Bottle Gourd Chutney/Sorakkai Thogayal/Lauki Chutney

I always try to have a collection of different types of chutneys because they can be used as a side for almost anything - idli, dosai, rice or as a spread for toast etc. My favorite is always rice + ghee + thuvyal = YUM! :). South Indies Restaurant in Bangalore makes this awesome bottle gourd chutney as a part of their lunch buffet and though I tasted it only once, I remember how much I loved the thogayal. So tried recreating the chutney and it turned out super delicious and flavorful.

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 15 min
Cook time - 20 min

Bottle Gourd/Lauki/Sorrakai - 1 small sized, cut into medium sized pieces and washed well.
Onion - 1 Medium sized, chopped roughly
Dry Red chilli - 3
Green chilli - 1
Garlic cloves - 3
Coriander leaves - 1 small handful
Curry Leaves - 1 small handful
Tamarind - small lemon sized,1 piece
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Channa Dal / Bengal Gram dal - 1/2 Tbsp
Hing - a generous pinch
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - as per need
Oil - 4 tsp

To Temper

Oil - 1 Tsp
Mustard - 1/2 Tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few

How do you do it

1. Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing, cumin seeds, channa dal, dry red chilli and let them roast for a few seconds.

2. Add the onion, garlic, green chilli, curry and coriander leaves and saute till onions are done.

3. Add the bottle gourd pieces, salt, turmeric and tamarind now and cook covered for 10-15 minutes until all the water evaporates and the rawness of the veggies go away.

4. Cool and grind the mixture and transfer to a bowl.

5. Heat oil again in a pan, add mustard seeds to pop and roast urad dal and curry leaves. Pour this tempering over the chutney.

Absolutely delicious with ghee rice, dosai, idli etc.

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Mint Tomato Chutney

Mint and Coriander are the most favorite herbs in my kitchen. I make coriander chutney quite often to go with ghee rice but mint leaves in most cases is reserved for chicken based dishes. S loves mint and often requests for this mint chutney but somehow I don't make it very often. I have tried many different versions of mint chutney but was never really satisfied with the taste. My last weekend trail with mint chutney was absolutely delicious and decided to make this version more often. Its a great side dish for dosai or idlis.

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook - 10 min

Mint leaves - 2 handful
Onions - small sized 2, chopped roughly
Tomato - 2 medium sized chopped roughly
Grated coconut - 2 Tbsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil - 1 Tsp

To roast and grind
Channa dal - 2 Tbsp
Dry red chilli - 4
Oil - 1 Tsp

To temper
Oil - 1 Tsp
Hing - a generous pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
Urad dal - 1 Tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

How do you do it

1. Heat a tsp of oil and saute the channa dal and red chillies until golden brown. Keep aside. In the same pan, saute the mint leaves for a couple of minutes until they shrink in volume and is cooked well. Keep aside and cool.

2. Heat a tsp oil, add chopped onions and saute until translucent. Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder and half the salt now and cook until they turn soft and mushy. Keep aside and cool.

3. Blend everything together along with grated coconut and salt with required water into a smooth paste.

4. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add hing. Add mustard - let it pop, add urad dal - let it brown, add curry leaves and pour it on top of the chutney. Mix well.

Serve with idli/dosai

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Asparagus Coriander Chutney

Heloooo! Yes I am back! :-). So many things have been going on lately that i just haven't been cooking at all and the blog had to be neglected. To cut the long story short, this blog has moved to the West. So thats like a huge affair and I am still running around setting up my home here, and getting all other things done so we can settle down into a routine quickly.

I am in the phase of getting to know my kitchen and its members - my dishwasher, dryer, cooking range, oven, electric pressure cooker- all of them. I am hoping we can hit it off well very soon :). Its been only a couple of days since I have started cooking in my new coil range [ which I absolutely dont like at the moment, why cant people just use gas aargh!] and I had some issues at first, but now I am thinking I have got the hang of it. Almost!

I dont have quick access to an Indian grocery store here and so I had to buy the veggies available in the local market like - asparagus, zucchini, chayote etc which I must admit I never bought in India. I dint see a point in paying the extra money to get these veggies back home. I am better off using the seasonal veggies that is commonly available. So I am going to get into the same system here - get these western-vegetables and do what I enjoy doing most - Indianise them ;).

Asparagus is something I have been wanting to cook with for a while. I have a very vague memory of having an aspargus soup in barbeque nation in Bangalore and that was pretty much it, I never saw asparagus again. Something new for our dinner today - asparagus-coriander chutney which was really delicious and I am sure is going to be a part of our menu often. I have half a pack of asparagus left and I am going to be back with a yummy soup for this winter season. All said and done I am glad to be back here in this space. Hope you guys enjoy this recipe.


Ingredients

Serves - 3
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook time - 10 min

Asparagus stalks - 10 , stems trimmed, and chopped into small pieces
Coriander - a handful
Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped roughly
Tomato - 1 medium sized, chopped roughly
Garlic cloves - 3
Dry Red chilli - 3
Mustard - 1 tsp
Hing - 1/4 Tsp
Urad dal - 1 Tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 Tsp
Saunf/Fennel - 1 Tsp
Salt - as per need
Oil - 1 Tbsp

To temper

Oil -1 tsp
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Urad Dal -1 Tsp

How do you do it

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add hing,mustard - when it crackles, add jeera and saunf. Let them roast. Once done, add the chopped onions and saute till translucent.

2. After the onions are cooked, add the chopped garlic, saute for 2 minutes. Add tomato pieces, 1/2 the amount of salt required, wait for the tomatoes to becomes soft and mushy - 3-4 minutes.

3. Add the chopped asparagus now and drizzle 2 tbsp of water on top and cover and cook for 5 minutes till they become tender.

4. Add the coriander leaves and red chilli now and saute for a minute. Switch off flame and cool the mixture.

5. Once cooled, grind with 1/4 cup water to a smooth paste. Transfer to bowl, add the remaining salt and mix well.

6. Now to prepare the tempering, heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add mustard,let it crackle, add urad dal, let it brown. Transfer this to the chutney. Mix well.

Serve with Idli/Dosai or mix this chutney with ghee rice for a very healthy delicious dinner.

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Roasted Aubergine Chutney

Chutneys are a great savior when you are in a hurry to ruffle up something. Also a great way to take in veggies that you may not be fond of.I use a basic kara [spicy] chutney recipe and try to include a different veggie each time to grind along with it. This was one such experiment.The end result was a very flavorful chutney which we liked very much. :)

Roasted Aubergine Chutney

Ingredients

Serves - 4 
Spice Level - Quite Spicy

Japanese Eggplant/Aubergine - 1
Red chilli - 5
Onions - 2 Medium sized chopped roughly
Tamarind - a small lemon sized ball
Urad dal - 2 Tbspn
Curry Leaves - a handful
Jeera - 1 Tbspn
Garlic cloves - 3
Mustard - 1 Tbspn
Shredded coconut - 2 Tbspn
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 3 Tbspn

To temper

Oil - 1 Tbspn
Mustard - 1 TBspn
Urad dal - 1 Tbspn


Method

Apply oil on the eggplant and roast it on open flame for 10-15 minutes until the outer layer shrinks and you are able to peel it easily. I use a steel wire mesh and place it on top of the flame and let the eggplant sit on it easily while roasting.I also used a wooden skewer to insert through the eggplant , so I could rotate the eggplant to make sure it was getting roasted on all sides when put on open flame.

Once roasted well ,drop the eggplant in a bowl containing cold water to cool it. Peel the outer layer of the eggplant completely and cut into medium sized pieces and keep aside.

Heat a pan with 3 Tbsp oil in it. Add mustard seeds, let it splutter, add urad dal and jeera and let it roast.Add the chopped onions and garlic and saute till translucent. Now toss in the roasted eggplant pieces and saute for 5 minutes. Add in the dry red chilli,shredded coconut, tamarind piece and curry leaves and saute for a couple of minutes.Cool and blend into a smooth paste.Transfer this to a serving bowl , add salt and mix well.

In a kadai, heat a tbsp of oil ,add mustard and after it splutters add urad dal and let it roast till golden brown.Pour this over the chutney and mix well.

This chutney goes well with idli/dosai. You can mix this chutney with ghee and rice too or serve as a sandwich spread.



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Coriander Chutney/Kothamalli Thuvayal

Kothmalli thuvayal is one of our favorites, and we usually have this with ghee rice along with a nice gravy or with idli/dosai.It feels so comforting  when its mixed with curd rice especially . Its one of my "lick off the plate completely" food. :)

Coriander Chutney

Ingredients

Spice Level - Medium
Serves - 3

Coriander Leaves - 1 bunch - washed and picked.
Onion - 2  Medium, chopped roughly
Jeera - 1 tsp
Saunf - 1 Tsp
Garlic cloves - 5
Tamarind - size of quarter of a lemon
Green chilli - 3-4 
Grated Coconut - 4 Tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Oil - 2tbsn
Water - 1/2 cup
Salt - as per taste

Method

Heat a pan with oil. Add mustard and when it splutters, add urad dal, jeera and saunf - let it roast. Throw in the onion, garlic,green chilli and saute them. Saute till the onions are translucent.Now add the tamarind, grated coconut, saute for a min.Add coriander leaves and saute till the raw smell of the leaves vanish.Switch off flame.

Cool the mixture and blend with 1/2 cup water to get a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl ,add salt and mix.Eat happily along with ghee rice and vadagam like me or with Egg Dosai,how S likes to have it. :)

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Milagai Chutney

This Onion-Tomato-Coriander-Chilli cutney often comes to my resuce when i want to rustle up a really quick absolutely delicious side dish for dosai/idli/paniyaram/appam/adai and so on - an accompaniment with almost any "batter" based dish.

Milagai chutney

Ingredients

Onions - 3 big chopped roughly
Tomato - 2 chopped roughly
Red Chilli - 3
Coriander leaves - a handful
Mustard seeds- 1 tspn
Urad Dal - 1 tspn
Oil - 2 tspn
Salt - as per taste

To Temper

Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 2 tspn

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, and when they crackle, add the urad dal. When the urad dal turns brown, add the onions and saute it just until its about to turn brown. Now add in the chopped tomato and salt and saute it till it becomes soft and gives out its juice. Add the coriander leaves and red chilli, and saute for a minute or two and switch off flame. Cool it and blend into a fine or coarse paste in the mixer. Transfer this to a serving bowl.

Now heat oil in the same pan and add  the given ingredients under "To Temper". Pour this over the chutney. Serve hot with idli/dosai

We had them with godhumai[wheat] dosai's for dinner. :)

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