Peanut Chutney

Ingredients

Half tea cup roasted peanuts (roast them in a kadai in sim, until the outside becomes little black, and the skin comes off easy, eat and see) Can make in microwave - keep the peanuts in the plate. Avoid keeping in the center. Spread around the plate. Keep for 3 minutes without lid. Open, and mix it a bit. then keep for another 3 minutes. It should become brownish outside. Keep for another 1 minutes. Sign of it being roasted is if the skin comes off easily.

1 medium sized onion - cut length wise
Tamarind - one small piece
Red chilli - 1

Recipe

In a small kadai, add 1 tsp oil, add onion, chilli, tamarind and salt, and fry until onion becomes brownish. Let it cool.

First put peanuts in  mixer and make it to a powder - not very smooth. Then add the onion and rest, add little water and mix to a paste.


 

Beetroot poriyal

Ingredients

1 fat beetroot (about 250 gms)
Mustard
Jeera
Channa dal (soaked 10-15 minutes)
Udad dal
Red chilli or chilli powder - 1 (make into 2 pieces)
Salt

Recipe

Prep: grate beetroot and keep aside

In a kadai, add little oil, mustard, jeera, red chilli. Then Channa dal, udad dal. Fry for few minutes. Then add beetroot. And salt. Mix and keep in sim. Close with lid. Occasionally mix, and check to see if soft. (Approx 10-15minutes).

Same recipe can be applied to carrot.

Raw Banana Fry

Ingredients

1 raw banana
Chilli powder - 1 tspn
Dhania powder - 1 and a half tspn
Turmeric - quarter tspn
Salt to taste

Recipe

Prep: Cut banana in thin slices with skin. Put in water. Then peel skin.

In a kadai, take 3 tspns oil. Take bananas out of oil, try to drain out the water, and put in kadai little by little. Mix for 2-3 minutes. Then add dhania, chilli and turmeric. And salt. Mix it so that all the masalas spread evenly. Sprinkle water 2-3 times. Mix, and cover and keep in sim. Keep mixing once a while. Press and see. If soft, keep it open and cook until all water goes. If getting stuck, turn it around. 1 spn oil at the end for it to roast little more. (Approx cooking time about 10-15 minutes).
 

Bottle Gourd (Soraka Poriyal)

Ingredients

Tender bottle gourd - 1 small size
Mustard
Jeera
Channa dal 3,4 tbsps. soaked for 10-15 minutes
Red chilli - 3 broken in half
Curry leaves

Recipe

Prep: Peel the bottle gourd, and cut into small pieces. If tender, can eat with seeds. If not, remove seeds.

Heat 3 tsps. oil in cooker. Add mustard, jeera and red chilli. Then add soaked channa dal without water (squeeze out the water). All in sim. After they crackle, add bottle gourd. Then add turmeric and salt. Mix everything together for 2-3 minutes. Add quarter glass water.

Close the cooker and keep for three whistles in high.

Turn it off and wait for pressure to go. Open and see, if there is too much water, cook without lid until water goes. If gourd is not soft, keep for one more whistle.

Same recipe can be used for ridge gourd (2 whistles).
Pumpkin - same in kadai not cooker. Do not add any water
250 gms Beans - (2 whistles)

Meen Kozhambu

Ingredients

Sambar onions: 10
Tomatoes: 2 medium sized (Make into paste)
Tamarind: Big lime sized
Chilli powder: 1 and a half small tsp
Dhania powder: 2 tsps.
Pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste
Garlic pods: 7-8
Curry leaves: 1 branch
Mustard, Jeera, methi seeds
Fish: cut pieces 5-6

Recipe

Prep: Soak tamarind in hot water for ten minutes. Squeeze out all the juice and keep aside.

Heat oil in kadai, add mustard, jeera, methi. Add onions and garlic together. Fry until brown. Add tomato puree, and curry leaves. Cook until raw smell goes. Add chilli powder, dhania, haldi. Immediately add tamarind juice and about a glass of water (200 ml). Add salt. When it boils on high, make it to sim, close with lid. Let it cook until it thickens sufficiently, and the raw smell goes. (Approx, 15-20 minutes). It should not be very watery.

Add fish. boil for 5 minutes. Then turn the fish, and let it cook for another 5 minutes. If its too watery, let it boil for some more time.

 

Moru kozhambu

Ingredients

Curd - 2 cups
Besan - 4 tspns
Mustard
Jeera
Hing - one pinch
Curry leaves
Green chillies - 2 small or 1 big 
Salt 

Recipe 

In a mixer, blend  for 2-3 minutes1 tspn jeera, 2 green chilli without water. (use big jar). Add 4 tspn besan, 1 cup curd. Blend for 2-3 minutes to mix it. (turn off an on, 2-3 times to blend). Add the second cup of curd also if it all fits into the jar. If it does not, remove existing stuff and just beat the curd separately. Add salt, and 1 cup water to make it watery. Leave the whole thing aside.

In a kadai, heat 1 tspn oil, add mustard, jeera, hing and curry leaves. Keep in sim. Add blended besan curd, turmeric, mix it for 5 minutes, in sim. Taste and check. Keep in high, when it is about to boil, turn it off. (curd should not be allowed to boil).

Take it off the stove.

Alu Methi

Ingredients

4 medium sized potatoes
1 bunch methi
mustard
jeera
chilli powder
turmeric powder
salt
onion - 1

Recipe

Wash potatoes, cut them in halves. Put in cooker and submerge in water. Cook for 4-5 whistles. Poke and check if soft. After it's done, peel them and cut into cubes. Keep aside.

Methi leaves - wash and cut roughly.

Heat some oil in kadai, add mustard, jeera, onions. Cook for around 5 minutes, they should not become very brown. Add potatoes, chilli powder, haldi, methi leaves and salt. Mix well and cover and cook on slow flame. Cook until all the water evaporates. Add few spoons oil to cook well. Approx cooking time - ten minutes.

Siru Keerai

Ingredients

1 bunch of Siru Keerai
2-3 dry red chillies
Mustard
Jeera
Urad Dal - 1 tspn
Channa Dal - 2-3 tspn (Soak for half hour and remove water)

Recipe

Wash and finely cut leaves. Keep it aside.

Heat 2 tspn oil in kadai. Add mustard, jeera, red chillies, urad dal and soaked channa dal without water. Fry all of them a little bit until the dal becomes brown. (Finely cut half an onion - optional).

Add siru keerai and mix. Sprinkle some water (about quarter glass). Add salt. Without cover, cook until water evaporates, and keerai becomes soft. (approx around ten-fifteen mins). Mix once a while. Cook only in sim.

Same recipe can be applied for any type of keerai like - Arai Keerai, Tandu Keerai (red color).

Drumstick Sambar

Ingredients

Toor dal - 150 gms (cook with little turmeric and keep aside)
Tamarind - lemon size - soak in half glass water
Drumsticks: 2
Curry leaves
Corriander
Chilli powder
Dhania powder
Dry red chillies
Sambar powder
Salt
Tomato - 1

Method

In a cooker take 2 tsps of oil. After it heats up, add mustard, jeera, 1 red chilli, cut pieces of drum sticks, tomatoes, curry leaves, 1 tsp chilli powder, 2 tsps dhania powder, 1/4 turmeric powder, and sprinkle little water, cook for 5 minutes.Then add 1 glass water.

Then close lid of cooker (check if water is enough) and cook for 1 whistle. turn off stove. After pressure goes, open the lid, add tamarind juice. Cook for 5 minutes. If water is less, add 1/2 glass water.

Mash the dal, add it to drumstick, add salt, add 3 small tsps of MTR sambar powder. Put some more water, add coriander leaves. Boil for 5 minutes. Add as much water as you want based on how watery you want sambar to be.

Same recipe can be used for Radish, Pumkin. (to cook radish, keep in cooker for 2 whistles, and pumkin - small pieces - 1 whistle).
 

Rasam

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 3 regular sized
Green chilli - 1
Dry Red chilli - 1
Tamarind - Size of 1 big lemon
Curry leaves
Garlic - 5-6 pods
MTR Sambar Powder - 2 tsps
Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Corriander leaves
Mustard
Jeera
Asafoetida (Hing) - pinch

Recipes 

In a bowl add cut tomatoes, green chillies, one teaspoon jeera, half glass water, and boil it for 20 minutes in a low flame. Meanwhile soak tamarind in half glass hot water, for 10 minutes. When tomatoes become soft, mash them a little, and add sambar powder and pepper powder. Also add coriander leaves and salt for taste.

Now, add required water, and tamarind  juice without pulp. In a small kadai put two teaspoons oil. When oil is hot, put mustard, jeera, red chilli, full garlic, and curry leaves and fry for 1 minute. Add this to tamarind water and boil it. When it starts boiling, simmer the flame  and boil it for 5 minutes.

Rasam is ready!

Tomato Dal

Ingredients

Tur Dal - 150 grams
Tomatoes - 4 regular size
Mustard
Jeera
Turmeric powder
Dry red chillies - 2-3
Green chillies - 2
Chopped Garlic - 1 full garlic
Onion - 1 small - finely chopped
Butter - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt

Method

Cook Tur Dal and keep aside. (To cook Dal: 150 grams dal with triple quantity water. 2 whistles in high in cooker. 1 whistle in sim. Trun off and keep aside)

Keep kadai on stove - heat two tspns oil. Add 2-3 red chillies, mustard, jeera, green chillies and curry leaves and chopped garlic - all one by one. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add, little onion. Fry for sometime. Add finely chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder and little salt. Cover it and cook until tomatoes become soft. Stir once a while to check. When done, add butter, chilli powder, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Tomato should become fully soft. Then add mashed dal. And some more salt. Add some water and cook for 5 minutes.

Add as much water as needed for desired consistency. Garnish with coriander leaves.