Roasted coconut chamanti

Roasted Coconut chamanti 

1 cup grated coconut

3 to 5 dry red chillies

10 shallots( peel and trim the edges)

1 sprig curry leaves

1 tablespoon coconut oil 

A small gooseberry sized tamarind

Salt as required

Method 

In direct flame roast the dry red chillies, keep aside.

In a heated pan pour coconut oil, add shallots saute for a frw minutes, add grated coconut saute until it's turns brown in colour. 

Add curry leaves, tamarind and salt.

Mix well and turn off the flame. Let it completely cools off.

Add the roasted dry red chillies to the roasted coconut. 

Grind in a mixer jar or in a grinding stone.

Remember not to add water at all while you are grinding the chamanti.

Serve with rice or kanji

Notes

Roasting the dry red chillies gives a smokey flavour to the chamanti.

Make sure the tamarind has no seeds and is very clean, make small pieces of it before adding.

Sambar powder/sambar podi

Sambar is served with idly rosa and rice. we make different types of sambar, with different vegetables combination.

The sambar podi is the main ingredient in the sambar which makes it tasty and brings in the taste of all cooked vegetables.

Sambar powder/sambarpodi

ingredients 

Red dry chillies 8 to 10 (spicy and non spicy)

Whole coriander 1 tablespoon

Jeera 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon 

Chana dal 2 tablespoon

Tuvar dal 1 tablespoon

Heeng a small piece (cut into tiny pieces)

Curry leaves a few

Methi seeds 1/4 teaspoon

Method

Dry roast all the ingredients separately. 

Coriander and Jeera can be roasted together in low flame. Make sure it's not turning into dark brown, just light brown and releasing its aroma is enough. Keep aside.

Add red chillies and gently roast them, by tapping now and then to check whether it's crispy. Don't over fry, it may turn into black and you will get a burnt smell, so without changing the colour we have to roast the chillies. Once they are crispy, keep aside.

Chana dal when roasted  realeas a nutty flavour, just a little brownish colour and you can take it from the pan.

Tuvar dal also require very gentle roasting like chana, it's pretty fast roasting dal, so keep the flame low, once done take it out.

Heeng should be pulled and split into small pieces, roast it till crispy.

Methi seeds get roasted quickly so just a few seconds and take out from the pan.

Mustard seeds should be roasted carefully, as they are very fast in roasting in a heated pan, as soon as you hear the crackling immediately remove and keep aside. 

Finally add curry leaves, in no time it will be crispy and you can crush it with hands.

Make sure all the ingredients completely cooled down.

Now you can add all the above roasted ingredients together in a mixer jar and make a fine powder. 

Note

I have not added peppercorns but used dry red chillies instead for that spiciness.

Rasapodi/rasam powder

Rasam powder/rasapodi

Coriander seeds/ whole  dhania – It's the major ingredients which bring in the texture and flavour to the rasam.

jeera– On roasting jeera releases it's aroma.

Black peppercorns adds zing to the spice mix. 

Dried red chilies/kashmiri/badagai chillies– Red chillies give a beautiful colour to the spice mix.

Tuvar dal or sambar dal– It's very flavorful and gives a delicious touch to the rasam powder mix.

You can also add chana dal, methi seeds, curry leaves and heeng for adding more flavours to the rasam powder.

My recipe has a blend of all the above ingredients.

I roast every ingredients separately as each one should be properly roasted before making into powder.

Ingredients

Dhaniya/ whole coriander seeds - 4 tablespoons

Jeera - 2 teaspoons

Black peppercorns - 2 tablespoons 

Tuvar dal -2 tablespoons

Chana dal - 2 tablespoons

Dried red chillies/kashmiri/badagai chillies 15 to 20 numbers

Heeng a small piece

A few curry leaves

1/2 teaspoon methi seeds

Method

I measure all ingredients and keep everything ready before starting the roasting process 

In a thick iron kadai roast coriander seeds, let it release it's aroma and turn a bit brownish in colour, keep aside.

Jeera should be roasted in slow flame, it will get roasted and you can smell the gentle flavour of it, keep aside.

Peppercorns should be roasted in low flame till it's done.

Roast the chillies till they are crispy, gently pat a ladle you can hear the crispiness. Don't over roast in high flame, it will loose it's colour and turn bit black.  So when it nice red and crispy remove them.

Roast chana and tuvar dal till they are but mild brownish and crispy.

Heeng cake should be cut into tiny pieces before roasting, it will turn into small brownish lumps and you can crush them when they are done. (Let it completely cool down before you touch it)

Curry leaves should be completely crispy and you can crush it when they are roasted.

Spread all the roasted ingredients on a tray, wait for it to cool down, 

Add everything together and make a coarse powder. Store in an air tight container.

Kootu

Kootu is made with different vegetables like, snake gourd (pudalangai) ridge gourd ( Peerkangai) cucumber (vellarikkai) ash gourd ( elevan) chow chow ( chayote) cabbage, mixed vegetables like potato, carrot and beans 

The basic ingredients remains the same.

The kootu today I made from vellarikkai and ridge gourd 

Ingredients

Vellarikkai ( cucumber), this one is a variety which we use for making sambar and pachadi - peeled and cubed two cups

Ridge gourd (Peerkangay) peeled and cut into circles - 2 cups

Moongdal - washed, cooked with water, turmeric powder - 1 cup

For the tadka

1 teaspoon of coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon of urad dal

1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds

A few curry leaves

For the gravy

3 tablespoon grated coconut

A little jeera

One red dry chilli

A pinch of heeng powder

A few crushed peppercorns 

Add all and make a coarse paste by adding little water.

Method

In a kalchatti (stoneware) cook vellarikkai and ridge gourd by adding water and turmeric a little salt till they are tender.

Add cooked moong dal, and coconut paste, cook for a few minutes. Adjust salt.

In a small pan pour coconut oil, add mustard seeds and urad dal and jeera, heeng. Let the mustard splutter, Add curry leaves, crushed peppercorns,  pour it on top of the kootu. 

Note

You can make kootu with many vegetables, drumsticks can also be added in the above recipe.

Mambazha pachadi ( ripe mangoes, spices and tadka)

A delicacy in summer when we get abundant of mangoes.

The small ripe mangoes collected from the backyard will be put to use for this delicious pachadi.

Mambazha pachadi

5 small ripe mangoes ( wash and peel)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2' teaspoon red chilli powder

Salt as required

A pinch of heeng powder

1 tablespoon jaggery powder

1 cup water 

For the tadka

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon methi seeds

1/2 teaspoon urad dal

1/2 chana dal 

2 dry red chillies broken into halves

A few curry leaves

Process

In a kalchatti ( stoneware) pour a cup of water, add the peeled mangoes and cook.

Add turmeric, salt, jaggery powder, red chilli powder and bring to boil.

In a small heated pan pour coconut oil, add mustard seeds, methi seeds, urad dal, chana dal and broken red chillies. Once the mustard splutter, add curry leaves, pour it on top of the mambazha pachadi. 

Serve with rice.