Curry Leaves Pickle/ Karuveppilai Thokku

In my childhood days when we were sent to buy vegetables from the local market they gave us curry leaves & coriander leaves as compliments; these days in the departmental stores they seem to be price-tagged separately. In Chennai we still get these as compliments from some vegetable vendors. This seems a very trivial thing but that gesture is a feel good thing because there is an old belief linked to this; they say curry leaves are not to be bought and anyway they shouldn’t be omitted also, so we get them gifted by veggie vendors. Okay, that could be a superstition but a harmless one.  A lot of such accumulated compliments took form of thokku in my kitchen last week. Curry leaves are extensively used in south Indian cooking especially for tempering the dishes and are known to aid in hair loss and premature graying of hair in addition to being a rich source of vitamin A.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  20 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Curry leaves – 3 cups

2.    Gingelly oil – ¼ cup

3.    Salt to taste

4.    Red dried chilies – 4

5.     Tamarind – gooseberry size

6.    Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

7.     Asafoetida – ¼ tsp

Method:

Step 1: Soak the tamarind in luke warm water. Seperate curry leaves, wash and let the water drain out completely.

Step 2: Heat a spoon of oil and sauté curry leaves in it until they become supple & aromatic. Transfer into a mixer jar.

Step 3: Fry the red chilies in the same kadai and transfer it to the jar. Turn off heat. Add soaked tamarind along with the water and some salt to the jar.

Step 4: Once it cools down enough grind into a fine paste, add some water if necessary. Adjust taste as required.

Step 5: Heat a spoon of oil the same kadai, splutter mustard seeds, sprinkle asafoetida and pour the paste into it. Keep stirring occasionally and cook open until all the moisture in it evaporates; add the rest of the oil spoon by spoon.

Step 6: Once the oil starts to separate, the thokku is done and store it in a airtight container after it cools down.

Step 7: This is so versatile that it can be served with idli/ dosa/ roti as chutney or for steamed rice as thovial (sort of a dense curry) or for any variety rice as pickle. 

Pasalaikeerai Porial

Green leafy vegetables are one of the few rich nutrition sources accessible even to the poor. We see other vegetables’ prices fluctuate between tens and even hundreds due to seasons, supply, political factors and so on; while the green leafy vegetables’ prices stay almost intact, we only might avoid them during rainy days for hygiene reason. Though low in cost, they are rich in iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin A, phosphorous and magnesium; there are ample of local varieties available in different places and multiple recipes through which we can relish them . This one is a simple and typical keerai porial recipe we’ve eaten as  kids with pappu-chochi (kid’s way of calling dal rice).

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  10 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Spinach (I used pasalai keerai) – 2 cups chopped

2.    Oil – ½ tsp

3.    Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

4.    Onion – 1

5.     Garlic – 5 cloves

6.    Salt to taste

7.     Dry red chili – 1 large

8.    Pepper crushed – a pinch (Optional)

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add broken chili and sauté chopped onion and garlic in it with a pinch of salt until the onion is soft and starts to brown.

Step 2: Add the chopped spinach and stir well; add adequate salt and cook covered for few minutes.

Step 3: Open the lid, stir and cook until the greens are dry outside but still soft and moist inside. Sprinkle pepper at this stage if you want. Pepper can be substituted for chili heat or added just for flavour.

Step 4: Serve with sambar, rasam rice or dal-ghee rice as well.

TIPS:

*Green leafy vegetables require less salt by nature, they are rich in sodium and also they become less in quantity after cooking; so be careful while adding salt. I was given this lesson by amma during my earlier kitchen days yet I learnt only from experience.

Kothu Parotta

Actually I had made it with naan so I should rather call it kothu naan. I have tried to make this not so healthy - damn spicy dish, a less wicked one by adding some veggies [Just a sort of excuse ;)]. The making of kothu parota in the roadside shops while travelling is an attention-grabbing process; the flavour, sound and looks are all quite appealing but the hygiene factor holds us aback. Making it at home with less spice, less oil and some vegetables is a guilt-free way to relish it occasionally. Store bought ready parotas or left over parathas or even rotis can be used apart my my naan version.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Cooking Time:  10 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Naan - 4

2.    Cabbage chopped – 1 cup

3.    Spinach – 1 cup

4.    Tomato – 1 large

5.     Onion – 2

6.    Garlic – 6 cloves

7.     Ginger – 2” piece

8.    Green chilies – 2

9.    Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp

10. Salt to taste

11.  Oil – 1 tbsp

12.Pepper crushed – ½ tsp (optinal)

Method:

Step 1: Pile the naan or roti that you are going to use; cut them into small bite sized squares and crush them slightly between fists to soften a bit. In the roadside shops they typically mince the parotas using dosa spatulas in both hands which makes that tak-tak sound. 

Step 2: Heat oil in a large kadai and fry ginger, garlic, green chilies in it and add onion after a minute and fry until it starts to brown.

Step 3: Add cabbage, tomato and spinach and toss well with required salt. Add the chopped naan and mix well.

 Step 4: Now add tomato sauce and crushed pepper if using and sauté in high temperature by rapid stirring. Adjust salt and spices at this stage. Avoid frying too much to prevent the naan/ parota from getting tough.

 

Step 5: Take out and serve immediately the crisp and juicy kothu parota along with onion raita.