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.

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.

Mango Chutney

Mango Chutney
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Mango chutney is made using raw mango (sour variety).
Chutney has a sweet sour taste and tastes divine with hot rice and ghee.
Chutney can also be used for Akki Rotti/Dosae etc.
This is a special dish as it can be prepared and enjoyed during mango season only.
The chutney stays good for a week if stored in refrigerator.


Ingredients
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Raw Mango Sour variety / Thothapuri mango - 1
Menthe seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds  - 1tsp
Dry red chillies as per taste - around 6-7
Fresh Grated Coconut - 2 to 3 tsp
Salt
Jaggery

Dry roast mustard, methi and dry red chillies.
Grate the raw mango.
(Sour variety mango - peel and grate, Thothapuri - grate with the peel)

Add all the dry roasted ingredients and powder them in a mixer.
Add grated mango, grated fresh coconut, salt and jaggery and grind into a paste.

No need to add water. The chutney is supposed to be with thick consistency.

Season/Temper the chutney with mustard, hing and curry leaves.
Enjoy!


Note :
Dry chillies are available in different varieties.
I use the Byadigi variety. It gives a rich red colour to chutney and is not too spicy.
If using different variety of red chilly, use as per its spice levels.

Since the mango is sour, it will need good amount of chilli and jaggery to combat the sourness.
Check and alter as per your taste.

Groundnut chutney (Kadlekai chutney)

My younger daughter enjoys having groundnut chutney and so I prepare it quite frequently.
And this chutney does not need coconut and so can be prepared anytime easily since groundnuts will be available at home anyway.

Recipe for it is below..

Ingredients
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Groundnuts
Tamarind
Salt
Jaggery
Chillies
Onion - 1

Method
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Dry roast groundnuts and let it cool. Remove the skin of the groundnuts.
Fry red chillies and an onion and keep aside.

Grind together, groundnuts, red chillies, onion, salt, tamarind (small piece), jaggery (very little) with little water.
And the chuney is ready.

Tastes good with Rave Dosae.

Tomato Instant Pickle (Tomato Bisi Uppinakayi)

Tomato is something which is most commonly available and so can be prepared at any time of the year.
This recipe can be prepared and stored for a week or 15 days (refrigerated and used) since the preparation does not involve the usage of water.

Ingredients
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Ripe Tomatoes - 1kg
Mustard - 1tsp
Methi seeds - 1 tsp
Dry chillies - 3 or 4
Red Chilli powder
Salt
Jaggery
Tamarind
Oil

Method
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Wash and dry the tomatoes so that it is not moist.
Cut the tomatoes (1 tomato into 4 pieces).

On stove, In a pan, take 8-10 tsp oil, add mustard seeds and let is splutter,add turmeric powder, hing (Asphoedia), dry red chillies, curry leaves and add the cut tomatoes and let the tomatoes become soft in low flame.

Add salt, tamarind pieces, jaggery, red chilli powder, masala powder (i.e Fry 1tsp mustard and 1 tsp methi seeds and grind it into a dry powder) to this and let it boil in low  flame till the paste becomes a little thicker in consistency and all ingredients mix well.

Tomato instant pickle is ready and can be served with akki rotti, dosae or with white rice.

Gongura pachhadi - 1

Happened to get Gongura (not commonly available here) while I went vegetable shopping yesterday.
This is my one of daugther's favourite dishes.. and so picked up some to make the Andhra Special - Gongura Pachhadi.


Gongura is a leafy plant item like palak. It is basically very tangy by nature and is said to be a good source of iron, vitamins and folic acid.

For reference, gongura looks like below.

Gongura pachhadi is famous Andhra cuisine which is basically used as a pickle/chutney.

Below is the recipe for the pachhadi...

Ingredients

1) Gongura

2) Dry Red Chillies

3) White Ellu seeds - (sesame seeds - also called Thil in Hindi)

4) Dhania seeds

5) Jaggery

6) Salt

Method:

1) Remove the red stems from the leaf, wash the gongura well.

2) Spread the gongura on a paper or a muslin cloth so that the gongura dries well (there should be no water in the leaves, the leaves should be fresh - not dried).

This helps in storing the pachhadi for a long time.

3) In a thick bottomed pan, dry roast some dhania seeds, sesame and dry red chillies according to your taste levels.

4) Grind this above mixture into a nice powder in the mixie.

5) Add oil to the pan and add the gongura leaves and fry till the gongura becomes soft.

6) Now add this gongura to the mixie along with the powdered spices, add required amount of salt and jaggery and grind. Need not be a smooth mixture. Let all the ingredients mix well.

7) Now heat oil (use little bit more oil like in a pickle) in a pan, and add mustard seeds and let it splutter.

Add the ground mixture into this oil and deep fry on low flame till the mixture absorbs all the oil into it well.

Gongura pachhadi is ready to be served.

Tips:

You may add garlic to the pachhadi i.e when  frying the gongura, garlic can be added along and ground.

Normally garlic is used as part of gongura pachhadi, since I am not a huge fan of garlic, I have skipped that part.

Gongura pachhadi tastes wonderful with hot white rice served with ghee.

Add some finely chopped raw onions along with this and the taste will be awesome.

Enjoy :)