Cherry Tomato Pachadi (Cherry tomato Chutney)

Cherry tomatoes have lately become my absolute favorite. I buy a big tub of them from BJ's and use them in different dishes. They are so juicy and have just the perfect taste. I planted a cherry tomato plant in my garden this year, I'm waiting for my harvest.

After adding them to salads, pastas and other non-Indian dishes, I wanted to make something Indian with them. After a quick call to my mom, I set out to make this quick, easy and tasty cherry tomato pachadi.

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Kakarakaya Pachadi (Bittergourd Chutney)

I am not a big fan of spicy Indian style pickles. My mom makes sure she keeps me stocked with fresh pickles every year, but I rarely eat them. In my house, my husband is the major consumer of these spicy pickles. He also likes the simple chutneys made with vegetables, so I make them occasionally. They keep well in the fridge for 4~5 days.

I saw this pachadi/ chutney recipe made with bitter gourd/ kakarakaya on a cooking show. Recipe is very simple to make and the method of making is quite interesting. Bitter gourd is usually cooked with lot oil for a very long time to reduce the bitterness, but in this recipe it is ground into a coarse paste and then cooked in little bit of oil until it is cooked through.

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Cranberry Pachadi (Cranberry Chutney)

Cranberries are in season during the holidays and are used to make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. All the stores carry cranberries and I over-zealously bought a big bag for myself. I wanted to make some cranberry sauce for my Thanksgiving series and even found a recipe that I liked. But cranberry sauce is usually served with turkey and I was not sure which vegetarian dish goes well with cranberry sauce. So decided against making it.
Now I had the whole bag staring at me from the fridge. So I froze half of the cranberries for later use (at least they won't stare at me until I open the freezer, which is not as much as the fridge -- clever, isn't it??) Anyway I used some to make this warm cranberry cider and the rest to make this tangy cranberry chutney.

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Carrot-Onion Chutney

Blogging Marathon# 41: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: BM Pair (Sujatha Ram)
Dish: Carrot-Onion Chutney

For the last week of marathon, we are cooking from our fellow marathoner. I got paired with Sujatha Ram who blogs at Indian Veg Kitchen. Sujatha is a relatively new blogger, but has quite a few authentic and delicious vegetarian dishes. I have many of her traditional desserts bookmarked and wanted to make at least one for this week, but with my husband travelling, I didn't want to eat the calories all by myself.

So for the first day, I made this Carrot chutney based on Sujatha's carrot-small onion chutney. I wanted to make something different to go along with the masala idlis and this carrot chutney sounded perfect to me. Also my son doesn't eat carrot and I wanted him to try this. He didn't know that it had carrot and ate it without complaint. Even my husband and sister didn't know that it was carrot chutney and liked it a lot.

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Tomato Chutney from Tripura & Green Chili Chutney from Mizoram

Mosdeng Serma from Tripura: This was one of the simplest tomato chutney recipes I have ever made, with very few ingredients; tomatoes, onions, garlic and chilies. We can taste all of the ingredients in the chutney which are otherwise weighed down by tamarind and the tempering that are usually added in South Indian style chutneys. This chutney can be eaten with rice, roti or even as a sandwich spread.

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Mango Pachadi (South Indian style Sweet Mango Chutney)

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Mango Mania
Dish: Mango Pachadi

As I was thinking for recipes to make for this weeks theme, I saw this sweet mango pachadi as part of Tamil Nadu thali on both Sandhya's & Jayanthi's blogs. It sounded sweet, tangy and spicy. I had some chopped mangoes in the freezer and I went ahead and made this chutney. It tasted great with white rice, curd rice and even roti.

The jaggery I used was a little dark that made the chutney a little darkish instead of the golden color in Sandhya's and Jayanthis blogs. Taste was however right on point.

Recipe from Sandhya's recipe:

Ingredients:

Mango - 1 large, peeled, deseeded and diced

Jaggery (or brown sugar) - ½cup, grated (adjust as per taste)
Sugar - 2tbsp

Green Chili - 1 small, finely chopped
Mustard seeds - ½tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Cook mango pieces with some water until cooked through and tender.
• Add jaggery and sugar, mix well and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the mixture thickens, about 4~5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a small saucepan, add the mustard seeds and green chilies. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the oil to the mango mixture and mix well. Enjoy!!

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 40.

Also linking to Fabulous Feast# 14, being hosted this week by Valli & Prachi.

Mango Chutney

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Favorite Celebrity Chef Recipes
Dish: Mango Chutney
We are starting 2nd week of blogging marathon# 33 today and my theme for this week is 'Favorite Celebrity Chef Recipes'. For the first day, I have Alton Brown's Mango chutney that I actually made couple of months ago in the middle of summer. Saved it in the drafts and totally forgot about it.
Alton Brown is one of my favorite chef / cook on Food Network. I love to watch Good Eats show where he explains the science of cooking in a way that is easily understandable to everyone. He's very knowledgeable and very funny.
My husband and I love mangoes (husband LOVES them way more than me) and we make sure to buy ripe mangoes when in season. We bought a pack of 6 from Costco and the first one we tasted was so sour that both was us were very disappointed. Since it was almost impossible to eat them raw I wanted to turn them into a yummy chutney. I had bookmarked this recipe from Alton Brown quite sometime back and after a quick trip to the grocery store made this spicy-sweet mango chutney.

I bought mango chutney for this recipe and a small jar costs a fortune. I've used that chutney in salads, sandwiches, also great with naans and even quesadillas. So instead of buying a small jar, I now have 2 jars full of my home made mango chutney.

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Onion Pachadi/ Chutney

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter O
Theme: A-Z Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: O for Onion Pachadi (Chutney)/ Ullipaya Pachadi

Letter O literally threw a curve ball at me. I couldn't think of a single ingredient or dish that starts with O. I had Ooragaya (pickle) written down in my list, but had no intentions of making any because I had so many pickles that had to be used up and I didn't want to make anything new.

Finally after contemplating on what to make, I ended with Onion Pachadi/ Ullipaya Pachadi (chutney) from the cookbook 'Cooking with Pedatha'. This is the first letter in the series that I had to use an English word :-(

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Nuvvulu-Mamidikaya Pachadi (Sesame-Green Mango Chutney)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter N
Theme: A-Z Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Nuvvulu-Mamidikaya Pachadi (Sesame-Green Mango Chutney)

Letter N stands for veggies like Nuvvulu (sesame seeds), Nimmakaya (lemon), Nethi Beerakaya (fuzzy gourd) etc. N also stands for Neyyi or ghee which when added on hot dal and steamed rice makes it taste out of this world. 

For today, I made Nuvvulu-Mamidikaya pachadi (sesame-green mango chutney). Recipe is from my dear neighbor from India. I was raking my mom's brain for dishes that start with 'N' and then she gave me this recipe that my neighbor makes back home. This is a very simple, almost no-cook except for the sauteed tempering. It tastes great with rice, upma, idli, dosa or just about anything that needs a little something-something to dip.

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Dosakaya Pachadi (Cuke Lemon Chutney)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter D
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: D for Dosakaya Pachadi 

Letter D stands for veggies like Dondakaya (ivy gourd), Dosakaya (cuke lemon). D also stands for dishes like Dappalam which is a spicy, tangy stew made with toor dal and an assortment of veggies. Daddojam, spiced curd rice or Dalcha, a Hyderabadi lentil dish and so on.

I decided to make a traditional chutney recipe using dosakaya (cuke lemon). This is a very quick and simple chutney to make. Dosakaya is not cooked, it is finely chopped and mixed into ground tempering. A spicy, tangy and very tasty pachadi.

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Plum Tomato Chutney

One of the Indian cookbooks that I really enjoyed leafing through in the recent past is Hari Nayak's 'My Indian Kitchen'. It's beautiful to look at and the recipes are very easy to follow too. I have already posted this quick and easy Avocado Raita recipe from the book.

This tomato chutney is also a very quick to make recipe and goes well with just about anything; rice, rotis, chips, bread etc. The freshly ground spices make this chutney taste so vibrant and tasty. A must try!!

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Walnut Chutney

Recipe Courtesy: My Dear friend Himabindu
Here's a delicious no-cook recipe from my friend Himabindu. Bindu and I went to school together years and years ago and I think it's been that long that we've seen each other. But thanks to Facebook, we are only a 'message' away from long lost friends.

Bindu lives in India and has adorable twin boys who keep her busy. She sent this simple no-cooking involved Walnut Chutney that sounded so good that I had to make it right away. It takes so little time to make and needs everyday pantry ingredients -- so there's no reason not to make it right away. The resulting chutney was soooo good, creamy, nutty with the walnuts and spicy with the chilies and garlic. I had it for lunch with rice, but Bindu says it goes well with rotis too.

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Undrallu with Allam Pachadi (Revisiting an Old Post)

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Revisiting Old Posts with New Pictures
Dish: Undrallu & Allam Pachadi (from June 2006)

Revisiting old posts with new pictures is something that I have been planning to do for quite some time now. But time seems to be of premium these days and since I can't even catch up with the present, past keeps waiting. So this week's theme is perfect as it lets me update some of my very old posts that are in dire need of better pictures.

When I started blogging almost 8 years ago, I didn't have any props and I didn't even think of buying any props for blogging. All I used to do was cook at night and click with the flash glaring right onto the plate. Didn't realize that food needs to be presented in an appetizing way. It was only recently that I started playing around with the props, settings and the camera.

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Cucumber Sweet & Sour Chutney (Keera Dosakaya Pachadi)

Blogging Marathon# 25: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Cooking from a Book
Dish: Cucumber Sweet & Sour Chutney (Keera Dosakaya Pachadi)
My theme for week 2 of BM# 25 is "Cooking from a Book". Like a lot of you reading this post, I have a ton of cookbooks that I have bought over the years. I find a million reasons to buy a book and I see myself cooking through the entire book before buying. But once the book comes home, it sometimes gets neglected.  I have to say I do refer to my cookbooks when I'm in a rut to make something.

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Coconut Chutney & Eggplant Curry

Blender/ Grinder is a very important appliance in my kitchen, I'm sure it is the same in most of the Indian kitchens. I can't imagine idlis, dosas, chutneys or even ground masala for curries without a good blender/ grinder. 

My mom bought me an Indian blender when I got married almost 8 years ago, which has served us well all through these years. But it is slowly losing its power and we are thinking if it's a better deal to buy a Vitamix or Blendtec blenders here in the US or get another Indian brand from back home. I would love to hear from people who own one of these powerful blenders: are they worth the cost and do they serve our Indian grinding needs?

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Idlis (made with Par-boiled rice) and Peanut Chutney

I’m back for another round of Blogging marathon, BM# 16. Thanks to Valli for organizing and coming up with some very interesting and challenging themes. My theme for this week is “Show your Breakfast”. I have a variety of breakfast dishes lined up for this week. 

Breakfast in my house on a weekday is usually quick and simple – toast with peanut butter and jelly/ veggie cream cheese/ butter and jelly/ nutella or some Swiss Oats or quick-cooking oats. My policy is not to turn on the stove on weekday morning and only utilize the services of my trusty microwave and the toaster oven. On the weekends, the story is not drastically different: we usually end up waking up late and I’m the kind of a person who would rather have an early lunch than late breakfast, so we end up having a quick cereal or skipping breakfast altogether.

So when I saw that one of the themes for this month’s BM is breakfast, I thought it would be a nice change to treat my family with a hearty breakfast over the weekends (for a change). For Day 1, I made some good ol’ idlis – every south Indian’s comfort food. I’m sure there are a million ways/ recipes for making idlis, but I’ll go ahead give mine anyway. I started making idlis with par-boiled rice (idli rice) and found that they turned out much softer and fluffier. 

Here is the recipe that I usually use, but when I saw Nupur’s post with a different proportion of par-boiled rice, I wanted to try that too, to see the difference. I’ve to say there is a big difference in the texture and I would probably use my new measurements going forward. Check out Nupur’s post for mouthwatering chutney and restaurant style sambar recipes.

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Tomato Pachadi (Chutney)

This is a delicious and classic tomato chutney that needs no introduction. Every household in India might have their own recipe for this yummy dish — some tangy, some spicy, some a little sweet—any which way you make it, it is absolutely delicious and comforting.

I bought 2 packs of Campari tomatoes that needed to be used up and I thought this would be the perfect. Campari is a variety of tomato that is juicy, less acidic, and sweeter than a regular tomato. A quick call to my mom and I was on my way to make this easy pachadi.

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Panchadara Avakaya (Green Mango Pickle with Sugar)

I was never a big fan of mixing sweet and savory things. I wouldn’t eat a dish if I saw my mom adding sugar or jaggery to any dish. Sweet pickles, as you can imagine, were a big no-no. But now my palate appreciates the nuances of sweet and savory in a dish.

When my dear cousin served us panchadara avakaya that her MIL made couple of years ago, I fell in love with it instantly. She gave me a bottle of pachadi last year that her MIL made while in the US and this year she decided to make it herself. So I followed suit and made this sweet, spicy and tangy avakaya. My cousin, the perfectionist that she is, sent me the detailed recipe with instructions on how to cut the mangoes and when to taste and adjust the seasonings.

Choosing the right mangoes for the pickle is the biggest challenge. Pick ones that look fresh and are bright green, medium sized, and should NOT be soft when touched. The first time I bought them, they looked green and all from outside, but when I cut into them they were yellow and squishy.

So I had to wait 2 more weeks to get the right mangoes. Big thanks to you, dear P and your MIL for this fool proof avakaya recipe.

Ingredients:

Green mangoes – 2, medium sized

Sugar (panchadara) – 1 cup

Red chili powder for pickles – 1 cup (this chili powder is bright, vibrant red, but it is not very spicy hot and is available in most Indian grocery store)

Sesame seeds (nuvvulu)– 1¼ cups

Mustard seeds (aavalu) – ¼ cup

Fenugreek seeds (menthulu) – ¼ cup

Salt (uppu) – 1 cup

Peanut oil – 1 cup

Method:

• Wash the mangoes well and dry them thoroughly. I left the washed mangoes covered with a dish towel on the counter for couple of hours to completely dry them.
• Prep all the spices: Dry roast (without oil) sesame seeds until lightly browned on medium low heat. Set aside.
• Dry roast fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds separately.
• When all the spices are completely cool, grind each one separately; sesame seeds can be made into a coarse powder – too much grinding can make sesame paste, so keep checking. Mustard seeds tend to get bitter if ground too much, so be mindful of that.
• Heat oil in a small saucepan until very hot, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
• While the oil is cooling, start chopping the mangoes. Cut the mango into half lengthwise, this gets a little tricky if the seed is tough, so try to find the exact spot where the seed ends. Scoop out the seed and discard. Cube the mango into small bite size pieces. Try to make sure that each piece has the peel. Pat dry the pieces with a clean kitchen towel to make sure that there is no moisture on the pieces.
• Take all the pieces into a large non-reactive container. Add sugar, salt, pickle chili powder, all of the roasted fenugreek and mustard powders, 1 cup of sesame powder (reserve the rest for later) and the cooled oil. Mix everything together.
• At this point the pickle is a little thick, but as it sits the mangoes will ooze out their juices and will thin out over time. Cover tightly and let the pickle rest for 24 hours.
• Taste the pickle and add more salt/ sugar/ chili powder or the reserved sesame powder if needed and let it sit for another 24 hours. If it tastes perfect after the 1st 24 hours then simply put the pickle into clean glass/ porcelain jars.

I put the pickle in the fridge so it stays fresh longer, but if you are going to use it up in couple of weeks, leave it out on the shelf. Tastes amazing with steamed rice and ghee or with idlis/ dosas/ upma etc.

Pictorial of Avakaya Making:

Sending this over to Aipi & Priya's "Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday" event.

Quick Tomato Peanut Chutney

I don’t know if I like weekends or not. It seems like they fly by faster than a weekday and I always end up wondering on Sunday night, what the heck I did in the last 48 hrs. My mind is buzzing with things to do for the weekend on Friday night, but come Saturday morning, all planning and to-do lists get scraped and NOTHING gets done. It’s like “Busy with no business”.

This post is not about my “nothing got done weekend”, but about “at last something got done weekend”. So I was very proactive on Friday morning; soaked some urad dal and parboiled rice for idlis, prepared the batter that night and left it to ferment until Sunday morning (With the cold Northeast winter weather, it takes about 24 hrs to have a nicely fermented batter).

But on Sunday morning I was short of time to make my usual peanut-coconut chutney, so I made this equally tasty and quick chutney that my mom usually makes. I keep store-bought unsalted roasted peanuts in my pantry all the time, but if you don’t have these, simply roast some in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes – 2 medium, chopped into big chunks
Green chilies – 2, slit
Garlic – 1 clove, crushed
Roasted Peanuts – ¼ cup
Tamarind extract – 2tsp (or more to taste)
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Dry red chili – 1
Curry leaves – 4-6 (I didn’t have any on hand)

Method:

• In a microwave safe bowl, take tomatoes, garlic and green chilies and microwave covered for 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes turn into a mush.
• Remove and cool for a little bit before grinding them into smooth chutney with the peanuts, tamarind extract, salt and water (use as needed).
• When I don’t have time to wait for the tomatoes to cool, I use my immersion blender and blend all the ingredients while still hot.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a small saucepan and add the mustard seeds and dry red chili; once the seeds start to splutter, add to the chutney, mix well and enjoy with your pillow-soft idlis* or crispy dosas.

Chutney keeps well in the fridge for at least 3-4 days.

* To make Idlis: Soak 1 cup Urad dal (Minapappu) and 2 cups Parboiled rice separately for 4-6 hours. Grind dal into a smooth paste using little water, next grind rice into a coarse paste. Mix them together with 1tsp salt and set aside until frothy and fermented (about 8-12 hours in warmer temps or up to 24hrs in colder weather).

Since this is a bookmarked recipe, courtesy Amma, I'm sending this chutney off to Aipi's Bookmarked Recipe-Every Tuesday event.

Andhra Meal on Christmas Eve

Wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

I made a traditional Andhra meal for our Christmas eve dinner. I just wanted to try some recipes from "Cooking at Home with Pedatha" and since I had the time and ingredients, I made three recipes last night.

Since I'm a eggplant fanatic, I made 2 types of Vankaya pachadlu (eggplant chutneys) and to keep us warm in this freezing temps, I made theeyati charu(Sweet Rasam). Very delicious meal, I have to say. Here's the picture of my plate:

Clockwise: Rice, Potato-Carrot Curry, Version1 Eggplant Chutney, Version 2 Eggplant Chutney, Rasam & Onion Pakoras

Eggplant Chutney - 2 ways

Version 1: This is a tangy, spicy chutney with tamarind, green & red chillies. I baked one large eggplant in 400F oven for 35-40 minutes and used half of the eggplant for each of the chutneys.

Ingredients:
Eggplant - 1 large
Tamarind pulp - 2tbsp
Salt - to taste

For Tempering:
Urad dal (Minapappu) - 1tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 2tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 3
Green chillies - 3
Curry leaves - 10-12 (I didn't have these on hand)
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped (didn't have these)
Asafoetida powder (hing) - 1tsp

Method:

• Roast the eggplant directly on low flame till the skin turns black and starts cracking. Alternately bake it in the oven until well cooked through. Scrape the skin and mash well with a fork and set aside.
• In a small sauce pan, heat 2tsp oil; add dal and as it turns golden, add the mustard and then the fenugreek seeds. Switch off the flame and with the browning of the fenugreek, add the red chillies. As they turn bright red, stir in the remaining ingredients for tempring.
• Let this cool a bit and grind along with the tamarind pulp and salt into a coarse paste. Do not add water while grinding.
• Add this paste to the eggplant pulp and mix well.

Serve with steamed rice and a dollop of ghee.

Version 2: Milky Eggplant Chutney (Iguru Pachadi)
This version has milk in it and is very mild and delicious.

Ingredients:
Eggplant - 1 large
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste

For Tempering
Urad dal (Minapappu) - 3/4tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green chilies - 3, slit
Ginger - 1/2 tsp, grated
Coriander leaves - 1tbsp, chopped fine
Curry leaves - 6-7

Method:

• Roast the eggplant; mash well and keep aside.
• When the pulp has cooled, ad the milk and mix well.
• In a small sauce pan; heat 1tbsp oil; add dal; as it turns golden, pop the mustard. Switch off the flame and add remaining ingredients for tempering.
• Mis this tempering into the pulp. Add salt just before serving so that the milk does not curdle.

Serve with steamed rice.

Theeyati Charu (Sweet Rasam)

Ingredients:
Toor dal (Kandi pappu) - 2tbsp
Tamarind - medium lemon sized ball
Jaggery - 2tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2tsp
Ginger - 2" piece, crushed
Garlic - 3 cloves, crushed
Ground coriander - 1/2tbsp
Ground Pepper - 1/2tbsp
Ground Cumin - 1/2tbsp
Rasam powder - 1tsp (optional, I used Ambika brand Rasam pd)
Salt - to taste

For Tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder (Hing) - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Grind toor dal into a fine powder.
• In a medium sauce pan, add all the ingredients along with ground dal and 4-5 cups of water. Bring to boil. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Heat 1tbsp ghee in a small sauce pan; add tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, pour the tempering into the charu. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with steamed rice or enjoy as a soup.

This post is part of Recipe Marathon that kicks off a countdown to the new year. Nupur @ One Hot Stove has gathered 29 bloggers to participate in the marathon. This week is going to be packed with yummy recipes in the blogosphere.
As a bonus I gave you 3 recipes instead of one today :-) Hope you enjoy these Andhra dishes as much as we did.