Onion Pakoda

Ingredients:
Besan (kadalai maavu) – 50 gms
Rice flour – 100 gms
Maida – 10 gms
Groundnuts or cashews – 1 tbsp
Finely chopped onion – 3 small
Curry leaves
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Hing (asofoetida)
Oil to fry

Method:
Fry ground nuts or cashews in oil and keep aside. Mix all the flours in a bowl. Add chopped onions, chilli powder, salt, hing, curry leaves to the flour mixture. Add 1 tbsp of hot oil to the mixture. (The hot oil adds crispiness to the pakoda. This is a healthier option compared to the alternative of adding 1 tsp baking soda.) Add water gradually to make pakoda dough. (Dough consistency should be similar to paratha dough). Set aside for 5 mins.
Heat the oil in a pan. Reduce flame to medium after oil becomes hot. Deep fry small portions of the dough, and fry till pakodas becomes golden brown. Serve hot with coconut chutney and tea :)

Rava laddu

Ingredients:
Rava – ½ kg
Sugar – ½ kg
Ghee – 1 cup
Cashews – 50 gm
Elaichi – 5 or 6
(Sugar and ghee quantities can be varied as per taste)

Method:
Dry roast rava in a pan till light brown. Set aside to cool. Grind the cooled rava to a smooth powder. Powder sugar separately and mix with powdered rava. Heat ghee in a kadai, fry the cashews (cut into tiny pieces) and keep aside. Pour heated ghee along with fried cashews and powdered elaichi to the sugar-rava mixture. While the mixture is still hot, make laddus. If required, add more heated ghee so that it can be molded easily into a laddu. Alternatively heat the mixture in low flame on gas stove for few minutes and make the laddus.

Rava Kesari

Ingredients:
Rava/Sooji (unroasted) – 1 cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Ghee – ½ cup
Kesari powder/coloring powder - red colour
Cashews, raisins
Elaichi
(Sugar and ghee quantities can be varied as per taste)

Method:
Fry cashews and raisins in ghee and keep aside. Heat remaining of the ghee in a pan, add rava and fry till it becomes light brown. In a separate vessel, boil 2 and a half cups water. Simmer the pan with rava, and add the boiled water to the fried rava and stir well. Ensure no lumps are formed. After rava is cooked, add the sugar and kesari powder. Keep stirring and add the remaining ghee, keeping the gas in low flame. Add fried cashews and raisins.

Thogayal

Paati says: The difference between Thogayal and Chutney is that chutney almost always contains raw ingredients (for eg. coconut chutney which is served with idli/dosa), whereas Thogayal almost always contains cooked/roasted ingredients. Thogayal is primarily meant to be eaten mixed with rice. It can also be served as a side for Dosa, idly and the likes. There are innumerable types of Thogayal. The following are 2 basic Thogayal recipes. Alter them slightly to get brand a new Thogayal!

THENGAI THOGAYAL:
Ingredients:
White Urad dal (whole or split) - 2 tbsp
Coconut gratings - 1 cup
Red chillies - 3 or 4
Hing - a pinch
Salt -to taste
Cooking Oil - 1 tsp

Method:
Roast Urad dal, red chillies, hing in 1 tsp oil, till dal turns medium brown. Add coconut gratings, saute for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, let cool and grind in a mixer with salt. You can add litle water to aid grinding, but avoid as much as possible.

VARIATIONS:
Instead of coconut gratings,
* Add roughly chopped onions for Onion Thogayal. The onions should be well cooked before you transfer it to the mixer. Raw onions ruin the thogayal.
* Add roughly chopped vegetables for Vegetable Thogayal. Vegetables like carrot, bottle gourd, yellow pumpkin (parangikkai), are especially Thogayal-friendly.
* Add peeled, chopped pieces of ridge gourd (peerkangai). This makes a delicious thogayal especially if the gourds are in season.

In addition to coconut gratings,
* Add washed and chopped mint (pudina) or coriander (kothamalli) leaves. Saute till the leaves are soft.

Paati says: You get it now. Urad dal, red chillies and hing are common across all the Thogayals. The rest is upto your imagination!

PARUPPU THOGAYAL:
Ingredients:
Tur dal - 1 cup
White Urad dal (whole or split) - 1 tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Pepper - ½ tsp
Red chillies - 2

Method:
Roast all ingredients in 1 tsp oil till urad dal turns medium brown. Optionally add 2 tsp coconut gratings (traditionally Paruppu Thogayal has no coconut though!) and saute for a minute or two. Turn off heat, let cool and grind in a mixer with salt. You can add litle water to aid grinding, but avoid as much as possible.

Pooshanikkai Rasavaangi

Ingredients:
White pumpkin/ pooshanikkai - 1/2 kg diced into small cubes.
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
Haldi powder - 1/2 tsp
Tur Dal - 1 cup
Jaggery - 2 tsp powdered
Tamarind extract - 1 tsp (optional)
Oil - for roasting and garnishing

Masala To Grind:
Hing - a pinch
Whole Dhaniya seeds - 2 tsp
Kadalai paruppu/chana dal - 1 tsp
Pepper 4 -5
Red chillies 3-4
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Coconut – grated, 4 tbsp

Method:
Roast the masala in 1 tsp oil and grind to a fine paste, adding a little water.
Cook tur dal as you would for normal dal/sambar.

Cook pumpkin pieces along with haldi powder and Sambar powder. Add tamarind paste/extract if you wish to. You can cook in pressure cooker to one whistle or cook in a closed vessel with sufficient water. The vessel method results in better taste, though.

When completely cooked, add ground masala and cooked tur dal cooked. Add more water if required. Let boil for 5 mins. Now simmer and add powdered jaggery. Simmer for 5 more mins and turn off heat. Garnish with mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves.

Goes well with Rice and a Thogayal of your choice.

You can substitute pumpkin with Brinjal for Kathirikkai Rasavangi. You might want to cut brinjal into larger pieces to make sure they dont get mashed up.

Sambar Powder

Paati #3 holds the copyright for this one!

Ingredients (Makes ~3kg)

Whole dhaniya brown colored – 1 kg
Round red chilli – ½ kg (Very Spicy)
Long red chilli – ½ kg (Not so spicy)
Kadalai paruppu – 400 gm
Urad dal -200 gm
Whole Turmeric (long ones, not round) - 100 gm
Methi seeds – 100 gm
Pepper – 100gm

Method:
Dry in sun if possible, and grind everything together in a flour mill. No roasting, just raw, dry grinding. Alternatively (if you do not have access to a flour mill), get good quality powders of the individual ingredients and mix well.