Chow Chow Thuvayal / Chayote Dip

Chow chow or Chayote is mostly a neutral squash. Its not hated by many and its not a favorite of all too. I am not an exception to what I said, until I tasted a thuvayal/ dip made with it. :)

Wait wait, don't conclude!! I meant I have started falling in love with it :P

Chow chow thuvayal is pretty simple to make yet damn yummy. It goes well with rice as well as Chapathi. This versatility made me get really impressed with it. Had it with rice in the afternoon and it became a dip for the night ;)

Ingredients:

Chow chow - 1
Green chillies - 2
Onion - 1
Urad dhall - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Coconut scrappings - 2 tbl sp
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Salt - for taste

Method:

Chop chow chow, green chilly and onion roughly.

Take a pan and add two tsp of oil and crackle mustard, urad dhall. Add the chopped chow chow, green chillies and onion to it and fry till the raw smell goes. Allow it to cool.

Now grind it along with coconut, tamarind paste and salt.

Chow chow thogayal is ready to eat.

Serve it with hot rice or chapathi.

Enjoy eating :)

Written by: Nithya
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Corn & Capsicum Subzi

Corn and capsicum both stand as my favorite vegetables. Corn for its slight sweetness and capsicum for its special aroma. When both come together in the form of subzi, no wonder I would love it to the core.

The thick gravy made of coconut milk and poppy seeds top the dish and make it really rich and yummy :)

No wonder if this corn and capsicum subzi makes roti a sought-after dinner :)

Ingredients:

Corn - 2 cobs
Capsicum - 1
Onion - 2
Coconut milk - from 1/2 coconut
Oil - 4 tbl sp
Salt - for taste

To grind:

Poppy seeds - 2 tsp
Coriander seeds(dhaniya) - 1 tsp
Garlic - 5 pods
Green chillies - 2
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 2

Method:

Chop onions and capsicum finely. Boil the corn in pressure cooker and remove the kernels and keep it aside.

Grind together poppy seeds, coriander seeds, garlic, green chillies, cinnamon and cloves into a smooth paste by adding some water to it.

Extract coconut milk from the scrapped coconut.

Heat oil in a wok and fry onions & capsicum till they turn light brown, add the ground masala paste and fry well in low flame. Now add corn kernels and then pour the coconut extract along with salt and allow it to boil for few mins.

Remove from fire and serve hot with parathas.

Enjoy making :) happy eating :)

Note:

I usually prefer my vegetables to blend along with the gravy. Hence I mixed a tsp of corn flour with a tsp of water and added to the gravy when it was boiling. This would make the gravy a little thick and blend along with the vegetables well.

Written by: Nithya
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Onion Pickle / Shallot Pickle

After all the posh and rich delicacies for diwali, lets get into some simple food :)

Pickle! they are the best accompaniments with lots of our dishes and can make "any" dish delicious with its taste.

By any, I even mean Pazhaya sadam(left over rice). If asked about pazhaya sadam, I would be a person who would not sulk to it. Its of course delicious and very healthy.

A bowl of pazhya sadam mixed with some neer moar(butter milk) and onion pickle along with it can easily beat any dish. Its so yummy and filling. :)

Read on to know about the magical onion pickle that makes the simplest of food into an extremely delicious one :)

Ingredients:

Small onions(shallots) - 1/4 kg
Tamarind - 2 lemon sized balls
Jaggery - 6 tsp
Chilly powder - 3 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Gingely oil - 75 gms
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Fenugreek(Vendhayam) - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds(Jeeragam) - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida(Perungayam) - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Peel the onions and chop them into small pieces.

Extract the pulp from tamarind.

Fry fenugreek, cumin and asafoetida in a dry pan and powder it finely.

Heat the oil in a wok and crackle mustard and drop in the curry leaves too. Add the chopped onions to it and fry till it turns transparent. Then add the tamarind paste, jaggery, salt and chilly powder to it and mix well until it becomes thick(pickle consistency). Finally add the powdered masala and mix well and cook for just two minutes.

Aromatic onion pickle is ready to eat :)

Serve it with curd rice or mix it along with plain rice and eat :)

It also goes well with murukku and dosas :)

You can preserve this in the refrigerator for around 6 months.

Note:

Keep in mind that the oil should cover a thin layer on top of the pickle after it is transferred to the bottle. This will prevent the pickle from getting spoilt. This goes for all pickles.

To make pazhaya sadam - soak the left over rice in water over night. Drain the water and mix it along with butter milk. You can add some salt to the drained water and have it as well. Its high in carbohydrates. :)

Written by: Nithya
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Beetroot Pulao

Its universally known fact that Girls love Pink and Boys love blue. :)

Of course it goes more for kids. As kids most of the girls love pink and in due course the favorite color changes. Mine was initially pink too and later it kept changing that by now I have named almost all the colors as my favorite sometime of my life :P

What so ever! Pink was my first favorite color and I still love it :) Anything in pink makes me feel girly girly and soft.

So a freaking pink rice can never be denied by me or any kids ;) isn't it?

The subtle taste of saunf and the light sweetness of beets makes this rice so yummy :)

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Beetroot - 2
Onion - 1 large
Green chillies - 2
Saunf/fennel/sombu - 1 tsp
Salt - for taste
Curry leaves

Method:

Wash, peel and cook the beets in microwave or pressure pan. Once cooked, grate and keep it aside.

Chop onion finely.

Wash and soak rice for half an hour. Pressure cook with two cups of water. Once done allow it to cool on a plate. Add a tsp of ghee to the rice and separate the grains.

Take a pan and add a tsp of oil, drop in the curry leaves and saunf followed by chopped onions and split chillies. Fry till the onion turns golden brown. Now add the grated beets along with some salt and fry just for few mins.

Now mix in the rice along with the vegetables thoroughly.

Yummy, simple and pinky betts pulao is ready to eat :)

Enjoy making :) Freak your kids with pinky pink rice :)

Note:

You can add gharam masala powder or the spices(bay leaf,cloves and cinnamon) directly as well to give it additional flavoring.

You can powder the saunf and add it to avoid kids removing it from the rice.

Written by: Nithya
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Diwali Dhamaka #5 - Celebration

Wish you all a very happy Diwali.

May this year bring more of joy and prosperity to you and your family :)

My celebration this morning started with a hot oil bath followed by pooja to god.

Then dressed up in new clothes and burst the crackers. The best part of diwali is to call up and receive calls from all our friends and relatives :) My call list exceeded 30 today :)

The last but not the least was sharing diwali sweets and savories. I distributed the dishes to our neighbors and got lots in return too :)

My diwali was fantastic. :) How was yours???

Written by: Nithya
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