Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Kudai milakai & venkaiya (Bell pepper & onion) chutney

Kudaimilagai & venkaiya chutney - Preparation time 10 to 15 mins

We always end up with similar type of chutneys and sometimes it will be bored to make same chutney. One day I thought of replacing plain green chili with bell pepper in onion chutney. Surprisingly it ended up well. If the spice of bellpepper is not sufficient you can spice it up with additional chili as i did in below one. Actually i tried with green bell pepper first time and next time with red one. Try it out, surely you all will enjoy.

Ingredients:-
Kudaimilagai (Bell pepper)- one (chopped to cubes)
Onion (Venkaiyam ) - one (peeled and chopped to medium size cubes)
Chili (green or red) - 1 or 2 (according to taste)
Salt - To taste
Sesame oil - 2 tbspn
Mustard seed - 1/2 tspn
Urad dhal - 1 tbspn
Tamarind paste - 1/4 or 1/2 tspn (according to taste)


Preparation method:-
In a pan add 1 tbspn oil, chopped onion, chili & bell pepper (kudaimilagai). Fry till they are cooked. Leave it to cool
Grind the fried items with salt and tamarind paste.
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard , urad dhal. when done garnish the chutney with this.
This goes well with dosa, idli and chapathi.

Pudalankai poriyal (Snake gourd dry curry)

Pudalankai poriyal (Snake gourd dry curry) - preparation time 15 mins
Snake gourd will be not off much taste only the way we cook and present the dish makes interesting for eat. Try this one it will be an easy to cook recipe and healthy. The mung dal, urad dal with curry leaves will bring a nice aroma and taste to this dry curry.



Health benefits: Snake gourd is available through out the year. It is rich in iron, calcium, phosphorus content according to several articles and research. It contains more water content so it will remove dryness.


Ingredients:-
Pudalankai (snake gourd) - 2 small nos (if long means take 30 cms)
Mung dal - 3 tbsp
Water - Required amount
Salt - To taste
Red chili - 2 or 3 nos
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 string
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Preparation method:-
Remove the inner seed part or thread like thing from the pudalankai (snake gourd) and chop into small cubes.
Boil water in a vessel and add salt, mung dal & pudalankai (snake gourd). Cook till the vegetable is tender. By this time the dal will be cooked. If excess water drain it and use it for rasam/sambar.
In a tawa add oil, mustard to splutter. Now add chili and curry leaves. When chili is roasted add boiled pudalankai (snake gourd) and sortae till the remaining water drains.
Switch off the flame and add grated coconut. Mix well and serve with rasam or sambar sadam.
You can also take with phulka or chapati.

Vellarikai kootu (Cucumber gravy)

In my moms house we wont cook cucumber. We will take small cucumber as salad (along with ground pepper and salt) or cucumber with curd which goes well with sambar rice. When i took this after marriage in my in-laws house i felt the taste is different but, now i am used to take this due to health.

Vellarikai Kootu (Cucumber gravy) Preparation time 15 to 20 mins

Health tip :- Cucumber (Vellarikai) brings down body heat and it contains water content. It can be consumed as salad or as below. Since mung dhal is a cooling agent it is an added advantage to consume cucumber along with mung dhal. You can replace chili with pepper it will be very healthy.

Vellarikai (Cucumber) - 2 small nos
Coconut - 3 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Pasiparuppu (Mung Dhal) - 50 gms. (or 1 small cup)
Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 2 string
Water required amount
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
Green chili - 2 or 3 (according to your taste)

Preparation method:-
Peel off the outer skin of the cucumber. If the seeds are big remove the inner part else you can make into small cubes with the inner part.
In a vessel boil 2 to 3 cup of water and add the mung dhal. Cook till the dhal become soft. If water is not enough to cook add required amount and cook.
In another vessel add one cup of water (If excess water in dhal you can filter that water and use to cook the vegetable), salt and boil with vellarikai (cucumber). Cook till cucumber is tender.
Add boiled dhal to cucumber.
Grind coconut, chili & 1 tbsp cumin seed to coarse paste and add to the cucumber, dhal gravy. Switch of the flame and mix well.
In a pan add oil, mustard seed and leave to splutter. Now add urad dhal and make light brown and add remaining cumin seed. When in splutters garnish the vellarikai kootu with this.
Finally add chopped curry leaves. You can take this with rice or chapati.