Pudhina Chutney (South Indian Style)

Clean and remove the stems from 1/2 bunch of pudhina (mint) and wash the leaves thoroughly, at least three times till all dirt washes off. Drain and keep aside to dry on a paper towel.

Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil. Put in 2 tsp of urad dal. When it is golden brown, add 1 whole red chilli (more chillis if you like the chutney hotter) and 2 pinches of hing and stir once quickly. Put in the drained pudhina leaves and saute for a few minutes. Add a marble sized ball of tamarind (and 1 tbsp grated coocnut , if available) and stir once. Take it off the heat and cool it.

Grind it in the mixie to a fine paste with salt to taste and 1/4 cup of water. (Above picture)

This is the basic recipe for most of the vegetable chutneys and thugaiyals. Substitute coriander leaves or curry leaves for 'kothamalli chutney' and 'karuveppilai chutney'. If it is ground to a thick paste, it is called 'thugaiyal' or 'thuvaiyal'. Thuvaiyal is served as side dish for varitey rice and curd rice and can be prepared in a few minutes.

You make it into a chutney by adding water to make it into a thick pouring consistency. You can serve chutneys as a side dish for dosais, idlis, vadai and even rotis. Optionally, you can season chutneys, before serving, with 1/2 tsp of mustard, 1/2 tsp of urad dal and a few curry leaves spluttered in a tsp of hot oil.

Poondu Kuzhambu

Prepare the ingredients:

Peel a pod of garlic. Keep the cloves whole.

Peel a handful of sambar onions. Cut them into two halves breadthwise.

Cut a big tomato into very small pieces.

Squeeze out juice from a half-lemon sized tamarind ball. Add half tsp of turmeric powder to it.

Method:

Heat a tbsp of sesame oil.

Put in half tsp of fenugreek (vendhyam) seeds and hald tsp of mustard seeds.

When they splutter, put in a few curry leaves. Then add the peeled garlic and sambar onions.

Fry them till the onions turn transparent. Now add 1 tsp of chilli powder (you can add 1 tsp of AAchi kuzhambu masala instead. It tastes very good!), 2 tsp coriander powder and stir well. Add the tomato pieces and 2 tsp of salt. Saute well till the tomato pieces are mashed. Oil will separate now. Add the tamarind water and bring it to boil. You can add a few vegetables or vathals at this stage. (If you add vathals, it becomes vathal kuzhambu. Fry manathakkali vathal when you fry curry leaves and proceed with the recipe as above.)

Drumstick and brinjal smell good. You can add raw banana pieces too. If you add ladies finger pieces, saute them in oil separately beforehand (to remove the stickiness) and add at this stage.

When the vegetable is cooked, the raw smell of tamarind would be gone too. Now add a tsp of pepper powder and simmer for a few minutes. You can add a quarter cup of coconut milk with the pepper powder, for a richer taste.

Ragi Dosai

You can use idli batter for making some more dishes out of it.

For Ragi dosai, take 1 cup of ragi flour and 2 tbsp of idli batter. Mix well. Add 1 tsp of jeera, 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1 tsp each of chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves and salt to taste. Add enough water to make a pouring consistency.

(If you don't have idli batter, substitute 1/2 cup of rice flour, 1 tbsp of maida and 1 tbsp of sour curds.)

Make dosas using the method followed for adai.

Idli

If you are grinding in a wet grinder this is the proportion:

Parboiled idli rice: 4 cups and  meals rice 1 cup (soaked for 3 hours separately after washing the rice 2 times)

Urad Dal : 1 cup (Take the dal 2 hours after soaking the rice and methi seeds. Wash 3 times and soak just for 1 hour in 3 cups of water. Don't wash again. Use this water for grinding)

Vendhayam (Methi) seeds (optional): 1 tsp. (soaked for 3 hours in a bowl separately, after washing thrice)

Method:

Drain the urad dal and vendhayam. Save the water for use while grinding. Put in the dal and vendhayam together and start the grinding process. Add the water now and then and grind till it is light fluffy. It should take about 20  minutes to incorporate enough air for soft idlis.

Rest the grinder for 15 minutes. Wash rice thoroughly again. Grind it in the machine adding water and mixing with spatula from the top now and then, till it is of a smooth but slightly grainy consistency. You can add half cup cooked rice or half cup washed aval with the riceat first for softer idlis.

Mix the two pastes together with 1 tablespoons of salt. Wash the grinder with 1 cup of water and add this too. The batter should be of easily pouring consistency slightly thinner than cake batter.

Leave it to ferment which should take 5-7 hours in a warm climate. Keep it in the fridge after it had risen. Stir well before use. Make idlis using the idli moulds and steam for 7-10 minutes.

If you are using a mixer:

For 3 cups of parboiled rice, use 1 cup of urad dal.

Venn Pongal

Take 3/4 cup raw rice and 1/4 cup of split greengram (payathamparuppu). Wash it well. Add 3 cups of water and a tsp of salt (or to taste). Pressurecook it for 10 minutes.



Let it cool. Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a kadai. Put in 1 tsp of crushed pepper and 1 tsp jeera. When it splutters add 1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped into pieces, a few curry leaves and 1 inch piece of coconut chopped into very small pieces (coconut optional). Pour it into the cooked rice and mix well.



Serve hot. Pongal is usually accompanied by medhu vadai , sambar and coconut chutney.