Posts Tagged ‘Dhal’

This is a very tasty and nutritious kuzhambu.

Ingredients

Tamarind – lemon size

Vegetables – 1 cup ( diced)

The vegetables usually used for this kuzhambu are chow-chow,  ash gourd (pooshanikai), parangikai or chakarai pooshinikai, or brinhal cut into small pieces.

Soaked Chenna dhal or peanuts – 1 cup

Salt – 1 tsp

Turmeric pdr – 1/4 tsp

To fry and grind

Urud dhal – 1 tsp

Chenna dhal – 1 tsp

Grated coconut – 1 table spoon

Red chillies – 7-8

Black pepper – 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida(hing or perungayam) – 1/2 tsp

Fry all the above ingredients except coconut and asafoetida  in a pan with 1 tsp of oil, till they are golden brown.

Allow it to cool and make it into  a paste ( neither too coarse nor too smooth) and set aside.

Procedure

-Pressure cook the soaked chenna or peanuts by adding salt.

-Strain the tamarind by adding 2 cup of water.

-Now add the diced vegetable, salt and turmeric powder and cook the vegetables untill they are soft.

-Add the cooked chenna or peanuts , the prepared paste and allow it to froth.

-Season it with mustard and fresh curry leaves. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

It can be served with dosa, idili, pongal as well as hot white rice.

Navarathri is fast approaching and I am sure every one will will offer different variety of sundal to Goddess Lalithadevi on all 9 days. To start with let me tell you how to make kondaikadalai sundal in different ways.

You can use both variety of Kondai kadalai – both white and black.

- Soak the chenna dhal over night or atleast for 8 hours.

- Pressure cook the soaked CHENNA adding the required amount of salt and water . Let two whistles come and simmer it for 5 minutes.

( Say for 1 cup (200 gms) of dhal , 1/2 heap of salt and the chenna should submerge in water) You can also add 1 pinch of turmeric powder to give an appealing color.

-After the pressure cooker releases, drain the excess water and allow it to cool.

- In a pan add 1 table spoon of oil . Add mustard , let it splutter add 4 split green chillies and a red chilly along with fresh curry leaves, and add 1/4 tsp of hing (perungayam) and then add the cooked chenna.

- Season for 5 minutes till the water in the chenna dries up and add 1 table spoon of freshly grated coconut. Season it for another 2 to 3 minutes.

This is the basic procedure for doing the kondaikadalai sundal.

We can also modify this a little bit. The first three steps remains the same. Those who don’t prefer to use much coconut do it this way.

-After draining water from chenna just add 2 tsp of oil to the pan. Add 2 red chillies, 2 green chillies, one teaspoon of grated ginger & add the chenna and season it for 5 minutes. Then add small pieces of coconut amount to 1 tsp. Season for 2 to 3 minutes. Let it cool down little, then add 1/2 tsp of lime juice and garnish it with coriander.

Serves 6 Hands-On Time: 20m Total Time: 1hr 00m

Lentils, kale (borecole), sweet potatoes and canned tomatoes blend to make a hearty soup that’s full of fiber and antioxidant vitamins A and C. Kale adds Vitamin K and, surprisingly, calcium to the mix.

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 4 leeks (white and light green parts), cut into 1/4-inch-thick half-moons
* 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained
* 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 1 bunch kale, thick stems removed and leaves cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
* 1/2 cup brown lentils
* 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (ajwain or omam)
* Kosher salt (rock salt) and black pepper
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (cheese) (1 ounce; optional)

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Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, breaking them up with a spoon, for 5 minutes.

2. Add 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Stir in the sweet potatoes, kale, lentils, thyme, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Simmer until the lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

3. Spoon into bowls and top with the Parmesan, if using.

* This recipe is the courtesy of Mrs Hema Sridhar, my cousin residing at US.

Ellu (TIL) Chutney,

It is a very healthy chutney. Always eat ellu occasionally. It will increase your weight but it is vary tasty.

Ingredients

White Til (Ellu)seeds – 2 tablespoon
Grated Coconut – ½ cup
Red Chillies – 3 to 4 Nos (depending on the size)
Tamarind – a small gooseberry size
Salt – 1 teaspoon or as per taste

For seasoning
mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
broken urud dhal – 1 tsp
curry leaves – 10 to 15 nos
oil – 1 tsp

Procedure

-Clean the til seeds and fry it in a dry kadai till it pops up. Allow it to cool.
- Grind the fried til, coconut, tamarind , chillies with salt into a fine paste
-Season it with mustard, urud dhal and curry leaves.

TOMATO CHUTNEY

Ingredients

Tomato – 3 Nos
Onion (big one) – 1 Nos
Green chilies – 4 Nos
methi powder
- 1/4 tsp

For seasoning
mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
broken urud dhal – 1 tsp
curry leaves – 10 to 15 nos
oil – 1 tsp

Procedure

-Chop onion , chilies and tomatoes into small pieces. Apply 1 tsp of oil in the kadai and fry them till the onion is softly cooked.

- Allow it to cool and grind it into a paste .

- Season it with mustard, urud dhal , methi powder and curry leaves.

This chutney goes well with chapathi, dosa, idili and poori. You can also use it as a spread for bread toast.

Ingredients

To Grind
Pure grated coconut – 1 cup
Fried gram (pottukadalai) – 1 Table spoon
green chillies – 2 Nos ( If you need little bit hot chutney increase the nos of chillies)

For seasoning
mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
broken urud dhal – 1 tsp
curry leaves – 10 to 15 nos
oil – 1 tsp

Procedure

- Season the mustard seed, urud dhal and the curry with oil.
- Fry the green chillies
- Now grind the coconut, fried gram and green chillies and make into a paste.
- Add the necessary quantity of water to dilute the paste and the seasoned things.
- Add a 1 pinch of perungayam and1/2 tsp lemon juice ( if you like then grind a small piece of tamarind. But adding lemon juice, we will get a new flavour).

Always add the seasoned things at the time of serving to retain the freshness.

You can make small changes to do different kind of chutneys

1 Coriander Chutney

The procedure is same as that of pure coconut chutney. While grinding you have to add finely chopped coriander.

2Pudhina Chutney

The only change you have to make is add pudhina (mint) leaves.

Remove the leaves form the stem. Wash it thoroughly. Apply some oil in the pan and saute the leaves for about 2 minutes.

Grind it with coconut, fried gram and green chilies.

Mint is full of iron . At least try to have it once a week. Seasoning and the other things remain the same.

3 Capsicum Chutney

The procedure is same as that of pudhina chutney. Instead of pudhina use capsicum.
Cut into small pieces and fry them in the kadai. You need not fry for a longer period. Just 2 minutes of cooking will do.

Kootu by its name says, combine together.  So kootu is a healthy South Indian side dish which is  a combination of vegetables, dhal and spices.

Let me begin with simple milagu or pepper kootu

MILAGU (PEPPER) KOOTU

Ingredients

> To fry and grind

Pepper – 1/2 tsp
Chena Dhal  - 1 tsp
Urud dhal – 1/2 tsp
Dhaniya – 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies – 4 nos (to taste)
Grated Coconut – 2 tbl spoons
Jeera – 1 pinch

> To cook

Preferred vegetable – 2 cups
Mung dhal – 1/2 cup
Salt – 3/4 tsp (to taste)
The vegetables usually used for milagu kootu are Chow Chow, Snake gourd( pudalangai), cabbage, brinjal, cucumber , double beans(Avaraikai), curry beans.

Procedure 


-Pressure cook the desired vegetable along with mung dhal  , salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.
-Add a tsp of oil to the pan and fry the ingredients (except coconut & jeera) given for frying till they are golden brown.
-Grind the fried ingredients along with coconut and jeera into a paste by adding little water.
- Add this paste to the cooked dhal-vegetable mix and allow it to boil for 2minutes.
- Switch off the stove and add a pinch of asafoetida .  Season it with mustard, broken urud dhal and fresh curry leaves.
You can also add fresh finely chopped coriander. This is optional.

This is another variety of vada which involves three types of dhal.

Ingredients

Chenna Dhal}

Thoor Daal } together 1 cup

Urud dhal }

Take all the three dhals in equal quantities to make up 1 cup full ( appx 200 gms)

Red Chillies – 4 Nos

Green Chillies – 4 Nos

Salt – 3/4 tsp

Ginger -1/2 inch

Hing 1/2 tsp

The above mentioned ingredients are meant for grinding and preparing the batter.

Onion – 1/2 cup finely chopped

Curry leaves – 15-20

Croiander – 2 tsp finely chopped

Sonuf – 1/4 tsp (just crush it and add to the batter)

Procedure

-Soak the dhal for about 1 hour.

-Grind it into a coarse batter along with salt, chillies and ginger.

- Mix the finely chopped onion, curry leaves, chopped coriander and crushed sonuf and pinch of baking soda with the batter.

-Heat the oil in the kadai. Take a small ball of batter in your hands. Either you can flatten it in your hands or use a plantain leaf or polythene sheet, drop it into oil and fry till it is golden brown. Depending upon the quantity of the frying oio you can make upto 5-6 vada at a time

-Pierce a knife into one vada to see if it is cooked. If the batter sticks then it needs more cooking.

Serve it hot with chutney and sambar. Even the tomato ketchup is a good combination.

Along with finely chopped onion you can also add finely chopped cabbage and grated potato.

VARUTHU ARACHA KUZHAMBU is one of the delights of Nellai or Thirunelveli.

It can be taken along with raw rice and it is also one of the best side dishes for Ven Pongal.

Ingredients

Tamarind – 1 big lemon size

vegetables – 2 cups

In general we don’t use onion for this kuzhambu. The other vegetables used for this preparation are ash gourd (pooshanikai), parangikai or chakarai pooshinikai, carrot, plantain, ladies finger , colocasia (Sepan Kizhangu) etc.. Sepan Kizhangu has to be pressure cooked. The remaining vegetables can be precooked by adding salt.

To Fry and grind

Thoor Dhal, Chenna Dhal, Urud Dhal – 1 tsp each,Grated Coconut – 4 table spoon

Sesame or ellu – 1 table spoon,Raw rice -1 tsp, Red Chillies – 10 -12 Nos

For seasoning

mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – 10-15 nos
oil – 1 table spoon ( coconut oil is optional)

Procedure

-Stain the tamarind with 2 cups of water.

-Pre- cook the vegetables by adding salt and turmeric powder and when it is half cooked add the tamarind water to it and let it cook.

- In the mean time in a dry kadai first fry the sesame and rice till the fried flavour of sesame comes. Apply 1/2 tbl spoon oil to the pan and fry all the three dhals till they are golden brown along with the red chillies. Also fry the coconut in the same kadai without applying oil till it is golden brown.

-Allow the ingredients to cool and grind them into a smooth paste by adding required amount of water.

- Once all the vegetables are cooked add the paste and a small bit of jaggery. Mix them well and once the mixture starts to froth at sides turn the stove off.

-Season it with mustard seeds and fresh curry leaves with the remaining oil.

A very tasty varuthu aracha kuzhambu is ready. It is wholesome kuzhambu. Its preparation involves dhal and lots of vegetables.

Adding jaggery to any tamarind preparation will enhance its taste.

It is the easiest of all the kuzhambu varieties. There are different varieties of more kuzhambu.

Method I

Ingredients

Thoor dhal or chenna dhal – 1 tsp ( soak it in water for 1/2 an hour)

Jeera – 1 tsp

Dhaniya – 1/2 tsp

Green Chillies – 4 to 5 Nos

Red Chillies – 4 Nos

Methi seeds & split urud dhal -1/4 tsp

Grated coconut – 2 tbl spoon

Fresh butter milk – 2 cups

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Coconut oil – 1tbl spoon

Asafoetida – 1/ 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder -1/4 tsp

Procedure

-Apply 1/2 spoon of coconut oil fry the methi seeds and urad dhal. Once it is golden brown in colour add the red chillies and fry them . Switch of the stove and add the green chillies and just fry it for 30 seconds so that the raw smell vanishes.

-Allow the ingredients to cool and grind it along with the soaked thoor or chenna dhal, jeera, dhaniya, asafoetida and fresh grated coconut into a smooth paste.

-In case you use the vegetables white pumpkin, ladies finger, potato, carrot, green tomato etc will serve well.

- Precook the vegetables with salt. Allow them to cool and then add to the butter milk. Ladies Finger has to be cooked in tamarind water.

-Season the mustard and fresh curry leaves in 1/2 tbl spoon of coconut oil and add to the butter milk.

-Finally add the paste and turmeric powder simmer it on the low flame and when it starts to froth at the sides turn the stove off.

Method II

Even if the butter milk is little short of quantity we can prepare more kuzhambu using the below mentioned method. This is also called irrupuli kuzhambu.

Ingredients

Chenna Dhal – 1 tsp

Methi Seeds – 1 /2 tsp

Red chillies – 8 to10 nos

Tamarind – size of 1 big goose berry

butter milk – 1 cup

Grated coconut – 2 tbl spoon

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Coconut oil – 1tbl spoon

Asafoetida – 1/ 2 tsp

Procedure

-Apply1/2 tbl spoon of oil in the pan and fry the chenna dhal, methi seeds and red chillies till they are golden brown. Allow the ingredients to cool and grind it along with fresh grated coconut and asafoetida into a smooth paste.

- Strain the tamarind with 1 and 1/2 cup of water .

- Precook the vegetables with salt and turmeric powder in the tamarind water . Allow them to cool and then add to the butter milk.

-Season the mustard and fresh curry leaves in 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil and add to the butter milk.

-Finally add the paste to the tamarind- butter milk mixture, simmer it on the low flame and when it starts to froth at the sides turn the stove off.

Method III

This is an readymade mixture of more kuzhambu and it takes few minutes to prepare the kuzhambu once the mix is ready. Shall we name it as bachelor’s more kuzhambu?

Ingredients for preparign the more kuzhambu powder

Thoor Dhal – 1 cup

Chenna Dahl – 1/4 cup

Red Chillies – 1/2 cup

Dhaniya, Mustard, Methiseeds,Raw rice, Poppy seeds (optional), Jeera(raw)each – 1 tbl spoon

Procedure to make the powder

Fry all spices except jeera till thy turn reddish in color.

Allow it to cool. Add jeera and grind into a smooth powder.

Add 3 tsp salt, 2 tsp turmeric powder 2 tsp asafoetida powder and mix well.

Preserve it in an airtight container. It will last for a long time.

Procedure to make kuzhambu

-Add the precooked vegetables , 2 tsp of the above powder, salt to taste to 2 cups of butter milk. Mix it well.

-Season the mustard and fresh curry leaves in 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil and add to the butter milk.

-Simmer it on the low flame and when it starts to froth at the sides turn the stove off.