhal changes into brown colour and emits a nice aroma. Remove from fire and cool the ingredients. Grind together in a mixer grinder with coconut pieces, tamarind, garlic and enough salt. A very aromatic thuvayal ( a dry form of chutney) will be ready to be tasted. 

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe :  Use only black seasame seeds please!! White ones are less aromatic and not as tasty as the black ones. The final product should be thick and not watery like chutney. So use only minimum amount of water when grinding. Happy cooking !!!

Thakkali-ellu chutney/ tomato chutney with seasame/ ramulakaya-nuvvulu chutney

 

 

The origin of this chutney is an interesting story. When I was doing PhD in India we (our labmates) went to a stem cell conference in Hyderabad. That was my first visit to AP and I had no clue at that time that I will marry a person from AP :). The conference was arranged in a five star hotel so there were lots of delicious food. We really had gala time and till now I have never attended such a posh conference. But the dish that mesmerized me was not from that five star hotel. We stayed in a  very normal hotel and in the morning we used to buy idlies from a nearby shop. With that idlies they served a tomato chutney. All the 3 or 4 days we stayed there I would eagerly wait for the breakfast because of that particular chutney. I could never forget that taste. I always had that tomato chutney in my mind. One day I wanted to make that chutney myself by remembering that taste and imagining the ingredients and that is how this chutney originated. Do try it. You will also get caught by its taste. 

Ingredients :

Tomato - 2 nos (ripe and firm ones)

Onion- 1 no 

Garlic- 5 pods

Urid dhal- 1 heaped tbspn

Black seasame seeds- 2 heaped tbspns

Dried red chillies- 6 nos (adjust according to your taste, I like it spicy)

Curry leaves- some 10 leaflets

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Tamarind- size of a small gooseberry (optional) ( If your tomatoes are not sour enough use it when grinding)

Salt to taste

Oil- 2 tbspn

Method :

Heat a pan. Fry urid dhal, black seasame seeds, red chillies and curry leaves until the urid dhal turns brown and emits a nice aroma. Remove from fire. Cut onions and tomato. Peel the garlic pods. Add oil in a pan. When the oil gets heated add a pinch of turmeric, onion, tomato and garlic. Saute them until the onions become translucent and the tomato pieces becomes soft. Now add all the items together in a mixer grinder including the required amount of salt and grind them into a paste. Tasty, tasty tomato chutney will be ready to serve. Tastes wonderful with idly, dosa and even with curd rice.

Taste enhancing tips : Do not use white seasame seeds. Use the black one. Take care not to burn the ingredients when frying. Onion, garlic and curry leaf  adds taste to this dish. Happy cooking!!!

Rhubarb pickle

 

It is my invention. I am not sure whether this vegetable (?) is available in India. When I came to Germany I used to watch these sticks with wonder. What for they use it was the question in my mind. One day my labmate bought a cake. It was sour because of a particular ingredient in it. I enquired her about it. Then she showed me in internet the picture of this and she explained about Rhubarb. She said they used to make jams and cakes out of it. Then with the help of wikipedia I learnt about these sour stalks. One day I bought them and tasted it. They are very sour. Naturally I thought about pickles. If it is this sour how about pickling them. Thus this rhubarb pickle was born. Once I prepared it I can't beleive how tasty it is. Definitely they have a wonderful taste equal to gongura. Rhubarab has laxative and astringent properties.These rhubarb petioles have lots of oxalic acid like gongura and hence the sour taste. If you are a person suffering with arthritis problem or kidney stones this is not for you. 

Ingredients :

Rhubarb- 3 nos

Garlic- 6 pods

Chilli powder- 3 tspns 

Turmeric- 1/2 tspn

Fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and jeera seeds- 1 tspn each

Dried red chillies- 4 nos

Curry leaves- few leaflets

Asafoetida- a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil- 3 tbspns

Method :

Cut rhubarb petioles into pieces. When cutting them remove the fibrous outer covering. Then boil the pieces in half-a-cup of water. Rhubarb has lots of water content. So when it is boiled it immediately becomes paste like as shown in picture. Now heat a pan. Add oil. When the oil gets heated add fenugreek seeds. When they turn brown add mustard and jeera seeds. After they splutter add curry leaves, red chillies and garlic pieces. Fry for few seconds. Now add few pinches of asafoetida, red chilli powder and turmeric powder to the hot oil. You have to be very quick at this stage. Do not allow the chilli powder to get burned. Immediately add the rhubarb paste. Then add enough salt (it takes a lot of salt since it is very sour). Now stir continuously until oil seperates out. Tatsiest pickle, goes very well with rice, idlies (hmmm...) dosa and even chappathis. 

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : For me without garlic no pickle is complete. Take care not to burn the chilli powder. Adding chilli powder directly to the hot oil imparts a nice aroma to the pickle. Taste it, you will love it!!! Happy cooking and have a wonderful weekend!!!

Palli pachadi / nilakadalai chutney / peanut chutney

Rajender's faaavouriteeeeeeee. If I make idly or dosa the first question from him will be 'Did you make palli chutney?'. He will be very happy and satisfied if there is palli chutney. But there is no wonder in it. He comes from a region where groundnut is one of the staple crop. All year round there will be groundnut in his home. His mother makes variety of dishes with groundnut, even for  pongal (pulagam) my mom-in.law adds powdered groundnut instead of moong dhal. In the beginning it was difficult for me to get used to groundnut chutney. In my home, coconut chutney is the standard side-dish for idly and dosa. But once I got used to this palli pachadi, coconut chutney lost its special place. Palli pachadi is very wholesome, satisfying and several times healthier than coconut chutney. Peanuts are rich in heart-healthy fats, proteins, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. The main disadvantage of coconut is its high saturated fat content. Only after marriage I got to know this tasty chutney. I think everyone knows it well and  this is for people who still do not know this healthy dish. Here comes the recipe:

Ingredients :

Groundnut- 1 cup

Green chillies- 4 nos

Garlic- 1 pod

Jeera seeds- 1 tspn

Onion-  2 or 3 nos of pearl onion or 1/4 of a ig onion

Tamarind- a small piece

Dried red chillies- 4nos

Curry leaves- few leaflets

Jeera seeds,  mustard seeds and urid dhal- 1/2 tspn for tempering

Salt to taste

2 tbspn of oil for tempering

Method :

Fry the groundnuts until they emit a nice aroma. Remove from fire and allow it to cool. Then deskin the groundnuts. If you grind chutney with the skin intact it acquires a bitter taste. Now add green chillies, garlic, jeera seeds, onion and tamarind to the peanuts and grind it to a smooth paste. You can dilute this paste according to your desired consistency. Now temper it using dried red chillies, jeera, mustard and urid dhal. Heat oil in a pan. Add urid dhal when the oil is hot enough. When the urid dhal turns brown add jeera and mustard seeds. When they splutter add red chillies and curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds. Now transfer this to the peanut chutney. Add salt to taste. Tasty, tasty groundnut chutney will be ready to be served. Peanut butter can't even compete with it in texture and taste.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Make sure you remove the skin before grinding. Small variety  peanuts taste much better than the larger ones. If you need to save time you can also use the deskinned,  fried and salted peanuts which are sold as snacks. One of my friend once added nicely minced red onions to the peanut chutney. It tasted awesome!!! (Thanks Shoba) Happy cooking friends!!!

Love for coriander- Kothamalli thuvayal / Kothimira pachadi (Coriander chutney)

This dish is my mom's speciality and I love this very much. When I go to Madurai, my mom will be eagerly waiting for me with hot, hot idlies and kothamalli chutney. I could feel my mom's wondeful love for me in this dish . This is one of my comfort food and it carries with it so many nice memories. There will be farmers market near my home on thursdays. So me and my mom will go the market thursday evening. When my mom finds nice kothamalli leaves she will definitely buy it to make chutney. Going to farmers market is one of my most favourite pass time. I find many, many nice things to eat there from koiyakai to palapazham. When we come back we will sit together, watch TV and remove the hard, mature part of the kothamalli stem and clean it. The next morning before I get up hot idlies and kothamalli chutney will be waiting for me. Still when I call her she used to tell me that she saw nice kothamalli leaves in market and she was thinking of me. One more interesting happening which is related to this recipe is, this time when I went to India my periyamma (aunt) bought ground hibiscus leaves, with henna and many other things added to it.It is stored in some kind of oil for applying on hair. It looked exactly like this chutney. My mom left it in the table. I looked at it, immediately took a teaspoonful in my hand and licked it. Phew it tasted awful. My mom had a  hearty laugh . 

This chutney will be very tasty and goes very well with idly, dosai and even with rice. In english kothamalli  is called as coriander/ chinese parsley/ cilantro. All parts of coriander plant is edible but leaves and dried seeds are more commonly used. Coriander roots are also more commonly used by chinese. Coriander roots have more intense flavour than the leaves. Coriander has many medicinal properties. It is rich in vitamin C. It aids in digestion. In Iran folk medicine coriander is used for the releif of anxiety and insomnia. Experiment in mice proved that it has anti-anxiety properties. It is also used as a diuretic. But some people are allergic to it(Courtesy:Wikipedia). This recipe is very simple eventhough you  have to do an extensive pre-work like cleaning and seperating the fresh, tender leaves and stem.

Ingredients:

Kothamalli- 3 bunches (approx. 1/4 kg)

Ginger- oneinch piece

Garlic- 6 pods

Red chilli- 8 ( increase or decrease according to your taste)

Urid dhal- 4 tbspns

Tamarind- a marble sized piece

Mustard seeds, jeera, urid dhal (1/2 tspn) and a pinch of asafoetida for tempering.

Method:

First remove the mature leaves and mature stems from the bunch. If you are able to break the stem with your hands thaen those stems are tender. If you are not able to do so then they are matured ones. Use only the leaves and the tender stems. Fry all other ingredients except kothamalli untill the urid dhal acquires a golden brown colour. Then grind the fried ingredients first with enough salt. Then little by little add the coriander leaves and grind well. Actually when the grinding is done traditionally with ammi kal (a form of manual grinder) it tastes much better. After grinding all the leaves with the fried ingredient remove form the mixie jar. Add enough oil (actually you have to add atleast a cup of oil, beacuse the wet kothamalli absorbs lots of oil) and temper it using the tempering ingredients mentioned above. Then add the ground kothamalli mixture and saute it untill the oil seperates out. It needs lots of patience at this stage. Take care it doesnt get burned at the bottom. Use a heavy- bottomed vessel for this purpose. Tasty coriander chutney will be ready. This chutney keeps very good for a week and even more when kept in refrigerator.

Taste enhancinh tips for this recipe: Urid dhal is a must in this recipe. Add enough oil when sauting. Don't be too health consious when it comes to adding oil in this recipe. If you do you will be left with a dry mass at the end which is not so appetising. Anyhow you will not eat the entire portion in a day. One tablespoon a day will be the maximum amount you can consume ( if you are not like me  ) and the oil you consume in that one tablespoon will be less. So be lenient in the amount of oil. Select fresh leaves for the chutney. Small leaves are much flavourful than the big ones. Grind the chutney manually if possibe, and what are you looking at, try it!!! And the most important thing, never saute the leaves first and grind it, grind the fresh leaves and then saute it. It really helps in retaining the flavour. Happy cooking!!!

Mirchi ka pachadi :)

Everyone will be aware, ok atleast andhraites know very well about mirchi ka salan.  It makes a wonderful, flavourful side-dish for biriyani. This pachadi can be considered as a twisted version of mirchi ka salan. One of our friends gave this and Rajender liked it very much. So I decided to try it myself.  I used the long, green chilli shown in the photograph for the recipe. You can also use the 'baji milagai' ( a much paler coloured chilli, for a less spicy version) for making this pachadi. The wonderful thing about this pachadi is the smell. We absolutely loved it. Goes very well with any main course meal.

Ingredients

Long, green chillies (less hot variety) or baji milagai- 15 nos

Coriander seeds- 1tbspn

Black seasame seeds- 2 tbspn

Urid dhal- 1 tspn

Mustrad- 1 tspn

Garlic- 5 pods

Tamarind- a lemon sized ball

small green chillies - according to your taste (use only when the chillies you are using for pachadi is not hot).

Oil as needed

Salt

Method

Very easy. Fry all the items in little oil. Fry chillies seperately till their outer skin acquires white patches. You can also oven roast the chillies if you like. Then grind together everything. Do not use water for grinding. At the end make a tadka (temper) using mustard seeds, few garlic pods, red chillies and coriander seeds. Mirchi ka pachadi is ready to serve. Hope you would enjoy this flavourful side-dish.

Happy cooking!!!