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Recipe Corner

Roja Chutney

Ingredients:

Grinding:
Small Onion - 250 grams
Red Chillies - 10 no’s
Salt - 1/2 or Half Tablespoon

Seasoning:
Mustard
Oil

Preparation

1) Start by grinding the small onions, red chillies and salt.
2) Transfer the grinded ingredients into a bowl.
3) Then, for seasoning temper the oil and add mustard.
4) After the mustard turns blackish-brown turn the flame off and add it to the bowl.
5) Mix it thoroughly.
6) Now it is ready. This chutney is best served with dosa.

Gongura Pickle - Delight of Spices

Ingredients:

6-7 small bunches sorrel leaves/gongura leaves
2 tbsp oil
15 dried red chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 fenugreek seeds
Salt - to taste
6-7 garlic cloves
1 large size onion (diced into thick medium size pieces)

Tempering:
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp chana dal
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 dried red chillies

Note: Firstly, pluck all the gongura leaves, wash them and set them aside freely so that they are free from moist and any water content on the leaves.

Preparation

Step 1(Cook the gongura):
In a wok, add about 1 tbsp oil, add the gongura leaves and cook them for about ten minutes until they turn soft and mushy.

Step 2(Cook the Spices):
1) In a separate pan, add a tbsp of oil, add cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, add dried red chillies and saute them for about a minute(not for a long time).
2) Take them out and set aside to cool down.

Step 3(Blending all together):
1) In a blender, add the cooked spices of step 2, add some salt and blend into a fine powder.
2) Into it garlic cloves and blend well.
3) Into it add gongura leaves and blend roughly.
4) Take the pickle out into a bowl and mix thickly sliced onions into it and give tempering as mentioned below.

Step 4(Give the tempering):
1) In a tadka pan, add oil and heat it.
2) Into it, add chana dal, urad dal and stir well.
3) Into it add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and let them pop up.
4) Add dried red chillies, stir for few seconds.
5) Add curry leaves and let them crackle.
6) Add the tempering to the pickle.
7) Serve hot with ghee and rice!!!

Ginger Chutney

Preparation:

Soak tamarind in 1/4th of a cup of water.
Heat one tsp of oil and fry chana dal and urad dal until light and golden.
Add red chillies to the dal when golden. Fry until the chillies turn crisp and the dal turns deep golden. Do not over fry the chillies as the pickle may taste bitter later on.
Remove them from the pan and add them to a plate to cool.
Pour a little bit more oil and add onions and ginger. Separate layers of cuboid onions as yields a great Aromatic chutney. Also you will need to slice the ginger and not chop as this results in a bitter taste.
Keep frying and stirring till the onions turn pinkish to golden. Do not brown the ginger. Turn off the stove and cool these.

Cooking Process:

Add this mixture to the blender.
Add in salt and jaggery.
Add tamarind. Mash them and strain them through a strainer.
Blend the ginger chutney to slight coarse or smooth texture to suit your taste. Pour more water if you want more consistency. Also adjust salt and jaggery as per taste.
Enjoy your ginger chutney with dosa, idli or peserrettu.

North Indian Chutney Platter

Red Chutney/Dates Tamarind chutney

Take a handful each of tamarind, unseeded dates and jaggery and boil in them 2 cups of water for 10 mins.
Cool down and grind it into a smooth paste. Then filter it using a sieve.
Add 1 cup of water to it and then add fennel powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt all according to taste.
Mix well and boil for a couple of minutes. The chutney is now ready to be served with chaats!

Green Chutney

Take 1 cup of coriander, 1/2 cup of mint, 2 green chillies, a small portion of garlic, 2 pods of garlic, 1 spoon roast gram (pottukadalai), 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp chaat masala, 2 tsp lemon juice, salt to taste and 1/2 cup water in a mixer and grind to a smooth paste.
Serve with chaats!

Pirandai Thogayal

Ingredients:

Tempering:
Urad dal = 4spoon
Red chillies = 2 no’s
Pirandai = 8 to 10 pieces
Oil = one spoon

Grinding:
Red Chillies = 2 no’s
Pirandai =8 to 10 pieces
Green chillies=4 no’s
Curry leaves = 10 strings
Tamarind =1 spoon
Salt= ½ spoon
Coconut(grated)=2 spoons

Seasoning: Mustard=1/2 spoon Oil=1 spoon

Preparation:

1) First start by taking a pan and adding oil to it. Let oil to get heated a little.
2) After it is hot add Urad dal ,red chillies and pirandai to the oil. Let it roast until it is golden brown.
3) After that take a grinder and put these fried ingredients inside it first. Then, add the green chillies, curry leaves, tamarind and salt to it.
4) Grind it by adding only a drop of water .After it is thick transfer it into a bowl.
5) Now ,for seasoning take a pan and add oil to it let it for a while for it to become warm. Then, add mustard to it leave the mustard in low flame until it turns brownish black.
6) Add the seasoning to the bowl and mix it thoroughly.
7) Now, it is ready to be served with rice and dosa.

Green Tomato Thogayal

Ingredients:

Green tomatoes - 4
Red/Green chillies (your choice) - 2-3
Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Salt - As required
Oil - As required

Preparation:

Finely dice the green tomatoes and the chillies.
Saute them in 1 tbps oil until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
Keep them aside for cooling.
In the kadai, add 1/2 tbsp oil and heat.
Add urad dal and fry until golden brown.
After cooling, grind the urad dal into coarse powder and add the tomato-chill mixture, then grind together until it reaches the desired consistency.
Add water if required (while grinding).