Rasam Powder/Chaaru podi

Chaaru or rasam is a regular dish in my home. The ingredients used to make this powder are good for digestion. When we have bad taste it acts like a good appetiser. This can be given to toddlers also. Making it is very easy.

Ingredients:

Toor Dal- 1 cup
Bengal Gram- 1/2 cup

Coriander seeds-1/4 cup

Cumin Seeds-1 tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds- 1/4 tbsp
Black Pepper Seeds- 1 tbsp
Asafoetida- 1tsp

Procedure:
There are two ways to make this. I will give both ways. Of course both are simple.

1.Heat kadai and roast all the ingredients till they become warm and give a crackle sound.
Do not let the dals change the colour. Roast them in the medium or low flame. 
Allow them to cool and make a coarse powder of them. 

The second way of making rasam powder is put all the ingredients in a plate and dry them under the hot sun for 4 or 5 hours. Then make a coarse powder. This can be possible only to people reside in hot weather.

Any which way we make it, leave it for a while and transfer it into a air tight container. 

UlliVankaya -- Baingan curry stuffed with onion paste

Ulli Vankaya or baingan stuffed with simple onion paste. I have learn this curry from my MIL. This is a very simple curry. If the baingan or Eggplant are fresh and tender the curry tastes really good. This curry requires very little ingredients like salt, red chilli powder and some onions. The only rule is that we should not grind onions, on the other hand we must grate them with little patience.

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Recipe Category: Curry, Side Dish
Recipe Cuisine: Andhra
Serves: 6 people

Ingredients:

• Small Baingan/Egg Plant-1/2 kg or 15 No.s
• Medium sized Onions - 4 
• Salt-to taste
• Red Chilli Powder-1 tbsp or according to our taste
• Oil-2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Peel the skin of onions. Grate them. Add salt and red chilli powder to the grated onion and mix well.
2. Slit the baingan/Egg Plant into 4 parts keeping the stem side intact. Slit them from the back side.
3. Stuff them with the onion paste and press gently. 
4. Heat oil in a kadai. Put stuffed brinjals one after the other.
5. Sprinkle little salt over them so that their skin won't burn.
6. Cover it with a tight lid. Stir occasionally with a spatula used for dosa. 
7. Once the baingans become soft add the left over onion paste.
8. Stir it again and cover it. Once the moisture evaporates remove from the heat. 
9. Serve ullivankaya with hot rice.

Dosakaya-Chintakaya Pachadi

In South India we make pickles of tamarind. We can use that to make chutney of itself or we can mix this with any other vegetable like dosakaya or yellow cucumber or with brinjal or any other vegetable of our choice. 
When we use this for chutneys, we need not add tamarind to the chutney.  To make this chutney we need to have chintakaya thokku. Chintakaya thokku is the raw tamarind pickle added with salt and turmeric powder and can be stored for year long. Chintakaya thokku recipe will be posted soon.
Those who do not have chintakaya thokku can do this as told in the post dosakaya pachchadi.

Ingredients:

Dosakaya-1medium
Chintakaya thokku-1tbsp
Salt*-to taste

For tampering:

Oil-2tbsp
Red Chillies-15 to 20
Mustard Seeds-1tbsp
Blackgram Dal -1tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds-1tsp
Asafoetida-a pinch

Procedure:

Peel skin of the dosakaya. Wash and remove the flesh inside the dosakaya and cut into small pieces. 

Heat oil in a kadai add blackgram dal, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and red chillies. Once they start spluttering switch off the stove and add asafoetida. 

Grind red chillies, some portion of blackgram dal, mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds and salt*. Add chintakaya thokku and make a fine paste of it. Add this to the dosakaya pieces and mix well. This can be taken with hot rice.