Brinjal (eggplant) rice with tomato-onion-potato raita and veggie chips

Basmati rice and brinjal sabzi mixed for brinjal rice..  with raita and chips

Ingredients for brinjal rice
2 large variety brinjal chopped into small pieces
1 large onion chopped 
2-3 large tomatoes chopped
4-5 cups cooked white rice(any variety)

For Tadka(Saute) and seasoning
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp ginger grated or chopped
- 1 green chilli pepper chopped
- 1 tbsp vanghibath powder(MTR) OR 1 tbsp mixed cumin-dhania-red chilli powder
- finely chopped coriander leaves
- Red chilli powder, Turmeric and salt to taste

Directions:

1. With a fork, separate the cooked rice..  so there are no chunky pieces.  Keep aside.
2. Take oil in a deep wok/pan with a lid, add jeera and keep in meduim heat until it splutters.
3. Add the chopped chilli pepper and grated ginger.  Stir well.
4. Add the onion. Stir and cook for a couple of mins.
5. Add the brinjal pieces, stir well
6. Add in the tomatoes stir well
7. Add salt and turmeric powder to taste and stir well.
8. Add 1/4 cup of water or less, since the brinjal will let out water when cooked but you do need some for cooking, so the vegetable does not burn. 
9. Stir, cover and let cook for a few minutes, repeat until the brinjal is semi cooked
10. Add the vanghibath powder OR the dhania, jeera and red chilli powder.  You can add more or less based on your taste, to make it spicier or less.
11. Stir well, cover and cook.  repeat until the brinjal has cooked completely, sprinkle water if needed
12. As the brinjal cooks and disintegrate.  You will see the oil glistening.  Cook for a couple of mins without the lid reduce heat to lowest setting.
13. In a bowl, remove a few spoonfuls of the cooked vegetable.  I like to keep some vegetable on the side as it tastes great with yogurt rice.
14. Add the rice to the wok/pan and mix it well.  You could add ghee to make it tastier.. :).  Adjust the blend of rice to vege to taste.  Add salt if needed.
15. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with raita and chips

Ingredients and method for making for the raita

Chop fine a Boiled/steamed potato, an onion, and two tomatoes,

Add a cup of blended plain yogurt, mix well and spice with a 1/4 tsp cumin powder and salt to taste.  (Optional - Add sautéed in a drop of oil, 1 finely chopped green chilli and a pinch of mustard seeds)

Tip learnt from mom: Often times brinjal will causes the throat to itch, sprinkle some tamarind dissolved in water to the vegetable while cooking to neutralize the enzyme.

The above is my dysfunctional style of cooking the traditional vanghibath.  Often times, I make the brinjal sabzi to go with chappati's or with yogurt rice.

Avial - Palakkad Iyer delicacy made with mixed vegetables

Avial rice with broccoli, avakai pickle and yogurt on the side
Around - Broccoli-pigeon peas, tender Pumpkin, Raw banana, 
Cooked vegetables and Avial 

Ingredients:

3-4 cups when cut Pumpkin (mathan/perangikai/lal bhopla) light yellow and tender is preferred

3-4 cups when cut Winter melon/pushnikai/elavan/safed bhopla

3-4 Raw green bananas/vazhakai to yield 3-4 cups when cut

1 medium sized potato

2-3 sprigs of Curry leaves
3-4 cups of plain yogurt nicely blended or use thick buttermilk
Turmeric powder and salt to taste

To grind
1 and 1/2 cup grated coconut
10-12 spicy Thai green chillies

To season
1 tbsp coconut oil(taste to make sure it is not rancid)

Directions:

1. Cut the vegetables into finger thin and long pieces 1 and 1/2" long and 1/2 cm wide. Raw banana skin must be pared like you would the potatoes.
2. In a deep wide mouth pan/vessel, add 3-4 cups of water, add curry leaves, turmeric and salt.
3. Add the raw banana and potato first, bring it to boil and cook for a few minutes before adding the winter melon and the pumpkin which cook faster. Add sufficient water as shown in the image above.
4. Cover and cook well. Lower the heat when done.
5. Grind coconut and green chill, add it along with the yogurt to the cooked vegetables.  Add salt as needed..  Mix well and bring close to boiling.
6. Switch off the beat before it reaches a rolling boil else the yogurt will split.
7. Add the coconut oil and stir well
8. Enjoy with steamed rice.

Broccoli side dish recipe can be found here - Tomato Rasam with Broccoli and Soybean vegetable...

Avial and savory pongal are a well known combination, find the pongal recipe here.. Savory and Sweet Pongal....

The above meal is my dysfunctional style of cooking traditional recipes learnt from mom.  

As a main dish avial is mixed with rice, so more gravy is needed.   Avial as a side dish is much thicker in consistency, reduce the water and yogurt quantity used while cooking. also add 1 tbsp of rice flour while grinding, it will help thicken the gravy.

Optional - You can add bitter gourd(parikai/pavakai/karela), snake gourd(podalangai), an drumstick(murungakai/shenga),....remember drumstick takes a long time to cook.  

Simple south Indian meal - Tomato Rasam with Broccoli and Soybean vegetable on the side

Tomato rasam with broccoli and frozen edamame beans or peas on the side
Below- Broccoli and bean with turmeric and salt, Rasam, vegetable

Tomato Rasam

Ingredients:

4-6 medium sized tomatoes cut into 8-12 pieces.

1 cup precooked tur dal(skinned and halfed lentils)
1 tbsp tamarind paste or pulp diluted in 3 cups of water

1 or 2 tbsp Rasam powder (you can use MTR or other brand available in the store or make your own)

1/4 tsp Asafetida  

Turmeric powder and salt to taste

To season
1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter), 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 8-10 whole black pepper dal
3-4 sprigs fresh green coriander/cilantro leaves cleaned and chopped


Directions:

1. Cook the diluted tamarind with rasam powder, asafetida, turmeric, and salt until the raw taste is gone.
2. Add the tomatoes and cook well.
3. Add the precooked tur dal and bring to a rolling boil, a layer of frothe will form on top. Turn off the heat.
4. Season/tadka.  Heat the ghee, mustard, cumin seeds and pepper corns in a small pan. Cover, when they splutter add to the cooked rasam.
5. Add the chopped cilantro
6. Stir well and enjoy with steamed rice.

Broccoli and soybean vegetable
Ingredients:

4 cups broccoli cut into florets(frozen works well, too)

1 or 2 cups of frozen edamame beans or green peas.

2 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp mustard, 1 tbsp udid dal, 1 chopped green chilli optional

Directions: 

1. In a wok, heat the oil, add mustard and udid dal, until spluttered and dal is brown.
2. Reduce heat, add the vegetable and beans/peas, turmeric and salt, sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of water cover and cook until the vegetable is crunchy and cooked.  the raw taste gone.   You can substitute broccoli with cauliflower, or chopped beans or potatoes or carrots....
3. It tastes good when sambhar rice, too.

The above meal is my dysfunctional style of cooking traditional recipes learnt from mom.

Simple Palakkad Iyer Meal - Molagutal rice and yogurt rice with mathan(pumpkin) puli pachadi

The meal with yogurt rice, molagutal rice and pachadi on the side
Below- molagutal, ground paste, pumpkin puli pachadi

Mixed vegetable Molagutal

Ingredients:

Pumpkin (with green edible skin preferred) to yield 2 cups when cut

2-3 Raw green bananas

2-3 small potatoes

2-3 carrots
A handful of cauliflower florets
1 and half cup Mung Dal(skinned and halfed mung bean)
2-3 sprigs of Curry leaves
Turmeric powder and salt to taste
To grind
One cup grated coconut
1 table spoon Cumin seeds ,
4-6 whole red chillies
To season
1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp udid dal, 1 red chilli


Directions:

1. Cube the vegetables, raw banana skin must be pared like you would the potatoes.. If pumpkin skin is thin and edible you can keep the skin on.
2. Wash the mung dal well and add to a large deep pan or vessel add 2 cups of water, a pinch of turmeric. Bring water to boil, lower the heat and allow to half cook for a few mins
3. Add the cut vegetables.. first banana and potato, then the pumpkin ladt the carrots and cauliflower, stir well..  
4. Add 3-4 cups of water enough to cover the vegetable, Add the curry leaves and salt to taste.  
5. Cover and cook, the mung dal should be well cooked and soft and mushy.
6. Add the coarsely ground paste as shown in the picture and bring to a full boil
7. Allow it to boil on a medium flame for 5 mins.
8. To season/tadka.  Add oil and seasoning ingredients to a small pan, cover and heat on meduim flame until the mustard seeds splutter and the dal is brown, add to the molagutal as shown.
9. Stir well and enjoy with steamed rice.

Mathan puli pachadi
Ingredients:
A wedge of pumpkin, thinly sliced should yeild 2 cups
1 tbsp tamarind paste or pulp diluted in 2 cups of water
A small piece of jaggery, gur or a 1/4 tsp sugar
For grinding
1/4 cup grated coconut, 3-4 spicy thai green chillies, one pinch mustard seeds or flakes
For seasoning
1 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard, 1/4 tsp methi(fenugreek seeds), 1 red chilli

Directions: 

1. Add tamarind, pumpkin, turmeric and salt to a wok, cover and cook until the vegetable is soft and well cooked.  You can substitute pumpkin with okra(vendakai/bhindi) or egg-plant(katrikai/baingan/brinjal)
2. Add the ground paste, the mustard is very inportant, it adds flavor, bring to a rolling boil and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Season/tadka with oil, mustard, methi seeds and red chilli.
4. It tastes good when mixed with rice, too.

The above meal is my dysfunctional style of cooking traditional recipes learnt from mom.  A yogurt based raita or pachadi also goes well with molagutal. 

Variations or additions to molagutal - You can also add winter melon, zucchini, snake gourd, or bottle gourd to the molagutal.

Cabbage molagutal is very similar, use same ingredients for grinding and seasoning.  
half cook the mung dal and add finely chopped cabbage, cook well, add ground paste, boil well, season.  It goes well with chappatis or rice.

Spinach or keerai molagutal is slightly different.  Cut and cook the spinach with turmeric and salt. Add pre-cooked tur dal and bring to a rolling boil.  Lightly roast Chana dal, udid dal and two red chillies in a drop of oil to grind with the grated coconut and jeera.  season as above.

Chunda (Sweet and spicy raw mango pickle) in a microwave with unbelievable results

The chunda snob in me didn't think this experiment would be
a success so I skipped the pictures taking.. :)

Mom, this one is for you!  I have described your traditional Chunda making process at the end of this blog!  Wish it were so easy to make in your day!

Ingredients:
- 1 or 2 raw mangoes of large variety,
should yield 2 to 3 cups of grated mango
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp turmeric
- a pinch of salt

For every 1 cup of grated mango
- 1 and 1/4 cups Sugar
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp lightly roasted cumin (jeera) powder
or you could roast and powder whole cumin


Directions:

1. Wash and dry the mango.  Remove the skin and grate fine, squeeze out the juice slightly if it seems very juicy.
2. It yielded 2 cups of grated mango, so I doubled the quantity to - sugar(2.5cups), 1 tsp chilli powder and 1 tsp roasted jeera powder.
3. Add grated mango and turmeric in a large glass microwaveable bow and mix well (the sugar will boil and froth so the bowl must be large, wok shaped is ideal)
4. Add the sugar and mix in with a dry spoon
5. Microwave on high for 2 mins, stir and microwave on high again for 3.30mins (3 mins and 30 seconds), stir.
6. The sugar should be of one string consistency and you are done.  It will thicken as it cools so don't worry if it looks a little runny.
7. Add the roasted jeera powder and mix well
8. Add the chilli powder and mix well
9. Add a pinch of salt to taste.
10. I added an extra pinch or two of salt and 1/2 tsp of chill powder to get the same taste as mom's chunda, this is purely based on ones taste buds. If you have small kids you can decrease the chilli powder to any desired level.  My gujju friends mom made a batch without adding chilli powder and it tasted good, too.
11. Let it cool down completely before bottling in an airtight glass container.  It's ready to eat immediately with roti's, chapatti's, pita bread, bread, thepla....

The above recipe is my dysfunctional take on my mom's chunda and what I found on the WWW in Srivalli's blog "Cooking for all seasons".  The ingredients are almost the same but the process and the time difference 'Whoa!' is all I have to say!  This will explain why! So here goes,

Amma's traditional Chunda making process 

First, my mom who hated any kind of waste, would remove the skin a little thicker and use that to make gol keri with some dry kajur added in.  Unfortunately, you can't make chunda with the skin, so with a sigh I took off the skin with a peeler and put it in the garbage disposal.

Amma had a tall steel vessel for her chunda making, some 10-12 Rajapuri mangoes would be grated, turmeric and sugar added and mixed well.  She would then begin the painstaking process of putting it out in the sun praying it wouldn't rain.  Day after day it would go up on the building terrace, its mouth covered with a fine muslin cloth, to cook in the hot sun, She would check often to see if the crow had pecked at it OR the pigeons were making a mess.  The sugar would cook and melt purely by the heat of sun. May is usually super hot in Bombay.  It took 18-23 days for the desired consistency needed to add the jeera and chilli powders.  There would be a happy dance since we could finally get a taste.  It would take another couple of weeks before it was ready to eat, the longer you waited the tastier it got. 

One year the monsoons came early and she was so reluctant and sad to put it on the stove for 25-30 mins daily, on low heat until it reached the desired consistency, worried that would get spoilt.  We never quite enjoyed that years chunda, we were pickle snobs, thanks to having an expert pickle maker mom. :) 

So now, you know why I did not expect this experiment to be a success, Chunda snob that I am.  I was completely blown away by 'How simple' this whole MW process was and 'How tasty' the final product.  Exactly like mom's except for a little tweak on the salt and the chilli powder.  This one is for you mom! Loved your enthusiasm when it came to cooking and feeding everyone and giving away bottles and bottles of your yummy pickles!

Mangai Thokku (Sweet, Tangy and Spicy mango pickle)

All done when the oil separates out

Ingredients:
- 2 large raw or semi-ripe but firm mango(should be sour for it to taste good) of large variety, cut into small cubes
- 4-6 tbsp sesame(til) oil
- salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp turmeric(haldi) powder
 For seasoning 
 - red chilli powder(1 tsp or more as desired)
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek flakes (methi kuria) or fenugreek seeds(dry fry with a drop of oil and powder)
-  4-6 tbsp sesame(til) oil
- A pinch of asafetida(hing) powder


The cut mango needs to be cooked first

Directions:

1. Wash, dry, and cut the mango into half inch cubes. Scrape the flesh off the seed and add that too.  If you like you can remove the skin, but I prefer it with the skin on.
2. Take 2 tbsp. of sesame oil in a dry wok(kadai) and add the mango pieces with turmeric, cook until the mango is soft, the skin will have a slight crunch and that's okay.
3. Add salt to taste and mix well. TAke off the stove and keep aside.
4. In another wok, take the balance sesame oil and add the asafetida(hing), the fenugreek flakes(methi kuria), and chilli powder, heat until the oil froths a bit, it must not burn.
5. Add the mango into spiced oil and mix well. 
6. Cook, stirring occasionally until the oil starts to separate from the mango.
7. Switch off the stove, let cool and bottle in an air tight container.
8. The thokku will stay good refrigerated for a month. 
9. It tastes really good with dosa, adai, chapatti's, and yogurt rice.

When bottled the oil forms a nice layer on top
this helps with longer shelf life

The above recipe is my dysfunctional take on two of my mom's pickles. The mangai curry and mangai thokku.  We love the crunch of the skin so rarely remove it while eating fresh mango or while making pickles unless its absolutely necessary.

Tip of the day: For longer shelf life of gravies(sambhar, pickles, batter, etc), store bulk amount in a large container inside the fridge.  Spoon out the required amout into a smaller vessel and heat if required and Never pour back the leftovers into the large container.



Mangai curry (Spicy fresh raw mango pickle)

Ingredients:

1 or 2 - Raw mango's of large variety, needs to be sliced as shown.   The mango has to be firm otherwise its very hard to slice into small pieces.

For seasoning 

- salt to taste
- red chilli powder(1/4 tsp or more as desired)
- 1/4 tsp fenugreek flakes (methi kuria) or fenugreek seeds(dry fry with a drop of oil and powder)
- 1 or 2 tbsp sesame(til) oil
- A pinch or shake of asafetida
- 1/4 tsp turmeric(haldi) powder
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Directions:

1. Wash and slice the raw mango, add salt and chilli powder, mix well and let sit for an hour.
2. If using fenugreek seeds;  dry fry, powder and keep aside. 
3. In a deep pan, add the oil, mustard seeds, asafetida, fenugreek flakes, turmeric
4. Heat until the mustard seeds have spluttered.  Add the mango pieces (along with powders fenugreek seeds) mix well on a low flame for 3-5 minutes, stirring until the oil has coated the pieces well, .
5. Let cool and store in an airtight container.   It will stay fresh and crunchy for 3-4 days, a week or longer, if stored in the refrigerator.
6. Tastes good with chapatti's, or yogurt rice

The above is my dysfunctional take on my mom's traditional mangai curry, she added the oil and stuff to the raw mango and it was consumed within a day or two and her mangai thokku, where semi-ripe mango is cooked..  Mine is not cooked like thokku but the heat helps coat the pieces well with oil helping it stay good for a week, longer sometimes here in the US.