Tomato Thokku / Spicy Tomato Relish

I picked up some fresh tomatoes from our local farmer's market this summer. I made this thokku which is mouthwatering and goes along well with rice, idly, dosa, toast etc


Get Ready

• 5 tomatoes
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp hing
• 1.5 tsp red chilli powder ( make it 3 if you want it very spicy)
• 1 tsp sambar powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 1/2 tsp jaggery/ brown sugar ( optional)
• salt to taste
• 2.5 tbsp gingelly oil
• 1 red chilli
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• a few curry leaves

Go:

• Wash and chop the tomatoes. set aside

• In a dry kadai, roast some vendhayam or fenugreek till they are dark golden. once cool, powder them and set aside.

• In a thick bottomed pan, add the oil and do the tadka with mustard seeds, red chilli and curry leaves.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and toss well.
• Add the red chilli powder, sambar powder ,turmeric powder, tamarind past, salt and asafoetida to the tomatoes.
• Cook uncovered on a medium flame. The tomatoes will ooze juice and will become mushy. You can use the back of the spoon to mush them up more.
• Add the jaggery and cook till the tomato mixture is thick and till oil starts leaving the sides of the tomato mixture.
• Add the vendhayam/ fenugreek powder. mix well and cook for 1 minute.
•  Turn the heat off.
• Once cool, store in a dry air tight container. Keep it refrigerated.

This thokku will stay good for a week in the fridge. Well, Mine was finished in a few days.

Bell Pepper and Coconut Thogayal / chutney

Bell Peppers are on sale now and I picked up a bag of these mini peppers from safeway. I like to eat them raw with humus. What do you like to eat them with as a snack?

I made a quick thogayal with this and some coconut and it was pretty good. Our family enjoyed this with some steaming rice, ghee and okra fry.

Here is the very simple recipe for it. You can use  sauted onions and garlic instead of the coconut. I used 2 long red chillies, as my family does not eat very spicy food. But if you like spicy thogayal, u can use 4 red chillies.

Get Ready

• Mini bell peppers ( red, orange) 5 
• 2 red chillies
•  1/4 cup broken urad dal
• 3 tbsp grated coconut
• 1/2 tsp asafetida powder
•  1 tsp tamarind paste
•  1-1 & 1/2 tsp salt or per taste.

To Temper

• 2 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds/ kadugu

Go:

• wash the peppers, remove the stem cut in them in big chunks and set aside. 

• In a pan add 1/2 tsp oil and roast the red chillies and urad dal till the chillies are shiny and the dal is golden brown. set aside to cool.

• In  the same pan, add a drop of oil and add the peppers. saute them and cook till they are soft but still crunchy. turn the heat off and set them aside to cool.

• In a blender add the sauted peppers, red chilli, asafetida, tamarind, salt to taste and coconut and grind them till coarse. add a little water if it is dry.

• Add the urad dal and the end and grind them again to desired consistency. I like my thogayal with a little crunchy urad dal pieces in them. 
• In the same pan that you sauted the peppers, add a little oil and to the tadka with mustard seeds.

Serve hot with rice, idli, dosa, pongal, chapathi or spread on toast and enjoy!

Cilantro Celery Thogayal

I pretty much eat most vegetables. However, when it comes to celery, I keep my distance. I never buy it or try one from the huge veggie platters served at work parties.
My lovely neighbor who does not know about my love for celery gave me a bunch the other day. She says"I picked some from  farmers market and though you might like some".

You shud have seen the look on my face! But of course, I said" Oh, Thank you! How sweet of you.. blah.. blah..."

The poor old bunch was sitting in my fridge and stared at me like the money with googly eyes! Kept saying, pick me, pick me and use me! Of course my good friend Google helped me find this celery thokku from vegetable concoctions.
I was then inspired to make my celery thogayal.

People who stayed a mile away from Celery will be drawn to the wonderful taste of this thogayal. The spices made the taste of celery so subtle that I enjoyed it a lot.
I waanted to share this mouth watering recipie with you all.

As always the measurements can be modified according to your taste.

Cilantro Celery Thogayal.

Celery diced 1 cup
Cilantro chopped 1 cup
1 green chilli ( mine was a ripe one)
1 small piece of ginger
tamarind paste 2 tbsp
Hing a pinch

for tempering
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad dal

Method:

1. Wash the celery pretty well. It is notorious to hide all that dirt inside

2. Heat oil in a pan. add the celery and cilantro and saute for 4- 5 mins. set aside.

3. In the same pan saute the green chilli and ginger for a few mins.

4. Grind the cilantro, celery, ginger, tamatind paste, hing and green chilli. add salt according to taste.

5. Heat oil in a pan. add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add the urad dal and fry till golden.

6. Add the ground mix and keep sauteing till the oil separates from the sides. This usually takes < 10 mins.

7. Why are you still reading this? Have a plate full of steaming rice, kootu and enjoy as I did!

Basil

I bought a packet of basil from our local farmers market and did'nt know how to use them. I loved the fragrance and was desparate to use it in my cooking. Unfortunately my husband is not a fan of trying new things or the smell of basil.

Just to give you some facts, basil is widely used in Italian cooking. It is called "Ocimum basilicum". the smell reminds me of our good old "Tulsi" which is called Ocimum tenuiflorum. Apparently it tulsi is also called holy basil.

So i finally madea basil coconut chutney and basil thogayal. Boy, let me tell you it was super delish.

I will post my recipie for these two.

Basil chutney

basil leaves a hand ful

coconut 2 tbsp

tamarind paste 1tsp

green chilli 4

grind all the above and add salt to taste. Season it with mustard seeds and urad dhal. chutney is ready. serve for idli or dosa.

Basil thogayal

basil leaves 1/4 cup

urad dhal 2 tbsp

red chillies 2

perungayam a pinch

tamarind paste 1 tsp

In a pan, fry urad dhal and red chilli with litle oil till golden brown. the nadd the basil leaves and fry them as you would do for pudhina thogayal. let it cool and grind all the ingredients with salt and perungayam. in thogayal consistency. It tastes goodwith rice, bread and chapathi.