Chettinad Tomato Kuzhambu

Ingredients

• Tomatoes - 5(Blanched and pureed)
• Chilli powder - 1 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
• Tamarind paste - to your taste
• For Grinding
• Coriander seeds - 1 tspn
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tspn
• cumin seeds - 1/4 tspn
• Black pepper - 1/4 tspn
• Cashews - 5 or Poppy seeds - 1 tspn
• onion -1
• Garlic - 5 pods
• Coconut - 2 pieces
• For Seasoning
• Kalpasi(Black stone flower) - 1
• Cinnamon - 1/2 inch
• Curry leaves
• Oil - 4 tbspn

health tip

Tomatoes are a treasure of riches when it comes to their antioxidant benefits. In terms of conventional antioxidants, tomatoes provide an excellent amount of vitamin C and beta-carotene; a very good amount of the mineral manganese; and a good amount of vitamin E.

method

1. Roast the spices given under grinding till they give out nice aroma and add the coconut, onion and garlic. When the onion and garlic turns translucent turn off the stove and let it cool.
2. If you don't have pureed tomato follow the instructions in this linklink. If you already have frozen tomato puree feel free to use it.
3. When the spices are cooled, grind it all together into a fine paste.
4. Heat some oil in a deep vessel and season it with kalpasi(Black stone flower), cinnamon and curry leaves. Add the ground spice paste along with turmeric powder and chilli powder to the seasoned oil. saute it till the oil oozes out.
5. Add the tomato puree and salt. If needed water can be added. Let it boil till the gravy condenses to a thick consistency and oil separates from the liquid. To achieve this more oil can be added at this point. Add tamarind paste to your taste and turn off the heat.
6. This gravy goes well with rice, roti and parotta.
   Kalpasi(Black stone flower in English) gives the distinct flavor to this gravy. If you can't find it, just use cinnamon.

Eggplant Kootu

Ingredients

• Indian eggplant - 4
• Moog dhal - 1/4 cup
• Onion - 1/2 medium
• Green chilies - 2
• Urad dhal, cumin seeds and curry leaves for seasoning

health tip

Eggplant is an excellent source of dietary fiber, vitamins B1, B6 and potassium. It is also a good source of copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, niacin and folic acid. The skin is rich in antioxidant called Nasunin which helps nourish the brain cells. Potatoes are rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, copper, potassium, manganese, and dietary fiber. They are very high in carbohydrate. Dhal adds protein to the dish.

Eggplant Kootu

method

1. Wash the mung dhal and place it in a deep vessel with some water. Let it cook for 5 minutes. The mung dhal doesn't have to be soft at this time.
2. Dice the eggplants and onion. Slit the green chilies.
3. Add the veggies to the mung dhal and cook them together till the veggies get tender. Add some salt.
4. Heat some oil in a seasoning pan and season it with urad dhal, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add the seasonings to the kootu and mix it well together and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.
   The whole process can be simplified by cooking all the ingredients except seasonings in a pressure cooker for one whistle. Season the kootu when the pressure goes off.

Cabbage Porriyal

Ingredients

• Cabbage - 8 leaves
• Medium Onion - 1
• Green Chilies - 4
• Channa Dhal - 1 handfull
• Mustard, Urad dhal and curry leaves for seasoning

health tip

Cabbage is rich in vitamin C, K and A. Steamed cabbage has more cholesterol lowering capacity than raw cabbage. Short cooked and raw cabbage has anti-cancer benefits.

Cabbage Porriyal

1. Discard the dark green leaves from cabbage and use the pale green leaves by peeling the leaves layer by layer. Peeling the leaves instead of cutting the whole cabbage helps to store it for longer time. Wash the leaves in water. Cut the middle hardy part and trash it. Fold the leaves lengthwise and slice it into thin strings.
2. Slice the onions and slit the green chillies halfway from the middle.
3. In a wide bottomed pan heat some oil and season it with mustard and urad dhal. When the mustard starts to splatter add a hand full of channa dhal and curry leaves and green chillies.
4. When channa dhal turns golden brown, add sliced onions. After a minute add the cabbage and saute it till it shrinks in quantity. Add some salt to taste. There is no need to add water. Depending on your personal preference, you can turn off the stove when the cabbage is little crunchy or let it cook till it gets softened.
5. This porriyal goes well with rasam and sambar.
   Shredded coconut or scrambled tofu can be mixed in with the hot porriyal to enhance the taste.

Mysore Pak

Ingredients

• Channa dal flour(Besan) - 1 cup
• Ghee - 2 cups (Can be substituted with one cup of ghee and one cup of oil)
• Sugar - 2 cups

Mysore Pak

method

1. Roast the besan in a tava for 2 minutes.
2. Melt the ghee or ghee and oil to lukewarm. Add half of the mixture to the roasted besan and make batter without lumps. Let the remaining ghee sit in low flame till needed.
3. Pour the sugar in a non stick vessel with half a cup of water and turn the heat to medium. When the sugar is dissolved (no need to boil for longer time) add the besan batter and stir continuously.
4. Pour the hot ghee into the basen and sugar mixture at regular intervals. Pour two ladle full of ghee at first and stir continuously till the ghee gets absorbed. Repeat the process till all the ghee is emptied out. When you pour the hot ghee into the batter, it sizzles and bubbles at the top. This process helps to cook the batter from the top.
5. Keep stirring for another 5 or 10 minutes till the batter doesn't stick to the vessel. From time to time pour a drop of the batter into cold water and check if it reached soft ball consistency (At around 235° F–240° F the batter dropped into cold water will form a soft, flexible ball. If you remove the ball from water, it will flatten like a pancake after a few moments in your hand).
6. When it reaches soft ball consistency turn the flame to low and let the batter sit for another one minute. Keep stirring till the end.
7. After a minute transfer the batter to a greased plate and let it cool for 10 minutes.
8. When it gets cooled a bit, cut it into pieces using a greased butter knife or regular knife. Don't wait for the batter to get completely cooled. This recipe yields around 16 to 18 pieces.

Tamarind Dates Chutney For Chatt

Ingredients

• Tamarind Pods - 1/2 cup or Tamarind paste (store bought) - 1 tspn
• Dates - 1/2 cup
• Chatt Masala - 1 tspn
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn
• Jaggery - 2 tspn
• Salt - 1/4 tspn

Tamarind Dates Chutney

method

1. Soak the tamarind pods in 1/2 cup of hot water for 20 minutes and squeeze out as much pulp as possible. Thick pulp is needed for this recipe. To get the consistency soaked tamarind can be blended in a blender and the pulp can be extracted by running it through a sieve. If using tamarind paste, dilute it with 1/4 cup of water.
2. Soak the dates in another bowl and grind it to fine paste
3. Mix tamarind and dates pulp together along with other listed ingredients. Add some water if needed. Taste the chutney and adjust the ingredients to your preference.
4. Cook the chutney in stove top or in microwave till the chutney starts to boil.
   
5. This chutney can be stored in fridge for 2 weeks.
For longer shelf life store the chutney in freezer. It is easy to scoop out using an ice cream scooper.

Handuvo Or Vegetable Cake

Ingredients

• For batter
• Raw Rice - 2 cups
• Channa dhal - 1 cup
• Yogurt - 1 1/4 cups
• Vegetables
• Shredded Ash Guard or Bottle Guard - 2 cups
• Chopped methi Leaves - 1 cup
• Onion And Shredded Carrot (Optional) - 1/2 cup each
• Chopped coriander leaves (Optional) - 1 cup
• Green Chili Paste - 3 tspn
• Ginger Paste - 2 tspn
• Eno(fruit salt) or Baking Soda - 1 tspn
• For Seasoning
• Oil - 4 tbspn
• White Sesame Seeds - 2 tbspn
• Dry Red chillies - 4
• Hing - 1/2 tspn

health tip

This is a balanced food with protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals.

Handuvo Or Vegetable Cake

method

Handuvo is a Gujarati dish made with shredded vegetables, rice and channa dal. This can be compared with adai from Tamil Nadu. Just like adai, you can also use a combination of toor dal and channa dal in this recipe. The handuvo batter can be made into a uttappam or baked as a cake. In India, Handuvo is prepared on a coal stove with coals placed on top and bottom of the vessel for even crust formation on both ends. If using oven, you may use the broil setting at the end of cooking to achieve the same effect.

1. Wash and soak the rice and dal for four hours.
2. Grind it into a coarse paste with little water.
3. Mix the yogurt and salt to the ground paste. Let it ferment overnight. It won't rise to the top as idli batter. Just letting it sit in a warm place is enough.
4. Next day add all the ingredients listed as vegetables including baking soda or eno.
5. In another pan season the oil with the listed seasonings.
   
   Be wary of adding water while grinding. The batter should not be thin. Adding shredded veggies will make the batter even more thinner. The final product should be at the consistency of cake batter. If lot of water stands at the top after adding veggies, remove some of it with a spoon.
   
6. Mix a tablespoon of the seasoned oil to the prepared batter.
   Handuvo flour can be prepared for future use by grinding dry rice and dal and store it in powder form.
   
7. Grease a baking pan with oil and fill up 3/4 of the pan with the mix. Spread the remaining seasoned oil evenly on the top(Optional- You can sprinkle some more sesame seeds at this time to give the cake a textured look). Bake it at 375 degrees for 40 minutes and turn the oven to broil for 5 minutes. Depending on the oven and altitude baking time may vary. Check it from time to time by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the Handuvo is done. Then you just need to let the crust form by turning the oven to broil.
   

Rasam

Ingredients

• Toor Dal - 1/4 cup
• Tomatoes - 2
• Tamarind - 3/4 tspn(Paste) or small lemon size pods
• Garlic - 5 pods
• Coriander Leaves - For garnishing
• Rasam Powder - 2 tspn
• Jaggery - a pinch
• Black Pepper, Cumin Seeds, 2 Dry Red chillies and Curry Leaves for seasoning

health tip

Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin C & anti-oxidants.Spices in this recipe induce the secretion of gastric juice, which helps in digestion. Toor dal has protein. Garlic has anti bacterial properties.

Rasam

1. Cook the toor dal with some turmeric powder & water till the dal gets mushy. I usually make bigger batch and freeze it in ice cube tray for later use. Two cubes would be enough for this recipe. Having the frozen toor dall and rasam powder at hand helps me to make the rasam in a jiffy.
2. Chop the tomatoes, & extract tamarind juice if using tamarind pods.
   Using little bit of ghee along with oil for seasoning also gives a nice flavor.
3. Heat some oil in a pot & season it with cumin,black pepper, broken chillies & curry leaves. Add the bruised garlic & chopped tomatoes. Saute it with salt till the tomatoes gets mushy.
   Instead of sauteing the tomatoes, microwave the tomatoes for two minutes & add it to the seasoning
4. Add the rasam powder and let it cook for few more minutes. Now add water and cooked toor dal along with tamarind extract and a pinch of jaggery. Add more water if needed. When the rasam is about to boil turn off the stove. Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves & serve it hot.