Moong Dal / Paasiparuppu Sambar (For Idli)

Ingredients:

Moong dal / Paasiparuppu - 1 cup
Small onions - 8
Tomato -2
Green chili - 2
Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon
Oil, Salt - as needed

To be powdered:

Red chili - 3
Corriander seeds - 3 tablespoon
Fenugreek - 1/4 teaspoon

For seasoning:

Oil, Mustard seeds, fenugreek, cumin, red chili - 1, asafoetida, curry leaves

Procedure:

• Add turmeric powder to moongdal; pressure cook.
• Dry roast all the things to be powdered, and make a powder.
• Season the items mentioned, add long sliced onions, green chilli, finely chopped tomato and saute well.
• Add moong dal, powdered items and allow it to boil.
• When it boils well, switch off the stove.

 Note:

Can be taken with rice; but for idli it is a very exclusive combination.

Leant from: Mrs. Padma, my mother

Oil Brinjal gravy / Enney katharikkaay kuzhambu

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 8
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Garlic - 4 cloves
Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon
Thick tamarind pulp - 1/2 cup
Red chili powder - 2 teaspoon
Corriander powder - 3 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Scraped coconut - 3/4 cup
For seasoning: Mustard seed, Urad dal, Fenugreek, Cumin, Curryleaves
Oil - 1/4 cup
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Slit the brinjals at he tip.
• Add 1 teaspoon oil to the pan and season mstard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, cumin and curry leaves.
• Add long sliced onions and garlic; saute well.
• Cut tomato into small pieces, add to the pan and saute well.
• Add the remaining oil to the pan; add brinjals and saute well till they get brown colour.
• Add little water to the tamarind pulp ; add red chili powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder and salt and pour this mixto the pan and cover it.
• Grind coconut and cummin to a nice paste.
• After the brinjals get cooked well, add coconut cumin paste and switch off the stove when it comes to a boil.

. Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, my mother

Paruppu Urundai kuzhambu + Pakkoda

Ingredients:

(For 2 persons)

For making balls:

Toor dal - 3/4 cup
Big onion 1 / small onion - 8
Ginger - a small piece
Garlic - 3 cloves
Green chili - 3
Red chili - 2
Garam masala powder - 1 teaspoon
Coconut scraped - 4 tablespoons
Chopped corriander leaves - as needed
Salt - as needed

For making gravy paste

Sombu / sauf - 1/2 tablespoon
Coconut scraped - 1/2 cup

For gravy - items to be sauted and mixed

Tomoto (big) - 1
Onion big - 1 / small onion - 8
Garlic - 3 cloves
Tamarind pulp - 1/4 cup
Red chili powder - 2 teaspoon
Corriander powder - 4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - as needed

For seasoning

Cinnamon - 3 pieces
Cloves - 2
Sauf - 1/2 tablespoon
Mustard seeds, urad dal - as needed
Curry leaves, corriander leaves - as needed
Oil - as needed
Procedure:

Making Dal Mix for the balls

• Soak the toor dal for almost 3 hours.
• Finely chop an onion, green chillies and 3 garlic cloves.
• Add oil to the frying pan and saute chopped onion, green chili and garlic cloves and fry till it gets golden brown.
• Drain water from dal, and add garam masala powder, chopped ginger, 4 tablespoons of scraped coconut, red chili, salt and grind to a paste.
• Add the sauted items, chopped corriander leaves to the dal mix.
• Make small tight balls to the size of a small laddu.

How to make the gravy

• Add oil to the pan and saute mustard seeds, urad dal, cinnamon, cloves, sauf, curry leaves.
• Add long sliced onion, 3 garlic  cloves and tomato and saute well.
• Add tamarind pulp, turmeric powder, red chili powder, corriander powder and water and allow to boil well.
• When the raw smell goes off, add coconut sauf paste and boil the mixture well.
• When it gets foamy, as seen in the picture, simmer the flame and add the balls one by one and cover the pan with lid.

• After sometime, turn the balls very carefully.
• It will take almost 10 minutes for the balls to get fully cooked. 

• Add oil to the pan and when it gets heated, take small pieces of the remaining mix and deep fry to get pakkoda.

Note:

• Instead of 3/4 cup of toor dal, half the measure of toor dal and half the measure of channa dal / kadalai paruppu can be taken. 
• If the balls are made tightly and turned properly, there is no chance that they will break; however, if you are afraid they will break, you can cook the balls in idli vessel steam and then add to the gravy.

Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, my mother

PARUPPU VADA MORKKUZHAMBU

Ingredients:

Buttermilk - 2 cups
scraped coconut - 1/4 cup
toor dal - 2 tablespoon
Raw rice - 1 tablespoon
Corriander seeds - 2 tablespoon
Ginger - a small cube
green hcilli - 10
red chilli - 3
asafoetida - 1 pinch
Paruppu vada - 7
turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Oil - 2 teaspoon
Salt - as needed
Mustard seeds, Urad dal, fenugreek - for seasoning
Curry leaves - for seasoning
corriander leaves - to garnish


Procedure:

• Soak toordal, raw rice, corriander seeds for almost half an hour.
• Add the soaked items, coconut, ginger, green chilli and grind to a nice paste.
• Add oil to the frying pan, when it is hot season with mustard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, redchilli, curry leaves, asafoetida.
• Add the paste to the pan..add turmeric powder, salt and little water and allow it to boil until the raw smell goes off.
• Add buttermilk and allow it to boil in medium flame.
• Take care while boiling the buttermilk...it has to boil well..at the same time it shouldn't turn curdish..
• When this gravy gets little tightened add the paruppu vadas.
• Switch off the stove after 2 to 3 minutes.
• It will take almost 30 minutes for the vadas to get softer.

Note: The vadas should not be crispy..they should be somewhat thicker..

Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, mother

TOMATO SOUP KUZHAMBU

Name sounds different? Even this soup is different..it is tastier when mixed with rice as kuzhambu rather than taking it as soup..

Ingredients:

Tomato - 3
Onion - 1
Green chilli - 4
Garlic - 5 cloves
Toor dal - 2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
Corriander powder - 1 tablespoon
Roasted channa dal / pottukkadalai - 2 teaspoon
Sauf - 1 teaspoon
Scraped coconut - 3 teaspoon
Cinnamon - 2 pieces
Corriander leaves - to garnish
Salt - as per need
Oil - 1 teaspoon

Procedure:

• Take chopped tomatoes (medium size), sliced onion, split green chillies, sliced garlic, turmeric powder, toor dall in a pressure cooker and add 3 glasses of water.
• Pressure cook for 10 minutes.
• Grind coconut, 1/2 spoon of sauf, roasted channa dal / pottukkadalai, corriander powder into a fine paste.
• Add oil to a frying pan; season with cinnamon and sauf.
• Add the mix from the cooker to the pan and add salt.
• When the mix boils, add the paste; when it boils well and bubbles twice switch off the stove.
• Garnish with corriander leaves.

Note:

If sour taste given by tomato is not enough, add few drops of tamarind pulp.

Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, mother
Tips for enriched taste: Mrs. Bhuvana Sekar, friend

POTATO GREEN CHILLI KURUMA

Ingredients:

Potato - 3
Green chilli - 6
Onion - 2
Tomato - 2
Garlic - 5 cloves
Corrinader seeds - 3 teaspoons
Corriander leaves - one handful
Coconut scraped - 3/4 cup
Butter - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 3 teaspoons
Cinnamon - 4 pieces
Cloves - 3 pieces
Big jeera / sauf - 2 teaspoons
Khasa khasa - 1/2 teaspoon
Curd - 1 teaspoon

Procedure:

• Boil the potatoes and cut into small pieces.
• Fry dhania and slit green chillies. Add this to coconut, khuskhus and sauf and grind to make a paste.
• Add butter and oil to the pan. Season with cinnamon and cloves.
• Add onions, tomatoes, long sliced garlic and saute well.
• Add the ground paste, saute well and add enough water.
• Add potato pieces.
• Saute well till the raw smell gets off, simmer the stove and add curd.
• After two to three minutes, add finely chopped corriander leaves.

Note:

• If you like to add ginger, add it finely chopped.
• While you make the paste 2 or 3 cashew nuts can be used.
• If you need it to be greener, while you make the paste, add corriander leaves too.
• 1/2 spoon of lemon juice can be added instead of curd.

Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, my mother

Tomato Tamarind Kuzhambu / curry

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 3 small / 2 big (Make a paste using the mixie)
Tamarind pulp - pulp taken from tamarind of the size of a small lemon
small onions - 15
Garlic - 10 cloves (each cut into 2 small pieces)
Red chilli Powder - 2 teaspoon
Corriander powder - 3 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - as needed

For seasoning:

Oil (2 or 3 tablespoon) mustard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, hing / asafoetida (kayam), red chilli pieces, curry leaves

Procedure:

Chop tomatoes into small pieces and grind them to make a pulp. Add tamarind pulp, red chilli powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Kee a frying pan on the stove and add oil. When the oil gets medium heat, add mustard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, hing, small onions, garlic and curry leaves and saute till it gets golden brown. Then add tomato and other ingredients and bring it to a boil. It has to boil nicely to take away the raw smell of the tomato pulp.

Learnt from: Shoba, my friend