Aviyal

I had previously posted the recipe for making adai. I had also mentioned that aviyal is a very good side dish for adai. It is also one of the easiest dishes to prepare and it goes well with rice as well.

Aviyal is essentially a mixture of various steamed vegetables along with a little coconut. The vegetables can be chosen as per their availability. Generally the following vegetables can be used - Potato, french beans, carrots, peas, drumstick, pumpkin, avaraikka, raw plantain, snake gourd and chow chow. The more the variety of vegetables, the better the taste.

Ingredients:

• Mixed vegetables from the list specified above - 5 - 6 cups
• Curd (lightly sour) - 1/2 cup
• Grated coconut - 1 1/2 cups
• Green chillies - 4
• Curry leaves
• Oil
• Salt

Preparation:

• Cut all the vegetables to small cubes and steam them with some salt. Care should be taken to not overcook the vegetables.
  
• Grind the chillies and coconut with some curd.
• Heat some oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once they sputter add the steamed vegetables, coconut mixture and the curd. Heat for about 4 - 5 minutes.
• Turn off the flame and add curry leaves.
• Serve with hot rice or adai.

Thengai Aracha Kuzhambu

Thenga aracha kuzhambu essentially means a sambar which has coconut in it. This is very similar to regular sambar but we add some extra spices along with coconut to make this.

Ingredients:

• Tamarind - Small lemon sized
• Onion / pearl onions / okra
• Sambar powder - 1 tsp
  
• Salt
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• To powder -
  
• Split urad dal - 4 tsp
• Rice - 2 tsp
• Channa dal - 1 tsp
• Vendayam - 1/4 tsp
• Dried red chillies - 6
• Coconut - 1 cup

Preparation:

• Heat some oil and add mustard seeds to it.
• Once the mustard seeds have sputtered add the onions to it and fry till golden brown. Add the sambar powder to the onions. (If using okra fry it lightly as well.)
• Add the tamarind water to the mixture and also add required amount of salt. Bring it to boil.
• Roast all the dals, red chillies and add coconut in the end. Allow it to cool for some time then grind them to a fine powder.
• Once the mixture has boiled well add the powdered dal to it. Allow it to boil for a minute or two and remove from flame.
• Serve with hot rice and some curry.
  

Adai

Adai is a type of dosai which is made with lot of lentils. It's texture is coarser than dosai's. It is a very nutritious dish since it has a mixture of various dals. Care must be taken to not use too much oil.

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1 cup
• Urad dal (whole or split) - 1/3 cup
• Toor dal - 1/3 cup
• Channa dal - 1/3 cup
• Green chillies - 3
• Red chillies - 4
• Ginger (optional) - Small amount
• Salt
• Onions finely chopped - 2 - 3 cups
  

Method:

• Clean and soak the rice and dals for about 2 hours.
• Drain the soaked dal and rice and grind them. Add the chillies and ginger to the mixture while grinding.
• Grind them to form a coarse mixture.
• Add the salt and onion to the batter.
  
• Heat the dosa pan. Pour a ladle of the batter and spread it out to form a thick layer. Pour some oil on the side. When the colour of the adai changes slightly turn it around. Cook well on both sides.
• Serve hot with chutney, jaggery or aviyal.

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

We were wondering what to make on Saturday. We wanted to eat something special rather than the ordinary sambar and rasam. Something spicy. So we zeroed in on "Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu". Here is the recipe for the delicious kuzhambu.

Ingredients:

For the urundai -

Toor dal - 1 cup
Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 1 or 2 cloves
Green chillies - 2
Ginger - small amount
Dry Red chilli - 1 (Optional)
Salt

For the sambar -

Tamarind - Size of a lemon
Onion - 1/2 cup
Pearl onion - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes (finely mashed) - 1/2 - 1 cup
Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Salt

Preparation:

The Lentil Dumplings-

• Soak both the dals in water for about an hour.
• Grind all the ingredients together to a coarse paste with very little water. In case the mixture is watery add a little rice flour to it.
• Roll the paste into small balls. Don't make them too hard.

The Sambar -

• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. Once the seeds sputter add cumin seeds and onions to it.
• When the onions turn golden brown add the tomato and mash it finely. Once this is done add the sambar powder, salt, asfoetida and pour the tamarind extract.
• Allow the mixture to boil.
• Once the mixture has boiled well start adding the lentil dumplings. Add 2 - 3 dumplings at a time and allow the mixture to start boiling before you add the others.
• Allow the dumplings to get cooked well in low flame. Do not stir too much as the dumplings may break due to repetitive stirring.
• Once the dumplings are soft and well cooked switch the flame off and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve with hot rice.
  

Aloo Gobi

I have been neglecting this blog for too long. So decided to get the cooking started with one of the easiest recipes.

Aloo Gobi

Ingredients:

• Boiled Potatoes - 3
• Cauliflower - Half of a medium sized cauliflower
• Tomatoes - 2
• Onion - Chopped 1 cup
• Green chillies - 2
• Ginger - small amount finely chopped
• Garlic - 2 cloves finely chopped
• Coriander leaves - Finely chopped
  
• Chilly powder
• Garam masala
• Salt
• Oil - 3 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1tsp
• Jeera - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Heat a kadai and add oil. When oil is hot add mustard seeds and wait till they sputter. Then add the jeera.
2. Then add onion and saute till they turn golden brown. Add ginger, chillies and garlic to this.
3. Once the onion has turned golden brown add the tomatoes and mash nicely.
4. After the tomatoes are mashed and oil separates add water to it. If you want the gravy to be very watery add more water. Otherwise add limited amount of water.
5. When the water starts to boil add the potatoes and cauliflower.
6. Add the chilly powder and salt to this. Cover and allow to steam for some time.
7. After some time add the garam masala and allow the mixture to simmer for about 5 minutes.
8. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve with roti, naan or hot rice.