Sodhi

Ingredients

Moong Dal – 1 cup boiled & mashed
Coconut gratings from 1½ coconuts
Vegetables like carrot, beans, peas, eggplant, drumstick (cut into long pieces)
Potatoes boiled, peeled and cut into long pieces.
Pearl onions – 100 gms
Garlic pods – 2-4 (optional)
Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Green chillies
Ginger
Lemon – 1

Get Cooking!
1. Extract coconut milk from the gratings of 3 consistencies – 1st, 2nd & 3rd extracts.
2. Boil all the veggies in the 3rd extract (the thinnest milk)
3. Meanwhile, fry the peeled pearl onions & garlic pods. Add to the boiling mixture.
4. Add in the mashed moong dal & the 2nd (medium consistency) extract.
5. Grind the green chillies & ginger into a paste.
6. Add the turmeric powder, salt & green chillies- ginger paste. Bring to a boil.
7. Add the 1st extract (thick coconut milk). Switch the heat off immediately.
8. Squeeze the juice out of one lemon and mix it up.
9. Serve with rice & ginger thogayal, potatoes cooked like french fries

Tips

There are many variations to the above dish. Some could add spices like somph, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom to the sodhi as whole spices or powdered or ground to a paste. Some even temper the dish with mustard seeds, broken urad dal. One other variation to the dish is to use black peper seeds instead of green chillies.

Kothsu

Ingredients
Brinjal/ Sorakkai cut into small cubes 1 part
Onions finely chopped 2 parts
Moong dal 1 part
Tamarind extract (say from a ball of size of “nellikai”/ marble)
Sambar Powder
Slit green chillies
Salt
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Oil

Get Cooking!
1. Boil the moong dal in the tamarind water.
2. Add the vegetables, onions, chillies, sambar powder, salt and boil well.
3. Season with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
4. Serve with idlies or spicy pongal.

Pachi Majiga Pulusu

Another variation for mor kozhambu

Ingredients
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Chenna Dal 1 tsp
Tuvar Dal 1 tsp
Mustard seeds
Coconut grated
Green chillies
Buttermilk
Salt
Asafoetida
Oil
Curry Leaves

Get Cooking!
1. Soak the coriander seeds, chenna dal, tuvar dal, ½ tsp mustard seeds in some water.
2. Drain the water, grind the above with some coconut and green chillies into a very soft paste.
3. Mix the paste, salt into the buttermilk.
4. Season this with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves.

Pitla

This used to be the only way I eat bitter gourd

Ingredients
Tamarind
Bitter gourd chopped (or brinjal)
Coriander seeds 2.5 tsp
Chenna dal 1 tsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
Red chillies
Black pepper seeds for the aroma (optional, if using may want to reduce the amount of red chillies to accomodate)
Coconut grated
Steamed Tuvar dal
Salt
Turmeric powder
Oil
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Asafoetida

Get Cooking!
1. Boil the chopped gourd in some tamarind water. Add salt, turmeric powder.
2. Meanwhile, roast the chenna dal, about 3/4 tsp urad dal, coriander seeds, red chillies, black pepper seeds in a few drops of oil
3. Grind the roasted stuff with grated coconut.
4. When the gourd is cooked and the solution is boiling, add the steamed tuvar dal.
5. When this boils, add the ground masala and bring to a boil.
6. Season this with mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves & asafoetida.

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

Makes 2 cups of kuzhambu with about 8 balls

Ingredients
Tuvar dal 1 cup
Salt 1 ¼ tsp
Red chillies 8
Asafoetida
Oil 4 tsp
Mustard seeds
Green chillies 2 finely chopped
Onions chopped (optional)
Coconut ¼ hemisphere grated
Curry leaves
Cilantro leaves finely chopped

Get Cooking!
1. Soak the dal in some warm water and drain the water.
2. Grind this coarsely with red chillies, salt, asafoetida and very little water.
3. Heat up about 4 tsp oil, add mustard seeds, chopped curry leaves, green chillies and onions (if using them) . Toss it around and then add the ground dal with the grated coconut, chopped cilantro.
4. Keep stirring and tossing until the colour changes and gets cooked. Switch heat off
5. Make kuzhambu like vathakuzhambu without the vathal and about 3 cups tamarind water.
6. Make balls and add to boiling kuzhambu.
7. Boil for a while and serve with rice.

Tips
Don’t crowd the kuzhambu with all the balls. Add them one or in twos. If you want the kuzhambu to be thicker, you could powder up a ball and add to it. I generally add the green chillies, curry leaves and coconut while grinding the dal. These balls can be added to mor kuzhambu or even rasam in which case do not add the onions. You could add some rice flour and mix it in to the roasted dal batter before making the balls which would help avoid the breaking up of the balls in the kuzhambu. Some people add even fennel seeds before grinding the dal (I don’t! )

Vathakuzhambu

Makes 2 cups
Ingredients

Tamarind pulp got from tamarind about the size of a lime
Salt 1 ½ tsp
Sambar Powder 2 ½ tsp
Mustard seeds ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds ½ tsp
Tuvar Dal 1 tsp
Red chillies 2 (broken into halves each)
Asafoetida
Curry leaves
Vatral/vathal ( eg.., manathakkali, sundakkai, thumidikai, kathirikai…)
Oil 4 -5 tsp
Rice flour 1 tsp

Get Cooking!

1. In a stone vessel or a heavy bottomed vessel, take some oil and add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, tuvar dal and asafoetida.
2. Add the curry leaves and the vatral and roast it a little.
3. Once they get roasted, add the powder and roast till it is red.
4. Add the tamarind water (made by dissolving the pulp in about 2½ cups water) and the salt. Let boil.
5. Once it boils down to 2 cups quantity, dissolve the rice flour in some water and add that in.
6. Let it boil well and then switch off the heat.

Tips

If adding some kind of beans vathal, you could add this after adding the tamarind water. If using brinjal vathal then add it at the beginning. You could fry some moongwadi or karuvadam and add that also. I sometimes put in cut tomatoes with the vathal and reduce the amount of tamarind. You could chop onions and roast them after the seasoning before adding the tamarind water.

Mysore Rasam

A nice variation of the normal rasam. People generally separate the thick part out and use it as sambhar and the dilute part as rasam.

This type is done by grinding the masala.
Makes 4 cups

Ingredients
Tuvar dal – 3/8 cup
tamarind – lemon sized ball
turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds for seasoning
Asafoetida powder
Curry leaves
Cilantro
Salt – to taste
Jaggery

To be roasted in a few drops of oil & ground to a paste
Red Chillies – 6
Black pepper seeds 5 or 6
Coriander seeds 1 tbsp
Chenna dal – 1 ½ tsp
Coconut scrapings

Get Cooking!
1. Cook the tuvar daal
2. Boil the tamarind water, salt, turmeric powder till the smell of tamarind reduces
3. Add the ground paste to the boiling mixture
4. Add the cooked tuvar daal when the mixture has some consistency.
5. Add the water used to clear the daal out of the vessel.
6.Add a wee bit of jaggery.
7. Once the rasam boils over, season it with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro

Method 2
The masala in this type is made into a powder rather than a paste as in the other
Makes 4 cups

Ingredients
Tuvar Dal – 1/2 cup
Tamarind – lemon sized ball
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds for seasoning
Asafoetida powder
Curry leaves
Cilantro
Salt – to taste
Jaggery

To be roasted in a few drops of oil & ground to a powder
red chillies – 8
black pepper seeds – 5 or 6 (add without roasting)
coriander seeds – 1 1/2 tbsp
Bengal gram daal – 2 tsp
coconut scrapings

Get Cooking!
1. Cook the tuvar dal
2. Boil the tamarind water, salt, turmeric powder till the smell of tamarind reduces
3. Add the powder to the boiling mixture
4. Add the cooked tuvar daal when the mixture has some consistency.
5. Add the water used to clear the daal out of the vessel.
6. Add a wee bit of jaggery.
7. Once the rasam boils over, season it with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro

Tips
Cut tomatoes can be added in which case the amount of tamarind has to be reduced accordingly. A red chilli can be added to the seasoning. Coconut can be eliminated from the recipe if need be.

Milagu Kozhambu

This is a spicy variation of vetha kozhambu. A Chettinad preparation

Ingredients

Small onions (peeled) ½ cup
Tamarind about the size of a small lime
Black pepper seeds 1 tsp
Red chillies 4
Tuvar Dal 1 tsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
Mustard seeds ¼ tsp
Asafoetida ¼ tsp
Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Get Cooking!

1. Slice the onions finely
2. Soak the tamarind in tepid water. Squeeze out the tamarind essence and keep it aside.
3. Roast the pepper seeds, chillies, tuvar and urad dals in a little oil till they are golden brown. Add curry leaves and grind to a paste.
4. In a kadai, heat some oil. Add the mustard seeds, asafoetida and some curry leaves. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the onions and roast them till they are golden brown.
5. Add the ground paste to this and roast till the raw smell is gone.
6. Add the tamarind essence, salt. Add some water.
7. Boil it well till the oil separates from the kozhambu.
8. Serve with idlis, dosas or rice.

Tips
You can add some ginger with the masala for the paste.

Kaata

This is generally made as a spicy paste and very little quantity is added to rice and served with oil or ghee

Ingredients

Tamarind water made from pulp obtained from a sizeable amount of tamarind.
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder
Oil
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves

For the paste
Broken Urad dal
Fenugreek seeds
Red chillies
Black pepper seeds
Coriander seeds

Get Cooking!

1. Roast all the ingredients required for the paste in some oil and make into a paste
2. Boil the tamarind water with turmeric powder and salt.
3. Add the paste, some oil and simmer well till it thickens and the oil separates.
4. Season with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.
5. Serve with rice

Tips

This can be made by adding the kaata powder instead of the paste to the tamarind water too.

Kaata Podi

This powder is used to make Kaata (which is a kind of kozhambu) and jeeraga rasam

Ingredients

Broken Urad dal
Tuvar dal
Black pepper seeds
Curry leaves
Chilli powder
Turmeric powder

Get Cooking!

1. Roast equal amount of the dals and black pepper seeds in a pan and pound them nicely with the curry leaves
2. Mix equal amount of chilli powder to the above. Add some turmeric powder and mix well
3. Store in an air-tight container