Thick Coconut Chutney

Here’s the recipe for thick coconut chutney ,which is usually served with UzhunnuVada.

Ingredients:-

Peanuts – 5
Grated Coconut – 1 cup
Chopped Ginger – 1/2 tsp
Green chillies – 3
Salt – to taste

For popping:-
Oil – as needed
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Red chillies – 3
Curry leaves – a few
Chopped shallots – 1

Method:-

Grind together peanuts,grated coconut,chillies,ginger and salt adding little water into a smooth thick paste.Transfer it into a serving bowl and keep it aside.Heat oil in a pan and allow mustard seeds to splutter.Now add red chillies,curry leaves and shallots until brown.Pour the seasoning over the ground mixture .Mix`well and serve.

Fish Pickle

This is another treasured recipe from my Amma,very simple to make ,yet so delicious..I’ve prepared this fish pickle last week with 3 pounds of king fish,and its almost over by now.Actually I was hoping that it’ll stay for atleast 3 months.Ok,no complaints..I only gulped almost half of it,eventhough I blamed Deepu for finishing it off real soon.

Fish Pickle

The recipe follows ..

Ingredients:-

King Fish diced – 2 lb
Thinly sliced Ginger – 1/2 cup
Thinly sliced Garlic – 1/2 cup
Green Chillies Slit – 10
Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder mixed with a little vinegar(to make it a smooth paste) – 1/4 cup
Vinegar – 1 cup
Curry leaves -1 sprig
Mustard Seeds – 2 tsp
Salt – to taste
Oil – as needed

For Marinating Fish Pieces

Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
Red Chilly powder -1 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp

Method:-

Mix together turmeric powder,red chilly powder and salt ,adding little water and marinate fish pieces using this mixture. Keep it in a refrigerator for half an hour.Then deep fry the fish pieces,until brown and crisp.

Heat oil in another pan,pop mustard seeds,add curry leaves and fry for a while.Now add ginger,garlic and green chillies into it.Saute it for 3-4 mts in medium heat.(I used store brought ginger-garlic paste instead of sliced ginger & garlic.Be careful while using this ready made paste,it can splash all over and can cause burns.So its better to cover the pan immediately after adding it,but take care not to burn the ingredients).

Sauteing Ginger-Garlic paste

Mix in Red chilly paste and saute for few minutes.

Sauteing Red Chilly paste

Now add vinegar and salt and allow it to boil.When boiled,add the fish pieces into it and simmer for another 5-6 mts.You can add hot water or vinegar(check for sourness before adding it) if needed,and let it come to a boil once again.Switch off the stove,allow it to cool and store in an air tight container.

For better shelf life(in room temperature),fish pieces have to be completely dipped in the gravy,and oil has to be seen on top. Otherwise you can keep the pickle in a refrigerator and always use dry spoon in the pickle,water particles can spoil the pickle.

You can use any hard fish  for this like tuna or tilapia.I’ve even prepared this pickle using anchovies.The same method can be used to prepare meat pickle also.

Onion Chutney

I’ve tried this Onion Chutney last week.This is used as an accompaniment for various South Indian snacks,but i like it a lot with Idli and Dosa.The recipe is from my favorite Womens magazine ‘Vanitha‘.

Onion Chutney served with Dosas

Here’s the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Chopped Onion – 1/4 cup(I’ve used red onion)
Oil – 1 tbsp
Dried Red Chillies – 4
Ginger – a small piece
Tamarind – gooseberry sized ball
Curry leaves – a few
Salt – as needed

Method:-

Heat oil in the pan and saute onion till translucent.Mix together sauteed onion and all the other ingredients and grind to a smooth paste. Chutney is ready to be served.

See more recipes of Onion Chutney from fellow bloggers :-

Krishna and Arjuna’s

My Dhaba’s

Indira’s

Reddy’s

Shireesha’s

Meena’s

RP’s

UppuMaanga(Salted mangoes)

Back in my home,when the mango season arrives,there will be mangoes all around ,we could eat it all the time no matter what time is.And my amma used to preserve these mangoes in different forms,to have it in off-mango season as well.Different types of mango pickles,‘Manga Thera’(ripe mango pulp spread on a mat and dried in sun for 2-3 weeks and then rolled and preserved.Oh god..its so delicious..!!),Uppu Maanga are all her masterpieces.
Uppumanga(Raw mangoes in brine) and Kanji(rice porridge) -This combo has been my all time favorite and comfort food.Now after trying out many different cuisines,I could say I haven’t found anything as comfortable and delicious as this home made simple dish.Its really sad,that we cannot get those kind of mangoes used to prepare Uppumanga ,here in U.S.Small unripened mangoes,having thin skin is usually used for making this.As the peels are so thin,the brine will penetrate deeply inside.We call it ‘Nattumaanga’,sorry i don’t know any other name for it.

Nattumaanga

Traditionally,Uppumaanga is preserved in huge ceramic jars called ‘Bharani‘.See our blog queen Indira’s collection of Bharani’s here.
And now the recipe…

Ingredients:-

Mangoes as a whole – 1 kgs
Salt – 165 gm
Water – 3 cup

Method:-

1.Wash the mangoes well.Pat them dry and keep aside.
2.Boil water along with salt and allow them to cool.
3.Put the mangoes in a big ceramic jar or a ‘Bharani’ .
4.Now pour the cooled brine solution over the mangoes into the jar.
5.Tightly cover the jar and keep it in a quiet place for atleast 1 month.If you are preparing Uppumanga in a bulk,extra care has to be taken to prevent it from fungii attack.A handful of sand tied in a cloth ,attached to the top of the Uppumanga jar is one such method.The total salt taken is divided into 4 parts,and adding each part to the mangoes in 4 consecutive weeks also helps.Uppumanga preserved in this way will lasts for more than a year.

Uppumaanga stored in Bharani

Preparing Uppumanga Chutney:-

Mash 10 shallots and 5 green chillies together.Do not make it a paste,just beat them together.Again traditionally,this is done using a Mortar and Pestle.Pick 3 or 4 salted mangoes from the jar and add it to the mashed green chillies- shallots mixture.

Preserved Uppumaanga

Mix them well,and add 2 teaspoon full of coconut oil.Mixing them with hand enhances the taste,but the hot chillies can burn your hands too..:))
Yeah..Uppumanga is now ready to be served…Along with Kanji,it really pays a treat to your tastebuds as it deserves!!..

Uppumaanga Chutney

This is my entry to Revathi’s FMR#7- Comfort Food  and to Tony’s Weekend Curry Mela 

P.S :- I took the snaps during my last Kerala trip.

Unda-Chammanthi

This breakfast dish reminds me of my Amma’s house in Erumely,a quiet,small and beautiful agricultural village,otherwise known as gateway to Sabarimala. This place is very famous for ‘Pettathullal’ a kind of mass spritual dance perform by Ayyappa devotees.

A healthy breakfast to start your day with

Unda & Chammanthi was a regular breakfast dish there and i haven’t seen this anywhere else.Unda is a Malayalam slang for small spherical objects.When I was a kid,I couldn’t tolerate the hot spicy Chammanthi accompanied with Unda,and my amma used to feed me with a ghee- sugar mixture which goes very well with it.Even now i love this Unda-Ghee-Sugar combo better than the spicy one,but you know its the dieting world and i’ve put more than 10 kgs of weight after my pregnancy.Anyway just like me,my little one loves to have it with ghee..

Here goes the recipe for Unda…

Ingredients:-

Finely ground & roasted Rice Flour – 2cups(I’ve used store brought rice flour and just dry roast it in a pan for few minutes)
Grated Coconut – 1 and a 1/2 cup
Water – as needed
Salt – to taste

Method:-

Take rice flour in a bowl and keep aside.Boil the water by adding salt in it.Now add the boiled water into the rice flour and mix it well with a spatula.When it is half cooled,add grated coconut into it and mix it well with hand to form a very smooth dough.

Rice flour made into a smooth dough

Divide it into small lemon sized balls.Arrange it evenly on an idli mould or any other trays which can be used to steam cook.

Dough made into small lemon sized balls

Steam it for 5- 8 mts or until well cooked.

Steamed Unda

And now the recipe for hot- spicy Chammanthi..

Ingredients:-

Shallots – 6
Whole Dried Red Chillies (Unakka mulaku)-10
Curry leaves – a few
Salt – to taste
Oil – as needed

Method:-

Heat little oil in a pan and saute shallots ,curry leaves and red chillies for a minute.No need to turn it brown,just heat it.Grind it to a smooth paste, adding salt along with it.If you can grind it without water,it is well and good.In my home,grindining part is done using an ‘Arakallu’(Something like stone mortar and pestle but, flat shaped) .But here i’ve used a mixer for it.Add 2 or 3 tsp of oil to the grinded paste and mix it well.It is now ready to be served.

Unda and Chammanthi

This is my entry to our charming Nandita’s Breakfast Blogging..and also to Barbara’s Spice Is Right-Chilli event.