Ginger chutney

Last week we went to Niagara and corning glass museum. Though we have already gone there some years back,  Niagara is one of the places we wish to go often. Upstate New york is very different than the busy NY city. The state is full of green meadows, beautiful scenery, large farm houses, barn, agriculture, cows, dairy farms, nice people and great food. The weather was beautiful and the total vacation was very good. We went through a tour package as I wanted hubby dear to sit next to me and enjoy that relaxing journey. Any tour gets its full charm only if we eat the local foods. So I didn't pack any food for the trip and enjoyed the locally made pizza, onion rings, French fries, burgers, chicken fry in the upstate New york. The country side restaurants serve very unique tasting meals though they come under the same name. I had prepared some snacks like oats bars, banana walnut cupcake and took some apples, grapes too.

Here I should say how much I rely on ginger to overcome my travel(motion) sickness. So for the first day breakfast I made some idly and Inji (ginger) chutney and kept some honey soaked ginger in my handbag:) Yes, ginger is the best home-remedy to get rid of motion sickness and to stay awake. Moreover my sister inlaw who is a physician has also told me to stay hydrated (from previous day itself), sleep well and to munch something to keep the digestive system healthy:) Those tips are golden for me and helped me a lot to enjoy the journey.

Here is the ginger chutney I prepared along with idly for the tour(photo taken before packing them).

Ingredients:

Fresh Ginger (chopped) - 1/2 cup
urad dhal (black gram) - 1 tbsp
channa dhal (bengal gram) - 2 tbsp
dry red chilli - 4
curry leaf - a sprig
coconut (shredded) - 2 tbsp (optional)
tamarind - 2 inch
crushed jaggery - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste
oil - 1 tbsp

tempering:

mustard - 1/2 tsp
hing - a pinch
curry leaf - 1 sprig
oil - 2 drops

Method:
Choose tender ginger without much fiber (we should be able to snap the ginger and there shouldn't be much visible fiber. The skin will be more wet and little pink). Scrub and remove the ginger skin. Wash well and chop coarsely.

Soak the tamarind in few drops of water, salt.

Heat oil in a pan. Fry the urad dhal and channa dhal till they turn mild red. Take them out. In the same pan fry the red chillies till they turn shiny and flavorful. Take out. Add the chopped ginger, curry leaves and fry for few minutes (no browning).Take out. Then add the shredded coconut and fry till it turns mild red. (Avoid coconut for travel food to ensure freshness).

Grind together everything along with soaked tamarind, jaggery. It should be a fine paste.

Heat few drops of oil in the pan and crackle the mustard seeds. Add hing, curry leaves and switch off. Mix the chutney with this tempering.

Ginger chutney is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with idly, dosa, adai.
Makes a nice side dish with curd rice, sothi kulambu rice, briyani.
Finish this chutney within 8 hours in room temperature.
If kept refrigerated, this stays good for 3 days.

Some photos from our tour.

Niagara in evening.

Full view from American side (observatory tower).

Maid of the mist boat journeys towards Niagara waterfalls.

Rainbow in Niagara.

Light show in Niagara.

Corning glass museum: Replica of Liberty bell in glass.

Corning glass museum: Large glass vases from UK.

Making of glass vase , live show in Corning glass museum.

Corning glass museum gift shop: Glass roses, $ 8.99 each.

Thanks for viewing friends! Happy weekend !

Thengai Podi

Thegai podi - dry coconut chutney powder, kopparai thenga podi, instant coconut rice powder.

I prepare this kind of ready to eat podi during festival times, as I will be much occupied with snack making and won't have much time to concentrate on regular cooking. Paruppu podi and thengai podi can make that hot rice heavenly with just a drop of ghee and appalam. Before marriage I packed this podi for hubby dear as a gift(along with paruppu podi and a sweet)and from then on it became his favorite. He saved those 'plastic sunrise coffee bottles' which I used to pack and showed me after marriage and keeps them as a treasure till now:) It may be a small gift from my side, but the way he remembers it makes me enjoy cooking:)

Thengai podi in container.

Ingredients:Shredded coconut - 1 1/2 cup (or) dried coconut / kopparai thengai - 1 (small)
(I used dry unsweetened coconut)
dry red chillies - 10
tamarind - 2 inch
bengal gram (kadalai paruppu / channa dhal) - 2 tbsp
black gram (urad dhal) - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1 tbsp
curry leaf - 2 sprig
salt to taste (1 tbsp)

Method:
Heat a tbsp oil  and fry the dhals, cumin, tamarind, curry leaf separately and keep aside.
With 1 drop of oil fry the red chilles to get a nice red flavor (not black).
In the same pan add  the coconut pieces / shredded coconut and fry to get a mild red color and nice flavor (do it in low heat). If needed add a few drops of oil.
Let them all cool. Then dry grind them to a fine powder.
It can be kept safely for a month without refrigeration.

Serving suggestion:

It can be served over hot rice with little ghee or mixed and served as quick coconut rice.
Its a good side dish for curd rice also.

Tips:

*Coconut chutney podi / thengai podi holds good as a travel food during vacations. Sometimes people require home made foods during long journey or pilgrimage. In that case a rice cooker along with this thengai podi will do the job:)
*This podi can be used as replacement for coconut paste in any dishes.
*Adding little water with a handful of this podi will become a chutney for idly/ dosa / tamarind rice.