Groundnut Chutney

This is another type of chutney which is again not low calorie. It uses ground nuts!

What you need to make Groundnut chutney

• Groundnuts - 1 small cup
• Red chillies - 4
• Tamarind - a very small ball
• Coriander - 2-3 strands
• Salt
• Mustard - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation for making Groundnut Chutney

• Dry roast the groundnuts till they turn a little browner than they are. You might also want to get rid of the skin if you like.

Method to make Groundnut Chutney

• Put groundnuts, red chillies, tamarind, coriander and salt into a mixer/grinder and make it into a fine paste.
• Take oil in a pan, add mustard seeds to this and the asafoetida. After the mustard seeds splutter and split, season the ground paste with this.

My fundas

• Some people don't like to season chutneys. This is optional and you dont lose out on much taste if you just put the mustard with the rest of the ingredients while making the paste.

Coconut Chutney (1)

You might be intrigued by the 1 in braces/brackets. Well, honestly whoever knows of one way of making any chutney. Everyone from my grandma to my mom and my grandmom-in-law to mom-in-law have their own tips and tricks to make Chutney. Chutney is the most preferred side dish for any snack in South India. Its easy to make and can kindle your taste buds because each is different from the other. The versatality also ensures that you can make it low calorie by not even putting coconut. (Will give you one such recipe soon). But today its going to be Coconut chutney the way my mom-in-law (aunty to me) makes it.

What you need to make Cocunut Chutney

• Coconut - 1/2
• Red Chillies - 4
• Tamarind - A very small ball
• Coriander - 2-3 strands
• Mustard - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation for making Coconut chutney

• Grate the coconut

Method to make Coconut chutney

• Put grated coconut, red chillies, tamarind and coriander into a mixer/grinder and make it into a fine paste.
• Take oil in a pan, add mustard seeds to this and the asafoetida. After the mustard seeds splutter and split, season the ground paste with this.

My fundas

• Some people don't like to season chutneys. This is optional and you dont lose out on much taste if you just put the mustard with the rest of the ingredients while making the paste.

Pongal

Pongal is a dish with a lot of cultural value behind it. It is made in different ways in different parts of India (the places I know of are South India and West Bengal). In South India the dish has a strong presence and importance. We even have a festival dedicated to this dish. Its called "Makara Sankranthi" or "Pongal".

In most South Indian houses when a girl gets married there is a custom of keeping "Bidadi Mane" literally translates to "Separate House" in the wedding hall. The parents buy all the household appliances for the girl to use when she goes to live with her husband. (This might have been the beginnings of "Nuclear family" cravings in our older generations :)...)This is a tradition in which all the stuff (kitchen appliances, utensils mainly) are displayed for all the folks who attend the marriage to see. In Tamil houses there is a special tradition of giving the veritable "Pongal Patre" meaning a vessel to make Pongal. Its made out of brass and comes along with a brass ladle.

Its versatile in terms of eating time and easy to make.

Pongal was a dish I used to hate till I tasted the Kichdi version of it. One of the best Pongals I have eaten is what my mother-in-law makes. Contrary to south Indian beliefs, she makes it very like Kichdi but with all the spices required to make it taste south Indian. The best part about Pongal is that it doesn't require too many exotic spices. There is a sweet and a non-sweet version of this dish. Here I will give you the recipe to make the non-sweet version of it.

What you need to make Pongal

• Rice - 1 measure
• Moong Dal

(Hesaru bele in Kannada,

Pesarupappu in Telugu,

Paithuparappu in
Tamil)

- 1/2 measure as compared to rice

These are mung beans that have been skinned and split. They are flat and
yellow.

Jeera - 1 tsp

Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Red Chillies - 2

Ghee - 2 tsps (optional)

Mustard - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 10 leaves

Oil - 4 tsp

Water - 4 measures (measure same as what you used for rice and dal)

Salt

Preparation for making Pongal

• Take a heavy bottomed vessel and dry roast the rice till its lukewarm to the touch. Do not overdo this.
• Put the rice in a vessel and allow it to cool.
• In the heavy bottomed vessel put the moong dal and dry roast it till its lukewarm to the touch. Again do not end up burning it.
• Add this also to the vessel with rice and allow to cool.
• After it cools wash this mixture with water and drain out all the water (this step is optional. Its done only to remove some dirt and added colours from rice and dal. Also its done after roasting because logically you cannot "dry" roast it after washing can you?)
• Mash jeera and black pepper to a coarse powder. (Most people dont like it when they get a whole black pepper in their mouth because its too spicy)

Method to make Pongal

• In the heavy bottomed vessel, put the oil. When it is a little hot add the mustard and allow it t splutter.
• Add the mashed jeera and black pepper.
• Immediately add the curry leaves and red chillies.
• Allow all this to fry.
• Now put the rice, dal and the seasoning (done in the above steps) all into a cooker. Add the water, salt and cook.
• Once the cooker cools open it and you will find that the seasoning is all sitting pretty on top. You have to now mix this thoroughly.
• At this point you could add the ghee and mix it in well.

My fundas

• The consistency that I like Pongal in is not too dry but not to watery. Semi solid is best.
• Sometimes it so happens that the water that you added to cook is not enough and Pongal has become too dry. Dont panic because there is a remedy : Take some more water in a vessel and bring it to a boil. Add this water to the Pongal and mix well. Nobody will know the difference :)
• Pongal is eaten with Raitha, Chutney or Tamarind Sauce. I will be giving you the recipe to make chutney in the next post.

Paneer Jeerawala

This is my first very OWN recipe and everyone loved it! I almost wanted to call it Paneer Siriwala but that would be a little too ostentatious. I made it for dinner yesterday to go with chapatis (rotis). It not only comes out tasty but is also a low calorie dish. Even though I have a camera phone now I forgot to take a picture of the dish. Next time I will surely remember to!! The preparation took me half an hour on the whole.

What you need to make Paneer jeerawala

• 100 gms paneer
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 onions
• 2 tsps cumin seeds (jeera)
• Ginger - 1 inch diameter piece
• Garlic - 5-6 pods
• 3 tsp oil
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 3 tsp red chilly powder
• Salt

Preparation for making Paneer jeerawala

• Cut the paneer into small cubes
• Cook the tomatoes using pressure cooker. Else there is a "safer" :) way. just pierce the tomatoes on all 4 sides (I know I know a tomato is round so where is the side you say? Okay just pierce it all around) and put them in a vessel. Add water to the vessel and allow it to boil. The tomatoes should be cooked in ten minutes.
• Remove the skin of the cooked tomatoes and Puree them in a blender.
• Cut the onions into very tiny pieces. Its easier to use a chopper for this.
• Make the ginger and garlic into a fine paste.

Method to make Paneer jeerawala

• Place a heavy bottomed vessel on the flame and add oil. After it heats a little add the cumin seeds and allow it to splutter. It splutters little.
• Now add turmeric to this.
• Put in the ginger and garlic paste and mix.
• Add chopped onions to this, sautee and wait till it turns soft and is well done.
• Add the red chilly powder and mix.
• Now add the tomato puree to this and allow it to boil.
• Put the paneer cubes in and allow it to slowly blend with the gravy while the whole thing simmers.
• Add required amount of salt.

My fundas

• Eat hot with phulkas (chapatis with no oil smeared while making) and they are yummy.
• Paneer takes a while to soak in the flavours of the gravy that its in so what I did was allow it to simmer while I made the chapatis which was another half an hour.