Dal Chutney

Dal Chutney
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This is one type of chutney which can be prepared with minimal and basic ingredients which are most usually present in the kitchen.
Hence it can be whipped up any time.
This chutney is made using dals - toor dal/channa dal and dry red chillies.
Tastes nice with rice, pongal, dosae or rotti.



Ingredients
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Dal - 1 cup toor dal/channa dal
Or use a mixture of both - 1/2 cup each.

Byadige Chilles - 7-8
Dry coconut/Fresh coconut.
Tamarind - about a lemon size
Garlic - 2 cloves


> Dry roast the dal on a pan on low heat till they start browning a little. Do not over roast. Transfer to a plate.
> Add a little oil and add in dry red chilles and garlic and roast for about a minute.
> Add the above and grind into a powder in a mixer.
> To this, add in salt, tamarind, jaggery, coconut and grind into a smooth paste.
> Season with mustard, hing and curry leaves.

Gongura Pachadi - 2

Gongura Pachadi - a very popular andhra side dish is something to be tasted for sure.
Gongura leaves itself is tangy in taste and so the spicy pachadi makes a nice accompaniment with hot rice and ghee.

I usually prepare it with a recipe mentioned here - Gongura Pachadi

Recently one of my cousins gave me Gongura pachadi and really loved this style as well.
So decided to share it.

Find below the recipe

> Wash the Gongura leaves well and press and rinse out all the water.
> Dry roast menthe/methi seeds (1 and 1/2 tsp for a big bunch of Gongura), dry red chilles (Byadige 8 to 10). Grind it into a powder in a mixer.
> Add the washed and rinsed (there should be very less water content) Gongura leaves into the mixer, 3-4 garlic cloves - along with the above powder and grind into a smooth paste.
> Take 2 to 3 tsp of oil in a pan, add in mustard seeds, hing, above ground paste, salt, jaggery and saute in a low flame till oil releases.
> Transfer into a container and store.

The Pachadi can be stored and used for about a week when refrigerated.
Be sure to give it a try.

Kadlebele Kootu - Channa Dal Kootu

Kadle Bele Kootu is a popular recipe we normally prepare during special ocassions or festivals as this does not need any onion or garlic in its preparation.
It will be thicker than sambhar in consistency and makes for a wholesome meal.

Ingredients
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KadleBele/Channa Dal - 1 cup
Vegetables - Carrot, Beans, ChowChow, Noolkol, Peas/Avrekai
Tamarind - soak


Grind
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Fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Gasgase/Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Onion Fried (Optional)

> Pressure cook dal, all the vegetables and tomato for 3-4 whistles
> Remove the veggies once cooked and mash the dal.
> Add in Sambhar powder, ground masala, tamarind water, salt, jaggery.
> Keep stirring as the mixture would be a little thick and channa dal sticks  to the pan and burns if left for long.
> Bring it all to boil and season with mustard, hing and curry leaves.

Vegetable Kootu with Toor Dal

Kootu is a type of sambhar with a thicker consistency similar to North Indian Dal recipes.

The Kootu recipe I share here tastes similar to the sambhar styles served in weddings or in temples.
I prepared the Kootu with herekai but it can be prepared with assortment of your favourite veggies.
Add in few pieces of Drumstick and be sure to relish the aroma and enjoy its unique taste.



Ingredients
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Toor Dal - 1 cup
Green Gram/Whole Moong - 2 tsp
Tomato
Herekai
Veggies
Tamarind - Soak
Salt
Jaggery


Dry Roast
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Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Chakke/Cinnamon - 1 medium stick
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Dry Red Chillies - 5 to 6 bydaige variety
(If using different variety use chillies as per the spice level)
Dhania/Coriander seeds -  3 tsp
Dry coconut pieces - 5 to 6


Recipe
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> Pressure cook toor dal and green gram with vegetables and tomato. Add a pinch of turmeric and let it cook for 2 to 3 whistles.
> Dry roast the ingredients mentioned above. Dry roast each ingredient one after the other without letting them burn. Cool and grind into coarse powder in mixer. Our sambhar powder is ready.
> Once dal is cooked, mash the dal and vegetables lightly.
> Add the above ground sambhar powder to dal, tamarind water, salt and jaggery (optional).
> Bring them all to boil, adjusting taste accordingly.
> Season the sambhar by adding 1 tsp ghee in a small pan, add in mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves.




Serve with hot rice and a dash of ghee... and this delicious recipe is sure to tingle your taste buds.

Neer Dosae - No ferment

Neer Dosae
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This is a very simple dosae which needs very few ingredients and no fermentation.
It is a very popular dosae made in coastal region of karnataka - mangalore, udupi etc.
Find below the recipe.


Soak for 4-5 hours
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Raw rice/Regular rice - 2 cups
Avalakki/Beaten rice - small cup (optional)

I normally soak in the night and grind in the morning to get fresh batter for breakfast.

Grind the above in a mixer with some fresh grated coconut into smooth paste
Transfer into a bowl, add salt.
Add water to the batter. The batter should be of thin runny consistency.
Leave it to rest for about 30 minutes.


Now, on a hot tawa, sprinkle some water and pour the batter into a thin layer by sprinkling the batter lightly over the tawa.
This batter cannot be spread like a regular dosae batter.
Cover and cook for a while and remove.

This dosae will be soft and white in color and doesnt turn brown or crispy.

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Ginger chutney / Allam Chutney

Ginger chutney
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This is a tasty and healthy chutney used mainly as an accompaniment to hot rice/ dosae/ paddu.

Ingredients
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Channa Dal/ KadleBele - 2 tsp
Urad Dal/ UddinaBele - 1.5 tsp
Whole ginger - About 3 inch
Dry Red Chilli - 4
Tamarind - small lemon sized ball
Jaggery
Salt


Dry roast channa dal and urad dal till light brown and remove them.
With few drops of oil, roast dry red chillies followed by ginger till raw smell of ginger goes away.

Add all the above, tamarind, salt and jaggery in a mixer and grind into a paste.

Transfer to a bowl and temper with mustard seeds, urad dal , hing and curry leaves.

Pesarattu / Green Gram Dosae - No ferment

Pesarattu
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This dosae variety is very popular in Andhra Pradesh.
This is very enriching energy packed breakfast as it is full of protein.
It gets its name from the fact that the primary ingredient for the dosae is Green Gram - called as Pesulu in Telugu.

Ingredients
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For soaking
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Green Gram - 2 cups
Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
Raw Rice - 2 to 3 tsp

For Grinding
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Onion
Green Chillies
Ginger

Salt


Soak the ingredients mentioned above for about 4 to 5 hours at the max.
Grind the soaked ingredients, 1 large roughly chopped onion, 1 green chilli, some ginger in a mixer into a smooth and thick paste.
Transfer to a bowl and add salt and rest for about 30 minutes.

On a flat hot tawa, take a laddle full of the batter and start spreading into a thin dosae.
Drizzle some oil. Allow it to turn little brown and flip.

Hot and tasty pesarattu is ready.
Serve with ghee, pickle/chutney and enjoy.
The best side for this dosae would be allam chutney (ginger chutney) or allam pachadi (ginger pickle).
Link for allam chutney is added above.

Note:
1) To keep the dosae crispy, do not over soak the ingredients. 4 hours is a good enough time
2) If dosae feels soft, you may add 1 or 2 tsp of rice flour to the batter and then make the dosae to make it crispier.
3) Once you pur the dosa batter on tawa, you may add finely chopped onions and coriander to make Onion Pesarattu.
4) Keep aside a portion of the thick ground batter and add in some finely chopped ginger, coriander, onion and make small round balls and fry them in hot oil and enjoy it as an evening snack - Pesarattu Bonda.