Spring Onion Tomato Dal

This is one of my favourite. I never forget to get spring onions when I go for grocery shopping. Here is the recipe for it.

Ingredients:

Spring Onions chopped - 1 cup
Tomato - 1 medium
Turmeric - a pinch
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Red chilli powder - 1 table spoon or
Green chillies - 2
Jeera(Cumin Seeds) - 1 table spoon
Tamarind/Tamarind paste - small piece for sour taste or 1/2 table spoon (Optional)
Garlic cloves chopped - 2 (Optional)
Oil for tadka
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

1. Cook dal in your way after adding a pinch of turmeric and cumin seeds, tamarind piece (optional) and tomato also.
2. Take a vessel, add oil to it. After oil is heated add garlic (optional), green chillies. Then add the chopped and cleaned spring onions to it.
3. Let the spring onions be lightly fried. If we add dal before the spring onions are fried, the raw smell remains intact and does not go away. After the spring onions are fried, add the dal.
4. Then add salt, red chilli powder (if needed), stir it. After it is mixed thoroughly , your dal is ready to serve and eat.

Happy Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays to all....... Hope you will all have a blast.

Coconut Chutney

This is a simple recipe which can be made instantly but still tastes delicious. Ofcourse, the hardest part will be to cut coconut into pieces. I use the frozen ones sometimes to avoid that pain.

Ingredients
Coconut pieces (scraped or small pieces)
Green chillies
red chillies (optional)
Tamarind - little to get the sour taste
urad dal
Oil
Salt to taste

For garnishing:
Kothimeeru - Coriander leaves
Tadka (Oil heated and then add mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves)

Method of preparation

1. Make the coconut pieces ready by either scraping the coconut or by cutting the coconut into small pieces.

2. Do the tadka now, by heating oil in a small bowl and add mustard seeds. After mustard seeds splutter, add Jeera, urad dal, red chillies, and tamarind also and switch off the stove.

3. Grind the coconut, green chillies, salt and half of the tadka(add all the tamarind in the tadka while grinding). If needed add water in between.

4. Take the coarsely grinded paste into a bowl, then garnish with remaining tadka and chopped coriander leaves. Your coconut chutney is ready.

This tastes good with all the south indian tiffins or with rice.

Tamarind chaaru or pachi chaaru

This is one of the simple and easy to make dish. This item goes good with any dal & rice, or with papukaya(with any curry).



Ingredients
Tamarind - Lemon size
Onions - chopped into small pieces
Green chillies - chopped into small pieces
Cilantro (Coriander)
Salt to taste

Tadka:
Oil
Mustard Seeds
sesame seeds
Curry leaves (Optional)
Asafoetida (Optional)

Method of preparation
1. Soak tamarind for 1/2 hour or you can microwave for 1 minute and remove the pulp. Add enough water. Remember it might become too soar if you make it thick. So add enough water.

2. Add chopped onions, green chillies and salt to the above.

3. Now take a small vessel/bowl for tadka. Add oil and let it heat. Now add mustard seeds and let it splutter. add sesame seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida. switch off and add the tadka to the chaaru made on step 2.

Your chaaru is ready.

Terminology:
Tadka - Popu, talimpu, ponee(Telugu)
Coriander - Kothimeeru (Telugu)
Curry leaves - Karivepaaku (Telugu)
Tamarind - Chinthapandu (Telugu)

Recipes from my village ...

Gummadikaya Barada (can make it with Dosakaya also):
Update: The recipe of this curry is at following location:
http://myindiancooking.blogspot.com/2010/12/gummadikaya-barada.html







Muddakura
The recipe is at following location:
http://myindiancooking.blogspot.com/2009/03/muddakura.html


Pachi chaaru or chintapandu chaaru
Update: This recipe is at the following url:
http://myindiancooking.blogspot.com/2008/09/chinthapandutamarind-chaaru-or-pachi.html

Brinjal/Eggplant Bhaji

I dont know what others call, but at our place because of influence of Maharastra we call it as Vankaya Bhaji. Following is hte recipe. Previously I published recipe by heating it in a kadai. This time I tried it with the burning on stove. The taste of original is marvelous. Nothing can beat it. So here is the recipe

Ingredients
American eggplant or any fat eggplant
oil
Onions chopped
Green chillies
Salt to taste
Tomato chopped - Optional
Tadka (oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal and red chillies)

Method of preparation
1. Apply oil to the brinjal and let it be on the stove. As the skin turns different color, slowly move the brinjal to other side. Do this until the whole brinjal skin turns different and it becomes soft.

2. Remove the skin of the brinjal and take out the gujju (inside part) in a bowl or serving dish.

3. Add chopped onions, tomatos green chillies and salt to taste.

4. Add tadka on top and mix all the above.


Terminology

Vankaya - Eggplant, Brinjal