Special Raw Mango Rice

Ingredients:

Raw Mango(grated)- 1 full mango medium sized
Oil- 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Raw or roasted ground nuts- 1 tbspn.
Curry leaves- a few
Salt to taste
Rice- 1 cup (cooked)

For Powdering:

Urad dhal- 2 tbsp
Red chillies- 5 to 6 (May change according to your taste)
Methi seeds- 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

Fry and powder the ingredients given for powdering and keep it aside. Cook rice and keep it aside. Make sure the rice doesn't stick with one another. If required spread the cooked rice on a plate and sprinkle little oil so that they don't stick with one another.Take a pan or kadai and add the oil. After the oil heats up add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. As the mustard splutters, add ground nuts and curry leaves and fry until they splutter slightly. Now, add the grated mango and fry until the mango gets cooked and changes colour. Now add the powdered ingredients and fry well.

Finally add the cooked rice and mix well until all the mango mixture gets mixed well with rice. If required you can leave it in slow flame in the stove closed with a lid. Sprinkle some cut onions for extra garnering and serve with fried papads.

Raw Tomato Thokku

Ingredients:

Raw tomato- 10 to 12 Nos.(depending on the size) (preferably the country ones)
Green Chillies- 15 to 20 (depending on the spiciness required)
Oil- 3 to 4 tbspn. (preferably Til oil or Nalla ennai)
Salt- for taste
Mustard- 1 tbspn.
Methi seeds- 1/2 tbspn.
Curry leaves- 10
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tspn.
Chilli powder- 1 tspn. (if required)
Asafoetida - 1 tspn.

Procedure:

Chop the tomatoes and chillies and keep it aside. Dry roast mustard and methi seeds and powder it and keep it aside. Now, take a heavy bottomed pan and add oil. As soon as the oil heats up add the powdered mustard and methi and curry leaves. Do not roast them in oil for long. Add asafoetida and the cut tomatoes. Add salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder(if required) and fry. Do not add water. Let the tomatoes get cooked in the oil. Close it with a lid and allow it to cook. Every now and then, remove the lid and fry nicely. Fry until all the water dries up and the oil separates.
Your raw tomato thokku is ready.
P.S.:
Depending on the sourness of the tomatoes you may increase the number of green chillies. Usually, I will not add red chilli powder.
If you dont get country tomatoes you may make this with regular tomatoes, but you can add a little bit of tamarind to the thokku in the beginning while adding raw tomatoes.

Yummy Red Pumpkin Chutney

Ingredients

Red Pumpkin- 150 gm. ( cut into cubes)
Urad dhaal- 2 tbsp
Channa dhaal- 1 tbsp
Red chillies- 5 to 6
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Oil- 2 tbsp ( for frying)
Tamarind- small piece
Slat- to taste

Procedure:
Fry Urad dhal, Channa dhal, mustard seeds, red chillies and a piece of tamarind in a teaspoon of oil. Keep it aside. Let it cool down. In the mean while,  in the same kadai add some more oil and add this red pumpkin pieces and fry it until it is cooked. Now, in a mixie jar grind the fried dhal mixture first and then add the pumpkin and salt to taste and grind it again. Do not add much water to it.
Your red pumpkin chutney is ready. You can eat this with hot rice and ghee or can be had with dosa, idli or chappati.

Milagu Rasam Recipe ( with garlic )

Milagu Rasam Recipe

Ingredients :
Tamarind - 1 lemon sized
Tomato -1
Garlic- 10 pods
Pepper- 2 tbspn
Jeera-1 tbspn
Ghee- 1 tbspn
Red chilli- 1
Mustard seeds- 1 tspn
Curry leaves 10
Salt to taste

Preparation:
Soak tamarind and take the pulp and keep it aside. In  the meantime, take a drop of ghee and add chilli, pepper and garlic and fry them. After you fry crush them along with jeera. You should not add water while crushing and it needn't be smooth in texture.
Now cut tomato into fine piece. Take the vessel in which rasam is to be made and take the tamarind pulp. The pulp should be watery unlike vathalkuzhambu. Now add the chopped tomatoes and crush it with your hand. Then add asafoetida to it and keep it in the gas. Add salt. Let it boil until the raw smell of tamarind goes. Now add the crushed items and mix well. Let it boil for 5 minutes.
Now take a kadai add ghee and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves and add it to rasam. Your rasam is ready to eat with hot rice and ghee.

Thengai aracha Kozhambu- a sambar made without dhaal

Usually we will make sambar with dhaal. But this is a very easy preparation without dhaal taught by my MIL.

Ingredients:

Onion-1

Tomato-1

Any vegetable- usually goes well with carrots or drumsticks-cut into slices

Tamarind- lemon sized

Sambahar powder- 2tbspn.

Coconut- grated 1/2 cup

Salt- to taste

Turmeric- 1/2 tspn.

For Tempering:

Oil- 2tspn.

Mustard- 1 tspn.

Jeera- 1/2 tspn.

Asafoetida - a pinch

Curry leaves- 10

Procedure:

• Soak tamarind in water and take pulp and boil the vegetable in it until the vegetable gets cooked.

• In the mean while, roast the onion in the gas (like you will do baigan for baigan ka bharta) and allow it to cool and then peel the skin and keep it aside. Like wise, roast the tomato too and allow it to cool and then peel the skin.

• Now grind the coconut, tomato, onion and sambhar powder by adding little water into a paste.

• As the vegetable gets cooked add this mixture to it and allow it to cook until the raw smell of the mixture goes away. Add salt when you add the mixture to the vegetable.

• Remove from fire.

• Now, finally temper it with mustard, jeera, adafoetida and curry leaves.

• Serve this with hot rice and beetroot  poriyal or potato fry.

Easy to prepare kerela vegetable stew

Ingredients
Vegetables (like carrot, beans,potato) -diced 1 cup
green chillies - 2 slit
onion (1)- thinly sliced
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
coconut milk (both first and second milk)- put together 1 cup
clove - 2
tej patha(bay leaf) -1
ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp.
curry leaves- few
coconut oil- 2 tbspn.for tempering
salt to taste

Preparation
Boil all the vegetable till it is soft along with turmeric. Drain the water and keep aside. Take a kadai and add little coconut oil and add the cloves and tej patha. Fry a little bit and add onions and fry till it becomes golden brown. Now add the slit chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell of the ginger and garlic subsides. Now add the boiled vegetables and fry it. Add salt and coconut milk and allow it to cook. Now switch off the gas and add the remaining coconut oil and curry leaves. Transfer it to a serving bowl. Serve it with hot idiyappam, appam or chappati.

Puli Aval- a breakfast

This is a yummy breakfast especially made in Tamil Nadu. If you want to tingle your mouth early in the morning or sometimes even during snack time, then you can make this mouth watering dish!

Ingredients:
Aval (Avallaki,Pauva, Puffed Rice) - 2 cups
Tamarind Pulp- 2 tbsp
Aseofotida- a pinch
Red chilly powder- 1 to 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt- to taste
To Splutter:
Oil- 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Green chilly- 1 (slit in the middle)
Channa dhal- 3 tsp
Urad dhal- 1 tsp
Ground nuts (unroasted and unsalted)- 1 tbsp
Curry leaves- 10 leaves
Grated coconut- 1 tbsp
Procedure:
1. Wash the Aval nicely in water and remove the unwanted dust, if any.
2. Then soak the Aval in tamarind pulp along with aseofotida, turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt until 15 to 30 mins. Make sure you do not soak it for more than half and hour to avoid sogging.
3. Then take a kadai and add oil. As oil is heated, add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Then add slit chilly and curry leaves and fry them for a few seconds. Then add channa dhal, urad dhal and ground nuts. Allow them to fry. Make sure the groundnuts should nicely crackle and the colour should turn to dark brown.
4. Then add this soaked Aval and fry nicely until cooked. Finally add the grated coconut and corriander leaves. Your mouth watering Puli Aval is ready.