Green chili Pickle

Ingredients:

·        Green chili: 1 Kg

·        Dry mango Powder: 10 gram

·        Fennel (Sombu / Saunf): 10 gram

·        White cumin seeds (Seerakam / Jeera): 10 gram

·        Lime (lemon): 8

·        Edible oil: 1 cup

·        Salt: 50 gram

Method of preparation:

·        Get juice from lime (lemon)

·        Wash all chilies.

·        Carefully cut the middle portion of chilies lengthwise without separating.

·        Heat edible oil and add all the ingredients except chilies.

·        Cook under low flame for about ten minutes.

·        This will turn into masala.

·        After cooling, fill some masala in each chili.

·        Put all chilies and left over masala in a glass bottle or jar.

·        This will become very good Green chili Pickle day by day.

Onion Ring

 Ingredients:

·        Onion: 1

·        Gram flour (Kadalai maavu / Besan): 1 cup

·        Buttermilk (Mor / Moru): ½ cup

·        Baking powder: 1 tsp

·        Edible oil: for frying

·        Pepper to taste

·        Salt to taste

 Method of preparation:

·        Peel the onion.

·        Slice horizontally like disks of about ½ centimetre thickness.

·        Separate these disks into rings.

·        Soak the onion rings in buttermilk for about half an hour.

·        Take gram flour, salt, pepper, and baking powder in a bowl and mix well. Add a little water and stir well.

·        Heat oil in a wok (iruppu chatti, vanali, vaanali, kadai, karahi, or kadhai) over medium flame.

·        Take a few onion rings from buttermilk, dip in the batter, put in oil and deep fry them.

·        On frying, remove from wok and drain the excess oil.

·        Repeat for the remaining rings.

Serve hot with any chutney or sauce.

Chettinad Masala Paniyaram

Masala Paniyaram or Masala paniaaram is a tasty snack.

Ingredients:

·        Raw rice - ½ cup

·        Husked black gram / uluntham paruppu / urad dal - ¼ cup

·        Onion - 1/4 cup chopped

·        Curry leaves – a few

·        Green chilies - 7

·        Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

·        Oil - for deep frying

·        Salt - to taste

Method of Preparation:

·        Soak rice and black gram together in water for about 2 hours.

·        Grind it to a vada batter's consistency.

·        In a pan, add 1 tbsp oil and add mustard seeds, chopped onion, green chilies, curry leaves and sauté till the onion is transparent.

·        Now, add this and salt to the batter and mix.

·        By using your hand or with the help of a spoon, put the batter in the form of balls into the oil.

·        Fry them into golden colour and place on a tissue so that the excess oil is absorbed.

·        Serve hot with or without any chutney, or during tea time.

Beetroot fry / Beetroot Poriyal

Ingredients:

·        Beetroot- 250 gm

·        Grated coconut- ¼ cup

·        Fennel seeds- ½ tsp

·        Poppy seeds (Khas khas) - ½ tsp

·        Onion- ¼ cup

·        Garlic -3

·        Sugar- 2 tsp

·        Edible oil- 3 tsp

·        Chili powder-1tsp

·        Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

·        Peel the skin of beetroot and cut it into small cubes.

·        Grind coconut, fennel seeds, and poppy seeds into a fine paste and further add onion and garlic and grind a little.

·        Mix this ground masala with beetroot and add salt.

·        Cook till beetroot becomes soft.

·        Add sugar and oil.

·        Fry till all the masala firmly coat on it.

Serve with cooked rice or chapati.

Vegetable khichdi

 Ingredients:

• Rice – 2 cups
• Carrot – 2
• Beans – 10
• Grated cabbage – 1 cup
• Green gram – 1 cup
• Peas – ½ cup
• Cinnamon – a small piece
• Cloves – 5
• Green chili – 3
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 ½ tsp
• Onions – 3
• Turmeric - A pinch
• Garam masala – 1 tsp
• Edible oil – 1/3 cup
• Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

·        Soak rice and green gram for about an hour.

·        Grate onions, carrots and beans.

·        Add some edible oil in a cooker and place the cooker on a stove.

·        When oil gets heated, add cumin seeds and mustard seeds and fry.

·        Add cinnamon, green chilies, ginger garlic paste, turmeric and stir.

·        Add vegetables and peas and cook under low flame.

·        Add rice and green gram and fry for some time.

·        Add 4 cups of water.

·        Add salt.

·        Cook until the cooker sounds four whistles.

·        Vegetable Khichdi is ready.

Serve hot with sambar or kurma.

Alternate names of khichdi are

khichdi, khichri, khichdee, khichadi, khichuri, khichari,khitchdee, kichchadi, khichadi, and so on.

Sago Pudding / Javvarasi Payasam

It is an easy to prepare dessert, also called Sago Pudding or Sabudana Kheer.

Pearl sago is called Javvarisi in Tamil.

Ingredients:

·        Javvarasi - ½ cup

·        Sugar - 1 cup

·        Milk - 1 cup

·        Cardamom - 3 pods

·        Cashew - 3

·        Raisins - 6

·        Ghee - 2 tbsp

Method of preparation:

·        Fry the javvarasi in ghee until golden brown.

·        Add ½ of cup water and stir continuously.

·        When javvarasi is cooked, add sugar and stir till it melts.

·        Remove from fire.

·        Add boiled milk and powdered cardamom.

·        Mix well.

·        Fry cashews in the remaining ghee and add to the payasam.

Serve hot or cold.

Hotel Style Sambar

Sambar, sambhar, Sambaaru, or Kuzhambu

Ingredients:

• Arhar dal / Toor dal (Thuvaram paruppu) - ½ cup
• Green chili - 3
• Sambar Onion or Small onion - 10 (or a big onion)
• Vegetables like drumstick, potato, eggplant, carrot, radish, beans- 2 cups.
• Tomato - 1
• Tamarind - a betel nut size
• Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
• Asafetida / perungayam /Hing - 2 pinches
• Jaggery  - ½ tsp
• Red chilies - 4
• Black gram / uluntham paruppu /Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds / Jeerakam - 1 tsp
• Coriander seeds / malli / dhania - 1½ tsp
• Fenugreek seeds (vendhayam) - ½ tsp
• Curry leaves - 3 sprigs
• Grated coconut - 4 tsp
• Edible oil: for frying and tampering
• Salt - to taste

For tampering:

• Mixture of mustard seeds and husked black gram (Urad dal) - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - a sprig

Method of preparation:

• Take a pressure cooker. Add the dal with 1½ cups of water. Cook for about 3 whistles. Wait for some time. Release the pressure and slightly smash the cooked dal.

• Soak tamarind in a little water for about 15 minutes. Squeeze and obtain its extract.

• Cut onion, tomato and vegetables. Slit the green chilies length-wise.

• Heat a little oil in a pan. Add red chilies, dal, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, grated coconut and fry till it turns light brown. Make a fine smooth paste of the fried ingredients with little water.

• Heat oil in a pan. Add green chilies and onion, fry till onion turns brown.
• Add all the cut vegetables and fry for about 2 minutes. Add tomato, asafetida and turmeric powder. Fry for a minute. Pour enough water so as to fully immerse the vegetables. Cover and cook till the vegetables are cooked.
• When the vegetables are cooked, add tamarind extract, jaggery, salt and the ground paste. Cover with a lid and bring to boil.

• Add the cooked dal and required water. Remove from heat when samabar starts boiling.

• Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and husked black gram. While spluttering, add curry leaves, remove from heat and add this with sambar.

Tastes good with idli, dosai, ooththappam / oothappam / uthappam, vadai, pattanam pakoda, bonda, pongal and cooked rice.