Hotel Style Coconut Chutney Recipe

There are many versions to make this chutney. I have made my own version. Cashew nut plays an important role in this chutney. It makes the chutney more creamy, thick and tasty. It tastes great with dosa, idli, dhokla, chapati, sabudana vada, vada pav Or any cutlet / patties.

Prep time     1 minute

Cook time      2 Minute

 INGREDIENTS:

Fresh Coconut           1 cup

Chutney Dal               2 Tablespoons

Cashew nuts              7 nos.      

Green Chillies            3 nos.

Chopped Coriander     ¼ cup

Grated Ginger            1 Teaspoon

Sugar                         ½ Teaspoon

Water                         1 Tablespoon

Lemon                         ½

Salt                             To Taste

Tempering

Coconut Oil                 1 Teaspoon

Mustard Seeds            1 Teaspoon

Urdh Dal                     1 Teaspoon

Curry Leaves                Few

Method:

• Take a pan, dry roast the Chutney dal for a minute.
• Now add a grated coconut and sauté for a minute on low heat. Please don’t burn the coconut just fry them on low heat until it’s warm. Then switch off the gas.
• Combine the roasted coconut mixture into the Blender/Mixie
• Add a grated ginger, coriander leaves, Chillies, Sugar, Salt and Lemon Juice.
• Ground until all blends well add about a tbsp of water
• Heat the coconut oil in  pan, tempering all ingredients and add to the Chutney.

Notes:

• ·       Please don't add water while grinding add only if required.
• ·       Tempering is optional.
• ·       If you want your Chutney to be white color, You can omit the coriander Leaves in the Chutney. 

Green capsicum Paruppu Usli / Green Bell Pepper and Lentil fry

Paruppu Usli is a traditional South Indian Brahmin dish, particularly famous in Tamilnadu. This is a healthy dish prepared by using lentils and vegetables. Beans, cluster beans, plantain flower, cabbage and potato, are the vegetables generally used for this recipe.  Here I am using Capsicum.

Ingredients:

Tovar Dal                            ¼ cup

Chenna Dal                         ½ cup     

Urdh dhal                            2 tbsp.

Moong dhal                         2  tbsp.

Red chilies                          7  no

Curry leaves                       2 stem

Hing                                   ½ tsp

Salt                                   to taste

Green Capsicum chopped    2 cups

 For Seasoning

Coconut Oil                        4 tbsp.

Mustard seeds                    ½ tsp

Urdh dal                            1 tsp

Method:

• Soak the all dals in a hot water for 2 hours. After 2 hours drain it and grind with curry leaves, Hing, red chilies, and salt. Grind them coarsely.  Put it in the Microwave bowl and cook it for 3 minutes. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a kadai; add all the ingredients under "For seasoning" one by one. After it crackles, add chopped capsicum along with salt.  Fry till capsicum is cooked.
• Now take the capsicum from the kadai, keep it aside
• Add little more oil in the same kadai. Add the half cooked dhal paste and fry it on low heat till it gets cooked.
•  Now add capsicum in it and mix well.  Lower the heat, and stir it for few more minutes. The delicious Paruppu Usli is ready
• Serve with Rice, MorKuzhambhu and  Ginger Saathuamuthu/Rasam

Brinjal Masala Curry

Curry is a staple in my kitchen. This is one of my favorite recipes to make when I feel like I need to eat spicy . Enjoy this simple recipe from my Madappalli Kitchen. 

Ingredients

Small Indian Brinjals         1 pound

Green Capsicum                1 no.

 Big Tomato                     1 no.

Salt                                to taste

Turmeric Powder              1/2 tsp.

Hing                                ½ tsp.

Masalas

Curry leaves                     few

Chenna dhal                    1 tbsp.

Urdh dhal                        1 tbsp.

Fennel seeds (optional)    1 tsp.

Red chilies                      4 no.

Cloves                            2 no

Green cardamom              2 no.   
  

For Seasoning

 Oil                                     1 tsp.

Cumin seeds                        1 /2 tsp.

For Decoration

Coriander leaves                   few

Method

• Wash and cut Brinjals into 2’ long sizes. Cut capsicum & Tomatoes in to small pieces.  
• Dry roast the all masalas and coarsely powder it.
• Heat the oil in a pan, add seasonings, when they start spluttering, add capsicums and sauté it for 3 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and sauté until they are mushy.
• Now add the brinjal and turmeric, hing and salt. Fry it in medium heat until Brinjals are cooked.
• Add the grounded masals and  mix well and cook it in very low flame.
• When you feel Brinjals has been cooked soft and raw masala smell gone, switch off the stove.
• Garinish with coriander leaves.
• Serve with steamy rice or Chapatti.

Vazhaipoo Paruppu Usli/ Banana Blossom Lentil Usli

The banana flower serves the health benefits which are as follows:

Curing the infection. ...

Overcoming diabetes and anemia. ...

Improves lactation. ...

Reduce Free Radical Activity. ...

Menstrual problems and weight loss. ...

Rich source of Vitamin and minerals. ...

Boost Mood and Reduce Anxiety. ...

Anti-ageing power.

Paruppu Usli is the most familiar Iyengar delicacy and it is a perfect accomplishment with Mor Kuzhambu. Usually this is made by vegetables like cluster beans, broad beans, plantain flower, French beans , etc. Today I used Banana Flower, no matter what vegetable is used, it tastes yummy :) and its packed with so many nutrition.

Course                            Main Course, Side Dish

 Cuisine                           South Indian

 Soaking Time                 1 hour

 Prep Time                      20 minutes

 Cook Time                      30 minutes

 Servings                         4 people

 Author                             Sadhana Padmanabhan

INGREDIENTS:

Vazhaipoo/ Banana Flower    1 no

Chana Dal                           ½  Cup

Toor Dal                              ½ Cup

Moong Dal                           ½ Cup

Dry Red Chilies                     6 nos

Turmeric Powder                  ¼ Teaspoon

Curry Leaves                        2 Springs

Asafetida Powder                  1 Tablespoon

Salt                                     To Taste

Coconut Oil                          3 Tablespoon

Mustard Seeds                      1 Teaspoon 

Method:

• Soak all Dals in hot water for 1 hour. Keep aside.

• Clean the Banana flower and chop finely. Put the chopped vazhaipoo, in diluted buttermilk until use.

• Meanwhile drain the water and add the dal to the blender along with the red chili, Hing Turmeric and salt(1/2 tbsp) and blend it to a coarse paste. Don't add water while grinding.

• Steam the Grinded dal mixture. I done in my pressure cooker without putting whistle. Steam it for 7 to 10 mints. Once the steaming is done allow the mixture to cool and if u scramble the dal in hands or put it in blender and whip once you will get a crumble texture. 
• Steam the chopped flowers in a microwave safe bowl or Pressure cook it. Drain and set aside. 
• Heat oil in a pan.  Add mustard seeds and red chilies.  When the mustard seeds sputter, add the curry leaves. 

• Add the ground dal and stir well.  Let it cook in medium flame till all the dal it cooked and it starts to become dry.
• Now add the cooked banana flower to this, mix well and cook for another 5-7 minutes in a very low flame with a lid closed. 
• Switch off the flame. Tasty and healthy Vazhaipoo Paruppu Usli is ready! 
• Serve with Rice and More Kuzhambhu. 

Kai kuthal Arisi Dosa/ Hand Pound Rice Adai Dosa

Hand pound Rice (kai kuthal arisi in Tamil), on the other hand is a rice whose husk has been removed by using a stone grinder or a stone apparatus similar to a mortar and pestle. It is minimally polished (low glycemic index, similar to brown rice) but still retains most of its nutrients.

Adai is a one of the perfect South Indian multigrain breakfast/Dinner.  Very filling and spicy. Usually it’s made with parboiled rice. I replaced the rice Kaikuthal Arisi, with all the dals and addition of Lentils make it perfectly healthy.

Here you go the Nutritious and healthy Dosai.

  

Preparation        5 Minutes

Soaking Time      30 Minutes

Cuisine                South Indian

Serves                 3 nos.

Ingredients:

Kaikuthal Arisi       1  Cup

Chenna Dal              1 Tablespoon

Tovar Dal                1 Tablespoon

Urdh Dal                 1 Tablespoon

Black Pepper corns  1 Teaspoon

Red Chillies              6-7 nos( Your Spice Level)

Curry Leaves            few

Grated Ginger           1 Teaspoon

Hing                          1 Teaspoon

Salt                           To Taste

Oil                              For Making Adais

  

Method:

• Mix all dals ,  rice, curry leaves, peppercorns, Red chillies, , Hing and Salt.

• Grind coarsely in the Blender/Mixie.
• Take  a  basin, add the grounded flour,Grated Ginger  add 1 tablespoon of yogurt in it.
• Add enough water and mix it well and make a Adai batter.
• The batter should not be in too running. Just leave it for 3o minutes.
• There is no fermentation required for this recipe.
• Heat a dosa tawa.
• pour 2 ladle of batter and spread in a circular motion. Spread carefully from the center
• Spread 1 tsp. of oil around the Adai, Drizzle some oil in the center.
• Cook in medium flame for a less than a min. Cook both sides.
• Serve it hot with chutney of your choice.

 Notes:

• You can add ¼ cup brown rice in the recipe
• Sprinkle some water in tawa before making each dosa, as you cannot spread the batter if the tawa is very hot.
• This is just the basic version of making Adai, you can add other dals like green gram, horse gram.
• Grate veggies like carrot, cabbage and add while cooking to make it healthier.
• You can store the flour for future use.

Tirupati Vada/ How to make Whole Black Urdh Dal Pepper Vada

After Tirupati/Tirumala Laddu, Tirupati Vada Prasadam is one of the most famous Prasadam of Tirupati Temple. Tirupati Vada is made with skinned Whole Urdh dal and Black Pepper. These vadas are deep fried in ghee and is very crispy. Today instead of ghee I used oil for deep frying. Let’s see how to make this.

  

Preparation Time :     10 Minutes

Cooking Time           30 Minutes

Soaking Time           8 Hours

Cuisine                  South Indian Snacks

Serves                  4-6 Nos.

Ingredients:

Whole Black Urdh Dal (Skinned) -  1 ½ Cup

Black Peppercorns                          3 Tablespoons

Cumin Seeds                                   2 Tablespoons

Hing Powder                                    1 Tablespoon

Ghee                                                1 Tablespoon

Cooking Oil/ Ghee                            For Frying

Salt                                                  To Taste 

Preparation Method:

• Wash and soak the Urdh dal 8 hours or overnight.
• Grind Coarsely the black Pepper and Cumin seeds and keep aside.

• In a mixer jar, add the  Grind the Urdh dal without adding water.
• Run for a second, then mix it and again run for a second.
• Do not make it into a smooth paste. If you are finding it difficult to grind just sprinkle one or two spoons of water before grinding.
• Grind it coarsely
• Take a mixing bowl, add the grounded Urdh dal, Pepper Cumin Mixer, Hing Powder, Ghee and Salt. Mix Everything well.
• Take greased Plastic Sheet, put a lemon size Urdh dal paste, flatten it using your fingers to make a inch diameter disc.
• Heat oil in a frying pan/kadai. Reduce heat to medium to low. Gently slide the disc into the hot oil and fry 2-3 of them together.
• When it is half cooked take it out from oil and keep aside. (Very important Step). Take out half cooked vadas and keep.
• After half frying all vadas, deep fry the half cooked vadas batches by batches. Fry on both sides until they are crisp.
• Remove from the fried Vadas and put it in the Kitchen Paper towel to drain the excess oil.
• Now Tirupati Vada is ready. Store it in the Airtight Containers.

Note:

• Make sure, your Vada Batter should be Coarse.
• Deep fry 2 times to get the crispy vada. When it is half cooked take it out from oil and keep aside.
• Please note: this step is very important. If you are missing this step vadas will be soggy.
• If Vadas are fried in a ghee, it very tasty. In the temple, they are frying the vadas in Ghee. In this recipe I used Oil.

Green Peas Paruppu Vadai/ Green Peas Patties

Paruppu Vadai is a south Indian specialty snack that is prepared on every single occasion.

Now masala Vadai are quite commonly made at homes, hotels and tea stalls and they’re all tasty.

Its crispness makes us crazy .My mom does it very well, We will finish it off ,right from the pan. Wat a rainy day is ,without  a cup of coffee and hot Vadai?. My version Vadai, here you go

Cuisine                       South Indian

Recipe Category          Snacks

Soaking Time             6-8 Hours/ Overnight

Preparation Time       10 Minutes                                                           

Cooking Time            20 Minutes

Serves                     10 Medium sized Vadai

Ingredients

Dry Green Peas                       1 cup

Frozen  Baby corns                 2 Tablespoons

Chopped Ginger                      2 Tablespoons

Green Chillies                           3 Nos.

Chopped Coriander Leaves   2 Tablespoon

Chopped Mint Leaves            1 Tablespoon (Optional)

Curry Leaves                            1 stems

Fennel seeds                            1 Teaspoon (optional)

Roasted Rava                           1 Tablespoon

Rice Powder                              1 Tablespoon

Asafetida powder                   1 Teaspoon

Salt                                             To Taste

Oil                                              As Required

Method:

• Wash & soak Green Peas, overnight. Then wash again & drain water fully.
• In a food processor(Mixie), add Green Chillies, Chopped Ginger, Chopped Coriander , Chopped Mint Asafetida powder , and Grind for a second.
• Now add the Green Peas and  Rice powder, grind this in a blender and roughly blended. The dal should be partially ground. (i.e., half the dhal is should be just broken and the remaining dal remains whole.)
• Transfer this mixture to a Mixing Bowl.

• Add corns, curry leaves  and Rava to this mixture. Add salt and use your hands to combine everything together.
• Your Vadai mixture is ready. The consistency should be thick and you should be able to shape it into Vadai easily
• The thick batter should be formed into silver dollar sized patties, rounded on top and bottom, and should hold their shape in your palm.

• Heat a Kadai/Pan and pour in oil. When the oil is hot.
• Deep fry the Vadai, both sides until it turns golden brown.
• Repeat making more Vadai and fry in batches.
• Remove the fried Vadai to absorbent paper. Serve hot.
• Eat it with Green  chutney and anyone will be happy.

Notes:

• Adding Fennel seeds gives wonderful aroma, Flavor  for the Vadai. You can omit the fennel seeds.
• If not making Vadai immediately, refrigerate the Vadai mixture. You can store the mixture up to 2 days. Store it on airtight glass container.
• Instead of corns you can add soaked Chenna dhal to the mixture.

Arachuvitta Kathirikkai Kuzhambhu/ Spicy Tangy Brinjal Gravy

My family love this Kuzhambhu. Whenever I make this Kuzhambhu, I can feel the aroma in the whole house. Especially if you have access to pinju kathirikkai/tender eggplant it is gonna be even tastier. This Kuzhambhu is a spicy and tangy gravy goes well with both white rice and brown rice. I also love it with idli and Dosa.

Preparation Time  :  10 Minutes

Cooking Time      :  10-15 Minutes

Cuisine             :  South Indian

Category          :  Kuzhambhu

Serves             :  4- 6 Peoples.

Ingredients:

Tender Small/ Kathirikkai      -     6 nos.

Tamarind                                      Gooseberry Size

Tomatoes                                      2 nos.

Turmeric Powder                           ½ Teaspoon

Salt                                               To Taste

For Grinding

Grated Ginger                                1 Tablespoon

Grated Coconut                               ½ Cup

Masalas

Sambhar Powder                              1 Tablespoon

Red Chili Powder                               1 Teaspoon

Dhania Powder                                   1 Teaspoon

Asafetida powder                               ½ Teaspoon

 For Tempering:

   Sesame Oil                         1 Table spoon

  Mustard Seeds                 1 Teaspoon

  Curry Leaves                    Few    

How to make Brinjal Kuzhambhu          

        

• Wash the brinjals and Tomatoes. Cut the eggplants into length size pieces and keep it in a bowl of water till you cook to prevent turning brown/bitter. Chop the Tomatoes and keep aside.
• Soak tamarind in hot water for 10 minutes and squeeze out to make tamarind juice. Keep aside.
• Heat a pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil add grated coconut, sauté for a minute. Grind with 1/4 cup of water to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

• Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, after it splutters add, curry leaves. Sauté well and add green brinjal, Tomatoes. Sauté well for a minute so that the brinjal gets roasted a little. Add red chili powder, sambar powder, Hing Powder and coriander powder.  Saute for a minute.

• Now add tamarind extract and salt. Mix well and allow the it to boil.
• Add the coconut paste in it. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes more.

• When everything looks combined garnish it with chopped cilantro and serve it hot with rice!

Tomato Thokku

Tomato Thokku can be called by various names like Thakkali Thokku, tomato pickle or Thakkali Oorugai.There are so many types of Thokku one can make. Among the long list of different Thokku today i have for you one easy and simple Thokku made from tomato. This spicy, tangy tomato-based thokku which can be used as side dish for steamed rice, idli or dosa and chapatti. It is typically prepared with ripped and juicy tomatoes, very similar to mango Thokku recipe.

Prep time:           5 minutes

Cook time:           25 minutes

Cuisine               South Indian

Course               Pickle

Serve                1 Bottle

Ingredients:

Ripe Tomatoes                     500 gms

Fresh Red Chilies                 2 Tablespoon (Finely Chopped)

Sesame Oil                          ¼ Cup

Turmeric Powder                 1 Teaspoon

Kashmiri Red Chili Powder   1 Tablespoon

Red Chili Powder                 1 Tablespoon

Tamarind                            Small Size          

Roasted Fenugreek             1 Tablespoon

Hing Powder                        1 Teaspoon

Salt                                     3 Teaspoon

For Tempering

Mustard seeds                  1/2 Teaspoon

Cumin seeds                      1/2 Teaspoon

Chana dal                          1 Teaspoon

Urdh dal                           1 Teaspoon

Dried red chilies              3 no.

Curry leaves                    1 sprig

Sesame Oil                      1 tablespoon   

 Instructions            

• Wash fresh red chillies thoroughly and pat them dry. Keep them under sunlight for 15 minutes for drying. Take them out and remove all the stalks from the red chillies.
•  Cut the ripe red chilies into small pieces and make them into a coarse paste with 1 teaspoon cumin seeds. Keep aside.
• Wash the tomatoes and chop the tomatoes.  Keep aside.
• Take the tamarind into a grinder jar, grind into a fine paste. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, add crushed fresh red chillies, tomatoes and salt, and sauté it, cover and cook it in low flame.
• Now add the tamarind paste in it and sauté it for 5 minutes.
• Let it cool down completely without lid.
• Now add the coarsely ground red chilly paste in it. Mix it well.
• Transfer into mixie jar and allow it to cool. Later blend it coarsely.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and sauté it.
• Add coarse paste and mix nicely.
• Now Tomato Thokku is ready to serve.
• Keep the Thokku in an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator.
• Thokku can be stored for months.
• Please try at your home and share your experience with me.