Pudina Chutney | Mint Chutney | Pudina Thogayal : Iyengar Style

Pudina Thogayal is a South Indian version of the mint chutney that is popularly consumed as a side dish for steamed rice. It is very flavorful and goes well with so many South Indian items like dosa, akki rotti, or uttappam. I make this chutney mostly in summers as I harvest mint once in 15 days (I grow it in my balcony garden). Also, mint helps cool down your body in hot and humid summer days.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Serves: Makes about 1.5 cups of thogayal

Notes: 

• Pick only the leaves from the mint leaves and discard the stem
• Cilantro can be washed and used along with the tender stems. 
• The stems of the cilantro adds volume to the thogayal and also makes it flavorful.
• Do not add more water while making a coarse paste. The thogayal needs to be thick. Add a teaspoon of water at a time and continue grinding.

Ingredients:

Pudina | Mint leaves:1.5 cups tightly packed, refer notes

Coriander leaves | Cilantro: 1/2 cup, refer notes

Dry coconut: 1/4 cup

Green chilies: 4 nos, adjust accordingly

Tamarind: a big grape sized or about 1 tsp of thick tamarind extract

Urad dal | Black gram dal | Uddinabele: 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp

Oil: 1 tsp

Salt: As needed

Water: As needed

For tempering:
Oil: 2 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 4 nos, torn

Broken red chili: 1 no

Method:
Wash the mint and coriander leaves thoroughly and roughly chop them.

In a broad wok, heat oil. When oil is hot, roast the urad dal until golden brown.

When the dal is golden brown, add the green chili and saute for 15 secs.

Add the roughly chopped mint and cilantro. Saute till the leaves wilt and become soft.

When leaves are soft, add the turmeric powder, salt and the tamarind. Turn off the heat and allow the leaves to cool for about 5 minutes.

Scoop out the cooked mint mixture to a blender or mixie jar. Add the grated dry coconut and make a coarse paste out of it. Add couple of tablespoons of water, if needed.
Heat oil in a wok. When oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.

When seeds crackle, add curry leaves and broken red chili.
Scoop out the chutney paste to the wok that has the tempering and heat the chutney until the extra water is absorbed. Cook the thogayal on a low heat for about 3-5 mins.

Turn off the heat. Allow it to cool and serve it with rice or dosa.

Strawberry and apple chutney | Spicy Strawberry Chutney | Sweet n Sour Strawberry Dip : A Vegan Dip Recipe

Learn how to make strawberry chutney with a twist. I have adapted the bajji/gojju recipe of South Canara and given a twist to the regular bajji. You can call it strawberry gojju too...

I bought 2 big boxes of strawberry during one of the trips to the supermarket. After coming home, I tasted them and it was a huge disappointment. The strawberries were too sour to my liking. I made milkshakes, lassi with them, but the amount of sugar that went in making the milkshake turned me off. So, I freezed them for later use.

Now that its been a couple of months that I freezed the strawberries, I wanted to finish them as early as possible.. So started making new and interesting experiments using the sour strawberries. I made this chutney last week. We liked the chutney so much that I made it again yesterday. Try it to believe!

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins
Serves: 4-6 (Makes about 1.5 cups of chutney)

Notes:

• If the strawberries are very sour, I recommend adding only 4-6 strawberries. Adjust the number of strawberries accordingly. I used only 6 strawberries.
• If the strawberries are too sweet, you could use 8 strawberries and to make the chutney sour, you could use a Granny Smith Apple to add the tart to the chutney.
• Do not use Granny Smith apple and very sour strawberries. You get the point right? We need to add some natural sugar to this chutney.
• I use any other variety of apple (like Fuji apple, gala apples, red delicious apple etc) to make this chutney. The apple adds an extra texture and sweetness to the chutney.
• For a very mild chutney, you could add 1 jalapeno with the seeds removed. I use 2-3 Indian spicy green chilies. We like our chutney spicy.

Ingredients:
For the chutney:
Strawberries: 6-8 nos, refer notes
Apple: 1 no, refer notes
Green bell pepper: 1/2 no or 1 small
Green chilies | Jalapenos : 1-3 nos, adjust according to your spice levels.
Salt:As needed
Cilantro | Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp, roughly chopped
Curry leaves: 4 nos, torn
Asafoetida: 1/8 tsp
Jaggery | Brown Sugar: 1-2 tsp, to suit your needs
Salt: As needed
Grated coconut: 1/4 cup, fresh or frozen
Water: About 1/3 cup, more or less

For the tempering:
Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 2-3 nos, torn

Method:

Wash the apple thoroughly. Deseed the apple and roughly chop the apple. You can keep the skin of the apple.
Wash the strawberries and roughly chop them.
In a sauce pan, add all the ingredients (except grated coconut) mentioned in the chutney section. I repeat, do not add grated coconut. Bring it to a boil on a medium heat for about 7-10 mins. Do not add too much water. The fruits need to get cooked.

Allow the cooked mixture to cool.
Once cool, add coconut to the mixer and add this cooked mixture. Use the boiled water to make the chutney/dip. The water would be very flavorful. Do not discard the water. That is the reason I asked you to add little water in the beginning, remember?

Grind it to a medium coarse paste. Do not grind it very fine. We need some texture to our chutney.
Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a small wok, when oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When leaves wilt and seeds splutter, turn off the heat. Pour the tempering over the chutney.
Serve the chutney as a side dish with rice, Indian flat breads, ragi rotti, gluten free sprouts bread or any dish of your preference.

Spinach and apple bajji | Palak and apple gojju | Spinach and Apple Chutney

My son is in “chutney loving phase” now. Gone are his love for idli, dosa, and other South Indian dishes. He loves eating chutney now. He wants chutney three times a day and seven days a week. He wants to eat the chutney with hot rice. I challenge myself to make healthier chutney for him every other day. So, you can expect a lot of chutney recipes here J

This is one chutney I prepared couple of weeks ago and since then I have made it thrice already. It is delicious, healthy and easy to make. It takes about 20 mins to make this chutney.

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Serves:3-4

Ingredients:

Red apple: 1 large, refer notes

Spinach: 2 cups, tightly packed

Green bell pepper: ¼ cup, cubed

Green chili: 2-3 nos, according to taste

Turmeric: a big pinch

Tamarind: 1 small marble sized

Salt: As needed

Asafoetida: a big pinch

Brown sugar or jaggery: 1 tsp

Coconut: ¼ cup, fresh or frozen

Water: As needed

For tempering:

Coconut oil: 1 tsp

Mustard seeds: ¾ tsp

Curry leaves: 3-4 nos, torn

Method:

• Wash, core and cube the red apples.
• Wash the spinach thoroughly and roughly chop them. Slit the green chilies.
• Add the spinach, cubed bell peppers, slit green chilies, turmeric and cubed red apples to a sauce pan. Add about a cup of water to it.
• Boil the vegetables for 3-4 mins.  Add the tamarind, salt, jaggery and asafoetida to the sauce pan and boil until the vegetables are soft and tender.
• Allow the mixture to cool. If you are using frozen coconut, add the frozen coconut to the vegetable mix and allow to cool.
• Once the mixture comes to room temperature, make a coarse paste of all the ingredients. Do not add too much water. You can add the water that is used for cooking the spinach and apple. Use water wisely.
• Scoop out the paste to a bowl and prepare the tempering.
• Heat oil in a small wok. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds. When mustard seeds crackle, throw in the curry leaves and turn off the heat.
• Add the tempering to the chutney.
• Mix well and serve it hot with rice or chapathi. 

Notes:

• I use red delicious apple or Fuji apple (sweeter apple) for preparing this chutney.  If you are using a sour variety of apple, make sure to use less tamarind and more jaggery.
• Coconut oil tempering is perfect for this chutney, however you are free to use an oil of your choice. 

Menthyada Bajji | Menthya Gojju | Methi Chutney | Fenugreek seeds dip : Karnataka Recipe

Menthya Gojju is a Malenadu Specialty. Malenadu is a region of Karnataka State in India. It literally translates to "Rain Land". I belong to this region and I love love love this place. The fog covered mountains, the dense evergreen forest and the misty air are what this region is famous for. The moment I write or think about Malenadu, I literally go to the dreamland. It takes sometime for me to come back to reality.

I wish I could sit near the paddy fields, I wish I could soak in the rain, and I wish I could watch the fog covered, lush green mountains until my heart desires. I wish I go back there soon.......You can search for the Malenadu or Malnad region pictures to believe me.

Now back to the recipe. This side dish can be served with rice, dosa, pundi gatti (unde), idli or chapathi (Indian flat bread).

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins
Serves:4-6

Ingredients:
Channa dal | Gram dal | Kadalebele: 1/4 cup
Urad dal | Black gram dal | Uddinabele : 2 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds: 1 tsp
Dried red chili : 6-8 nos, non spicy variety, refer notes
Mustard seeds: a pinch, optional
Grated coconut: 1.5 cups, fresh or frozen, refer notes
Tamarind pulp or extract: 1 tsp. thick extract
Jaggery or Brown Sugar: 2 tsp
Salt: As needed
Oil: 1 tsp
Water: As needed

For tempering:
Oil: 1 tsp, preferably coconut oil
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 4-6 nos, torn
Asafoetida: a big pinch

Method:
Heat oil in a wok or sauce pan. When oil is hot, throw in the channa dal, and urad dal.
Roast the dals on a low-medium heat until they turn slightly golden brown. This will take about 4-5 mins
Add the fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and roast again for couple of minutes.
Break the dry red chili and add it to the wok. Roast again until the raw smell of the chili is gone and chilis are nicely roasted.

Turn off the heat and allow it to cool.
Once cool, grind the roasted spices along with coconut, jaggery, salt, and tamarind extract. Add little water at a time to make a smooth but thick paste.
Scoop the chutney/dip. Prepare the tempering.
Heat oil in a small wok. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds. When seeds crackle, add the cumin seeds. When cumin seeds turn golden brown, throw in the curry leaves and turn off the heat.
Add the asafoetida to the tempering and pour this tempering over the chutney/dip prepared.
Mix it well and serve it.

Notes:

• You could adjust the spice according to your needs. I normally add Kashmiri or Byadagi chilies for their color and mild flavor. 
• You can make this chutney with dry coconut or coconut powder too. Coconut powder is easily available everywhere. 
• I sometimes add finely chopped onion to this dip. I do not blend the onion, but after the chutney is made, I mix in the raw onion. It tastes very yummy.