Baigan Masala

This is one of my favourite items which I make whenever I have guests coming to surprise their palates. I have several variants of this recipe' but I have standardised on one version which I present in today's post. Among the brinjals I prefer the  small purple one which is fresh and also has a green skirt and pulpy flesh and tender too with minimal seeds.
Ingredients:
10 nos                   Brinjal, small,split into four, lenghwise
1 no                      Onion, larrge, diced
1/2 cup                 Grated coconut
1/2 cup                 Channa dal
1/4 cup                 Urad dal
3/4 cup                 Coriander seeds
15 nos                   Red chillies
2 1/2-3 tsp            Salt
1/2 tsp                  Mustard seeds
1"                         Cinnamon sticks
2 nos                    Bay leaves
3 tsp                     Tamarind paste
1/2 tsp                  Turmeric powder
50 gms                  Oil
8 nos                     Clove
2 tsp                      Poppy seeds
Making the gravy the filling:
In a fry pan drop 3 tsp oil, channa dal, urad dal, red chilli, dhania, cinnamon, clove, poppy seeds bay leaves, salt, turmeric powder and tamarind paste- mix them all together and  in low heat to light brown colour and masala aroma permeating. Cool this mix, add coconut and grind to a fine gravy with half the quantity of diced onion.
Add to the gravy remaining half of the diced onion and mix well. Stuff this masala into the split brinjals and keep rest of the gravy for use in next step. Microwave the stuffed brinjals for 8 minutes.
Heat a pan splutter mustard seeds with urad dal, red chilli and drop the cooked stuffed brinjals, stir slowly for 5 minutes, covering with lid. After it cooks add the rest of the gravy and cook it for 5 more minutes. This dish goes well with rice and chapatis as a delicious side dish.
The ingredients  listed are enough for 6 people.
Total time for preparing this  dainty dish, start to finish is 30-40 minutes

Sweet Dal Obbat/Poli

1 Channa dall                     1 cup

2 Toor dall ----                     1 cup

3 Jaggery                            2 1/2 cup  or 3 cup

4  Cardamom                      8

5  Maida                              4 cups 

6 Salt                                  1/4  spoon

7Termarick powder            1/2 spoon 

8 Oil                                   3spoon 

9Rice  flour                         1cup

Methord,

            Microwave  the two dalls for 3 mins,Then  pressure  cook  the  dall  into  soft ,cool it  then grind  in the mixi  with cardamom in to smooth  paste. Add  the jaggery  and  keep in to the microwave for 3 mins  to remove the moisture. After  it is free from moisture, make it  into lemon size balls  and keep ready which is the filler for the maida dough.

Take  maida  salt  termaric powder  mix  well with  2 1/2  cup of water  and  apply  oil  cover it and keep for  1/2 hour to make it raise and to soften

Then  take a  lemon  size of  dough  and make it in to  small poori   keep the filling as per previous step  and  cover it  and  roll it  like  roti  with the help of rice flour  and cook on a tawa  two side lightly applying  little ghee.

                        

Ribbed Gourd Chutney

I am a votary to the belief that all parts of vegetable is usable and hate to discard unless they are inedible. In a previous post I have described as to how to make use of orange peel to prepare a pickle. Generally we peel off the ribbed gourd and discard the peel. I learned a very good use of this peel to make a very interesting item in the form of a chutney and in today's post I describe how to make this.
Ingredients:
1 cup                           Peel of ribbbed gourd
1/4 cup                        Urad dal
4 nos                           Red chilli
1/4 cup                        Coconut scrapings
1 tsp                            Salt
4 nos                           Red chilli
1/2 tsp                         Asafoetida
1 tsp                            Tamarind paste
2 tsp                            Oil
1/2 tsp                         Mustard seeds
Making of the chutney:
Heat  2 tsp oil in a pan along with all the ingredients except coconut and tamarind paste saute for 2-3 minutes. Allow the contents to cool then grind with coconut and tamarind paste adding 1/4 cup of water. Garnish with crackled mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Ribbed Gourd Poricha Koottu

Only recipe' I can think of this gourd apart from masial and sambar is poricha koottu. It is a delicious item and goes well with rice+pappad.
Ingredients:
1 no                             Ribbed gourd
1/2 cup                        Moong dal
3 tsp                            urad dal
1/2 tsp                         Asafoetida
1.5 tsp                         Salt
2 tsp                            Oil
3 nos                            Red chilli
1/4 cup                         Grated coconut
few                               Curry leaves
1/4 tsp                          Turmeric powder
1 tsp                             Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp                           Pepper 
1/2 tsp                           Mustard seeds
Peel the ribbed gourd and cut into 1/4 " bits. Save the skin for chutney(described in the next post). Pressure cook the cut gourd with moong dal and turmeric powder.
In a fry pan saute urad dal, pepper, cumin seeds, red chillies, asafoetida and grind all these to a gravy consistency.
Now in a cooking vessel crackle mustard seeds with urad dal, red chilli asafoetida in 2 tsp oil. Now pour the cooked gourd-dal mix and add the gravy as per the previous step. Let the contents boil for 5 minutes, garnish with curry leaves. Serve it hot with pappad

Kollu (Horse gram) Rasam

Ingredients
Horse gram - 1 cup
*Toor dhal - 2 tsp
*Dhaniya - 4 tsp
*Pepper - 2 tsp
*Cummin - 1 tsp
*Red Chilli - 4
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind paste - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Dry coconut powder - 1/4 cup
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - for seasoning
Ghee - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - few


Method:
Fry the horse gram in a dry pan for few minutes and pressure cook it. With 1 tsp ghee fry the ingredients (decorated with *) and powder it with coconut and set aside. Reduce 1/2 of cooked horse gram into a paste and add 3 cups of water, asafoetida, turmeric, tamarind paste and salt. Bring it to a boil. Then add the powdered ingredients and add remainder of cooked horse gram. When it starts boiling - season with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add more water if the rasam is too thick.


This rasam is particularly good for losing weight and is a cure for arthritis and knee pains.

Onion Pakoda

Ingredients:
Onions - 2 (large)
Green Chillies - 8
Coriander leaves - as desired
Gram flour - 3 cups
Rice flour - 1.5 cups
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Ghee - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Peanut - 1/4 cup
Cahews - 6 or 7 (optional)
Oil - for frying


Mix all ingredients other than the red highlight without adding any water. Heat oil in a pan. Fry small clumps in oil till it turns light brown. Stain excess oil using paper towel. 


Goes well with sweets like Coconut Poli or Sanza or Carrot Halwa.

Raw Mango Chutney

Now a days raw mango is available round the year and the sour taste is not only desirable for pickles like avakkai but varieties of nice and mouth watering dishes. In this page I describe my favourite mango recipe':
Ingredients:
1 cup                   Raw mango chopped into small bitd
1/2 tsp                 Fenugreek seeds
5 nos.                  Red chillies
1 tsp                    Urad dal
1/4 cup                Grated coconut
1/4 tsp                 Asafoetida
1/2 tsp                 Mustard seeds
2 tsp                    Oil
1/4 tsp                 Turmeric powder


Process:
Lightly saute the fenugreek seeds asafoetida and red chillies. Add this to mango, grated coconut, salt, turmeric powder and grind them all to a coarse paste. Heat a pan, splutter mustard seeds in 2 tsp oil with urad dal and drop the mango-coconut paste into this and blend well.

This is a very delicious chutney. Can be eaten with rice with a dash of ghee. Good for dosas and idlis too.