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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Murungakai Puzhi Kuzhambu

I love tangy curries and kara/Puzhi kuzhambu tops the list. Veggies like drumstick, ladies finger, radish are best suited to make this kind of kuzhambu. The tanginess and spice is imparted to the vegetable and they taste awesome. Puzhi Kuzhmabu, a poriyal and some papad - makes for an awesome lunch on a cold day.

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - High
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 20- 30 min

Drumstick - 1 , cut into medium sized pieces , half cooked in a cup of water [ microwave for 3-4 minutes on high]
Shallots/Small onion - 15 peeled
Garlic pods - 10 peeled
Tomato - 1 , chopped
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
Tamarind - size of a lemon
Water - 3 cups
Kuzhambu powder - 4 Tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 Tsp
Salt - as per need
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil - 3 Tbsp
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Hing - 1/2 Tsp
Fenugreek - 1/2 Tsp

How do you do it

1. Make a thick tamarind extract by using 1/4 cup water and the lemon sized tamarind piece. Mix 3 cups of water to it, add the coriander powder, kuzhambu powder mix well. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing, mustard , fenugreek , curry leaves to temper. Add the shallots and garlic pods and saute well until the shallots turn translucent. Add the tomatoes now, some salt and turmeric and cook till they become soft and mushy.

3. Add the drumstick pieces along with the water used to cook it in and boil for a minute.

4. Add the tamarind extract prepared in step one now, remaining salt, simmer flame and close the lid of kadai.

5. Cook until the curry is reduced in half/thickened or until oil floats on top.

Serve with appalam and steamed rice.


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Kumbakonam Kaddapa

Kadappa is very famous kumbakonam side dish for idli/dosai. Its a cross between sambar and kurma and a combination that I normally wouldn't think of putting together.

I was really bored of the usual idli-dosai side dishes and wanted to cook up something entirely different. I googled immediately and this kadappa recipe came up. I quickly searched the ingredients list and saw moong dal, potato and a coconut paste. This combination sounded quite weird. And then i thought- I like moong dal, potato - yum, and coconut paste - mm-mm, so whats not to like right? ;). So decided to give this recipe a shot and I was pleasantly surprised at its different yet yum taste. Sometimes certain combinations don't strike a good chord immediately but this one did :). I was happy at discovering this authentic kumbakonam recipe! For me, from now on kadappa goes into my usual list of dosai accompaniments :-).

Kumbakonam Kadappa

Ingredients

Modified from here

Serves - 3
Spice Level - Moderately spicy
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 15 min

Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Potato - 1 Large
Green chilli - 1, sliced thinly
Onion - 2 , sliced thinly lengthwise
Tomato  - 1 , chopped or juice of 1/2 lemon
Coriander Leaves - 1 Tbsp , to garnish
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - as needed

To Temper

Oil - 1 Tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Bay Leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Mustard - 1 Tsp
Curry Leaves - to sprig

To grind to a paste

Coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chilli - 2
Fennel - 1 Tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 Tsp
Poppy seeds [ khas khas ] - 1 Tsp
Garlic cloves - 2
water - few tbsp to grind with

How do you do it

1. Firstly pressure cook the moong dal with a pinch of turmeric and mash and keep aside. Also pressure cook the potatoes and mash roughly and keep aside.

2. Grind the items under " To grind to a paste".

3. Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing,bay leaf, cinnamon and mustard , jeera - let them roast. Add curry leaves and onion, green chilli and saute till onions are translucent. Add in the tomato pieces, little salt and saute till they are soft and mushy. They should let the juice out.

4. Add the mashed dal and potatoes and stir well. Simmer flame now, as you don't want the dal and potato mix to get burnt. Add in 2 cups of water, remaining salt and mix well. Let them come to a slow boil.

5. Maintain low flame. Add in the coconut paste now and mix well and bring to a slow boil. Let it boil on low flame for 2 minutes. Adjust consistency of the curry at this stage.

6. Switch off flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with crispy dosai.

Notes

You can skip the tomato and add juice of half a lemon, but you need to add lemon juice at the end after switching off the flame.

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Chettinadu Egg Curry

I have been thinking about making this egg curry for almost a month. The thought planted itself on my mind and wouldn't get out until I made it. This happens often with me , I would plan on making a curry the next day, and some how for what ever reason that wouldn't happen. I will spend the next few days visualizing the dish and start craving for it and it would tease me until I got around to do it. This was one such curry. So one fine Sunday afternoon for lunch, we had egg curry with peas pulao.

This chettinadu egg curry is from the book "Authentic chettinadu" which was given to me as a wedding gift. :). I haven't cooked much from it, usually Amma is my source for all the chettinadu stuff, but she doesn't make egg curry that often at home and I liked the version in the book. Its a spicy dish that should pair up quite well with dosai , idli, plain rice as well as any variety rice.


Chettinadu Egg Curry

Ingredients

Recipe Source - Authentic Chettinadu curries book

Serves - 2
Spice Level - High
Prep Time - 20 min
Cook time - 15 min

Egg - 4 [hard boiled, and peel the skin]
Shallots - 10, chopped well
Tomato - 1 Large - chopped finely
Masala/Curry powder - 1 Tsp
Coriander Leaves - few tbsp chopped finely
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Curry Leaves - 2 Sprigs
Hing - a pinch
Salt - as per need
Turmeric - a pinch

To grind to a paste

Shredded coconut - 5 Tbsp
Dry Red chilli - 2
Pepper - 1 Tbsp
Garlic cloves (small) - 5
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Cumin -1 Tsp
Fennel - 1 Tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 Tsp
Cashews - 4
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
Water - few tbsp to grind with

How do you make it.

1. Dry roast the ingredients under "to grind to a paste" on low flame except cashews and curry leaves until it slightly starts to brown and you get a good aroma. Cool and blend including the curry leaves and cashews with few tbsp of water into a fine paste.

2. Make slits in the boiled egg so the curry can get in. Just make light slits, not too deep, we dont want the egg to break when its added into the curry.

3. Heat oil in a kadai. Add jeera, hing and curry leaves. Let it roast. Add shallots and saute until they are translucent. Add the tomato pieces , little salt and turmeric and cook until they are soft and mushy and let out juice.Add the masala powder and cook for a minute. Now add in the paste and saute for a few seconds. Add 3/4 cup water and remaining salt and let the curry boil. Adjust consistency of the curry according to your needs here - add more water if you need a loose curry or let it boil to thicken if you want a thicker consistency.

4. Once the curry reaches the correct consistency and the paste has cooked well, add the egg pieces and coriander leaves and wrap gently. Switch off flame.

Allow the gravy some resting time before serving.

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Onion Chutney

I was to leave for Switzerland that week and was busy emptying up my vegetables stored in the fridge :). On the night we were to leave I was left only with onions and some coconut. I was googling for onion chutney and saw this recipe and made it immediately. This is a spicy Andhra chutney that went super well with Idlis. :)

Onion Chutney

Ingredients

Recipe Reference - Adapted from Cooking with Pedatha

Spice Level - Quite Spicy
Serves - 4

Onions - 3 Large , roughly chopped
Dry Red chilli - 6
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Thick Tamarind juice - 2 Tbsp
Grated Coconut - 2 Tbsp
Jeera - 1 Tbsp
Urad dal - 1 Tbsp
Fenugreek - 1 Tspn
Mustard - 1 Tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 Tbsp

To temper

Oil - 1 Tbspn
Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
Mustard - 1 Tspn

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add hing, mustard seeds,jeera,urad dal and fenugreek and let it roast. Add the dry red chillies and saute until it turns a dark shade. Now throw in the onions and ginger and saute till they are done well. Add in the grated coconut , saute for a minute and switch off flame.

Cool and blend with the tamarind juice and little bit of water. Transfer to the serving bowl.Add salt and mix well.

Heat oil in a tadka ladle, add mustard, let it splutter and add curry leaves. Switch off flame. Pour this tempering over the chutney. Mix well.Serve with idlis/dosai :)


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Vengaya-Poondu Kuzhambu/Onion-garlic Kuzhambu

Many a times I get bored with the dal based sambar and long for kara kuzhambu. Especially when I make some poriyal/paruppu usili or dal based sides I long for this one. So here is the recipe of a spicy vengayam-poondu [Onion-garlic] Kara Kuzhambu. I made some modifications to my basic chettinadu kara kuzhambu recipe and it turned out very yum. :)


Vengaya Poondu Kara Kuzhambu

Ingredients

Serves - 3
Spice Level - quite spicy

Small onion/shallots/sambar onion - 15
Garlic cloves - 15
Tomato - 1 chopped into small pieces
Tamarind - 1 big lemon sized ball
Curry leaves - 2 sprig
Mustard seeds - 1 Tspn
Sambar/Kuzhmabu powder - 3 Tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Salt - as per taste.
Fenugreek - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 tspn
Hing - 1/2 Tspn
Oil - 4 tbspn

To roast and grind

Oil - 1 tspn
Cumin/Jeera - 1 Tspn
Coriander seeds - 1 Tbspn
Dry Red chilli - 3
Khus Khus - 1 Tspn
Coconut grated - 2 Tbspn


Method


Firstly heat a kadai with 1 tsp oil and roast the ingredients in the same order as given under "To roast and grind". Cool it and blend with little water to a fine paste and keep aside.

Extract thick tamarind juice out of the tamarind piece, add 2.5 cups of water to the extract. Add 3 Tbsp of sambar/Kuzhambu powder to the tamarind-water mix and dissolve well and keep aside.

Now heat a pan with 4 Tbsp oil. Add hing, mustard - let it roast. Add cumin seeds, fenugreek and let it roast. Add curry leaves, shallots and garlic and saute well till the shallots and garlic are cooked well. The raw smell of the garlic has to vanish and shallots must turn pink.Now add the chopped tomatoes, a pinch of salt and turmeric powder and let the tomatoes get cooked well.Once the tomatoes are mashed well, add the tamarind-water-powder solution to the kadai , add remaining salt, the ground paste and mix well. Add more salt/kuzhambu powder if needed at this stage. Close the kadai with a lid, move flame to low and let it boil in low heat. Once the kuzhmabu thickens, or is reduced to 1/3rd of initial quantity , or when the oil starts floating on top, remove from flame. This will take 15-20 minutes.Be patient.

Serve with hot steamed rice and some poriyal of your choice. A very satisfying lunch indeed. :)



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Easy Chettinadu No-curry powder Sambar

You can prepare sambar for idli/dosai/idiyappams in 15 minutes . Really :). This is usually my comfort food - Idli +Chettinadu sambar. When I have been deprived of Indian food for long during vacations , and get back home, this is first thing I make. This sambar is extremely simple and soothing. A week without this combination is enough for me and S to start longing for it.Now on to the recipe.


Easy Chettinadu No-curry powder Sambar

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Quite Spicy

1.  Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
2.  Tomatoes - 2 Large - chopped into medium sized pieces
3.  Potatoes - 2 Medium - chopped into medium sized pieces
4.  Brinjal -  1 Large - Chopped into 5 pieces6
5.  Green chilli - 6 slit lengthwise, chopped in half
6.  Onion - 1 Large - chopped well
7.  Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
8.  Jeera - 1 Tspn
9.  Turmeric - 1/4 Tspn
10.  Water 2 cups

Salt - to taste
Thin Tamrind extract - 2Tbspn [optional]

To temper

Oil - 2 Tbspn
Mustard - 1 Tbsp
Urad Dal - 1 Tbspn
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig


Method

Take a pressure cooker and toss in all ingredients from 1-10. The water level must be around 1 inch above the vegetables/dal.Mix well. Pressure cook for 15-20 minutes, moving the flame from high to sim after the first whistle.Let the cooker cool off. Open the lid ,heat the cooker containing sambar ,add salt and tamarind extract [if using] and stir well with a ladle.Let the sambar boil.Add more water if needed and adjust consistency according to your needs.Some people like the sambar to be more loose. Also the dal will be mostly mashed well after 20 minutes of pressure cooking.

Meanwhile heat 2 Tbspn oil in a small pan. Add mustard , once it splutters add urad dal. Once the urad dal browns, add curry leaves and switch off flame. Add this tempering to the sambar and boil for 2 more minutes.Switch off flame and transfer to serving bowl.

This is the sambar we make for idli/dosai/pongal/idyappams/vadai.

Note

1. Tamarind extract is optional. Since i have added two large tomatoes, I haven't used tamarind extract. If you would like it to be more tangy, you may use it.



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Medhu vadai / Lentil Fritters

Wishing you all a very happy belated Tamil New year. So on to some festival food. :)
Medhu vadai or Ulundu vadai is a standard item in all South Indian breakfast specials. It is the absolute favorite of most Indians I have come across. I hardly know people who don't like vadai. If I am having breakfast in any restaurant in south India, this is sure to be one of my orders. In my household, this is sure to make an appearance in almost all special occasions . I made this a couple of days back for Tamil New year. :)

This is one of the special items that took me some time to get the hang of it. I still cannot say I have mastered it. :) . It needs practice to get the round shape with the hole , you should also know what consistency the batter has to be and a few other pain points.

Medhu Vadai

Ingredients

Makes roughly around 20 vadais

Urad dal - 1 cup
Raw Rice - 2 Tbspn
Toor Dal - 1 tbspn
Salt - as per taste

Onion - 1 Large finely chopped
Green chilli - 5 finely chopped
Curry leaves - 2 Sprigs , crushed well
Coriander leaves - 2 Tbspn , chopped well.

Oil - for deep frying - 2 cups

Method

Soak the urad dal, raw rice, toor dal in water for 45 minutes, water level must be well above the dal in the container. Drain excess water and grind it in your mixer with as little water as possible. This step is very important, add as much water as needed for your mixer blade to rotate well  without getting jammed. if you are able to grind without any water - great!. Max you can add maybe 2 -3 Tbspn of water.Grind till you get a smooth fluffy texture of the dal.

Transfer to a container. Add salt, and the chopped onions,green chilli,curry leaves and coriander leaves to it. Mix well.Now the dough is ready for the vadais.

Heat oil in the kadai to fry the vadais.Now take a polythene sheet and wipe it with water. Have a bowl of water by your side - jus to dip you hands to get rid of the dough in between frying and making the vadai shape.

Pinch a medium sized ball of the dough, and place it on the polythene sheet. With you index finger , make a hole in the center of the dough and get the shape as in the picture above.Once done transfer the dough from the polythene sheet [must retain the shape you have made and must not collapse] to your right hand and drop in hot oil.The oil must be moderately hot. Let the vadais fry for a couple of minutes in medium heat, then turn it over to get the other side done. Drain on absorbent paper.

Serve hot with chutney/sambar. Idly sambar and vadai is the perfect Tamil breakfast. Nothing can beat this classic trio. :)

Notes

1. If you are not able to shape the dough as said , and it collapses, you might have used excess water while grinding. The dough needs to be tight for vadais to hold the shape.If you run into this, dont worry, just drop them like bondas, it will still taste good. :). The first time I attempted vadais, thats what I did. ;). As a remedy, you can try freezing the batter for a couple of hours and then try to shape it [This works, i have tried this]. Another fix might be to powder 2 tbspn of aval [poha/flattened rice] and mix it along with the dough, freeze it for 2 hours and try again. [My Paati's suggestion]

2. If your vadais are absorbing too much oil, again the reason is , you may have used excess water while grinding. Adding a couple of tbspn of rice flour might help in this case. I have already added raw rice to the ingredient list due to this.

3. So the key point is to make sure to use as little water as possible while grinding.

 
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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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Potato-Peas-cauliflower Kurma

This vegetable kurma is a great side dish for chapathis or Kerala coin parathas. It is a coconut based white gravy flavored with mild spices.Its a quick one if you have grated coconut ready in your pantry.

Aloo-Mattar Kurma

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderate

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Badams/Almonds - 6
Jeera - 2 Tspn
Saunf - 1 Tspn
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 Tbspn
Green chilli - 4
cloves - 2
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Tomato - 1 Finely chopped
1 cup of chopped mix veggies, - I used potato,peas and cauliflower.
Oil - 2 Tbspn
Jeera - 1 Tspn
Salt -  as per taste
Turmeric - 1/4 Tspn


Method

First grind the first 7 ingredients with 1/2 cup water to a fine paste. Keep aside. Boil the chopped veggies till its half-cooked. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add jeera and let it roast. Add in the chopped onions and saute it till translucent. Add chopped tomatoes salt and turmeric. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and juicy. Now add in the ground paste , and saute for a couple of minutes. Add about 1 cup water and let it simmer in low heat for about five minutes.Now throw in the half-cooked veggies and let them cook through in the gravy. Add more salt if needed. Also add in water if needed to get desired consistency.Switch off flame. Serve with hot chapathis :). Simple NO?



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Authentic ChettinaduTherrakal/Coconut Gravy with brinjal and potato

This is another authentic Chettinadu dish . The coconut based gravy is used as a side dish for dosais and Idlis. It is super yum and this preparation never fails to impress. This curry has been a super hit in all parties that I have hosted until now:).

Therakkal

Ingredients

Brinjal - 2 medium sized, chopped into small pieces
Potato - 1 Medium sized , chopped into small pieces
Tomato - 1 Medium sized, chopped.
Onion - 1 Large , chopped finely
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 Tspn
Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

To Temper

Mustard - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 Tbspn

To dry roast and Grind

Mustard - 1 Tbpn
Jeera - 1 Tbpn
Raw Rice - 2 Tbspn
Fenugreek - 1 Tspn
Saunf - 1 Tspn
Khus Khus - 1 Tspn
Dry red chilli - 4
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup


Method

Heat a pan and dry roast the following - throw in mustard, jeera,raw rice, fenugreek,khus-khus,saunf one after the other. Let them roast for a minute or two.Then add in the grated coconut and dry red chilli. Roast for couple of more minutes and switch off flame. Cool and blend in a mixer with 1/2 cup water to a smooth paste.

Now in the same pan , heat 2 Tbsp of oil. Add mustard and when it splutters, add jeera ,let it roast.Add in the onions,curry leaves and ginger-garlic paste. Saute till onions are translucent.Add the tomatoes and saute till its soft and juicy.Add the brinjal pieces and saute till soft. Now add the ground paste and 1.5 cups of water, and let it boil. When it boils, toss in the potato pieces, and cook till they are half done. Add salt and cook on low flame till the potatoes are fully done and all the flavors in the curry come together. Add more water if you would like to loosen the gravy.

Serve with hot idli, or freshly done dosais. Awesome combination I tell you!.


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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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Kathirkai Kosmali/Brinjal-Potato stew

Kathirkai kosumali is a very authentic chettinadu dish which best goes as a side dish for idli/idiyappam or dosai's. Its a regular in the breakfast served in our weddings. This is one of my favourite and somehow i dont make it as often as i would like to. I always make this when i have brinjals in excess and need to finish them off.

The dish doesnt look very appealing due to brinjal's color. But looks are definitely deceptive in this case. :)

Kathirkai Kosmali/Brinjal-Potato stew

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Medium

Brinjals - 4 medium sized , each cut into half
Potato - 2 medium sized, peeled and each cut into half
Onion - 1 large , chopped finely
Tomato - 1 medium sized , chopped
Green chilli - 3 slit lengthwise
Garlic cloves - 3 chopped
Thin Tamarind extract - 4-5 Tbspn

Mustard - 1 tspn
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Hing - a pinch
Oil - 2 Tspn
Salt - as per taste

water - 3 cups


Method

First , pressure cook the brinjals and potatoes together well with 1-1.5 cup water. Now pick the brinjals and potatoes from the cooker and transfer them to a plate. You should be able to easily peel the outer layer of the brinjals. Thow away the peel/outer layer. Mash the brinjals and potatoes with a ladle.No need to mash the potatoes completely, its good to leave a few potato pieces here and there unmashed [Like in the picture above]. Keep this aside.Save the water remaining in the pressure cooker to add into the curry.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing, add mustard , let it crackle, add urad dal, jeera,let them roast, add curry leaves. Now throw in the onions, green chillis and garlic coves. Saute till onions are translucent. Now throw in the tomatoes and add little salt. Stir well , close the kadai with the lid. Stir ocassionally,and saute tomatoes till they are soft and let out the juice.Now add in the mashed brinjal-potato mixture mix well, add 2 cups of water,along with the water in which the brinjals and potatoes were cooked. Add more salt and let it boil for a minute or so. Now add the tamrind extract.Let the stew boil in low flame for 5 minutes. switch off stove.

Serve hot with idli/idayappam/dosai. :)

Notes

1. Add more water if you prefer loose curry

2. While adding tamrind extract tbspn by tbspn, make sure to taste in between, so that it doesnt get too tangy. The way i prepare tamrind extract is more diluted than how it is generally prepared. So adjust the quantity of tamarind extract as per your taste.

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