Peerkangai thogayal (ridge gourd thogayal)

Our cuisine consist of many kinds of thogayal (a semi solid side dish made with roasted veggies, lentils, spices and coconut) 

For me these thogayals are a great source of interesting ways to enjoy main course, let it be adai (lentils crepe, moong dal pesarattu) 

The temptation to eat it with soft red rice is very much curtailed with a more tasty food, I love thogayal with ragi mudde or jackfruit, ragi, besan rotis which are very satisfying, fiber rich and filling. 

My favorite thogayal is parippu thogayal (moong dal, coconut and spices) kothamalli, kari veppalai thogayal (dhaniya, curry leaves, coconut and spices) 

I am sure you will find these recipes quite interesting and a great life saver on the days you have less time to prepare a quick lunch. 

It's goes well with rasam,  rice and dry roasted pappad, it's a bliss to have it on a rainy day listening to the drip drop raindrops falling from the roof! Nostalgic 

Ridge gourd thogayal (peerkangai thogayal)

Ingredients 

1 large soft ridge gourd (peerkangai)

2 tablespoon gingelly oil 

2 dry red chillies

10 peppercorns 

2 tablespoon grated coconut (optional)

1 green chilli 

2 pinch heeng powder 

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger

1/4 cup of black broken urad dal

1/4 cup of tuvar dal

A small gooseberry size tamarind 

Salt as required 

Method 

1. Wash, peel and cut the ridge gourd into large cubes.  In a kadai pour one tablespoon oil and saute the ridge gourd add a little salt and cook for 2 minutes. Off the stove keep aside. 

2  In the same kadai pour a tablespoon oil, add dals, red chillies,  peppercorns, tamarind pieces, til and dry roast in medium flame, roast it till the dals release aroma and are crunchy. The til will crackle when it's roasted. Now add rest of the ingredients like coconut, green chilies, ginger and curry leaves, mix in and off the stove. Let it cool. 

3. In the mixer jar first make a coarse powder of roasted dry ingredients, once it's done add the ridge gourd pieces. Grind it to a coarse thogayal consistency. Add a tablespoon of water if needed. I grind it in pulse mode so that I can make it without any water. The ridge gourd has sufficient water to make the thogayal into a semi solid dish. 

4. Serve as a side dish with rice, adai, pesarattu, ragi, jowar roti and idly. It tastes delicious and I am sure you will love it. 

Pumpkin pie with spinach crust

Pumpkin pie with spinach crust

Ingredients

Pie Crust: 

½ cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes 

1⅓ cups all purpose flour 

½ teaspoon salt 

12-15 leaves of spinach 

1 tbsp water 

Pie Filling: 

1½ cups pumpkin puree 

2 eggs, beaten 

1 tsp corn starch 

½ cup whole milk

3 tbsp milk powder 

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger 

¼ tsp ground clove 

¼ tsp ground black pepper 

¼ tsp salt 

¾ cup brown sugar 

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C 

2. In a saucepan, heat the spinach leaves with 1 tbsp water until they are completely cooked. Using a sieve, strain the spinach leaves, pushing down on them to extract all the liquid. You should have about 3 tablespoons of the spinach water. Refrigerate it for 5-10 minutes. 

3. In a bowl, mix flour, butter and salt. Use your hands to work the cold butter. Add the cold spinach water, 1 tbsp at a time until the dough is just combined. 

4. Take the dough and roll it slightly in your hands so it is round in shape. Then flatten the dough on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin, about ⅛ inch thickness. Carefully lift the flattened dough and lay it into an 8-9 inch pie tin and trim the edges. If you have leftover pie dough, you can use it to make cookie decorations for the pie. 

5. Lay out parchment paper in the pie tin over the crust and fill with baking beans. If you don't have them, you can also use rice or pulses. Fill it to the top, and blind bake the pie crust for about 10 minutes. 

6. Take the pie tin out of the oven and carefully remove the paper with the beans and set it aside. 

7. Combine the milk and milk powder in a cup. You can also use evaporated milk instead of this combination. 

8. In a bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, spices, salt, sugar, corn starch, beaten eggs, and the milk mixture. The pie filling will be runny. 

9. Pour the pie filling into the blind baked crust and bake for about 30-40 minutes. You can also lightly shake the pie tin in the oven to check if it is done. If it slightly wobbles in the centre and the outer edges are cooked, it is done.

10. Take it out of the oven and cool it for about half an hour. You can decorate the pie with mint leaves cookie decorations from the leftover dough (if any). Do not cut into the pie immediately after baking as the filling will not be set. 

Enjoy!

Notes 

*For the cookie decorations, roll out the dough to ⅛ inch thickness and bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. You can also use an egg wash to make them brown more.

Picture courtesy and recipe written by Arundhathi, my daughter who is an enthusiastic cook and Wildlife Photographer. 

Brinjal gravy

Baby brinjal gravy 

Ingredients 

Small dark purple brinjal - 12

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon 

Salt as required 

Medium onion - 1

Tomato - 1

Ginger one inch

Green chilies - 2

Garlic - 2 pods

Curry leaves - a few

For dry roasting 

Peanuts - 1/2 cup

White til - 2 tablespoon

Red dry chilies - 2

Coriander seeds - 1 teaspoon 

Jeera - 1/2 teaspoon 

Hing a small piece 

Tamarind a small gooseberry size 

For shallow frying 

Peanut oil - 2 tablespoon 

Method 

1. Dry roast ingredients and make a coarse powder. I have roasted tamarind also and powdered all of them together to a coarse powder. 

2. Cut onion, garlic, tomato and ginger, grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside. 

3. Wash, slit into four and immerse baby brinjals in water for 10 minutes, remove from water, dry. 

4. In a Kadai pour oil add the  slit brinjal, turmeric and salt, close lid cook for about 5 minutes, gently toss it and cook til tender. Remove and keep aside. 

5. In a heated kadai pour a little oil, add tomato gravy and cook til oil separate. 

6. Now add the peanut powder, add 1 1/2  cup of water and cook for about 10 minutes, The gravy will start thickening so please remember to keep stirring or it may get stuck at the bottom and burn. 

7. If the gravy is too thick add little more water and add roasted egg plants, adjust salt and cook further.  You will notice the aroma of peanut and til and the tender brinjal completely cooked in the gravy. 

8. Garnish with curry leaves and serve. 

Jowar roti loaded with veggies

I like to do experiments with different flours, be it jowar, ragi, amaranth or besan. We these days try to reduce rice and wheat rotis and add more vegetables, legumes and raw salads in our meals.

So today I tried with jowar flour, grated a few vegetables, greens, onion and green chillies to the flour. 

The recipe is bit time consuming, if you are fasting make it ready before you break your fast. 

Ingredients 

Grated radish 1

Carrot 1

Onion 1 medium, chopped

Chopped greens 1/4 cup

Coriander leaves 2 teaspoon chopped

Green chilies 2

Grated ginger 1/2 teaspoon 

Jowar flour 1 cup

Salt as required 

Turmeric 1/2 teaspoon 

Coriander powder 1/2 teaspoon 

Jeera 1/2 teaspoon 

Ajwain a little 

Hing powder a pinch

Method

1. Add all the ingredients and knead to a soft dough,( if needed add a little water.) keep it for 20 minutes. 

2. Place the roti tawa and when it's medium hot, take a large lemon sized dough and gently pat into a small disk, place it in the tawa further press it to a small even sized roti. 

3. Cook in medium flame, add a little oil if you prefer, flip and cook both sides til golden brown. 

4. Serve hot with pickle, yogurt, or salad. 

5. I made a choka with roasted brinjal, tomato, onion, green chilies and lemon juice.