[Chitvish]

Fat big violet brinjal - 1 ( around 250 – 300 gms)

Onion - 2, finely chopped

Tomatoes - 3, finely chopped

Green chillies - 5, 6 – slit into 2

Ginger - 1 tsp, minced ( optional)

Salt, haldi

To temper:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Gram dhal - 1 tsp

Hing - ½ tsp

Curry leaves - few

To Garnish -

chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

Wash the brinjal & wipe dry.

Apply oil lightly & dry roast over the gas stove directly till the skin turns black.

The brinjal will be cooked inside.

Leave it closed for 10 mts till it cools.

Peel the skin carefully & mash well.

In a kadai, heat oil.

Temper mustard seeds, both dhals & fry.

Next add onions, green chillies & ginger.

When they are sauted well, add hing, curry leaves & chopped tomatoes & fry till they turn pulpy.

Add mashed brinjal, salt & cook on a low fire till the mass is well blended.

Remove & garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

In the N I style, finely chopped garlic, red chilli powder & dhaniya powder are also added.

[Chitvish]

This kootu can be made with white pumpkin, bottle gourd, snake gourd etc specially for diet purposes. This also tastes good with cabbage, cauliflower, chow chow etc. I make it bland; you can add more chillies.

Masoor dhal - 1 tbsp

Moong dhal - 1 tbsp

Chopped vegetable - 2 cups

Red chilli - 2 or more

To temper:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera - ½ tsp

Curry leaves

In a vessel, take the dhals & enough water to immerse them.

On top add the vegetables & the raw red chillies.

Cover & cook inside a pressre cooker for 10 mts, after the first whistle comes.

Cool, open, add salt & lightly mix, mashing the chillies.

Temper dry in a ladle as given.

This goes well with rotis also.

[Chitvish]

Babycorn - 1 kg (cut 1” long)

Curds - 1 cup

Besan - 1 cup

Rice flour - ½ cup

Cornflour - ½ cup

Chilli powder - 2 tsp (or to taste)

Salt

Oil - to deep fry

Marinate the babycorn pieces in curds for 2 hrs.

Drain well, add all other ingredients & deep fry.

[Chitvish]

Buy fresh senai, preferably yellow inside & not red. The variety called Malabar senai is very good. Keep immersed in water for an hour before cleaning, to get rid of all mud.
Peel & cut into “logs” – 3-4” long & 2cm*2 cm.

Slice them using a chips slicer.

Wash 4,5 times in plenty of water, rinsing well. Drain completely & spread on a cloth under the fan for an hour.

Heat oil in a kadai & fry 1 cup at a time like usual chips. Wait till the bubbles stop completely.
After frying all batches, deep- fry a few red chillies, remove, add hing, salt, haldi to them & powder when still warm. Add to the chips & shake well to spread uniformly.

Cool & store airtight.

[Chitvish]

Follow the same method for deep frying like Senaikizangu Chips.
Senaikizangu (Yam) Chips
Select fully frown raw bananas.
Wash the bananas, peel & keep immersed in water.
Drain, wipe & slice on a plate.


Transfer them to hot oil & procees as above.


Nenthrangai Chips:
Peel and soak in plenty of water,to which haldi is added. After 1 hr, take them, wipe them & directly slice on to very hot oil. This has to be done very carefully & comes only by practice. Keep a little salt water ready. When the chips are half-fried, sprinkle salt water on to the oil (carefully) so thatsalt adheres to the chips. As you fry a few batches, decrease the amount of salt water because the oil would have become salty by now.

Please go to
Finger Chips
for potato chips.

[Chitvish]

You can use any fresh greens. I have tried with palak, muLaikeerai & Ponnanganni.
You can make it with or without onions.

Without onions:

Pressurise in a pressurise pan or small pressure cooker for just one whistle:

Greens, chopped - 2 cups

Tomatoes - 1, medium, chopped

Green chillies - 1-2

As soon as you switch off the gas, take the pan or cooker to the kitchen sink & run water on its side from the tap, to drop the pressure inside.

You can lift the weight & open in 2 mts. This is to ensure a nice green colour. add salt & mash.

Temper as given below.
To temper:

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Red chilli - 1

Urad dhal 1 tsp.


With onions:

Add 2-3 finely chopped small onions before cooking. Also when tempering add 2-3 small onions, finely chopped.

[Chitvish]

Select fresh, healthy, cauliflower and pick out the florettes, not more than 2 cms.
Boil plenty of water & drop the flowers & swich off. Drain after 2-3 mts, completely. This is only to soften the flowers.

Florettes - 2 cups

Rice flour - 2 tbsp

Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp (optional)


Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Ajwain - 1 tsp

Lime juice - 2-3 tsp

Salt, haldi

Dry roast, adding fried gram last & powder:

Rice - 1 tbsp

Pepper - 2 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Fried gram - 2 tbsp

Take the cauliflower in a shallow basin & add all the first listed ingredients, adding the last powder to taste.

Add minimum water for the ingredients to stick together, rather smear with water..

Marinate for 10 mts.

Heat oil & deep-fry handfuls till well-fried.

Goes very well with bisibela, sambar saadam etc.

[Chitvish]

For this,cutting potatoes into uniform size wedges (big or small) or cubes is important.
Wash the cut potatoes several times in water to remove the starch completely & drain.
To 3 cups of cut vegetables, add 1&1/2 tsp chilli powder (or a little more), salt, hing, haldi & 2 tbsp of oil & mix well. Any dry herb like oregano etccan be addedoptionally.
Transfer to a flat baking dish & bake at 220 deg C for 40 mts, stirring thoroughly twice, to make sure that all pieces are uniformly roasted.
Timing varies wih ovens, please remember!
This is an easy method and the raw potato gets cooked very well.
This is one size:


Small squares;


Long wedges: with herb added!

[Chitvish]

Select fresh brinjals & cut into long segments.

To powder coarse;

Red chillies - 3-4 (or to taste)

Roasted peanuts - 2 tbsp

To temper:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Red chillies - 2

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 2 tsp

Hing - ½ tsp

Salt & haldi

Heat oil in a pressure pan & temper as given.

Add washed & freshly drained brinjal pieces, haldi & salt.
The moisture in the brinjal is sufficient usually. If at all, add 2 tsp water.

Cover & keep the weight.

Switch off on the first whistle.

Open in 5 mtes & if there is even little water,evaporate by heating the pan for 3-4 mts more.

Add the coarsely powdered red chilli-peanut mixture & sauté till uniformly mixed.
This can be left plain or curryma powder added as well.

[Chitvish]

I watched this recipe on a TV show, with green chillies. Since the variety of chillies we get here is very hot, I tried with bajji chillies.

Bajji chillies - 250 gms

Tomatoes - 250 gms

Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp (or to taste)

Chilli powder - 2-3 tsp

Salt

Oil - 2 tbsp

Cut chillies & tomatoes as shown below.

Heat oil & sauté chillies.

They must shrink well; then add tomatoes.

Add salt & chilli powder & lighly fry till cooked.

Add tamarind paste wih just sufficient water & simmer.


Switch off when you get the required consistency.

serve hot.

Serve with any tiffin or curd rice. Here I haver served with vattayappam.