Tomato Chutney

Tomato Chutney is a quick and spicy chutney that goes well with any of the breakfast items like idly, dosa, upma and pongal. This recipe has once again been shared by my friend P when she visited us this weekend.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes - 4 small
• Onion - 1 Big
• Garlic - 1 Pod 
• Chana Daal - 2 Tablespoons
• Mustard - 1 Teaspoon
• Jeera - 1 Teaspoon
• Pepper - 5 to 6
• Red Chillies - 3
• Asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Curry Leaves - 5
• Freshly chopped Coriander 
• Oil - 2 Tablespoons
• Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a wide mouth pan on medium high flame.
2. Add Chanaa Daal, Pepper, Red chillies and chopped garlic. Fry for a minute.
3. Add chopped onions and fry for 2 minutes.
4. Add chopped Tomatoes and fry for about 8 to 10  minutes
5. Add salt and coriander leaves. 
6. Let this mixture cool down and blend it into a fine paste using the blender
7. Tadka: In a small pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves and asafoetida. Add this to the chutney.

Besan Laddu

Besan Laddu is a simple sweet dish that can be prepared very quickly and tastes great. Usually this is made for festivals. I made this for Diwali.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• Gram Flour/Besan - 2 cups
• Sooji/Semolina - 2 Tablespoons
• Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Green Elaichi/Cardamom - 7
• Cashews - 10
• Almonds - 8

Prep:

• Remove the green coat of cardamom and grind it into fine powder with 1 cup of sugar.
• Slice almonds and cashews.

Procedure:

1. Melt butter in a thick bottom pan on medium flame.
2. Add sooji and besan to the pan. Stir the mixture continuously to prevent burning. Fry until the flour turns golden brown. 
3. Once you stop getting the raw smell of besan, remove the pan from the stove.
4. Let this mixture cool until its warm. 
5. Fry cashews and almonds in a tea spoon of butter.
6. Add powdered sugar and fried nuts to the warm mixture of besan and sooji.
7. Mix this to make sure sugar and besan mix thoroughly.
8. Grease both your palms and make ping pong ball size laddu's. Gently roll laddu's using your palms. Once the surface of laddu becomes smooth, place it on a plate and continue making remaining laddu's. With the listed measurement, you can get about 15 laddu's.
9. Let the laddu's cool to room temperature and store in a closed container. Besan laddus remain fresh for 1 month.

Pulihora

Pulihora is a very common South India dish made of rice. I call this a festival dish as there is never a festival in Andhra with out pulihora. Usually I make this dish the way my mom does. Couple of days back one of my friends (P) thought me another version of this dish. Both these variations are equally tasty.

Today being Diwali, I made pulihora inspired from both these variations. It came out pretty good and thought of sharing it in this space! 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Rice - 2 cups
• Tamarind - lemon size ball 
• Salt to taste

 Saute:

• Oil - 3 Tablespoons
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Tablespoon
• Chana Daal - 2 Tablespoons
• Urad Daal - 1 Teaspoon
• Peanuts - 3 Tablespoons
• Green Chillies - 3
• Red Chillies - 3
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
• Asafetida - 1/2 Teaspoon
• Curry leaves - 15 to 20

Pulihora Powder:

• Coriander Seeds - 1 Tablespoon
• Toor Daal - 1 Tablespoon
• Black pepper - 1 Teaspoon
• Sesame seeds - 1 tablespoon

Prep:

1. Soak tamarind in warm water for about 20 minutes.Extract the juice free of seeds and pulp.
2. Dry roast coriander seeds, toor daal, black pepper and sesame seeds. Let cool for 5 minutes and make fine powder.
3. Pressure cook rice in 4 cups of water with a pinch of turmeric and 1 tablespoon of oil. Once cooked, gently mix rice with a spoon or fork to separate grains of rice. Oil helps prevent grains from sticking together.

Procedure:

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan on medium high flame. Add mustard seeds, groundnuts, chana dal, urad dal and green chillies in this order and fry for about a minute or two.
2. Add curry leaves, red chillies, turmeric and Asafetida. 
3. Add tamarind and boil the mixture for 5 to 10 minutes until oil starts oozing out. Boiling groundnuts, chillies and chana dal with tamarind gives a good flavor. 
4. Add the salt and pulihora powder to this mixture. Let cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add this mixture to the pressure cooked rice and give a gentle mix so the rice grains do not break and rice grains are evenly coated with the  tamarind paste. 
6. Serve with papad, chips or vadiyalu/varugulu.

Plantain Curry

Plantain curry can be made in quite few different ways. This week I tried this new recipe which I liked and thought of making this my first post. Its quite simple and tastes good with Rice. Will start adding some pictures later.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 Plantains
• 1/4 cup Chana Daal
• 1/4 Cup Fresh/Frozen Coconut
• 3 - 4 Green Chillies
• Pinch of turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

For Saute: 

• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Oil
• 1 tea spoon Mustard seeds
• 1 tea spoon Cumin seed
• 1 tea spoon urad dal
• pinch of asafoetida

Prep:

1. Soak Chana dal in water for about 30 minutes.
2. Make a paste of coconut, green chillies and salt.
3. Peel and cut plantains into small cubes. Bring 3 cups of water to boil. Add salt, turmeric powder and diced plantains. Let it boil for about 5 minutes. Drain excess water using a colander.

Procedure:

• Take a Wide sautepan, add one and a half table spoons of oil. Cook on medium high flame. Once oil gets heated, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and asafoetida.
• Add  presoaked chana dal and let it fry for about 2 minutes. 
• Add a pinch of turmeric powder and add the plantain cubes. Give them a nice mix and cook for another 3 minutes.
• Add coconut and green chillie paste and mix again.
• Add about half to 1 cup of water and let it cook covered for another 5 to 10 minutes 
• Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve with hot Rice.

Last but not least:

Green unripe plantain is usually low on sugar content than the sugary-sweet banana. When cooked, green plantain it is low in fat, high in fibre and starch. It is very low in cholesterol and salt too. A good source of vitamins A, B6, and C which helps maintain vision, good skin, and build immunity against diseases.