Red Capsicum Chutney

Ingredients
Red capsicum - (400 gms) deseeded and chopped
Dry red chillies - 4
garlic - 2 pearls
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
cumin - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 1 brig
olive oil - 1 tbsp
tamarind - cherry fruit size
salt to taste
Tomato - 1 (optional)

Method:
Heat olive oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the cumin and fry a few seconds. Add a couple of curry leaves.
Add dry red chillies and fry for a few seconds.
Take them out.
In the same oil fry the chopped red capsicum . Add chopped tomato also , if you want more quantity.
Add the tamarind to it , sprinkle some water and close it with a lid.
Cook the capsicum till it becomes tender.
Once all fried ingredients are cool, grind with garlic and salt to taste .
No need to temper this chutney at the end.

Serving suggestions:
Serve with hot fluffy idly or chapathi or dosa.
It can be used as a sandwich spreading too.

Butter milk stew

'More' is the tamil word for Buttermilk .So 'More kulambu' means a stew prepared with Buttermilk.Originally people prepare this stew with churned buttermilk. But I make it with thick yogurt and it tastes great.This kulambu is a must if you prepare a traditional TamilNadu style lunch. More-kulambu should be served over steamed rice , after serving sambar and vathak kulambu. I will narrate the order of serving various curries in a typical Tamil Nadu style soon.

Ingredients:
Thick curd (Desi Yogurt) - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

white pumpkin / winter melon - 200 gms
(Or) any vegetable like brinjaal , fried Okra - 200 gms
(or) masal vadai - 7

Ginger - 2 inch
green chilli - 2
Bengal gram / channa dhal - 1 tbsp
rice - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste
oil - 1 tsp
mustard - 1/2 tsp
Dry red chilli - 2
curry leaves - 1 brig
water - 2 cups

Method:
soak channa dhal and rice for 30 minutes.
Grind ginger , green chillies , rice and channa dhal to a fine paste and keep aside.
Heat 2 cups of water in a cooking pan and add the white pumpkin pieces .Add turmeric and salt to it.
Close the lid and cook the white pumpkin.After the white pumpkin gets cooked , add the masala paste and stir continuously till the raw smell disappears.SWITCH OFF THE STOVE.
Beat the curd and add it to the boiling veggies.
Heat oil in a pan.
Crackle some mustard seeds and add chopped dry red chillies with curry leaves.Add this tempering to the above.Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Yummy Buttermilk curry is ready.

Serving Suggestions:
Serves 4 people. Serve over steamed rice.
Potato fry is a good side dish for More Kulambu.

sesame chutney

Tamil translation for sesame chutney is 'Ellu thovaiyal' or 'Yellu thovayal'.
I use black sesame seeds to make this chutney.It should not be watery like coconut chutney.After grinding , you should be able to make a ball out of it. That is the perfect consistency.

Ingredients:
Sesame - 2 tbsp
shredded coconut - 1 tbsp
Dry Red chillies - 4
garlic - 1 pearl
cumin - 1/4 tsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - 1 inch
curry leaves - 1 brig
olive oil - 1 tsp

Method:
Dry roast the sesame seeds , till they start splutter. Take care not to char them.
Add 1 tsp olive oil in the pan and roast the dry red chillies.
Using a small jar in mixie / blender , grind all the items together after they become cool .
Add a little water only. You will get a lemon size ball of sesame chutney.

Serving suggestions:
It can be served as a side dish with any 'variety rice' like lemon rice , coconut rice or tamarind rice.
This chutney stays good for 2 days (without refrigerator) , if you roast all the given items and make chutney.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 1/4 cup (200 g)
Lemon - 1 /2 small (3 tbsp fresh juice)
Mustard - 1 tsp
Bengal gram (channa dhal)- 2 tbsp
Dry red chilli - 2
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 1 sprig
Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
salt - to taste

photo updated from Jan 2016 

Mixing the lemon rice in wok

lemon rice with paruppu thogayal in lunch box

Method:
Rinse and cook the rice. Cook the rice in a grainy finish (not mushy). Let it cool a bit, by spreading it on a plate.
Heat oil in a pan . Add mustard and as soon as it starts crackle, add channa dal. Let the channa dal get mild red.
Add curry leaves and cut dry chillies.
Switch off stove.
In a  separate bowl, squeeze a lemon and discard seeds .
Add the juice to the fried items in the pan.
Add salt and turmeric powder.
Cool the rice a little and mix it with the items in the pan.
Lemon rice is ready.

Serving suggestions:
Serves 2 people as lunch or travel food.
Serve with Sesame chutney , coconut chutney or Black gram chutney.
This lemon rice will not get spoiled , if prepared without touching by hands or adding water at the end. It stays good for 2 days even outside the refrigerator.
Many people in India prefer to pack this for a road side trip or long train journey.
Best side dishes for lemon rice are potato fry or boiled egg stuffed with masala or masal vadai and also a piece of lemon pickle or a tbsp of thick coconut thogaiyal.

Vatral kulambu

Vathal kulambu, vaTral kulambu, vathakkulambu, vatha kuzhambu
Vathak kulambu or vatral kulambu is a spicy curry prepared in South India. Vatral means a some sun dried veggie or evaporated stew. In hotels they serve this curry over steamed rice , after the sambar rice. Though it is very common, only a few people do it in a graceful manner. From my childhood the chef inside me was searching for those wonderful people and luckily i found her in Missouri,USA.Yes , she is my friend Archana's mom 'Nalini aunty' and she taught me to do this vatral Kulambu.She is a great dietician and excellent home maker.I admire her a lot.I came across her vathak kulambu while we went to the lake of Ozark and I became addicted to it.She came to my house and taught me how to do this mouth watering vathak kulambu.I tried my best to present it in her way.She taught me with eggplant and drumstick.But here I am replacing the vegetables with Manathakkali vatral. Vathal/ vatral means a sundried vegetable.
The Botanical name of this berry is 'Solanum nigrum. Manathakkali is called 'Black NightShade' in English. In Hindi its called 'Makoy' or 'Manathakkali'. In Telugu its called 'Kamanchi Chettu'.

Ingredients
Manathakkali vatral - 2 tbsp
sesame oil- 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
chilli powder- 1 tsp
coriander powder- 2 tsp
sambar powder- 1 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
asafoetida- a pinch
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
fenugreek seed- 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 1 brig
chopped Red onion or shallot - 3 tbsp.
Garlic - 5 pearls
salt - to taste
jaggery - 1 tsp

Method:
Extract juice from tamarind.
Heat oil in a pan , crackle mustard seeds and add cumin seeds , fenugreek / methi seeds, curry leaves and kulambu vathal .Take care not to char the items.
Immediately add asafoetida powder ,chopped red onion, curry leaves , garlic pearls and fry till the onion becomes golden brown.
Add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder , sambar powder and saute for 10 seconds.
Now introduce the tamarind extract and salt.
Let it boil and becomes a thick gravy.
Add a small piece of jaggery (10 gms) and switch off flame.

Serving suggestions:
Makes 250 ml of Vatha kulambu.
It can be served as a side dish for rice, chapathi and curd rice.
Goes fine with hot rice and pappad.
Manathakkali vathal is capable of curing ulcers.
So if used as a medicinal food , add freshly ground black pepper instead of chilli powder.
This can be preserved even outside refrigerator for 3 - 4 days(If oil is used liberally and handled with hygiene).
So this can be used for picnics and tour food packages.
This kulambu can be prepared and saved in fridge for a month.

Ribbon Pakoda

Basically I love home made snacks instead of buying them. Now it is rainy and cold outside. My Indian taste buds started craving for a spicy and crispy snack . The end result is Ribbon Pakoda or Oolai pakoda (in Tamil).
This is the first time i have ever prepared it and it became a wonderful snack for this weekend. I have given the original recipe here but I replaced butter by adding 2 tsp of ordinary cooking oil.
Try this recipe and tell me how it came out.



Ingredients:
Rice flour - 2 cups
Besan flour - 1 cup
asafoetida - 1 pinch
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
salt - 2 tsp
oil - 500 ml
curry masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 1 tbsp

Method:
Mix salt with one cup water.
Add chilli powder, asafoetida, curry/ garam masal powder , rice flour and besan flour thoroughly.
Then add salt water little by little and make a dough like chapathi dough.
Now coat it with softened butter and mix well.
Heat a pan with oil.
Fit the ribbon pakoda maker in the "Murukku maker" and squeeze long strands of dough into hot oil.
After all the bubbles get settled, turn it using a spatula .Take out the golden brown ribbon / oolaai pakoda and drain oil using a tissue paper.
Generally it will not consume oil.

Serving suggestions:
Makes nearly 8 big rounds of ribbon pakoda.
Serve hot as evening snack along with tea / coffee.
After cooling they can be stored in air tight containers and will last for 2 weeks.(But will vanish soon as no one control themselves on seeing them ..ha .ha)

Murungakkai Puli kulambu

I think this is a kind of 'kara-kulambu' or spicy curry prepared in Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India.
I learnt this recipe from my mom .we had a very large drumstick tree in our backyard and my mom used to present cartloads of drumsticks to whoever asked her.Moreover she used to make delicious curries with the drumstick and its leaves.During those days we mock at our mom for making Murungakkai curry frequently.But after coming to USA, I realize the true value of those veggies on seeing their prices in Indian stores.

Ingredients:
Drumstick - 1
Small eggplant - 1
Tamarind extract - 2 tsp
shredded coconut - 1 tbsp
red onion - 1/2
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
mustard - 1/2 tsp
fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - 1 brig
oil - 1 tbsp
asafoetida - 1 pinch
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1 pinch
water - 2 cups
salt - 2 tsp

Method:
Cut drumstick into 2 inch pieces and slit each piece into two.
Cut the eggplant into small pieces.
Grind coconut, onion and cumin seeds with little water.
Heat oil in a pan.
Crackle mustard seeds , add fenugreek seeds , curry leaves and asafoetida.
Add the cut vegetables, tamarind paste , 2 cups water , chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and close tightly with a lid.
After the vegetables are cooked add the coconut - onion paste and switch off after it starts boiling.

Serving suggestions:
Makes 500 ml of Puli kulambu.
It can be served for 5 people.
Serve hot with steamed rice and and any vegetable side dish or with egg omlete.