Coconut Chutney | White Coconut Chutney | South Indian Thengai Chutney with Pottu Kadalai | Easy Side dish for Idly/Dosa/Uthappam/Pongal | Vella Cutney

This is one of the most versatile and easy chutney that you can ever make. You know why versatile, coz it can be paired with almost many of the South Indian tiffins/breakfast dishes like idly, dosa, uthappam, pongal, upma, vadai etc etc.. It is a simple, clean and yet another ready in a jiffy recipe :) Since it is a basic recipe I am tagging it under basics here :) Most of the households would have a variant of this chutney recipe yet some of the ingredients remain the core ;) Grind, taste, adjust and repeat.. That's how you roll when you are a beginner. After a few times you will get the hang of it. So let's see how this simple humble chutney is made..

Serves: 4 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

I Used:

Grated Coconut	-	½ cup
Green Chilly	-	2 nos
Ginger	-	An inch piece
Fried Gram/Pottukadalai	-	2 tbsp
Salt	-	As Needed
Water	-	As Needed

To Temper:

Oil (Coconut/Sunflower)	-	2 tbsp
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Curry Leaves	-	2 sprigs

The Way:

1. Take the grated coconut and ginger in a mixer jar. Add little water (¼ cup) and grind them coarsely

2. Now add the green chilly, fried gram dal/pottu kadalai and salt and grind them nicely to a smooth (as smooth or coarse as you want) consistency

3. In a tadka pan, heat oil. Splutter mustard seeds

4. Then add the curry leaves. Switch off flame

5. Add the tadka to the chutney

Serve with idly, dosa, uthappam, pongal !

Notes:

• Use freshly broken & scraped coconut. The taste really differs when you use even a day old (refrigerated) coconut

• While you grate there will be some red or brown coloured scrapings as well. Avoid them for this chutney as it will affect the colour ;)

• Avoid using old coconut and also kopra

• Add water according to the consistency of the chutney that you need. I would suggest using less water while grinding. Add more if needed once you grind and transfer the chutney to a container

• For runny chutney you can add more pottu kadalai but be cautious if you do not like the taste

• Ginger is optional. Pottu kadalai is also optional. Add both or either one or none as per your liking

• Adjust the chillies as per your taste. Quantity of ingredients given are guidelines and can be adjusted to suit personal tastes

• You can use the green chillies which has become ripe and turned red in colour. They might slightly change the colour of the chutney but tastes yum

• If the chutney becomes too runny, add more grated coconut and grind

• While tempering can add a tsp of urad dal as well

Cheers,
Chitz

Pudalangai Poriyal (without coconut) | Padavalanga Upperi | Snake Gourd Stir Fry

Snake Gourd boiled with onion & sauteed with Roasted Gram

Friends & fellow mates, I am back from THE long vacation. Food, food & food everywhere. Savoring the chakkas & maangas & payasams (Jackfruit, Mango, & Kheer), I had a really good foodie vacation. And yes, you could say that it was this so called writer's block that took me a week after I am back, to post something new !! Or is it my lethargy or the need to clean & set up my home as it was before ;) Anyways, the reasons could be plenty, but the point is that it's been a long long time since I took a serious peep into my blog & so I am back with a vegetarian side dish :)

This is a very simple easy to make recipe with a slight twist in the climax. Who doesn't like a twist, isn't it !! Usually we add grated coconut or roughly ground peanuts at the end of a veggie stir fry. For a change, it is roasted gram this time.. Or as u may call it, pottu kadalai or udacha kadalai (chutney dal or fried gram). Taste is high & also the crunchiness. A very taste effective way to substitute your daily share of coconut, right? So shall we dive into the recipe??

I Took: 30 minutes

Serves: 2-3 portion

Recipe Source: Ma

I Used:

Snake Gourd (Pudalangai)	-	½ cup
Onion	-	1 no (medium sized - chopped)
Roasted Gram (Udacha Kadalai)	-	1 tbsp
Red Chilly Powder	-	1 tsp
Turmeric Powder	-	½ tsp
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Salt	-	As Needed

The Way:

1. Clean (discard the middle soft portion) & cut snake gourd into small cubes
2. Grind the udacha kadalai coarsely in a mixer/blender
3. In a pressure cooker add the diced snake gourd, chopped onion, red chilly powder, turmeric powder & salt. Add a little water & mix
4. Pressure cook the gourd for a whistle and release the full pressure immediately. This is to allow the gourd to cook & at the same time to prevent it from getting mashed
5. In a kadai, heat up 2 tsp oil. Splutter mustard & curry leaves
6. Add the cooked snake gourd to it & saute for it to become dry leaving off the excess water
7. Add the coarsely ground udacha kadalai & mix well & remove from fire 

Serve hot with rice & Sambar

Cheers,

Chitz

Bittergourd Pitla | Pavakkai Pitla

Bitter Gourd & chickpeas cooked in mashed lentils and ground masala

I am not a big fan of bitter gourd unlike Deeps. But I do feel the need to eat it coz of its benefits to health viz good for the stomach and skin, reduces diabetes etc etc .. Yea, I am sounding boring. So does the sight of bitter gourd to me. So I make all efforts to look and taste as interesting as possible. That was when I remembered that my mom used to make this 'Pavakkai Pitla' and how I used to lick my fingers after eating that without any complaints of the bitterness of 'bitter gourd'. So here is the recipe for the gravy 'Pitla' to all those who would wanna enjoy the benefits of bitter gourd without much credit for its bitterness part :D Some other recipes with bitter gourd that are there in the blog are Pavakka Puli Kuzhambu, Pavakya Pulin Curry, Bitter Gourd Fry & Khatta Meeta Karela..

Recipe Source: Ma's Cookbook

I Took:

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Cooking Time : 25 minutes

I Used:

Tur Dal	-	½ cup
Channa	-	½ cup - boiled
Bitter Gourd	-	1 no - medium sized
Tamarind	-	20 gm or small lemon sized
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Salt	-	As needed
Oil	-	As needed
Mustard seeds	-	To temper

Roast & Grind:

Red Chilly                             - 6 nos Coriander seeds                    - 4 tsp Urd Dal                                 - 2 tsp Roasted gram/Pottu Kadalai/Udacha Kadalai - 2 tsp  Coconut                               - ¼ cup Asafoetida                            - ½ tsp Curry leaves                         - A sprig

The Way:

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a kadai and fry the bitter gourd in it for a few minutes and keep aside
2. In the same kadai roast all the ingredients under the Roast & Grind section. Grind them with a little water and keep aside
3. Soak the tamarind in water for about 15-20 minutes and extract the juice
4. Heat tamarind juice in a pan and add the bitter gourd pieces to it
5. Add salt, turmeric and allow it to come to a boil
6. Now add the boiled and smashed tur dal and boiled channa 
7. Add the ground paste and cook in slow fire for another 10 minutes
8. Temper mustard seeds and add it to the gravy

Serve it with boiled rice and raita.

Note: 

The actual recipe doesn't call for garlic. But I added 2 pods while boiling tur dal for gastronomical reasons 

Cheers,

Chitz