Aviyal

Recommended Season :All seasons, but occasionally.
Ingrediants :
Vegetables - 750 gms: Carrot Beans (different kinds of beans - French beans, cluster/runner beans, saber beans and karamani) Cabbage Green peas Bottle gourd Chow Chow Ash gourd Yellow Pumpkin Snake gourd Drum stick Ridge gourd Raw plantain or potato
Grated coconut 2 tablespoons Red chillies 3 or 4 Cumin seeds 2 teaspoons Curry leaves 8 to 10 Rice flour 1 teaspoon

4 or more of the above vegetables can be used to make aviyal in any combination. However, with raw plantain, a low level of chillies may spoil the taste of aviyal. So those who avoid more chillies in food may avoid adding plantain to aviyal.

Cut the selected vegetables into medium sized pieces and pressure cook them adding salt and water (enough to cook them soft). Do not add too much water. Dry roast red chillies and cumin seeds, and grind them with the coconut, adding a little water, to a fine paste. Mix the rice flour with a spoon of water. When the vegetables are cooked, heat them again in a pan, add curry leaves and the rice flour paste, bring to boil and mix well. Turn off the flame, and add the coconut-red chillies-cumin seeds paste and mix well. This can be eaten with rice, roti, adai, etc.

Vegetable Kurma

Recommended Season :occasionally in winter or cool weather.
Ingrediants :
Vegetables - 500 gms: Carrot Beans Cabbage Green peas Raw plantain or Potato
Grated coconut 2 tablespoons Red chillies 3 or 4 Fennel seeds 2 teaspoons Curry leaves 8 to 10 Rice flour 1 teaspoon Cashew nuts 6 or 7 Poppy seeds 1 teaspoon Salt ¾ teaspoon Tomatoes 2 big

Chop all vegetables, sauté them (except the tomatoes) in oil for 5 minutes and cook them till soft. Grind red chillies, poppy seeds, cashew nuts and fennel seeds to a fine paste. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan, add the ground paste and curry leaves, fry till the oil oozes out, add chopped tomatoes, and fry till they are mushy. Add the cooked vegetables and salt, and simmer on a slow flame till you get a thick gravy. Turn off the flame, add the grated coconut, mix well and serve.

Vegetable Koottu (Poricha Koottu)

Recommended Season :All seasons.
Ingrediants :
Split green gram (dehusked) 1 cup (Or Turdal)
Vegetables - 300 to 400 gms : (Chow Chow Yellow Pumpkin Snake gourd Ridge gourd Ash gourd (*) Cabbage (*) Bottle gourd Carrot Green peas)
Grated coconut 2 tablespoons Red chillies 2 or 3 Cumin seeds 2 teaspoons Curry leaves 8 to 10 Mustard 1 teaspoon Black gram 2 teaspoons Asafoetida a pinch Turmeric powder a pinch

Mostly only one vegetable is used for koottu. Green peas may be added to koottu along with any other vegetable. Carrot is not a preferred vegetable for this dish, but it may be added to another vegetable like chow-chow or bottle gourd. [(*) When making koottu with ash gourd or cabbage, Bengal gram is more suitable than the other dals. Cook Bengal gram separately and later, add to the cooked vegetable.]

Soak the dal for half an hour in water. Remove the water, wash well and drain the water. Cut the selected vegetable into medium sized pieces and add to the dal. Pressure-cook the vegetable and the dal together adding turmeric powder, salt and water (enough to cook them soft). A pinch of sambar powder may also be added.

Dry roast red chillies and cumin seeds, and grind them with the coconut, adding a little water, to a fine paste. Heat 1 or 2 teaspoons of oil or ghee in a pan, add mustard and black gram, when black gram turns pink, add the asafoetida, cooked dal and vegetable, and curry leaves. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes, till it blends into a soft mass. Turn off the flame, and add the coconut-red chillies-cumin seeds paste and mix well.

When making koottu with cabbage or ash gourd, pressure-cook the Bengal gram alone, adding turmeric powder and enough water to cover the dal. Heat 1 or 2 teaspoons of oil or ghee in a pan, add mustard and black gram, when black gram turns pink, add the asafoetida, curry leaves, the vegetable and salt. Sauté for 5 minutes, add ½ a cup of water and cook covered till the vegetable becomes soft and cooked. Then add the cooked dal, mix well and cook for 5 minutes, till it blends a little. Turn off the flame, and add the coconut-red chillies-cumin seeds paste and mix well.

A different taste may be brought to this dish when you replace just one ingredient. Instead of roasting cumin seeds, shallow fry black gram with red chillies in ½ teaspoon of oil, till the dal turns pink, grind with coconut and add this paste after turning off the flame. Rest of the process remains same.

Sambar

Recommended Season : All seasons.
Ingrediants : Turdal 1 cup Any vegetable 2 cups Mustard 1 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds ¼ teaspoon Red chillies 1 or 2 Curry leaves 8 to 10 Asafoetida a pinch Turmeric powder a pinch Sambar powder 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons Salt 1 teaspoon Tamarind lemon sized Coriander leaves handful (optional)
Vegetables that are suitable for sambar are - drum stick, lady’s finger or okra, yellow pumpkin, capsicum (and if the taste is preferred, chow-chow or bottle gourd may also be used, in combination with carrot.)

Method One

Cook turdal in a pressure cooker till soft. Wash tamarind and soak it in water for half an hour. Cut the vegetable. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil or ghee in a pan, add mustard, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, and when the mustard pops, add asafoetida, curry leaves, the vegetable, ¼ teaspoon salt, and turmeric powder. Mix well, sauté for 5 minutes, add ½ cup of water, cover and cook till the vegetable becomes soft.

(The vegetable, other than okra, may be pressure cooked earlier and added, so that cooking in the pan can be skipped.)

Squeeze the tamarind, filter the juice, and repeat the process by adding more water till the tamarind does not contain any more juice. Add this tamarind juice, sambar powder and ¾ teaspoon salt, and let it boil on high flame for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, till the volume of water reduces a little. In the meanwhile, mash the cooked dal and when the tamarind juice is cooked, add the dal, and a little water if necessary, mix, bring to a boil once and turn off the flame. Add chopped coriander leaves if the taste is preferred.

If okra is used as the vegetable for sambar, at least 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil or ghee should be heated, and after adding okra to the pan, it should be shallow fried to be crisp or roast and water should not be added before it is properly fried.

Method Two (Arachu Vitta Sambar/Kozhambu)

The same process as given in Method One is to be followed in this method too, except for addition of a masala paste and grated coconut to be added to the sambar to give it extra flavour.

More Ingrediants Red chillies 1 or 2 Bengal gram 1 tablespoon Coriander seeds 2 teaspoons Grated coconut ½ cup

Shallow fry in a teaspoon of oil, red chillies and Bengal gram (till it turns pink), and coriander seeds separately (till you get a nice aroma), as coriander seeds tend to get over fried very quickly. Grind these fried ingredients to a fine paste, adding water.

At the time of adding dal to the sambar, add this paste also, mix, bring to boil and turn off the flame. Then add the grated coconut and mix well. Since this paste contains red chillies, reduce the quantity of sambar powder to ½ teaspoon.

Plantain chips would be a great accompaniment to sambar rice. But salt or chilly powder should not be added to the chips.

Rasam

Recommended Season : All seasons.
Ingrediants : Ghee 1 or 1 ½ tablespoons Mustard 1 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds 3 or 4 (very few) Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon Asafoetida a pinch Tomatoes 2 or 3 big Curry leaves 8 to 10 Turmeric powder a pinch Salt 1 teaspoon Rasam powder 1 heaped teaspoon Sugar 1 teaspoon Coriander leaves ½ cup

Chop the tomatoes into small pieces (or grind them in a mixer to get a smooth paste). Heat ghee in a pan, add mustard, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds, and when the mustard pops, add asafoetida, the chopped tomatoes and curry leaves. Add salt, turmeric powder, rasam powder and sugar, mix well, add ½ cup of water and cook covered on a high flame for about 10 minutes, till the tomatoes get cooked, change colour and turn mushy. Then add 4 cups of water or more according to consistency of the rasam preferred, quantity of salt and rasam powder added, etc. When the rasam boils after adding water for about 5 minutes, add chopped coriander leaves, mix and turn off the flame.

1 or 2 tablespoons of very softly cooked turdal can be added to this rasam just before turning off the flame, if the taste is preferred.

Sweet Kozhambu

Recommended Season : All seasons, in moderation during summer
Ingrediants : Any one vegetable 2 cups Mustard 1 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds 1 teaspoon Bengal gram 1 tablespoon Red chilly 1 Curry leaves 8 to 10 Asafoetida a pinch Turmeric powder a pinch Sambar powder 1 teaspoon Salt 1 teaspoon Tamarind ½ lemon sized Coriander leaves handful (optional) Sugar 1 or 2 teaspoons Rice flour 1 teaspoon

Vegetables that are suitable for sweet kozhambu are - yellow pumpkin, bottle gourd - carrot, or chow-chow - carrot, capsicum drum stick, and lady’s finger or okra.

Wash tamarind and soak it in water for half an hour. Cut the vegetable. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil or ghee in a pan, add mustard, fenugreek seeds, Bengal gram, red chillies, and when the Bengal gram turns light pink, asafoetida, curry leaves, the vegetable, ¼ teaspoon salt, and turmeric powder. Mix well, sauté for 5 minutes, add ½ cup of water, cover and cook till the vegetable becomes soft.

(The vegetable, other than okra, may be pressure cooked earlier and added, so that cooking in the pan can be skipped.)

Squeeze the tamarind, filter the juice, and repeat the process by adding more water till the tamarind does not contain any more juice. Add this tamarind juice, sambar powder, sugar and ¾ teaspoon salt, and let it boil on high flame for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, till the volume of water reduces a little.

Mix the rice flour with a teaspoon of water to make a smooth paste and add this to the boiling kozhambu, stirring continuously. Add a little water if necessary, mix, bring to a boil once and turn off the flame. Add chopped coriander leaves if the taste is preferred. Sugar can be adjusted according to taste.

If okra is used as the vegetable, at least 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil or ghee should be heated, and after adding okra to the pan, it should be shallow fried to be crisp or roast and water should not be added before it is rightly fried.

This kozhambu is a good combination with Paruppu Usili, Paruppu Podi or Dal Chutney.

Paruppu Usili

Recommended Season : All seasons, in moderation during summer
Ingrediants : Split green gram (dehusked) Or Bengal gram Or Tur dal 3 cups Red chillies 2 Salt ¾ teaspoon + a pinch Turmeric powder a pinch Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon Curry leaves 5 or 6 Mustard 1 teaspoon Black gram 1 tablespoon Vegetable 2 cups

Vegetables that may be used in this dish are - French beans, Cluster beans and Ridge gourd

Select any one dal, soak it in water for at least 4 or 5 hours or overnight. In the morning, remove the water, wash well, drain the water and without adding water, grind the dal with red chillies, salt and cumin seeds. Heat 4 to 5 tablespoons of oil in a pan, add mustard and black gram, when black gram turns pink, add curry leaves and the ground paste. Mix and keep stirring with a flat spatula, making sure that it does not stick to the pan or burn. If necessary, you can add some more oil. The paste will slowly form into lumps and finally turn into a powdery mass.

Select any one vegetable, chop to small pieces and cook it till soft, adding a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. When the dal paste turns into a powdery mass, add the cooked vegetable, mix, cover and cook on a slow flame for 5 minutes. This goes well with rice and Sweet Kozhambu.

Paruppu Thuvayal (Dal Chutney)

Recommended Season : All seasons, in moderation during summer
Ingrediants : Turdal 1 cup Cumin seeds ¼ teaspoon Red chilly 1 Salt ¼ teaspoon

Dry roast the dal, cumin seeds and the red chilly (one after the other) separately, in a thick pan till dal turns dark pink, cumin seeds are lightly fried and red chilly becomes crisp (it need not change colour). Soak the dal in drinking water for 15 to 20 minutes.

Drain the water from the dal and grind it with the fried cumin seeds and red chillies and salt, adding drinking water little by little, if necessary, till you get a fine paste. Serve it along with hot melted ghee. This is ideal to be mixed with rice and is a good combination with Sweet Kozhambu.

Alternatively: Bengal gram 1 cup Cumin seeds ¼ teaspoon Red chilly 1 Salt ¼ teaspoon Tamarind ½ inch piece Mustard ½ teaspoon Black gram 1 teaspoon Curry leaves 4 or 5

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan and shallow fry the dal, cumin seeds and the red chilly (one after the other) separately, in a thick pan till dal turns dark pink, cumin seeds are lightly fried and red chilly becomes crisp (it need not change colour). Soak the dal in drinking water for 15 to 20 minutes. Wash the tamarind in drinking water and soak in a spoonful of water for 10 minutes.

Drain the water from the dal and grind it with the fried cumin seeds and red chillies, tamarind and salt, adding drinking water little by little, if necessary, till you get a fine paste. Transfer the chutney to a serving bowl. Heat ½ teaspoon of oil in a pan, add mustard and black gram, when black gram turns pink, add curry leaves and turn off the flame. Stir till the leaves become crisp and add these seasonings to the chutney and mix well.