Padhuskitchen

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Tomato Thokku with Garlic-Easy Thakkali Thokku Recipe

Tomato thokku is a versatile dish which goes well with idli, dosa, chapati, paratha, curd rice, upma and many more dishes. Mixed with hot steamed rice, topped with a tsp of sesame seed oil, it tastes awesome. It can be used as a spread for bread toast and sandwiches. You can take this even during travel as it does not get spoiled for 2 days at room temperature. It comes handy when you don't find time to cook or not in a mood to cook. I have already shared tomato thokku without garlic, using blanching method. In this we grind the tomatoes raw. Today we will learn how to make tomato thokku with garlic following this easy method with step wise pictures and video.

Tomato Thokku with Garlic

Prep Time : 10 mins

Cook Time : 45 mins
Yields: 11/2 cup
Recipe Category: Pickle-Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

Ingredients needed

   Tomato - 1 kg ripe ones
   Garlic - 7-8 cloves
   Tamarind - small gooseberry sized ball
   Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
   Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
   Salt - 1 tbsp or as needed
   Roasted fenugreek powder - 1/2 tsp

For the seasoning

   Oil - 1/3 + 1 tbsp cup
   Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
   Hing/asafoetida - 1 tsp

Preparations

Soak tamarind in 2-3 tbsp of hot water. Extract thick juice and discard the pulp.

Roast fenugreek seeds on medium heat until you get a nice aroma. Leave it to cool, then powder it. (Usually I roast and powder 1/4 cup fenugreek seeds and store it. I use it when making pickles or thokku.)

Remove the skin of garlic, crush it and keep it aside.

Buy ripe tomatoes for making thokku. You can use a mix of Bangalore and country tomatoes (nattu thakkali). Wash tomatoes well and wipe it dry.

Cut the tomatoes roughly and blend it to a smooth puree.

Method

Heat oil in a pan (use gingelly oil/nallennai/ sesame seed oil), add mustard seeds and hing.

When mustard seeds splutters, add crushed garlic.

Saute for a few seconds, lower the heat and add the tomato puree.

thakkali thokku recipe-thakkali poondu thokku

Add turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes.

Add tamarind water and mix well.

Cook covered on medium heat and saute at regular intervals. (Be cautious as when it boils, it splutters a lot and might scald your hands. So reduce the heat to low before opening the lid to stir).

Cook on medium heat until all the water evaporates and oil separates.

Add roasted fenugreek powder and mix well. Turn off the heat.

Shelf life and Storage

Once it cools completely, store it in a glass bottle in the refrigerator.

It keeps well for 20 days, if kept in the refrigerator. Take needed quantity in a small cup everyday rather than taking the whole bottle outside. Use dry spoon. If you follow all these tips, it will stay good for 20 days.

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Vegetable Sagu-Mixed Veg Saagu Recipe

Vegetable saagu is a very simple Karnataka style dish prepared with mixed vegetables. It goes well with set dosa, poori, chapati, neer dosa and rava idli. Today we will learn how to make vegetable saagu following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.

Mixed Vegetable Saagu

Prep Time : 15 mins

Cook Time : 10 mins
Serves: 4
Recipe Category: Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: Karnataka
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

   Carrot - 2
   Potato - 1 medium size
   Peas - 1/3 cup
   Beans - 6-7
   Cauliflower florets - 6
   Salt needed
   Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

For Grinding

   Coconut - 3 tbsp
   Fried Gram/pottukadalai - 1 tbsp
   Coriander leaves - fistful
   Onion -1 medium size
   Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
   Garlic - 3
   Green chilli - 2
   Cloves - 2
   Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
   Whole black peppercorns - 1/4 tsp

For the Seasoning

   Oil -1 tbsp
   Bay leaf - 1
   Curry leaves - a sprig

Preparations

Wash and clean all the vegetables. Peel the skin of carrots and potatoes and chop it into medium sized pieces.

Cut cauliflower into bites sized florets. String and cut the beans.

Grind all the ingredients given under "For grinding" (raw), to a fine paste. Keep it aside.

Pressure cook the vegetables with turmeric powder, salt and little water for just 1 whistle.

Method

We need masala paste and cooked vegetables. If that is kept ready, making vegetable sagu is just a breeze.

Heat oil in a pan, add bay leaf and curry leaves.

Add the masala paste and saute on low heat for 5-6 minutes or until it leaves oil.

Add the cooked vegetables and 1/2 cup of water.

Simmer for 5-6 minutes. You can adjust the consistency according to your liking by adding more or less water. Check for salt.

Delicious Karnataka style vegetable sagu is ready. Enjoy it with poori, set dosa, neer dosa, rava idli or chapati.

Pudina Podi-Mint Podi Recipe-How to make Pudina Powder

Mint Podi/Pudina podi is a very flavorful podi which goes well with rice and idli, dosa. This podi when mixed with piping hot rice and ghee tastes awesome. I used homegrown mint to make this podi, so it is all the more aromatic. Today we will learn how to make pudina/mint podi following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.

Pudina Podi-Mint Podi

Prep Time : 15 mins

Cook Time : 15 mins
Yields: 1 cup podi
Recipe Category: Mint-Podi Varieties
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

   Fresh Mint leaves - 2 bunches (medium size bunch)
   Oil - 1 tsp
   Urad dal - 3 tbsp
   Bengal gram dal/channa dal - 1/4 cup
   Red Chillies - 4 or as needed
   Hing - a generous pinch
   Tamarind - a small bit (optional)
   Whole black pepper - 1/2 tsp
   Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
   Salt to taste

Preparations

Wash the mint leaves well, drain the water completely and pat it with a towel. Spread it on a cloth and leave it to dry in the shade. There should be no moisture in the leaves. It should be completely dry. I got 1 1/4 cup of dry mint leaves. You can plant the thick stem and get fresh mint at home whenever you need. Learn how to grow mint at home easily.

Preparations

Heat oil and fry urad dal, channa dal (kadalai paruppu), red chillies, hing and tamarind (if using).

Once dal changes golden brown, remove from heat and transfer to a plate.

In the same pan, dry roast cumin seeds and peppercorns until you get the aroma of cumin seeds.

Dry roast mint leaves on low heat, when you crush the leaves, it should break. That is the right stage.

Dry grind the lentils/dal + red chilles, cumin seeds + peppercorns with salt to a coarse powder.

Then add the mint leaves to the coarsely ground powder and grind it again. The powder should be slightly coarse and not fine.

Flavorful Mint/pudhina podi is ready.

Enjoy eating it with hot rice and ghee or with idli and dosa.

Check out more Podi recipes. They come handy when you do not find time to cook.

Podi Recipes

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Set Dosa Recipe-Karnataka Style Set Dosa

Set Dosa is a very popular breakfast of Karnataka. It is called set dosa as it is served in a set of 3, usually with coconut chutney and vegetable sagu. These dosas are small in size, thick, soft and spongy. Today let us learn how to make Karnataka style Set dosa following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.

Set Dosa

Prep Time : 30 mins (excluding soaking time)

Cook Time : 2-3 mins per dosa
Serves: 4-5
Recipe Category: Breakfast-Dosa
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

   Idli Rice/Idli Pulungal arisi - 2 cups
   Urad dal (whole without skin)/ulundu - 1/2 cup
   Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam - 1 tsp
   Beaten rice/poha/aval -1 cup
   Salt - as needed

   Oil for making dosas

Preparations

Wash and soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds for 5-6 hours.

Wash and soak rice for 5-6 hours. Soak poha separately for 30 minutes before grinding.

After 5 hours -

Grind rice and poha together to a smooth paste adding little water from time to time.

Grind urad dal along with fenugreek seeds to a fluffy batter. If grinding in mixie, use ice water for grinding urad dal and use the whipper button in the end for few minutes to get fluffy batter.

Now mix the rice + poha batter and the urad dal + fenugreek batter together. The consistency of the batter should neither be thick nor thin. Add salt (I added 2 1/4 tsp sea salt) and mix well. (Tips - when a ladle of batter is lifted and poured back into the container, it should flow in ribbons, that is called ribbon consistency batter. The batter should be of that consistency),

Leave it to ferment overnight or for 6-7 hours. Fermentation time differs according to the weather conditions.

I kept it overnight and my batter has fermented well as you can see in the picture.

Method

Mix the batter well. Take a ladle of batter and spread it to a medium sized circle. This dosa will be a little thick but soft and spongy like uthappam. (if the batter is too thick, add a little water and mix it well before making dosas)

Drizzle a tsp of oil around the dosa. Cover it with a lid.

Once you find the corners lifting up, flip the dosa to the other side and cook for few minutes.

Remove from the tawa and enjoy super soft and delicious set dosa with any chutney or sambar or vada curry or vegetable sagu. Repeat the same for the rest of the batter. (In Tamil Nadu hotels, set dosa is usually served with vada curry).

Note - You can grind rice and poha for some time and then add the urad dal + fenugreek seeds and grind everything together, if you are using wet grinder.

If you are a dosa lover like my, check my list of Dosa Varieties.

Lemon Mint Cooler Recipe

Lemon Mint Cooler is a very refreshing drink, perfect for summer. It is a blend of fresh mint leaves, lemon juice, chilled water and sweetener. I have abundant mint and lemons in my kitchen garden, so I prepare this cooler with fresh lemons and mint. In addition to being an amazing thirst quencher, it is very healthy. It is very easy to make and super delicious. Today let us learn how to make Lemon Mint cooler following this easy recipe.

Lemon Mint Cooler

Prep Time : 10 mins

Serves: 2
Recipe Category: Beverage-Summer Drink
Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

   Fresh mint/pudina - fistful
   Lemon - 2 juicy ones
   Sugar or any sweetener - as needed
   Salt - a pinch
   Water - 2 1/4 cup

For Garnishing

   Fresh Mint Leaves - 3
   Ice cubes - 3-4

Method

Squeeze juice from two lemons.

Grind mint leaves, jaggery (I used powdered jaggery in place of sugar) finely using the lemon juice.

Add a pinch of salt, chilled water and mix well. (I added little less water as once you add ice cubes, it gets more diluted). You can adjust the amount of water according to your taste.

Top it with 3-4 ice cubes and garnish with fresh mint leaves. Enjoy!

Note - If you use fresh homegrown mint as I have done, it is simply amazing. Learn how to grow mint at home.

Mint Rasam-Pudina Rasam Recipe

Rasam is very common in all South Indian homes. We make different types of rasam and this mint (pudina in Tamil) rasam is one of them. It is very flavorful and easy to make. This rasam does not need rasam powder. It is the mint, peppercorns and cumin seeds which gives flavor to the rasam. I used homegrown mint leaves to make this rasam and my whole house smelled like spa. Today we will learn how to make flavorful mint/pudina rasam/charu using our easy recipe with step wise pictures.

Mint Rasam-Beans stir fry and sprouts salad

Mint Rasam-Pudina Rasam

Prep Time : 10 mins

Cook Time : 10 mins
Serves: 2-3
Recipe Category: Rasam-Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

   Tomatoes - 2 ripe ones
   Fresh mint leaves - fistful
   Tamarind - small bit or 1/2 tsp paste
   Ghee/oil - 1 tsp
   Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
   Whole black pepper corns - 1 tsp
   Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
   Salt to taste
   Curry leaves - a sprig

For the Seasoning

   Ghee - 1 tsp
   Mustards seeds - 1/2tsp
   Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
   Red Chilli - 1

For Garnishing

   Coriander leaves

Preparations

Dry grind or powder whole black peppercorns and cumin seeds slightly coarse. Keep it aside.

Grind fresh mint, tomato (1 tomato and another 1/2 of a tomato, the other half, we will chop and add it to the rasam) and tamarind to a fine paste.

Heat a tsp of ghee or oil and saute the paste until the rawness of the paste goes.

Method

In a vessel, add a cup of water, turmeric powder, 1/2 of a tomato (chopped), pepper-cumin powder, salt, curry leaves and the sauteed mint + tamarind + tomato paste.
(If you are using a kadai or any pan, you do not have to saute the mint + tomato paste separately and add. You can saute it directly in the pan/kadai you are making rasam, then add water, turmeric powder, chopped tomato, pepper-cumin powder, salt etc).

Boil for 5-6 minutes on medium heat.

Add 1 1/2 cups of water. When froth starts forming on the surface, switch off the rasam. Do not let it boil.

Add finely chopped coriander leaves. You can also use the tender stems of the coriander.

Now we will season the rasam

Heat a tsp of ghee, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chilli, when it splutters, pour it on top of the rasam.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy it piping hot with rice.

If you love rasam, check our long list of South Indian Rasam Varieties or find it here

If you are interested in growing mint at home - check my post on how to grow mint at home.

Misal Pav Recipe-How to make Misal Pav

Misal pav is a popular dish from Maharashtra. Misal is a spicy dish usually prepared with moth beans and served with pav buns. As misal is usually spicy, it is served with buttermilk. Misal pav can be had as a snack or breakfast or as a light lunch. Today we will learn how to make misal pav following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.

How to make Misal Pav

Prep Time : 15 mins

Cook Time : 20 mins
Serves: 4
Recipe Category: Street Food
Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar

Ingredients needed

   Dry Moth beans/madki - 1/2 cup
   Pav Buns - 4

For Grinding

   Onions - 2 medium size
   Dry coconut - 1/2 cup (flat)
   Garlic - 5 cloves
   Ginger - 1 inch piece
   Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
   Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbsp
   Hing - a generous pinch
   Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
   Tomato - 2 big

Spice Powder

   Chilli powder - 1 tsp
   Kolapuri Misal pav masala powder - 2-3 tsp
   Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

For the seasoning

   Oil - 3-4 tbsp
   Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
   Cumin Seeds - 3/4 tsp

For Garnishing

   Chivda/mixture
   Coriander leaves
   Onion finely chopped
Fresh Lemon Juice

Preparations

Wash and soak 1/2 cup moth beans overnight. Then wash again the next morning, drain the water completely and leave it to sprout. Check how to sprout beans.

Now add salt, turmeric powder, a cup of water and pressure cook the moth sprouts for 2 whistles.

Once the pressure subsides, open the cooker and strain the water from the cooked moth beans. Keep the water/stock and the cooked sprouted moth beans aside.

Heat 2 tsp of oil and saute the dry coconut until it turns golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep it aside.

Heat another 3 tsp of oil and saute onion, ginger, garlic until onions turn light brown. Then add coriander seeds and cumin seeds and saute until they get roasted.

Once the mixture cools, grind it to a smooth paste with little water along with chopped tomato, turmeric powder, hing and few coriander leaves.

Our masala paste is ready.

Method

Heat 3-4 tbsp oil (yes, you need this much oil for making this gravy), add cumin seeds and mustard seeds, when it splutters, reduce the heat to low, add red chilli powder and misal pav masala powder (available ready made). Mix well and cook for a few seconds.

Add the ground masala paste.

Add salt and cook stirring until it leaves oil.

Add garam masala powder.

Now add the cooked moth sprouts and mix well so that it is well coated with the masala.

Add the reserved stock and another cup of plain water.

Boil well on medium heat for few minutes.

How to serve misal pav

In a bowl, add the sprouts alone from the prepared gravy.

Top it with finely chopped onions and coriander leaves.

Top it with chivda/mixture.

Now add the spicy water of misal. Then top it again with more chopped onions and coriander leaves.

Squeeze juice of lemon as needed and enjoy it with pav buns. Dip the pav in that gravy and enjoy it. If preferred you can toast the pav with butter.

Note - If you cannot get moth beans, you can try with moong beans/green gram.

More Street Food Recipes

Pav Bhaji

Dahi Bhalla

Dahi Papdi Chaat

Pani Poori

Onion Samosa

Masala Poori

Bombay Sandwich

Potato Samosa

Bhel Puri

South Indian Thayir Vada (this is deep fried but I have done it in paniyaram pan)

Onion Bhajji

Check out more Chaat, street food recipes here.

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