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 !!!

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!!!