Onion Chutney

One of the good habits that I picked up from my husband’s family is to eat less of chilly powder (idli milagai podi) with idlis and dosa. Ofcourse the peril of this new found habit was to keep finding new chutney recipes so we do not get bored with coconut or tomato chutneys. I came across this onion chutney recipe in a cook book in my collection. I have not quite done it exactly as per the book but eventually my chutney turned out well.
Onions as everyone may know is an extremely important vegetable in Indian cuisine for all right reasons. It is said that onion can reduce blood sugar levels. The chromium in the onions is suppose to be an important trace element required for the body. Onions are also supposed to help reduce growth of some cancerous cells.
1 or 2 red onions grated
3-4 dry red chillies
Salt to taste
Asafoetida
One pinch turmeric powder
Less than ¼ teaspoon tamarind paste
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
Dry roast the chillies and keep aside. In a deep dish, add cooking oil and temper the mustard seeds. Add turmeric powder and asafoetida and grated onions. When the onions are half cooked, add tamarind paste and cook until raw smell of onion goes and it all comes together. In a mixie, grind the roasted chillies and onions coarsely and season as required. Onion chutney ready!! This tastes best with idli and dosa. I had this the next day with rice and some oil and tasted great. I am also thinking of using it as a spread in bread sandwich for a snack.

Microwave Doodh Peda

Doodh Peda (Milk sweet)
As it has been a while since I posted a sweet dish recipe and also that we have successfully completed our visit to India, here comes a quick and easy sweet dish. I find this recipe ever so handy mainly because it can be done in one dish and in a microwave within about five minutes. It is quite handy if you are making a quick visit to someone’s place or having sudden guests. The first time I tried this was when my brother was visiting us the first time after his engagement. This is one of his favourite sweets and a must buy in a shop called Murari sweets in Kumbakonam. While I had very many things lined up and also had to watch my little one while my husband was cleaning, this dish was a quick hit. My husband put a peda in my brother’s mouth just as he entered. I remember looking for its recipe sometime back but unfortunately I am not very sure where I found a good one. My key constraint was that I did not have butter in stock and this recipe worked well for me.
1 tin of condensed milk (about 1and ¼ cup)
1 and ¾ cup milk powder (I used the skimmed milk powder)
Pistachio kernels/cashew nuts/almonds coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon ghee (optional)
Saffron (optional)
Microwave safe dish

Mix the condensed milk and milk powder in a dish and ensure it is well mixed. When I did it the first time I thought I may need to add milk but this ratio works just fine and you will attain a gooey mixture. Cook this on high for a minute and stir. Add few strands of saffron if you like and stir. Again cook for a minute and stir. Continue the same but stir every 30seconds. Depending on the microwave, you may achieve required consistency in the third or fourth minute. Take a small pinch and roll between your fingers, if it does not stick to your fingers, then it is done. Now while it is still hot, make small balls and flatten them in your palm to make the pedas. Once all pedas are made, press pieces of the nuts on them while still warm. It is important that you do not overcook the peda as it may turn hard and also making them while still hot is important else they will not retain shape. In order to be able to withstand the heat, I greased my hands with ghee but that is optional. Doodh Peda is done within minutes !!

Mor Sambar

Thank god, I had the opportunity to visit my native place Kumbakonam during this vacation and also do my favourite activity of shopping in front of Kumbeswaran temple. This is a nice long stretch with shops on both sides selling indigenous utensils, gift articles, junk jewellery and toys among other things. While my mom was buying the ‘Pambu Panchangam’ for us, I was looking for cookery books and came across this ‘Samaithu Paar’ (Cook and See) by Meenakhi Ammal. It has some interesting traditional recipes and this was one of them. Me being me, I could not just go strictly by a book and had to do it my way while taking the idea and key ingredients from the book.
This is a very simple recipe and is slightly different from Mor kuzhambu and pachadi in terms of preparation but way different from the two by taste. Here is my version of this simple recipe...
½ cup toor dal (pigeon peas)
1 cup sour curd/yogurt
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
6 dry red chillies
2 green chillies
Salt as required
1 cup cubed and cooked pumpkin
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 sprig curry leaves
Rinse the dal and soak in water just enough to cover the dal for about 20 minutes. In a deep dish add oil and mustard seeds. After it stops spluttering, add fenugreek seeds, red chillies (break them open), grated ginger and green chillies (just cut them into two pieces before adding. Also add curry leaves followed by the sour curd and cooked pumpkin. To cook the pumpkin, just boil in water or if desired add little tamarind juice to the water. In the meantime coarsely grind the soaked dal and add with rest of the ingredients in the deep dish. Allow it to boil once and cook in low flame throughout. Season with required amount of salt and serve.
You could do this dish with brinjal (egg plant) or ladies finger (okra) by just stir frying them in little bit of oil. The dal in the dish is helpful towards daily protein intake in a vegetarian diet. Due to the nature of ingredients and also because the spices are not ground, this dish will taste best if allowed to rest for about half a day with the flavours from fenugreek soaking and heat from the chillies oozing !!