Kandi Podi - an essential condiment in a typical Andhra thali

Thalis (meal plates) are such a good way to give you samples of what a cuisine can be. You may like some and you may not like some but you get introduced to the breadth of that meal through the Thali. Thali is a plate, in restaurant lingo, it is a plate of assorted items making up the motif of the meal. If you visit Indian restaurants you would have atleast seen a South Indian thali and a North Indian thali in the most generic places while you may have had regional thalis in specialized places. I think it is a good way to get introduced to a hitherto unknown cuisine (safety net) since if it is any good you are bound to enjoy some of the items on the menu while also familiarizing yourself with others in small quantities so you can avoid them in the future :-).

So let me focus on the Andhra thali for today, now that would be misleading as I am not going to be talking about the thali itself rather one specific condiment that seems to light up many a face when you say the name and is usually kept in a vessel on the dining table outside of the thali.  So why did I do that long drawn description about thalis you may ask, ah let me say that was a warm up or prelude. If you have visited my blog a few times or have read 'About me', you probably know that I am born into a Kannada speaking family from Karnataka and married a Telugu guy with roots from east Godavari in Andhra. I had no exposure to Andhra culture, language, heritage or cuisine before I got married. How different are they, you may wonder being neighboring states and people from both places migrating all the time. Well, it is very different, at the same time very similar. Like everywhere else, human values, struggles, emotions are all same but the way they are expressed differs.

Before I got married, I didn't know much about Andhra including where it was on the map which is not surprising as I was not a Geography enthusiast in school. Given my messed up sense of direction I can never get maps right, 'turn left in 0.5 miles, go straight for 2 miles' is the kind of gadget I like :-), I didn't have any friends from Andhra in school or college so obviously I knew nothing of the language either. Amma gave me idli & chutney the first time I went home and then it was a rice, pappu & pachadi lunch the next time both of which I liked although I was hoping she would treat me to some really spicy pickles :-), didn't happen until later.

After all the wedding excitement, we all went to a restaurant in Bengaluru called Nagarjuna which served good Andhra food according to my new parents. It was lunch and they served thali meals. A humongous plate with a number of small cups carrying different colored  food came in but what was interesting for me was the fancy caddy with multiple containers kept in the center of the table. As I opened each of them, I found avakkai, gongura, red colored powders, oil, salt etc in the caddy. Amma pointed to one of the powders and said it was Kandi Podi and asked me to try it. I mixed it with rice and as directed put some oil and took a mouthful. While I saw the eagerness on my new family's faces as to whether I would like it or not, I really didn't like it much. For one it was way more garlicky than I could handle back then and secondly as I was used to the complex layers of taste of chutney pudi, I didn't relish this powder as much. I guess amma saw the disappointment on my face.

Later she prepared kandi podi at home, skipped garlic completely and I had it with rice, I was blown away. Amma usually serves it with a tamarind based tangy gravy such as pulusu or a fire roasted eggplant curry. I realized that the restaurant podi had a lot of fried gram (chutney dal) which is usually a time saver for them but totally altered the taste. Kandi podi  is very simple taste compared to chutney pudi, no tamarind or coconut or curry leaves. But the simple mixture of dals is both elegant and delicious. Over the years, I have eaten many different Kandi Podis at various relatives' places and they vary slightly, proportions of dals, addition of garlic etc but here is the recipe as taught to me by my MIL as taught to her by her MIL :-). Infact in all these years, I had never made it myself as I would always delegate it to amma whenever she is here. BH loves to eat it with hot rice and usually she makes smaller quantities and it gets over in a couple of days. As her tolerance for spice is going down, she makes it with extra doses of red chilies for the son because he enjoys it spicy hot. Then since I wanted to post this recipe on the blog, I made a call to the source and made sure I had noted the right proportions for the ingredients and I am glad it turned out just like my MILs which she says is just like her MILs. Here is how we make the special Andhra kandi podi at home.

What do you need to make kandi podi? 
1 cup Toor dal/kandi pappu/togari bele
1/2 cup Moong dal/pesara pappu/hesau bele
1/4 cup Chana dal/senaga pappu/kadle bele
1/8 cup Urad dal/minapa pappu/uddina bele
8-10 dry red chilies (per taste)
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp cumin seeds

How do you make Kandi Podi? 

• Heat a thick bottom pan on medium heat until it is warm to touch. 
• Add the toor dal and roast it until it turns dry and very light pink. 
• Add the moong dal and continue to fry until it develops a slight color.
• Add the chana dal and repeat the process. 
• Finally add the urad dal and roast until all the dals are golden brown. 
• Keep stirring constantly the entire time and do not let any of the dals burn or turn dark in color. 
• Add the dry red chilies and fry for 2 minutes, add cumin seeds and fry for 30 seconds. 
• Pour all the ingredients into a wide plate and let them cool. 
• Add salt to the hot pan, roast it for 10-15 seconds and put it on the plate with other ingredients. 
• Once cool, blend it into a fine powder. 
• Mix it with steamed hot rice (traditionally white sona masoori rice) and a dollop of ghee (or oil if you are watching that waist line)

Notes: 

• We usually mix spicy red chilies (such as Guntur variety) with the bright colored ones (such as Byadagi variety) to get the optimum heat and color. 
• Amma says salt needs to be roasted too in this recipe and I follow that. I think the practice may have originated when people used rock salt and sometimes it would be wet or sticky and the frying helped make it crisper. 
• The order of dals in the frying process ensures that each type of dal gets the right amount of frying time it needs, follow the sequence. 
• One of BH's atta (aunt) keeps the fried ingredients in an airtight container in the refrigerator and powders little quantities as needed so it is totally fresh. 
• I believe I made amma stop using garlic in this powder, if you like the flavor add a clove or two for this proportion. I have heard that people add raw or roasted garlic but I am not an authority on the subject so I will let you figure it out for yourself. 

Tomato-mint chutney - A spicy relish

Chutney's are like a beautiful piece of jewelry or a pretty dress, they are decorations, embellishments to enhance a meal. Growing up, my chutney experience was limited but married into a Telugu family where chutneys or pachadis as they are called is a norm at every meal, I have broadened my horizon with chutneys. A traditional Andhra home meal is not complete without a chutney/pachadi. Some day, I will blog about thalis at home when I can get to such a well prepared fare :-) but until then it will be in bits and pieces.

Chutneys are two types - one you mix with rice which is slightly dry and spicy and the other you use as a dip or side dish with dose, idli, roti etc which is slightly runny in consistency. We had a stone grinder at home in Mysore and it was my favorite kitchen work to make chutneys in it, the fringe benefit was that I could keep tasting the chutney as I ground the ingredients. But the tasting was only allowed with nammamma's permission and was completely taboo on certain days:-), so I had to be sneaky. The best part of the chutney grinding in a stone grinder was if the rice was ready, amma would give me a couple spoons of rice to put into the grinder, scrape the chutney off, mix it with rice and take it onto a plate to slowly enjoy the fresh, spicy chutney anna(rice), Ah... that is a visit to heaven right there.

Today's chutney is an evolved recipe and is mainly an accompaniment to dose or idli. We love mint flavor at home and I make the popular pudina/mint chutney very often with coconut. I wanted to try something without coconut and also recreate a tomato chutney I had had at a restaurant. Resulting chutney is delicious, spicy and goes well with a variety of dishes. This has now become a family favorite.

What do you need to make tomato-mint chutney? 
3 medium sized tomatoes (use fleshy variety of tomato) chopped roughly
1 cup packed picked mint leaves
1 Tblsp chopped onions
Small piece of tamarind or 1/2 Tsp tamarind paste (see notes)
1 Tsp chana dal/kadle bele
3-4 black pepper corns
2-3 green chilies - slit lengthwise
1/2 Tsp crushed jaggery/brown sugar
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tsp cooking oil

How do you make tomato-mint chutney?

• Heat oil in a pan, add chana dal, pepper corns and green chilies. Fry for a minute until chana dal roasts and turns light pink. 
• Add chopped onions and fry for a minute until it turns pink.

• Add the mint leaves and give it a stir.

• Add the chopped tomatoes and continue to fry until tomatoes turn mushy and the leaves wilt completely - additional 3-5 minutes depending on the heat. 

• Switch off the stove, add salt, jaggery and let the mixture cool completely. 
• Take everything to your grinder/mixer and blend it to a smooth mixture. You will not need any water for this as tomato blends well. This chutney does not have a bright red color as tomato mixes with green mint.

• Enjoy the spicy chutney with a hint of sweetness and loaded with mint flavor. We had ours with the water melon rind dose. 

Notes: 

• Wait for the mixture to cool completely, if you grind when hot or warm, the taste changes. 
• Adjust the chilies and black pepper to your taste, I like it more peppery than the chili heat. I added a piece of dry red chilies also this time.
• You do not need tamarind if the tomatoes are sour, so adjust accordingly. 
• Whenever using green chilies in frying, make sure you have cut it open (a slit or a chop), else you will have them popping over the place.  

Gongura Pachadi - chutney with gongura(Sorrel leaves)

As I said before, my pachadi recipes other than a few (coconut chutney, heerekayi sippe chutney) are all from Amma's kitchen. I tasted gongura pachadi for the first time after I got married. It was a love with first bite :-).

For the uninitiated, gongura or sorrel leaves are green leaves with a tart taste, I have mainly seen the red stemmed versions of this leaf here but I hear there is a green stemmed variety also. Due to its inherent tart taste, these leaves impart a distinct flavor and go very well in recipes for chutneys and dals.

One of BH's atta's is an expert cook and her pachadis(chutneys/relishes) are very tasty, she follows a very traditional way of making the chutneys by hand grinding or pounding the ingredients in a big stone grinder (think much bigger version of mortar and pestle). It is also made with lot of oil for taste and for preserving. Typically this chutney is high on the spices loaded with hot red chilies and is mixed with hot rice and butter (according to my FIL) and eaten. This is a family favorite and like any chutney recipe, has its variations made to suit family's taste buds.

If you are in US, you can get these leaves in Indian groceries, farmers markets and Chinese stores.  It typically starts to show up in mid to late Spring. 

Here is a very low fat version of the yummy gongura pachadi.

What do you need to make Gongura Pachadi?
3 packed cups of gongura leaves (picked from the stems)
3 Tsp fenugreek seeds/methi seeds
2 Tsp white sesame seeds (optional but greatly recommended for flavor)
8-10 dry red chilies (I used only the milder Byadagi variety, if using spicier chilies like the Guntur variety, ease the number down)
1 Tsp cooking oil
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tbslp water for grinding

How do you make Gongura Pachadi? 

• Wash gongura leaves in water, drain them and pat them dry. 
• Heat a heavy bottom pan on medium heat and fry methi seeds until they turn light brown and start to pop. Keep them aside.
• Dry fry the chilies for 2-3 minutes until they crisp up and you see tiny brown spots on their skins. Keep aside.
• Dry fry the sesame seeds until they pop and keep aside. 
• Add oil and drop the cleaned gongura leaves into the pan, fry until the leaves wilt completely and become a single mass (4-5 minutes). 

• Take the red chilies, salt, methi seeds and half of the fried sesame seeds to your blender/grinder, make a dry powder. 
• Add the gongura leaves and blend them together adding water only as needed.
• Add the remaining toasted sesame seeds and give it a whirl in your blender. 

 

• Here is how we relished it - mixed it with hot cooked quinoa, a couple of drops oil and chopped onions with a side of Majjige huli. A bowlful of pachadi vanished in a single meal. 

Notes: 

• You need to balance the tartness of the leaves with a good proportion of red chilies and methi seeds, so the pachadi doesn't turn out primarily sour. 
• Slow toast methi seeds until it turns light brown and red chilies become crisp for enhanced flavor, don't rush through the toasting process. 
• I like the nutty flavor from the sesame seeds, keep a little portion to the last blend/grind cycle to have a few un-powdered seeds in the pachadi. 

Tips: 

• As amma knows my love for spicy food, she fries a couple of red chilies in a Tsp pf oil and pours it on top of the chutney so I can break them and mix it in for the extra punch. If you have people with different levels of spice tolerance, go mild on the chilies while making pachadi but use this trick to please that one person :-)

Creamy Rajma(Kidney beans) Masala sans cream

Like any other vegetarian kitchen, my source of protein comes from legumes - all sorts of dal, pulses, beans etc. Although my South Indian recipes mainly use Toor or Moong dal, I replace Toor with Masoor dal sometimes. Any meal is incomplete with some form of lentil in it.

Rajma or red kidney beans gravy is a very popular side dish in Northern India, the beans inherently are creamy and lend a rich taste cooked in tomato gravy. I prepare my Rajma masala in a very simple manner. Once when I had made a potfull of Rajma masala for a potluck lunch at work, a collegue from the North commented 'Kya yaar, daawat vali Rajma bana diya' meaning 'you made a Rajma fit for festive occasions'. Coming from J, who was used to eating Dal-chawal (Rajma-Rice) on a frequent basis, I consider that a certificate of accomplishment :-) and hence have stuck to my simple recipe.

You can use canned kidney beans for this recipe by all means to save on time but I prefer my old fashioned way of soaking the dry beans over night and cooking them in pressure cooker. My brother would wince at this but it is my way of controlling the sodium and other preservatives that are part of the canned mode. Although, Rajma-rice are synonymous, the gravy goes very well with any kind of roti (tawa roasted) or naan (Indian bread made in the oven).

What do you need to make Rajma masala? 
2 cups of dry Rajma beans (or use 2 can of kidney beans)
1/2 medium sized onion - chopped fine
1 Tsp garam masala powder
1/2 Tsp amchoor (dry mango powder)
1 Tsp red chili powder
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tsp cumin seeds
2 Tsp cooking oil
1 cup milk (I used 2%) - there is no cream involved in this recipe
2 Tblsp chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
water

For masala paste: 
2 medium sized ripe tomatoes
1/4 of a medium sized onion
1 inch piece ginger
3-4 black pepper corns
1 inch piece cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom (badi elaichi)
1 small piece of Tej patta or pulav leaf
2 dry red chilies broken into pieces

How do you make Rajma masala?

• Cut tomatoes in quarters, put them in a pan along with the 1/4 onion and blanch them until tomatoes peel. See notes for blanching instructions
• Dry roast the remaining ingredients except for ginger under masala paste until a nice aroma fills your kitchen (3-4 minutes on medium heat), switch off and let it cool. 
• If using dry beans, soak them in 4 times water overnight, rinse and drain in the morning. Bring them to your pressure cooker with 4 cups of water and cook until very tender. 
• If using canned kidney beans, drain the juice, wash thoroughly in atleast 2 changes of water and keep ready. 
• Peel off the skin from tomatoes, take all the masala ingredients to your blender/mixer, add 2 spoons of the cooked Rajma beans and grind it to a smooth paste. 
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan, add cumin seeds, when it toasts add chopped onions and let cook until it turns soft and pink.

• Mix in cooked beans, ground masala paste, salt, dry powders and let it all come to a boil. Taste and adjust dry 
• Add milk and continue to boil for 5 minutes. 
• Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve it with rice or roti. 

Notes: 

• Blanching: I put the tomatoes and onion in a microwave safe bowl, cover it with water and microwave on high for 4-5 minutes. You can get the same results by immersing tomatoes and onions in boiling water and stove top, boil for 2 minutes and switch off. 
• Rajma should be cooked very tender to get the creamy consistency, just stop short of it being mushy. Use pressure cooker for best results and save on time.
• Add garlic to the masala if you like garlic flavor. 
• Use just the prescribed quantity of Tej patta and black cardamom as they tend to overpower other ingredients. 

Tomato Pachadi - Yogurt based side dish

This weekend, weather was beautiful and we started our small summer garden. BH was very motivated by the Sun shining in the sky and started the yard work. We have a few small plants that are starting and some seeds that need to sprout. Taught Flora her boundaries so she won't jump over the seedlings. She was happy to be out too and the whole time was jumping, licking our faces and trying to smell every single tool and seed packet we had, she is one curious dog.

Two summers before, we had a bounty of vegetables including tomatoes which I had to freeze in bags after distributing to friends. I didn't buy any until the next February or so. Then last summer, we planted a toned down summer garden as we were getting ready to relocate and asked friends to tend to the plants and pick the vegetables until end of Summer after we left. It is already another year and we are looking forward to growing our backyard veggies once again in the new place. Due to the unfamiliar weather pattern and soil, we decided to take it slowly.

While I am waiting for my own harvest of vegetables, I brought home a whole bunch of fresh looking, non waxy tomatoes the other day. I love tomatoes for their versatility, there is so much you can do with a good tomato. Chose to do a very simple pachadi - a yogurt based side dish that is both slightly sweet and spicy. It goes very well with rice or rotis or idli/dose. It is a very good addition to meals for the Summer months. Though it is called pachadi, it doesn't require any grinding/blending of ingredients, this one comes from Amma's kitchen.

What do you need for Tomato pachadi?
3 firm, ripe tomatoes
1 Tblsp chopped onions
1 cup fresh yogurt
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp coriander powder
1 Tsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp cumin seeds
1 red chili broken into 2
2-3 twigs of fresh cilantro chopped fine
1/2 Tsp crushed jaggery or brown sugar

How do you make Tomato pachadi? 

• Chop tomatoes into bite size pieces
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard and cumin seeds, let them crackle.
• Add the red chili pieces followed by chopped onion.
• When onion turns slightly pink and soft, add tomatoes, salt, jaggery/brown sugar, cover and cook for 5 minutes

• When tomatoes turn soft and mushy, add the coriander powder, fry for a minute and switch off.

• Let it cool completely before adding smoothly whisked yogurt and chopped cilantro.

• Tomato pachadi is ready to be served with your meal. 

Variation: 

• You can add 1/2 Tsp red chili powder for spice.
• Skip jaggery/brown sugar if you do not like it. 

Tips: 

• Use fresh yogurt that has not turned sour.

Mango Tokku or Mango relish

Now that we are officially into Spring, I get green mangoes every week from my local Indian grocery store and we have been having a parade of dishes featuring these beauties. The green mangoes we get are not as tart as the ones I have seen in India but they are much bigger.

Tokku is a close relative of the more popular pickle. Though mango pickles of all forms of shape hit the market in their pretty bottles many years ago, tokku took time before it was bottlized (is that even a word :-)) but we grew up licking tokku on the side with curd rice.  The taste comes from the right(what you like) combination of tart mango, red chili powder, salt and the flavor from fenugreek and mustard. Tokku typically has very few ingredients, end product is a concentrate meant to be used conservatively.

I made this a week back and as I am writing this post, BH is looking over my shoulder and saying 'When did you make tokku?', he is the one who licked that bowl clean and I know it is a masked request for 'make it again' :-)

What do you need to make Mango Tokku? 
1 big firm green mango (see note below)
1 Tblsp red chili powder
2 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tsp methi/fenugreek seeds
1/4 Tsp mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 Tsp turmeric powder

Seasoning/vaggarane: 
1 Tsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
3-4 curry leaves

How do you make Mango Tokku?

• Wash, peel and grate the mango.
• Heat a heavy bottom pan, dry roast the fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds on medium heat until they start to pop.

• Take them aside, let it cool, powder it in a coffee grinder or mortar & pestle.
• Heat oil in the pan, add the mango gratings, turmeric powder, salt and cook it covered for 5 minutes. 
• When the mango softens up, add red chili powder, asafoetida and continue to cook uncovered.

• The ingredients in the pan come together getting a pulpy consistency, leaving oil on the sides, takes about 20-25 minutes. Keep mixing frequently and take care not to burn it from bottom.
• When oil starts to ooze from the sides, add the fenugreek powder, mix well and switch off. 

• Make vaggarane by heating oil, adding mustard and curry leaves. Once mustard crackles, switch off, pour it over the thokku, mix well. 
• Let the tokku cool completely before storing in a dry jar. 
• It will stay fresh for upto a week in the refrigerator and about 3 days outside.
• This tokku will brighten up your chapathis, bread toasts, idli or dosa any time of the day.

Notes: 

• When I say big mango, I am thinking the ones we get here in US which is about the same size as the omelet mango you get back in India. The gratings should be 2 tightly packed cups. 
• Adding vaggarane/seasoning is completely optional but enhances the flavor.
• I add asafoetida while cooking the mango as it incorporates well in the tokku. 
• Keep the mustard in the powder about half or less that of fenugreek seeds.

Baked bread koftas - My first ever blog hop

I have always been interested in cooking and learning new recipes. One of the best things to happen after I started blogging is that I actively look for food blogs in the blogosphere in addition to my cook books, magazines, cookery shows and other sources. I chanced on the talented Radhika's Tickling Palates soon after I started blogging and linked a few of my posts to her ongoing monthly events. She has a busy blog with many events and the Blog Hop Wednesday caught my fancy since I saw it. It is such a neat way to know people with similar interests and also learn from each other. I was hesitant to register for blog hops as I was a new bee and didn't have much content on my blog for others to choose from. I gathered courage a couple of weeks back and Radhika very generously paired me up with another blogger for the March blog hop and patiently responded to all my eager questions about the event. So here I am with my first ever blog hop.

When I first visited Jayanthi's Sizzlingveggies blog, I was so impressed by her experimentation in presenting common, known recipes with a twist (of ingredients or way of cooking). Her recipes entice you not only to try them but also think of variations to make it better just like she does. Some of the unusual recipes from her blog like the oats pakora kadhi (book marked for later), a poornam filled puff pastry, pineapple quinoa kesari go on to show the breadth of her experimentation with recipes and making them interesting. I am sure I will visit her blog regularly for updates.

While it was not easy to choose one from my blog hop partner's recipes, I finally zeroed in on the baked bread koftas for 2 reasons - given I am a borderline health freak, I like the idea of baked koftas and it was loaded with the Spinach goodness. Here I go with minor variations of my own to Jayanthi's yummy Baked bread koftas in spinach gravy for the Blog Hop Wednesday.

What do you need to make Baked bread Koftas? 
Kofta ingredients: 
1 cup Bread crumbs (I used store bought plain bread crumbs) or 4 slices of bread
1 cup finely chopped spinach
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 green chili - finely chopped
2-3 sprigs of cilantro - finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger - crushed fine in a mortar & pestle or grated
2 Tblsp of water

Spinach Gravy ingredients:
2 cups packed spinach
1/2 cup yogurt
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 medium onion - cut half the onion into chunks and the other half into fine choppings
1 medium tomato - chopped into bite size pieces
1 Tsp red chili powder
1 Tsp garam masala powder
1 Tsp dhania-jeera (coriander-cumin) powder
1 Tsp cumin seeds
1 inch piece of ginger root - chopped into thin strips
1.5 Tblsp cooking oil

How do you make Baked bread koftas? 
Making koftas: 

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Mix all the kofta ingredients in a bowl.
• Add water little by little to make a firm dough. Use just enough water to bind the ingredients together.
• Pinch off small lime sized balls and arrange them on a baking sheet. I made 12 key lime size koftas (not counting the one that vanished before it ever entered the oven :-))
• Bake for 15 minutes, turn the balls around and bake for another 15 mins until the koftas crisp up from all sides. I timed a total of 30 minutes for koftas in the oven at 375F.

Making gravy: 

• Heat 1 Tblsp oil in a pan, add the ginger, roughly chopped onion and fry for a couple of minutes until onions sweat a little and turn pink.
• Add chopped tomato and fry until it is cooked soft. 
• Add spinach, mix it in and cover and continue to cook for 3 minutes until the leaves wilt completely. 
• Add the dry powders, mix it,  switch off and let it cool. 
• Blend the mixture into a smooth paste and keep it aside. 
• Heat remaining oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and let it sizzle, add the reserved finely chopped onions and fry until they turn soft and light pink. 
• Pour in the ground spinach, add salt, yogurt and bring it to a gentle boil. 
• Keep the gravy warm for serving, add the koftas into the gravy 10 minutes before serving for it to soak up the gravy.
• We had the koftas in gravy with rice. 

Notes & changes I did to the original recipe: 

• I skipped garam masala & red chili powder in the koftas to keep it mild. 
• I skipped garlic in the gravy as I don't use it much.
• I used bread crumbs instead of bread slices since I had the crumbs in pantry.
• I added more spinach into both the koftas and gravy as we like greens. 

The spicy gravy and the mild koftas complemented very well. These yummy koftas in gravy are off to Blog Hop Wednesdays ~ Week 16

Carrot Chutney

I grew up thinking that a chutney has to have coconut in it. Though nammamma made many different chutneys, invariably they all had coconut in it to some extent. It was a coconut chutney where coconut was the prime ingredient or a heerekayi sippe (ridge gourd peel) chutney which had a generous amount of coconut in it, you get the point :-). Coconut not only acted as taste enhancer in these recipes but also provided bulk or volume when you were feeding many people at every meal.

Switch to post marriage scenario, at my in-laws' we got coconuts home on special days like festivals, pooja, after offering it as prasadam, amma makes a sweet with grated coconut and jaggery and the coconut will be gone. I was newly married and working and amma very sweetly would cook for all of us, pack my lunch dabba every single day and my cooking was limited to weekends. I used to wistfully look at the coconut and think of all the other yummy possibilities with it :-). After a little bit, amma realized my fondness for coconut and she would keep aside the coconut for me to use when I got to the kitchen. I introduced my new family to the pleasures of coconut eating while I learnt the concept of making delicious chutneys and pachadis from amma.

Coming back to chutneys, I was opened up to a whole new world by amma. She makes such awesome chutneys with least expected ingredients all the way from vegetables to vegetable peels and nuts and greens and pickles made into chutneys. I learnt a plethora of chutneys from her and started challenging myself to make non-coconut chutneys. I constantly look for variations in chutneys to make meals interesting. You can try my chutney experiments with grapefruit here. Carrot chutney combines the sweetness of lightly cooked carrots with a hint of ginger and tamarind makes it a delicious accompaniment for rice, idli or dosa. It is very easy and quick to put together and makes a week day dinner colorful, healthy and tasty.

What do you need to make Carrot chutney? 
4 firm, fresh good size carrots - washed, peeled and grated to fill 2 cups
2 green chilies, cut into two pieces each
1 dry red chili
1 inch piece of ginger - washed, peeled and grated
1 inch piece of tamarind
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tsp chana dal
6-8 methi/fenugreek seeds
2-3 sticks of cilantro (I use the stem also)
1 Tsp of cooking oil

For Vaggarane/seasoning:
1 Tsp cooking oil
1 pinch of asafoetida powder
1 dry red chili broken into 2 (optional)
1/2 Tsp mustard seeds
2-3 curry leaves (I didn't have it today)

How do you make Carrot Chutney?

• In a wide pan, heat a Tsp of oil.
• Add the chanadal and methi seeds and let it fry for a minute until you get the roasted aroma of methi seeds and the dal turns pink.
• Add grated ginger, chilies and tamarind and mix it in the hot pan.

• Add grated carrot, cilantro, salt and let it cook covered for 5 minutes with one in-between stir. 

• When you see the carrots become soft, switch off and let it cool completely. 

• Once the mixture has cooled, take it to the blender/mixer and grind with a couple of spoons of water as needed to turn your blender. Grind it to a smooth paste.
• Prepare vaggarane - heat oil, add mustard and let it splutter, add asafoetida and curry leaves and switch off. 
• Pour the vaggarane on top of the chutney and give it a mix, serve it with hot rice or dosa or idli. 

Tips: 

• Let the carrot mixture cool completely before you grind it for best taste. 
• Use as little water while grinding as needed just to keep the blender running smoothly.
• Be conservative with chilies in this recipe as carrots do not take the spice very kindly.
• Adding red chilies to seasoning is Amma's trick and is added for a purpose - if you like it spicy, you can break the fried crisp chili into the chutney while eating to make it hot.  

Greens galore - Sabsige soppu (Dill leaves) kootu

While we enjoyed the faux-summer created with the Mango pappu earlier this week at home, reality strikes when you see outside and notice a cloudy sky and the chilly breeze. Yesterday was honestly crazy when mother nature thought of showing all her capabilities within a span of 30 minutes, I saw 5 minutes of rain coming straight down switching to 5 minutes of hard hails followed by the white fluffy snow and within the next 5 minutes, there was the glorious Sun smiling. I was sitting inside my closed car waiting for DD to finish up her sports practice. It was like the weather couldn't make up its mind or asking for help deciding. All the time I was sitting inside the car, I was amazed as much at the fickle changes in the sky as at the tenacity of the kids playing in the rough weather.

So when the weather is cloudy, gloomy and cold, we need something to warm up the system from inside. Kootu is such a comforting recipe for this season especially with the pepper and its super medicinal benefits. When we visited India last summer, dear friend M gave me some home grown (read farm house grown) dried black pepper. The amount she gave me was so huge that it will last me for a long long time, but looking at those fresh, strong smelling pepper corns I decided to take the entire offer (yes, I hoard quality ingredients). It is so flavorful and stood apart from all the store bought pepper corns I have used over the years. Thanks M, I have preserved the packets in the deep freezer and take out only what I need :-) and now I know where to go when the stock needs replenishing.

I generally use the kootu to throw in vegetables so I can get two things done at once but today's kootu is special as I am sending it to Vardhini's monthly event featuring greens. She asked for greens based recipes, I love greens, and here comes the first one. Dill has a strong flavor unlike the mild spinach or amarnath and works well in few specific recipes. I use them in kootu, bassaru (recipe to follow), akki rotti, masala breads so I can taste and smell the distinct Dill flavor. The comforting Sabsige soppu kootu recipe for a cold day is from nammamma's kitchen.

What do you need to make Dill leaves kootu? 
1 cup Toor dal/togari bele
2 packed cups cleaned, chopped Dill leaves
1/2 cup milk (I used skim milk)
3 cups water to cook
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)

Kootu masala: 
1 Tsp chana dal/Kadle bele
1/2 Tsp Urad dal/uddina bele
1 Tsp black pepper corns/menasu
1/2 Tsp cumin seeds/jeerige
1/2 Tsp coriander seeds/kothambari
1 dry red chili
2 Tsp grated coconut -fresh or frozen

How do you make Dill Leaves kootu?

• Wash the toor dal in water and cook it until soft but the dal holds shape, I used my pressure cooker and cooked it for 10 minutes. 
• Dill leaves take longer to cook/wilt than spinach, so cook it in the pressure cooker along with the toor dal.

• Dry roast the masala ingredients except for the coconut on medium heat until your kitchen is surrounded in a heavenly aroma :-), it will take about 5 minutes to fry them till done. 
• Once cool, grind them with coconut to a smooth paste. 
• Add the ground masala to the cooked dal and Dill mixture, salt and milk. 
• Add water to get desired consistency and bring it to a rolling boil. 
• Enjoy the spicy, flavorful kootu with rice, it tastes good as an accompaniment to chapatis, dosa & ildy also. 

Tips: 

• The Dill I get locally are much longer than what I have seen back home in India, I pick the leaves and chop them and discard the long stalks. 
• The kootu should be just a tad bit more watery compared to a curry so it mixes well with the rice and sticks well to rotis or dosa.
• Dal needs to be cooked tender yet holding its shape.  

The Dill leaves kootu goes to Tickling Palates monthly event featuring greens.