Brinjal Rasavangi

This dish is dedicated to my Mom who is a wonderful cook. Every dish of hers is finger licking lip-smackingly tasty.

This dish tastes yummy with hot steamed rice with a dollop of ghee and vendakkai (Bindi) deep fried.
Even people who may not like brinjal will love this dish.

Ingredients:

1/4 kg tender brinjals cut into small pieces.
(Keep them soaked in water or else they will become black)
Toor dal 1/2 cup
1/2 lemon size Tamarind
Salt to taste
2 tbsn kabuli chana


For paste:
2 tbspn Dhaniya seeds
1.5 tbspn Channa dal(kadalaparuppu)
5 Red chillies.
1/4 cup Coconut , desiccated

For garnish:
1/2 tbsp Oil
1tsp Mustard
1 sprig curry leaves
A pinch of hing

Method

Cook toor dal in pressure cooker, mash and keep aside.

Soak 2 tbspn Kabuli channa overnight and pressure cook until tender.

Soak the Tamarind with salt and extract the juice.

Roast the dhaniya, channa dal, red chillies and grind into paste.

Roast the coconut in a drop of ghee and keep aside.

Cut brinjal and cook halfway with soaked Kabuli channa.

Add Tamarind juice and cook till soft.

Add the mashed toordal the paste and let it cook for five minutes.

Season with roasted coconut, mustard seeds, hing and Curry leaves.

Kathrikkai rasavangi is ready to serve.

Milagu kuzhambu

Ingredients:
Tamarind , one big  gooseberry size.
Salt 1 tsp

To roast and grind to paste:
2 tsp urad dal
1.5 tsp pepper corns.

To garnish
1Tbsp Gingelly oil
1/2 tsp mustard
A pinch of hing/Asafoetida.
1 sprig curry leaves or karuveppilai.

Clean and soak the tamarind for 1/2 an hour. Extract the juice and keep aside.

Roast the urad dal and pepper corn in a pan and let it cool

Grind them  to a smooth paste.

Mix into  the tamarind juice without any lumps.

Add half a pinch of raw hing/asafoetida and let it boil till the raw smell goes.

In a heated pan add gingelly oil and as soon as the oil is hot add mustard seeds, half a pinch of hing and curry leaves and pour it on the milagu kuzhambu.

Mix with hot steamed rice with gingelly oil .Tastes yummy with paruppu thuvayal and sutta urad dal appalam.

Paruppu Thuvayal:

This is a very tasty and simple thuvayal and goes best with Milagu kuzhambu.


Ingredients:

3 tablespoons Toor dal
2tsp Pepper corns
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste


Roast the toor dal and peppercorns in a drop of oil in low flame till the dal turns golden brown.
Let it cool.

Grind with a pinch of hing/asafoetida and salt  adding water little by little.

Serve with hot steamed rice, a dollop of  milagu kuzhambu ,1 tsp gingelly oil and sutta appalam.

Tastes really yum.

Lemon rasam

Lemon rasam:-

This is again a very huge favorite in our house.
It is a compulsory dish in each Iyengar's house on Dwadasi.

Ingredients:
 1/2 cup Toor dal
 Juice from 1/2 a lemon.
 1 tsp Rasam powder.( see my earlier blog)
1/2 inch ginger.
1 green chilli
1 medium sized tomato
a sprinkle of hing powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

To garnish
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp mustard
1 sprig curry leaves
a handful of fresh coriander leaves
a pinch of Hing powder.

Wash the dal and add  the turmeric and water .
Place in pressure cooker  and let it cook for 4,5 whistles so that the dal is well cooked.
 Once cool, take it out and mash the dal nicely .
Slit the green chilli. Dice the tomato. skin and scrape the ginger.
In a vessel, add the mashed dal, chilli, tomato, ginger and Rasam powder, 4,5 curry leaves and a sprinkle of hing powder along with salt.
Let it simmer till the tomato pieces become soft.
Take it off the fire and  let it cool a little.
 Meanwhile heat a pan, add ghee and add the mustard seeds. once the splutter, switch off and add hing and curry leaves and pour it on the rasam.

Add the lemon juice, mix well and  sprinkle coriander leaves and serve  with hot steamed rice and ghee.
Note: This Rasam should not reheated as the lemon juice  will turn bitter.

This Rasam  Rice tastes great with Pudalangai kootu and roasted appalam.

Daal for Lemon Rasam on the boil

Lemon rasam

Pudalangai poricha kootu

Pudalangai Poricha kootu:-

Ingredients:

1 medium sized snake gourd, washed and cut into pieces
1/2 cup yellow moong dal
1 tbsn scraped coconut
1/2 tspn pepper corns
1/2 tspn jeera
salt to taste

to garnish:
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp channa dal
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera
1 sprig curry leaves(karuveppilai)

Wash the dal and snake gourd, add a 1/4 tsp turmaeric powder and keep in the cooker with  water just enough to  cover the dal and  vegetable.
Switch off after two whistles.

Grind the coconut, peppercorns and jeera to a smooth paste.

 Open the cooker and take out the veg and dal.

Add the coconut paste, salt and  let it simmer  for 5 minutes.
Heat the ghee in a pan and  fry the channa dal and urad dal one by one.
Switch off and add the jeera and  curry leaves.
Add it to the kootu and switch off and serve hot
This makes a great side dish with rasam and steamed rice and ghee.
I love to eat this with hot rice and ghee  with avakkai or lemon pickle  and appalam.

Pudalangai poricha kootu

Mango Bhaji

Manga Bhaji (mango morkozhambu)
This is a  typical Iyengar dish and seriously, it is an acquired taste.


What goes in:
1 Raw Mango, cut into pieces.

Raw mango

2cups curd, whisked nicely.
2 green chillies, slit
2 Mor Milaga ( Green chillies soaked in salted buttermilk and sundried)
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 Fenugreek seeds
A pinch of Hing(Asafoetida)
Salt to taste.

Wash and cut the Mango into big pieces.
Pressure cook with very little water and let it cool.
 Whisk the curds in a vessel and add salt.
 Heat a pan and add a little oil and add the mustard seeds and Fenugreek seeds. As soon as they splutter, add green chillies and Asafoetida and switch off.
Fry the mor milagas  in a little oil and add it to the pan.
Add the curd to the mixture.
 Once the Mango is cold, add it to the curd. Check and adjust for salt.
This dish can be  had with hot steamed rice and ghee, and is great as a side dish for Dosa, Poori, etc.  and tastes like  Khadi.

Steamed mango

Mango bhaji