Baked Brinjal Chutney

This baked or smoked brinjal(eggplant) thogaiyal (chutney) is an heirloom recipe. This is a south Indian version of Baingan ka Bhartha in the sense that both the dishes have smoked brinjal as base. Makes a great meal when mixed with hot rice , sesame oil and served with papad. This can also be served as a side-dish for idli/dosa

Ingredients:
1 big eggplant
Urad dhall - 1 table spoon
Red chillies - 3 medium
Tamarind - lime size ball
Salt to taste
Oil - 3 tsp
Mustard - 2 tsp
Hing a pinch



Method:
1. Polish the brinjal with sesame oil. Bake the brinjal at 400 degrees for 20 min. Turn the brinjal upside down in between for even cooking. Check if the brinjal is cooked thorougly with the skin easy to peel off and place in cold water. If not, cook for some more time. The cooking time might vary with size of brinjal.

Alternately, cook on low flame till done with the help of tongs, if you do not have an oven.

2. Meanwhile, heat a tsp of oil and fry urad dhall till light brown. Add tamarind and red chillies. Fry everything till the dhall turns golden brown and chillis turn crisp. Lastly, add hing. Allow to cool.
3. Peel off the skin of brinjal and break roughly into pieces. Wait till it cools down. Grind together with the ingredients in point 2 and salt into a smooth paste.
4. Season with mustard,hing and urad dhall. You can even heat a little oil and fry the chutney till oil separates for better taste and shelf life.

Capsicum Chutney

A couple of days back, I was on a lookout for a dip, to go with my dosa and checked my fridge for tomatoes. I just had one tomato and knew for sure, I can't make a chutney to serve two people. So started evaluvating other options and only then did these colorful bell peppers caught my attention. Decided to make a yummy chutney out of them.

Bell peppers are rich in vitamins and minerals. They are good antioxidants and help fight against heart disease. I understand, the red ones have better nutritive value than the green ones. Google for the detailed nutrition chart.

This chutney is one great way of including them in your diet. It turned out lip smacking and a great dip for idli/dosa. I am sure this recipe is gonna be regular on my menu.

Ingredients:

Chopped capsicum (yellow,red,orange.You can also use a single colour ) - 1 bowl (Used 60% of each capsicum)

Urad dhall - 4 tsp
Red chillies - 3
Hing - 1 pinch
Tamarind - a tiny piece or 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
Sesame oil (preferred) - 5 tsp
Onion - a small bit (optional. Since I had a little chopped onion left, I made use of it)
Cilantro - a handful
Salt to taste
For seasoning : Mustard - 2 tsp and urad dhall - 1 tsp

Method:

1) Heat a tsp of oil, add the urad dhall and fry till the color changes a bit. Now add chillies. Fry till the chillies turn crisp and dhall turns rosy. Dont make it very brown. Do everything over low - medium flame. Switch of the gas and add the tamarind and hing. Keep aside.
2) Add another tsp of oil, fry the onions and keep aside. Similarly fry the capsicums till 3/4 th cooked. I wanted to retain the juice and didn't cook it fully.
3) Grind everything into a smooth paste along with cilantro and salt.
4) Heat the remaining oil, season with mustard and urad dhall. Add the paste and cook for less than a minute till oil separates. You can add more oil if you wish to.

Kothamalli Thokku

Kothamalli (Tamil) or Cilantro is low in cholesterol and a rich source of vitamins and minerals. It also aids in digestion.

I just love the aroma of cilantro and include it in every possible dish I cook. That really adds great flavour to any food and gives a fresh look. It is a brilliant garnishing ingredient. Not only for garnishing, it can be also used as a main ingredient to cook a variety of dishes. You can make pickles, chutnies or even a wonderful pulav.

This thokku is a great accompaniment for idly/dosa varieties and you can even mix it with hot rice for a kwik fix meal.



Ingredients:

Cleaned and chopped cilantro - 2 cups
Red Chillies - 10
Tamarind Paste - 1 tsp or lemon sized ball
Gingelly oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Asafoetida - a pinch
Mustard - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Grind the cilantro, red chillies and tamarind
2. Heat the oil, season with mustard and asafoetida, add the ground paste
3. Mix the salt and cook till oil separates.



Sending this to SWC - Cooking With Greens event hosted by Soumya.

Pumpkin Cilantro Chutney

I am a big fan of chutney (Thogayal) varieties and would love to have it alongside dosa varieties or paired up with hot rice with a papad to go with. My mother used to make a variety of thogayal like brinjal, coriander, coconut etc. - almost with anything that she could lay her hands on. One such item is this pumpkin chutney. She makes use of the softer inner portion of yellow pumpkin which we tend to throw away normally. You can also add more of the hard veg part, if you have a very little softer portion and more people waiting for the dish! I always love the aroma and taste of fresh cilantro and thought why not add it in my recipe. I try and include cilantro as much as possible in my everyday diet because it is rich in vitamin A and vitamin C. One good thing is I get a lot of fresh cilantro in US whereas in Chennai it is really tough to catch them fresh during summer. Try out this nutritious chutney.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin chopped(soft inner portion without seeds) - 1 cup
Fresh cilantro - half a bunch
Urad dhall - 1 tablespoon
Dry chillies - 3
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Tamarind - a small piece
salt to taste

Method:
1. Add a tsp of oil and fry urad dhall,dry chillies till the dhall turns brown.
2. Add tamarind, asafoetida and chopped yellow pumpkin. Cook till done.
3. Allow the ingredients to cool and grind with fresh cilantro. Of kors, remember to add salt.


I served this with onion Adai and it was super-de-duper. I also mixed the leftover chutney with hot rice for lunch and it tasted wonderful.


Sending this recipe to two events.
1. 15 minute cooking hosted by Mahimaa
2. JFI-cilantro @ cilantro-cilantro.blogspot.com

Cilantro.: Announcing JFI-Jhiva for Cilantro