Baingan Bartha

Baingan is Brinjal and this dish is more like a ‘kathirikai masiyal’ that we’ve in south India. Here we like to eat it with steamed rice while in north it is preferred with rotis mainly. Traditionally for Baigan ka bartha, large eggplants are chosen and charred on stove before the skin is peeled to prepare bartha as I din’t get large ones I just chopped them fine and used in the recipe. This is so flavourful and totally different in texture from other Brinjal recipes and so even people who detest Brinjal would like to try it.

Serves:  3

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Brinjal large – 1 or small -4

2.    Tomato large – 1

3.    Onion medium – 1

4.    Salt to taste

5.     Oil – 1 tbsp

6.    Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp

7.     Asafoetida – 1 pinch

8.    Coriander powder – 1 tsp

9.    Chili powder – 1 tsp

10. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp chopped

Method:

Step 1: Char the large brinjal directly on stove on all sides. Cool it, wash, peel the skin and slit to check for worms and mash it with masher chop if using small ones.

Step 2: Alternatively chop the small brinjals into small cubes as I have done.

Step 3: Heat oil in a tawa, temper with cumin seeds and asafoetida.

Step 4: Sauté with it finely chopped onions then add coriander, chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt in that order. 

Step 5: Add little water if required and let it get cooked. Add chopped brinjal if using small ones and mash it using potato masher.

Step 6: Else when done add the mashed large brinjal to it and stir well.

Step 7: Serve with rice/ rotis.

Milagai Pachchadi

At our home this is one of the regular side dishes that accompany the pongal which is prepared on the day of Pongal festival. We just love it so much for this stimulates our taste buds by rendering a mixture of tastes; sweet, heat, salt and sourness. It is not frequented at home as it is pretty much concentrated and so we indulge as and when prepared. Apart from pongal it goes well with curd rice.

Yields:  1 cup

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Green chilies – 5-10 (depending on the heat of chilies)

2.    Tamarind extract – ½ cup

3.    Jaggery – half a lemon size

4.    Salt to taste

5.     Gingelly oil – 1 tbsp

6.    Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

7.     Curry leaves – 1 sprig

8.    Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds in it, add curry leaves, asafoetida and green chilies to it. Sauté until green chilies let out a nice aroma and turn whitish.

Step 2: Dissolve jaggery in ½ cup of water, filter and add it to the pan.

Step 3: Add the tamarind extract, salt and boil in simmered heat until becomes thick. Adjust salt, sour and sweet if required at this stage.

Step 4: Serve with steamed rice or curd rice. This can be stored for few days.

Beetroot Chutney

We both also like chutneys a lot like most south Indians, so I am keen about trying out varieties of chutney to go with idly/dosa. Yesterday I tried beetroot chutney; I did not pick up the recipe from anywhere in specific. I simply worked on the chutney protocol with the 2 weeks old beetroots I had. Kundan liked it to my surprise; though it is slightly sweetish, it only balances the sourness, salt and heat of chilies.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1.     Beetroot – 2

2.     Green chilies – 2

3.     Tamarind – 2” strip

4.     Salt as per taste

5.     Oil – 1+2 tsp

6.     Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

7.     Urad dal – ½ tbsp

8.     Asafoetida – 1 pinch

9.     Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Method:

Step 1: Peel and roughly chop the beetroot.

Step 2: Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kadai and sauté green chilies and beet in it till soft and done. Let it cool. Soak tamarind in some water.

Step 3: Grind the beetroot, chilies, soaked tamarind, and required salt with some water into a grainy paste. Add more water if required.

Step 4: Prepare tempering by heating 2 tsp of oil, spluttering mustard seeds, roasting urad dal & curry leaves in it and sprinkling asafoetida.

Step 5: Mix the prepared tempering to the ground chutney and serve with idly/ dosa or even steamed rice.

TIPS:

*You can combine carrot and beetroot in this recipe.

*Sauté a couple of shallots along with beetroot to enhance the chutney flavour.

Mint-Coriander-Curry leaves Thokku

Whenever the women of a family is planned to absent for some days from cooking, we have a habit of preparing thokku (pasty pickles) so that people at home can have it with idli or dosa or plain rice or even rotis. As a descendent of this custom, I had made this mixed thokku before my fil's surgery. I had all three greens and for convenience I had used all of them in this recipe, it did taste well with all flavours felt; generally it is made with one of the three greens in the same procedure.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1.     Mint leaves cleaned – 1 cup

2.     Coriander leaves cleaned with stem – 1 cup

3.     Curry leaves cleaned – 1 cup

4.     Green chilies – 2

5.     Ginger – 1” piece

6.     Red chili powder – 1 tsp

7.     Salt as per taste

8.     Tamarind pulp as required

9.     Gingelly oil – 3 tbsp

10.   Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

11.   Asafoetida – ¼ tsp

12.   Fenugreek powder – ¼ tsp

Method:

Step 1: Grind all leaves, green clilies and ginger into a smoot paste with minimum water possible.

Step 2: Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, sprinkle asafoetida and pour in the ground green paste.

Step 3: Add tamarind pulp, salt and chili powder and adjust these three by tasting.

Step 4: Simmer the stove and stir occasionally to avoid burning at the bottom.

Step 5: The thokku is done when moisture in it evaporates and oil separates. Turn off heat when done.

Step 6: Once cool store in a clean and dry air-tight container.

Mint Chutney

As Kundan is very fond of pudina I make pudina thovials frequently but I prepare pudina chutneys only for chaats. Yesterday, I had prepared a hybrid of thovial and chutney to accompany dosa. To be honest he didn’t like it as much as his favourite thovial but what I liked was the bright green colour & taste. It was very fresh and you can feel the taste of mint while in thokku or thovial though the flavour is stunning, the taste is dominated by tamarind, dry chilies and salt.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time 20 minutes (for cleaning mint)

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Mint – 1 bunch

2.    Coconut grated – 2 tbsp

3.    Ginger – 1” piece

4.    Green Chilies – 3

5.     Tamarind – 1” piece or 1 tbsp pulp (Alternatively you can add juice of half a lemon)

6.    Salt as per taste

7.     Oil – 1 tbsp

8.    Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

9.    Urad dal – ½ tbsp.

10. Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Clean and wash the mint leaves thoroughly. Sauté it in a tsp of oil only until it softens and colour changes. Let it cool down.

Step 2: Prepare tempering by sprinkling asafoetida & spluttering mustard seeds in oil and then roasting urad dal in it till brown. Keep this aside.

Step 3: Sauté green chilies in the same kadai with grease left in it.

Step 4: Now in a mixer jar take mint, coconut, peeled & sliced ginger, green chilies, tamarind, salt and grind it well. Add water as required and adjust salt.

Step 5: Take it into a serving bowl and pour the prepared tempering over it.

Step 6: Serve with idli or dosa.

5 Condiment Chutney

This chutney was an instant idea that I got for dinner today; however, this combination of the ingredients is a familiar one to us as gravy-base. The proportion is what I have tweaked to give a chutney form; I basically tried to prepare ginger chutney and eventually added other ingredients. Ginger is the base and I added onion and garlic for flavour, tomato for tanginess and coconut for texture; it worked perfectly well. It is not only easy and tasty but also healthy because the ingredients are raw ground and sautéed minimally to keep nutrients intact. I cannot call it an invention but it definitely is an innovation.  Kundan just loved it.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Ginger - 4” piece

2.    Garlic – 6 cloves

3.    Shallots – 5

4.    Tomato - 1

5.     Coconut – 2 tbsp grated

6.    Gingelly Oil – 1 tbsp

7.     Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

8.    Asafoetida – 1 pinch

9.    Chili powder – 1 tsp

10. Turmeric powder – 1 pinch

11. Salt to taste

Method:

Step 1: Clean and roughly chop peeled ginger, garlic, shallots and tomato.

Step 2: Grind into a coarse paste the chopped condiments along with grated coconut.

Step 3: Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, sprinkle a pinch of asafoetida and add the ground paste.

Step 4: Add enough salt, chili powder and turmeric and stir for few minutes.

Step 5: Serve with idli or dosa.