Dalia Coconut Chutney | Fried Gram Dal Chutney | Putnala Pappu Pachadi

Dalia coconut Chutney is one of the quickest & easy to make dish. This chutney includes very less ingredients & tastes yummy when paired with south Indian breakfast dishes. This chutney can be customized using peanuts, coriander leaves, fried tomatoes or garlic for a flavorful variation in taste.

Pairs well with south Indian breakfast dishes like Idli, dosa ,upma & for some traditional rice dishes like pulihora, tomato rice, bisi bele bath, vangi bath too. My favorite pairing of this chutney is with poori's.

Prep Time-2mins
Cook time-5mins 
Serves-2people
Ingredients 
1/2Cup grated coconut {Fresh or dried}
1/4Cup dalia {fried gram dal}
1Tsp fried cumin/jeera {optional}
4Green chili's {Adjust acc. to your spice level}
Salt to taste
1Tsp oil
For Tadka/Popu/Tempering
1Tbs oil 
1Tsp mustard
1Tsp jeera 
Few red chili's cut in to pieces
Few curry leaves
Directions 
- In a blender add all ingredients other than "Tadka" ingredients. 
- Grind them while adding little water at a time to make a smooth paste. Adjust salt if needed & transfer chutney to a bowl.
- For tadka, heat pan with oil. Add mustard, jeera, red chili pieces & curry leaves. 
- Fry them till mustards starts jumping. Switch off heat & add tadka to chutney. Mix well.
- Dali coconut chutney is ready to serve.
Note
- You can fry jeera & red chili's (Instead of green chili's) in little oil & grind them along with other ingredients. It adds a nice flavor to the chutney.

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Tomatillo Pickle | Pachi Tomato Pachadi

Pickles & Chutneys are a must for any Indian meal. South Indian style pickles are spicy, tangy, pungent & flavorful. The preparation might vary from state to state, still they are delicious in their own way. Pickles have a longer shelf life than chutneys & can be made ahead of time & store them as needed. I prefer refrigerating pickles, but my mom believes in no refrigerating as it reduces a little taste to them. 

I love experimenting pickles with different veggies & when I came across tomatillo's at a local grocery store I just couldn't resist make a pickle out of them. They are sour in taste & are perfect to pickle them. Tomatillo's are kind of green tomatoes, but little juicier than the green tomatoes. They can be replaced with green or red tomatoes. Green tomatoes are widely available in India & rarely you can find them in US too. 

Prep Time-10mins 

Cook Time-30mins
Serves-4 to 5people
Pairs well with rice.

Ingredients

1Kg green tomatoes/tomatillo's sliced
1Tbs size tamarind
4Tbs oil

Tempering/Popu/Tadka
4Tbs oil 
1Tbs mustard 

Few curry leaves
5Garlic pods chopped

4Red chili's cut broken into half
1Tsp hing 

1/4Cup red chili powder {extra hot}

2Tbs menthi podi / methi powder
Salt to taste 
Directions

- Heat a wide pan with oil. Add in chopped tomatoes & tamarind. Cook them till they are soft. Switch off heat & allow tomatoes to cool.
- Once tomatoes are cool grind them coarsely.  

- Heat pan with oil. To that add in red chili's, mustard, chopped garlic & curry leaves. Once the garlic turns to light brown in color add in hing, methi powder & red chili powder.
- Fry for 2 seconds & add in the tomato paste to pan along with enough salt. Mix them well while cooking on low heat.
- Once the mixture comes together switch off heat. Adjust salt if needed.

-  Allow pickle to cool before serving or before transferring to a container.
Note

- Don't cook tomatoes with a closed lid.
- If you like a chunky pickle then don't grind cooked tomatoes.
- I used an extra spicy chili powder as mentioned above. Adjust the chili powder according to your taste & the quantity might vary. 

Madatha Khaja

Happy Sankranthi to All !!!

Madatha Khaja or Tapeswaram Khaja is a delicacy of Andhra Pradesh & originated from the district of Kakinada. These khaja's have been my favorite sweet since my childhood. I learned & mastered making them perfectly from my mom.

While growing up I was the little helper on busy days in the kitchen to my mom. Though I was never allowed in kitchen for a daily cooking stuff, but when the tedious cooking for festivals have to be done & which doesn't involves standing near the stove or handling any hot stuff I was allowed to help her. That's when I got a chance of learning in rolling the dough, cutting them & shaping them.

Lately, I was craving & dreaming about this sweet & decided to make them for Sankranthi. My husband gave a helping hand in frying & soaking them in sugar syrup, which made my job very easy in making them. We ate few fried khaja's without soaking them as they were irresistibly good to eat. It was fun making them together with my hubby & also the loved them the way they turned out.

Prep Time: 2hrs {sitting time + making kaja's}
Cook time: 30mins
Yields : 40 to 50 khaja's
Ingredients
500g or 3&1/2Cups maida / All-purpose flour
1/4Tsp baking soda {optional}
1/2Cup ghee
1/2Cup curd
1/2Tsp salt {optional}
1Water {use some more if needed}
Oil for deep frying
1/4Cup rice flour
1/4Cup butter @ room temperature {not melted one}
Sugar Syrup 
4Cups sugar
1Cup water
1Tsp elachi powder
Directions 

- In a large pan add maida, baking soda, salt & mix them. Add in ghee & curd to the flour mixture. Mix them well. Now the mixture will be little wet, but you still need some more liquid to form a dough.
- Add in little by little water while making dough. The dough should be firm, smooth & not sticky. Cover it with a wet kitchen towel & let it sit aside for 1hr & no more than that.

Making Sugar Syrup
- After waiting for 1hr now it's time to make the sugar syrup. In a wide deep pan {we need depth & width to a pan because it will fit more khaja's while soaking them} add sugar & water to it.
- Keep the sugar water on medium heat & bring the syrup to string consistency. It will take around 10 to 15mins to get to that stage. Add in powdered cardamon & switch off heat.

Making Kaja's
- Now take the dough & divide it to 4 equal balls. Dust the surface with rice flour where you are rolling the  dough.
- Pick a dough ball & roll it thin, as shown in the picture. Apply ghee to the rolled dough & sprinkle rice flour all over the rolled dough.
- Roll the dough as shown in the figure & cut the khaja's as shown above. Next take one khaja & roll them lightly as shown above to make them long. Repeat the same with rest of the dough & proceed to frying them. {You can make the khaja's in 2batches}

- Heat pan with oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot add in the first batch of khaja's & fry them to golden brown in color.
- Once the khaja's are fried to perfect color add them to the sugar syrup. Allow them to sit for 5mins & in that time the khaja's will coat in sugar syrup perfectly.
- Remove them on to a plate & allow them to dry for 15mins or till they are totally cool.
- Arrange them in a air tight container & enjoy them for a long time. They will be good for 3 weeks or more.
Note: 
- After staying for few days in a air tight container, sugar syrup on khaja's will slightly crystalizes. Nothing to panic & enjoy the sweet little one's.
- You can skip adding soda totally. This is the first time I added & should say that there was no difference.
- Add a pinch of salt to the the maida, along with curd & ghee if you want to eat them as they are without dipping in sugar syrup.
- Don't allow the dough to rest for more than 1hr.
- I used brown sugar instead of regular white sugar. It's your choice. The syrup making process remains the same.

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Potato Peas Kurma

Kurma has been my favorite always. I might sound a little weird, but the aroma while cooking a kurma makes me go crazy about this dish. Here I'm sharing one of those yummy kurma's which will make you go crazy about. 
Grean peas potato korma is a delicious side dish goes well with roti, paratha & naan's. The gravy is rich, creamy & flavorful. You can also pair it with pulao, biryani or any of your favorite rice dishes. 

Prep Time-10mins { Grinding + chopping veggies + arranging}
Cook Time-30mins
Serves-3people
Pairs with rice dishes, naan, roti, chapati & paratha's
Ingredients
2Big potatoes chopped & boiled
1cup green peas
1Onion sliced
2Tomatoes chopped
1/2Cup chopped mint
2Elachi's
2Cloves
1bark of cinnamon
3Tsp oil
Powder's
2Tsp red chili powder
2Tsp garam masala powder
1/2Tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
To grind
1/4Cup yogurt
1/4 grated coconut
2Tbs cashews
2Garlic cloves
1Tsp ginger pieces
- Grind the above ingredients to a smooth paste.
Directions
- Heat pan with oil & to that add elachi, cloves & cinnamon. Stir fry them for few seconds.
- Next add onions to pan. Fry them translucent & add in tomatoes. Cook them till tomatoes are slightly done.
- Add in potatoes, green peas & mint to pan.
- Next add in the grind paste to pan along with red chili powder, garam masala powder, turmeric & enough salt.
- Cook till the gravy thickens. Adjust salt & spiciness as needed.
- Korma is ready to serve. Serve with roti's, parathas & naans.
Note
- Add a little cilantro just before switching down the heat. It make's the dish more flavorful. 

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