Kaayatholi /Banana Peel Thoran

For Onam, when I planned to make banana chips, it was two recipes in one shot. The left over banana peel is made into a thoran. Frankly I was more interested in the peel than the chips. It has been a long time since I had the thoran with the peel. Back in Kerala, we can get banana peels from any of the shops frying the chips.  The peel of the nenthran variety is very thick and tastes good. I usually pair it with black eyed beans/vellapayar. This time, I didn't have it in my pantry and used whole moong. It also tasted delicious. It is a simple preparation that goes well as a side for rice with sambhar/morkootan.

You need

• Banana peel of 4 bananas
• Whole moong - 1/4 cup
• Green chilly -1 
• Coconut - 2 tblspn
• Turmeric a pinch
• Salt to taste

To temper

• Oil - 1 tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Dried red chilli - 1 nos
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method

Chop the peel into bite sized pieces. Soak it for few minutes, in water with a tablespoon of buttermilk added to it. This will help to remove the stickiness and avoid discoloration. Drain and add washed whole moong, turmeric and salt. Add enough water just to cover it. I usually pressure cook for 2 whistles. The peel doesn't turn mushy.  Pulse the coconut and green chilly. Don't add water. It should be coarsely ground.

Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the red chilli, broken into two and curry leaves. Add the cooked peel and moong. Give a gentle stir. Add the ground coconut-green chilly. Cover and cook for a minute.  Remove from fire.

Capsicum Zunka

Zunka is a besan dominated side dish. I understand this can be prepared with out any vegetable ie. besan fried along with spices. Capcisum, methi and cabbage are the common veggies used in the preparation. I learnt this dish from my husband's periamma/aunt. I don't remember if she told any particular name to this. She had visited us and I had planned methi dal to serve with rotis. Periamma is a great cook and she enjoys preparing for the visisting relatives or friends. Knowing my interest in learning new recipes, she taught me this. She  mentioned capsicum can be used in place of methi.  Later when I started blogging, I got to know that it is a popular marathi dish and is called Zunka. And saw few recipes where cabbage is cooked the same way. 

Besan is the main ingredient and the flavor is enhanced with the addition of red chilli powder, cumin and the veggie added. Its a quite an easy dish and gets done very quickly. Here is I how I make it.

You need

• Capsicum - 2 nos, big
• Besan/Kadalamavu - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Cumin - 1 tspn
• Turmeric - 1/4 tspn
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Hing - 1/4 tspn
• Salt to taste

Method

Wash and dice the capsicum into cubes. Take besan in a bowl. Add turmeric,red chilli powder, hing and 1/4 tspn of salt. Mix well. Keep it aside.

Heat a kadai with 2 tablespoon of oil. When hot, add cumin. When the seeds starts browning, add the chopped capsicum. Add salt, just enough for the capsicum. We have added some salt to the besan mix. Saute till it is half cooked.  Add the besan mix in parts. After each addition, keep stirring so that the besan gets cooked and not turn lumpy. After the last addition, continue to saute for 5 minutes. Make sure the besan doesn't get burnt. Remove and serve as a side dish for roti.

Check out the blogging marathon page to know what my friends have cooked for the day.

Chavli Amti

This is the 7th edition of Blogging Marathon, organized by Srivalli. For the past few editions, every  month, the marathoners are grouped into two. I chose to join the Group 2. As usual, we were given a set of themes to choose and blog for the 7 days. My choice was Regional Specials and its Maharashtrian cuisine.  I wanted to try recipes that is generally cooked in a Maharastrian home. Also, these may not feature in a restaurant menu. I am taking this opportunity to explore more of the cuisine and I'm sure I can only touch upon few of the recipes here as part of the marathon. 

For a comprehensive read on Maharashtra cuisine, check the guest posts by Meera (Sweets and Snacks, Veg and Non-Veg Thali)  and Nupur's Summer Meal at Sailus Food..  And both Meera's and Nupur's blog are  a treasure trove of Maharashtrian cuisine.

To begin with, I chose Chavli Amti from Nupur's blog. The ingredients in the masala paste resembled that of the Arachuvitta Sambhar of Palakkad Iyer cuisine. The similarity ends there and the resulting dish is entirely different. I decided to stick to the recipe and did not tweak it in anyway since I wanted it to be authentic. I halved the recipe to serve two for a single meal.

Here it is 

You need

• Chavli/Black eyed beans - 1/2 cup
• Onion - 1 no, sliced
• Tomato - 1 no, finely chopped
• Kitchen King masala - 1 tpsn
• Salt to taste
• Sugar - 1/2 tspn

To Roast and grind

• Oil - 2 tspn
• Chana dal - 1/2 tspn
• Urad dal - 1/2 tspn
• Cumin seeds -1/2 tspn
• Coriander seeds -1/2 tspn
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tspn
• Red chilly - 2 nos
• Onion - 1 
• Grated coconut - 2 tblspn

To temper

• Oil - 2 tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
• Turmeric - 1/2 tspn
• Hing - few shakes
• Curry leaves - few

Method

Soak the chavli for 4-5 hours or overnight. If you don't have time to spare for soaking, soak it in hot water for an hour. Pressure cook till tender. 

Roast the ingredients under masala paste in 2 teaspoon of oil. Cool and grind to a smooth paste. 

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add curry leaves, turmeric and hing. Add sliced onions and saute till its almost brown. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and cook till it turns pulpy. Add the ground masala, kitchen king masala, salt and sugar. Fry the mix for a minute or two. Finally add the cooked chavli along with the water, used to cook it. Adjust the consistency. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes and the gravy will thicken. 

It was welcome change from the usual sambhar or other tamarind based gravies which is a regular fare at my home.

Do check the BM page to find out the themes and other marathoners

Lauki Kootu -Bottle Gourd and Chana dal in spiced coconut paste

Today is the 6th day of the blogging marathon. I made a simple kootu using bottle gourd/lauki.  Its a simple recipe and with pressure cooking, it gets done relatively easier.

You need

• Bottle gourd, chopped into bite size - 2 cups
• Chana dal - 1/4 cup
• Turmeric - a pinch
• salt to taste

To grind

• Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
• Red chilly - 1 no
• Cumin - 1/2 tspn

To temper

• Oil - 1 tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Urad dal - 1/2 tspn

• Curry leaves - 1 stalk.

Method.

Cook chana dal, chopped bottle gourd and turmeric with just enough water to cover the ingredients. The chana dal should be cooked soft and not mushy. Drain the excess water after cooking.

Take a kadai. Add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds crackle, add the cooked lauki and chana dal. Add salt and let it cook for 5 minutes or so. 

Grind coconut, red chilly and cumin to paste with out adding water. Add the ground paste to the cooked lauki and dal. Mix well and let it cook so that the excess water dries up.  Finally add the curry leaves and remove from fire. This goes very well with sambhar or morkootan.

Don't miss out the treats dished out by my fellow marathoners.

Chakkakuru Podimas/Jackfruit Seeds Stir Fry

Come summer, the most abundant fruits are mango and jack fruit. In Kerala, almost all houses used to have atleast one tree each of these.  Mango and jack fruit will invariable make an appearance in any of the gravy or side dish for the lunch, during the summer months.  There is a saying in Malayalam “Aaru maasam chakkayum maangayum, Aaru maasam anganeyum inganeyum ".   This means Keralites can live with mangoes and jackfruits for 6 months and for the rest of the year with this and that. This tells the importance of both mango and jack fruit. This may not hold true for the present day. And in the olden days, they never got bored of the daily dose of these two. Jack fruit which is just matured and beginning to ripe is generally prepared into a molagushyam or chakka curry. 

You can find more dishes based on jack fruit here

Now coming to the recipe of the post, its with the jack fruit seeds. I love roasted  seeds especially the ones roasted in the traditional chulah. These seed are usually paired with other veggies in gravies or stir fries. I generally add one or two to mezhukuparatti or molagootal. Once in a while I make this podimas.

The seeds are washed and dried for a day. Drying them helps to remove the skin easily. I use a pestle to smash the seeds lightly so that the skin comes out with minimal effort. You could also cook with the seeds on and can be peeled later. And you could chop into cubes. But I haven't tried this way.

You need

• Jack fruit seeds - 20 nos
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric a pinch
• Red chilly powder -1/2 tspn

For Seasoning

• Oil - 1 tblspn
• Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
• Urad dal - 1 tspn
• Red chilly - 1 no
• Curry leaves - few

Method

De-skin the seeds. Pressure cook with enough water to cover them. Add a pinch of turmeric and cook for 3 whistles. When the pressure is released fully, drain the water and keep the seeds aside.

Heat a wok/kadai with oil. When the oil heats up, add mustard seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add urad dal, red chilly split into two and the curry leaves. When the dal start browning, add the cooked jack fruit seeds. Mix in salt  and red chilly powder. Cover and cook till it the spices blend in. I love this when it is seasoned in a iron kadai and let it cook over slow heat. The bottom part will turn crisp.I can just eat this podimas as a snack by itself.

Low Calorie Dum Aloo Benarasi

People who dislike potato are hard to find. Though potato is a much favored veggie, I don't cook them often in my kitchen. I  rarely cook potatoes on its own. Mostly, its paired with other veggies so that I need to use only one. I buy only half a kilo of potatoes at a time. And that might last formore than a week or so. Here the vegetable vendor will double check if I wanted only half kilo since people usually buy more than a kilo at a time. When I come across baby potatoes in the market, its hard to resist. I invariably buy them. I make dum aloo which uses curd in it. Once I came across this recipe at Tarladalal's and wanted to try it. I did not deep fry it as in the original. Though there is some work involved in it, with little planning, it can be done easily and is worth all the effort that goes in.

Ingredients

• Baby potatoes - 12 nos
• Oil - 2 tblspn for shallow frying 

For the gravy

• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Ginger -1 inch
• Dry chillies - 6 nos
• Cashew - 2 tblspn
• Cumin/jeera - 1 tspn
• Saunf/fennel seeds - 1 tspn
• Tomatoes - 3 nos
• Water - 1.5 cups

Seasoning

• Butter - 1 tblspn
• Cardamom powder - 1 tspn
• Kasuri methi - 1 tblspn
• Sugar - 1 tspn

For Garnish

• Fresh Cream - 1 tblspn (optional)
• Chopped Coriander leaves

Method

Wash and scrub the potatoes clean. Boil the potatoes till fork tender. You can pressure cook for one whistle. Also you can microwave for 5 minutes. Prick the potatoes with a fork. Heat oil on a non stick pan and add the cooked potatoes. Shall fry till the skin wrinkles. Keep it aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add all the ingredients for the gravy. Simmer till the tomatoes are cooked and turn pulpy. Cool and grind the mix to a smooth puree.

Heat butter. Add cardamom powder and the gravy.  Cook till the gravy simmers and the fat separates and floats on top. Then tip in the shallow fried aloo, kasuri methi and sugar.Cook till the gravy thickens and the potatoes have soaked in the flavors. Add a tablespoon of cream and garnish with coriander and serve hot with some phulkas/rotis.

P.S Though I have used 6 dried red chillies, the dish was not much on the spicier side. It could be the variety of the chilli. Adjust the chillies according to the variety you use and the spice levels that suit your palate.

Corn Kurma

As soon as you hear the word - corn, I am sure this is the image that comes to most of your minds. Its hard to resist for me not to buy the corn when I see it roasted on the street side carts. Okay, this post is not about the roasted corn. Its a kurma using the fresh corn kernels.

I have noted down the recipe from a TV show, many years ago. Those days, the sweet corn was not very common. I had tried using the dried corn, which has to be soaked overnight. Still, the kernels were not cooked soft.  And with the sweet corn, flooded in the markets, things got easy.  Its an easy to make kurma and goes well with rotis,aappam or dosa too.

You need

Fresh corn kernels - 2 cup

Onion - 1 no

Chilli powder - 1 tspn

Turmeric - a pinch

Kitchen king masala - 1 tspn

Oil - 1 tblspn

Salt to taste

To grind

Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup

Curd/Yogurt - 1/4 cup

Poppy seeds/Khus Khus - 1 tspn

Green chilly - 2 nos

Tomato - 1 no, chopped

Method

Cook the corn kernels till soft in a pressure cooker for two whistles. I microwave it for 5 minutes. Chop onions.

Heat oil in a kadai. Saute onions till pink. Add chilli powder and turmeric. Then add cooked corn and salt. Let it cook for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile grind coconut, green chilly, khus khus and chopped tomato to a smooth paste. If you need to add water, add the curd. After grinding, mix in the remaining curd to the paste. Stir in the paste to the cooked corn. Adjust the consistency by adding water if needed. Bring it to a boil. Let it not simmer too much once it starts boiling since it curd and coconut is added, it will thin the gravy. Finally add kitchen king masala and remove from fire. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.



Buttermilk sponge dosa and Peas Mint Wale

Buttermilk dosa is a spongy version of the verumarisi adai, for which only boiled rice is used. In this dosa, aval or beaten rice is also added and rice and aval is soaked in buttermilk. Since its soaked in buttermilk, no fermentation is required for the batter before making dosas. You get super soft dosa. This is a great hit among my relatives and friends who has tasted this at home.  Thanks to Mallika Bhadrinath for a super breakfast recipe.

 

 

 

You need

 

•  Idli rice /boiled rice - 2 cups 
• Aval/beaten rice - 1/4 cup
• Buttermilk - Around 3 cups, enough to soak the rice.
• Cooking soda - a pinch

Method

Wash and soak rice and aval together in buttermilk for 5 hours. I usually soak it overnight. The buttermilk will be almost absorbed by the rice and aval. You will not require to add extra water while grinding. Grind it to a smooth batter and add salt.The batter should be slightly thicker than the usual dosa batter. 

 

Before making dosa, add a pinch of  cooking soda and leave it for 5  minutes for it to act.  Heat the dosa tawa. Take a ladle of  batter and pour it on the tawa.  Slightly spread it and it will spread on its own.  The dosa should be slightly thick so that you get the pores well. Cover and cook for a minute. Flip and cook the other side also by covering. Enjoy hot with a spicy side.

 

 Peas mint wale

 

Peas mint wale is adapted from Nita Mehta's Mattar dhaniya wale.  The recipe calls for fresh peas. I think this should work with dried peas also. This is a one pot gravy except for grinding the paste, its a breeze. I liked this no-onion recipe. In the original, there was garlic flakes which I omitted.

 

 

 You need

 

• Fresh, shelled peas - 2 cups
• Tomato - 1 no, chopped into pieces
• Oil - 1 tbspn
• Hing - few shakes
• Cumin/Jeera-1/2 tspn
• Kalonji - 1/4 tspn

 For mint paste

•  Mint leaves - 2 cups
•  Ginger - 1" piece
•  Green chillies - 2 nos
•  Tomato - 1 tspn
•  Tamarind paste - 1 tblspn or juice of 1 lemon

 

 

 

 Method

 

Grind together the ingredients for the paste.  Heat 1 tbspn of oil in the pressure cooker. Add hing, jeera and kalonji. When jeera turns brown, add peas. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the mint paste to the peas and mix well.  Pressure cook for 2 whistles. Open the cooker when the pressure drops. Add salt and chopped tomato and cook for a minute or two.

 

Quick Cauliflower masala

Cauliflower is a versatile veggie that it can be paired with any veggie or can stand on its own too. This is a quickie adapted from the stable of Mallika Badrinath - A one pot side dish. Throw some cauliflower florets, onion and tomato paste with spices into your pressure cooker and cook for one whistle and the curry is ready.  

 

 

You need

 

• Cauliflower broken into florets - 2 cups
• Aniseed - 1/2 tspn
• Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Bay leaf - 1 no
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• salt to taste

 

 Dry roast and powder

 

•  Red chillies - 4 nos
•  Poppy seed - 1 tblspn
•  Dhania/Coriander seeds - 2 tspn
•  Roasted gram/Chutney dal - 1 1/2 tblspn

 Grind coarsely

 

• Onion - 1  
• Tomatoes - 2 nos

Method 

Chop onion and tomatoes. Dry roast red chillies, poppy seeds and dhania. Powder the roasted ingredients along with the chutney dal. To that add the chopped onions and tomatoes and grind coarsely.

 

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the spices and then cauliflower. Fry for 3 minutes. Add the ground paste, salt and just enough water to cover the florets. Close the lid and pressure cook for one whistle. Switch off the heat and open the lid, when the pressure is fully released. Garnish with coriander leaves.

 

Olan- ash gourd, red pumpkin and cowpeas cooked in thin coconut milk

Olan is a bland dish with the flavor of coconut. It is part of the traditional Kerala meal. It is a very simple dish yet very flavorful. Red pumpkin adds slight sweetness to the dish. Olan can be made with just ash gourd and pumpkin alone. You can throw in few long yard beans also to it. And cow peas (small brown colored beans) can also be added. Sometimes, few pieces of taro root/arbi is also added. You can mix and match the ingredients according to the availability.  The vegetables can be cooked in water or thin coconut milk to add up the flavor. 

You need

• Ash gourd/Kumbalanga - 250 gms
• Pumpkin/Mathanga - 250 gms
• Long yard bean/Payar - 5 nos (optional)
• Cowpeas/vellapayar - a handful
• Green chilli - 1 no
• Thick Coconut milk - 3 tblspn
• Coconut oil - 1 tspn
• Salt to taste

Method

Pressure cook cow peas till soft. I have used black eyed beans. Peel the skin from the vegetables and remove the seeds. Chop both pumpkin and ash gourd into thin squares. Trim the edges of long yard beans and cut into 1 inch long pieces. Dilute 2 tablespoon of coconut milk in 1 1/2 cups of water. Add the chopped vegetables to it. Add a slit green chilly and salt to it.

While its half cooked, add the cooked cow peas to it. Be gentle while you mix the veggies when it is cooking so as not to break them much. Cook till the veggies are soft yet firm. Remove from heat. Add the remaining coconut milk and mix gently. Drizzle a teaspoon of coconut oil and cover it, for the flavors to steep in. Serve hot. The aroma of veggies cooked in coconut milk and of  coconut oil is very tantalizing. If cowpeas is used, it will slighty color the olan to light brown.

Chakka/Jackfruit Molagushyam and announcing the winner of the giveaway

My neighbor aunty gives me a share of jack fruit every time she cuts one at her home. They have a tree in their backyard. The thought of fresh, sweet jack fruit itself is very salviating, but it is also accompanied by the tiresome process of  separating the arils. But Aunty usually gives me the seeded arils and that leaves me with ready-to-use fruit bulbs. Most of the times, it will be just ripe and firm. Apart from making chakka curry, mostly I end up making this simple molagushyam. Though this doesn't take any ingredients other than salt, chilli powder and ground pepper to spice it up and light garnish of coconut oil and curry leaves, it tastes awesome. This can be prepared in 10 minutes.

 

 

 

You need

 

• Ripe jackfruit arils chopped into bite size - 2 cups
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Ground pepper - 1/4 tspn
• Salt to taste
• Coconut oil - 1 tspn
• Curry leaves - few sprigs

Method

 

Take the chopped jackfruit pieces in a cooking bowl. Add the chilli powder, pepper powder and salt. Add a cup of water to it.  Cook on medium heat till the color of the JF changes to a darker shade of  yellow. Add more water as it cooks. The consistency is saucy. It thickens on cooling. So adjust accordingly. Serve as side dish for rice. It tastes good as a side for puri too. The sweetness of the fruit is balanced by the mild heat from chilli and pepper.

 

 

 

 

 

Now to the winner of the giveaway.  And the random number generated is
 

 
Vaishali is the lucky winner of $50 worth gift certificate sponsored by CSN stores. Vaishali, I have sent you a mail. And to the rest who took time to leave a comment there, sorry and better luck next time.
 
P.S: Thanks to all who appreciated the new look of my blog. The part of the appreciation should go to my dear friend Shoba, who was intrumental in getting this new look. She suggested the color theme and even picked the pictures for the header. She patiently gave feed back in the process of  updation and when she finally said its looking great and I know she means it.

Back after the break with Chakka Curry - Jackfruit and brown chana cooked in coconut gravy

Finally back after a long break, which was not meant to be this long. A sudden trip to be with my parents and sister's family. I had planned to blog from there. But I couldnot withstand the heat of  North India, though I am used to mercury hitting 40 C in the South. For most of the days I stayed there, I wasn't keeping well . So I was in mood to sit and write for blog. On top of it I had some pending projects to be completed too. In short, I could not do any thing I planned. Except for two days of  outing, I stayed indoors. Our return trip had to be made via Bangalore for want of tickets. That meant few days of staying with my MIL, BIL and family. My nephew and niece had extracted a promise from me that I stay with them during their vacation. And they are happy that I kept my promise.

And after three weeks,we were back home. It feels good to be back home and  to the routine after a break. There are so many pics in my drafts folder to be posted.  Somehome, I was not able to get into the mood to blog after the break. I have been trying to make a post for the past one week with out much success. Hope after this initial reluctance, I will be able to post regularly.

Here is a recipe with the seasonal fruit - Jackfruit. I didnot get to eat much of jackfruit since I was away for almost a month.

You need


Semi ripe jackfruit bulbs- 20 nos

Brown chana - handful
Turmeric  - a pinch

salt to taste

chilli powder - a pinch

To roast and grind

Urad dal - 2 tspn

Red chilli - 2 nos

Cumin/jeera - 1/2 tspn

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup


Seasoning

Coconut oil - 1 tblspn

Mustard seeds - 1 tspn

Red chilly- 2nos, broken into two

Grated coconut - 1 tblspn


Method


Wash and soak channa for 6 hours or overnight. Pressure cook till it is soft. You can use cow peas also in place of chana. Remove the seeds from the jackfruit bulb and chop into bite sized peices. The fruit should not be ripe and should be firm. At this semi ripe stage, the taste  will be a mix of sour and sweet. This is ideal to make chakka curry.

Cook the chopped fruit with half cup of water. Add turmeric and salt and a pinch of red chilli powder. When its almost cooked, add the cooked chana and let it cook together for 5 minutes.

Roast the urad dal and red chilli in a teaspoon of oil till dal turn light brown. Grind the roasted ingredients along with coconut and cumin to a smooth paste. Add water just enough to grind.
Add the ground coconut paste to the cooked mix and adjust the consistency by adding water if requied. The curry is semisolid. It gets thicker on cooling.  Do the seasoning along with grated coconut and fry till it turns light brown. Garnish with curry leaves. My measurement of coconut is less compared to what my Amma cooks.  If you wish, you can increase the amount of coconut in grinding and garnishing.

Muringai Poo Kootu (Drumstick blossom and chana dal in coconut paste)

Some of the widely used flowers in daily cooking are vazhai poo (banana), vepam poo (neem) ,muringai poo (drumstick) and the like. I have cooked only with vazhai poo,  all these years. I have heard of vepam poo pachadi and rasam but never got access to vepam poo. Muringa poo is another one which I wanted to try. I hav a drumstick tree in my backyard. And no one will ever try to pick those flowers willingly since they will have to forego the drumsticks instead. Ever since I saw the post at Nirmala's, I wanted to give it a try. Few days back, when my maid was trying to pick the drumsticks on a top branch, the branch broke since drumstick tree is very fragile. And it had so much of flowers. Infact my maid felt bad about it. But the sight of my maid  with the bunch of flowers, brought a huge smile on my face. Without a delibrate attempt, i have got some flowers . I prepared kootu with the flowers the next day. Thanks Nirmala for inspiring me to try it.

 

You need

Muringai poo - 2 cups ( Use more if u can get)

Chana dal - 4 tblspn

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Red chilly - 1 nos

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

Salt

Turmeric

Seasoning

Oil, mustard seeds, urad dal and red chilly, broken into two.

 

Method

 

Cook chana dal in pressure cooker till soft but firm. Wash the flowers and cook in 1/2 cup of water with salt and turmeric. When the flowers wither, add the cooked chana dal and let it simmer for few minutes.

Grind the grated coconut, red chilly and cumin to a smooth paste. Add little water while grinding. Add the ground paste to the cooking mix and bring to a boil.

Heat a seasoning ladle with a teaspoon of oil and season with mustard, urad dal and red chillies. Add it to the kootu. Serve with hot rice and sambhar.

ArachuVitta Sundal ~ SpotLightBlog Recipe

Its Monday and time for my spotlightblog recipe. During Navarathri, many blogs had recipes for variety of Chundals, made as prasadom.. At that time, I had then recently bought a copy of Meenakshi Ammal's Samaithupar Part II. I had noticed the varutharacha chundal recipe. Reading through the recipe, I thought the ground mix is similar to what I make for Sambhar and was skeptical of its taste and dropped the idea of trying it. Shoba posted a similar one as Navarathri prasadom. While chatting with Shoba, she cleared my doubts of tasting like Sambhar, and nudged me to give it a try. And when I started this series, I knew this is going to be one of the recipes and here it is. The taste was different from the usual sundal, though it takes some extra work in form roasting the spices and grinding. But its worth all the effort.  White chana can be replaced with any legume of your choice.

You need
2 cups of cooked white chana

Roast & grind

Chana Dal/Kadala paruppu - 2 tblspn

Dhania/Coriander seeds - 2 tblspn.

Red chillies - 4 nos

Urad dhal. - 1 tblspn

Grated Coconut- 1/3 cup



Seasoning

Oil

mustard

curry leaves

hing



Method

Wash and soak  1 cup of  white chana overnight or for 6 hours. Pressure cook chana  with a pinch of turneric , till soft. It should not turn mushy. Drain and keep it aside. Roast the spices in little oil, till the dals turn light brown. Cool and grind it along with coconut to a thick paste. Sprinkle little water. Let the paste not be runny.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add the seasoning ingredients.Add the cooked chana and salt. Stir in the ground paste. Mix well so that the ground spice coats the chana well. Cook under low flame for 5 minutes. Garnish with curry leaves and serve as tea time snack or as a side dish with rice and gravy.