Chinna vengaya sambhar / Shallots sambhar

 

This is one of my favourite sambhar. I actually forgot about this recipe until I saw Viki's post on this. I just can't wait to prepare it. It is one of the most tastiest and aromatic sambhar. This dish goes well with hot rice, idly or dosa.

The scietific name of shallots is Allium ascalonicum. It is a relative of onion but tastes a bit sweeter than the onions. Shallots are easily digestible and contains 6 times more phenolics than the lowest ranked onions. They also have the most antioxidant activity than any other members of onion family. If you wonder what are these phenolics and anti-oxidants, they are the substances which provide shallots and onions their anti-cancer property. So presence of more of these substances tells us that they are potent anti-carcinogenic agents. Shallots are low in saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium. They are high in Vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, folate and pottasium. (Source : Wikipedia and natural environment website)

 

Ingredients :

Small onions or shallots- 20 nos if small and 10 nos if they are big

Toor dhal- 1 cup

Tomato- 1 no

Green chillies- 4 nos

Tamarind- size of a small lemon

Curry leaves- a handful

MTR sambhar powder- 2 tbspns

OR

Coriander powder- 2 tbspns and chilli powder- 1 tspn

Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tspn

Jeera and mustard seeds- 1/2 tspn each

Coconut scrappings- 1 tbspn

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tspn

Asafoetida- a pinch

Salt to taste

Oil- 3 tbspns

Method :

Peel the onions and cut them into 2 if they are very large (here the shallots are very big, no need to cut the small variety shallots you get in India). Cut the tomatoes. Longitudinally slit the green chillies. Cook toor dhal until soft and mash them using a wooden spatula or masher. Soak the tamarind and extract the juice. Now heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot add the fenugreek seeds. When they brown and emit a nice aroma add mustard and jeera. When they splutter add the onions, green chilli, curry leaves, turmeric and a pinch of asafoetida. Suate for about 1 minute. Now add the tomato pieces and saute for 30 seconds. Add sambhar powder or coriander and chilli powder to the mixture and saute for 30 seconds. At this stage add the tamarind juice and enough water. Allow the mixture to boil. Now add the cooked dhal and allow it to boil once again. Simmer the mixture for another 10 minutes or until the oil seperates out. A very aromatic sambhar will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Read it here. The onions should not become too soft. It must stay in sambhar firm like a vegetable. So reduce the sauting time. Happy cooking !!!

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This recipe goes to Priya's Easy N TastyRecipes,  Healing Foods-Onion event. This event was started by Siri of Siri's corner. This is the link for her event announcement page. Great theme Siri and thanks Priya for hosting this event.

Vengaya bajji / Onion bajji / Fritters with onion

 

Very tasty and aromatic snack. Can be prepared in no time. When we go to Rajender's native and visit our friends and relatives there, this was the main snack item they serve us. Enjoying their talk, sitting with a plate of vengaya bajji in hand and a cup of hot tea - that is what is called as heaven on earth :). This is a perfect dish for onion lovers.

 

Ingredients :

Onions- 2 nos

Bengal gram flour- 1 cup

Rice flour- 1/4 cup

Chilli powder- 1 tspn

Green chillies-3 nos (optional)

Egg- 1 no (optional)

Asafoetida- few pinches

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method :

Cut onions as shown in picture. Mix the gram flour and rice flour with onions nicely with your hand. The flour should coat all the onion pieces. If you are using egg, break the egg open and mix with onions and flour mixture at this stage. Now add water little by little to get a consistency which is not so watery and not too thick. Actually it should be close to the thicker side but not too dry. Mix in chilli powder, asafoetida and enough salt. Now heat oil in a pan and fry the prepared batter containing onions in batches. Tasty, tasty snack will be ready in a jiffy.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Bajji should be soft and not that crispy as pakodas. You can adjust the crispiness by varying the amount of water. The final mixture should not be very dry. It shoould not be too watery too. Adding egg imparts that extra softness. Do not forget asafoetida. If you are allergic to besan you can use moong dhal flour. The taste of bajjis made with moong dhal flour will be a bit different but it will not compromise the taste. Enjoy the pakoda with a glass of hot tea on a cold day for that extra effect :). Happy cooking !!!

Keeri muttai/ Boiled egg with fried onions

 

One of our favourite dish. Very simple, aromatic and very tasty too. My mom used to make it often. The most funniest part of this dish is its name. We call it as 'keeri' muttai. There is also a small mammal called keeri pilla (mongoose). Ofcourse this is hen's egg and not from mongoose !!! :). Since this egg is cut open I guess they called it this way. It tamil the meaning of ' keeri' is to scratch or to cut. Whatever it is the taste will definitely conquer you. It is a dry preparation but you can mix those golden, crispy onions with rice and eat. They taste yummy!!! You will be surprised how onions, green chillies, curry leaves and turmeic powder could do the magic.

Ingredients :

Egg- 2 nos

Onion- 3 big red onions or some 20 shallots or pearl onions (If you use the big variety use only red onions)

Green chillies- 5 nos (adjust according to your taste)

Mustard seeds, jeera seeds and urid dhal- 1/2 tspn

Curry leaves- 20 leaflets

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tspn

Oil- 4 tbspns

Method :

Very simple. Cut onions into thin slices. Slit green chillies lengthwise and cut into two. Boil egg and cut them into two pieces as shown in picture. Now heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot enough add urid dhal. When it browns add mustard and jeera seeds. When they splutter add the onions, green chillies, curry leaves and turmeric powder.  Add enough salt too at this stage and saute the mixture by keeping the fire on sim. Saute until the onions turn golden brown. Add the egg at this stage and allow them to brown a bit on both sides. A very delicous, simple dish will be ready to be savoured. Just mix the onions with hot rice and enjoy with the egg pieces.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Make it simple. Do not add any additional ingredients. Onions, green chillies and turmeric are must ingredients. Make thin slices of onions so that they get the required consistency quicker. Use red onions or shallots. Use of lots of onion makes this dish tastier. Use only green chillies and not chilli powder. Take care not to burn the egg pieces. When cooking always stand near the pan and stir the ingredients frequently otherwise the bottom layer get charred quickly. Happy cooking  friends !!! and have a beautiful week end.