Tomato Pachadi

Fresh and juicy tomatoes are an essential part of my everyday cooking and the sweet-tangy flavor of the fresh tomatoes are irresistible. Almost every day tomatoes are used in my cooking right from breakfast to dinner, it can be Indian or any other cuisine. South Indians are very fond of chutney (pachadi) and no South Indian meal is completed without a chutney (pachadi).

There are zillion different varieties tomato chutney from instant which needs refrigeration, to avakaya or ooragaya (pickle) where sun dried tomatoes are grinded along with spices and preserved with out refrigeration for year long or more. My mil always sends me pickled version while I make the instant ones here. Both my mom and mil have taught me different ways of doing instant chutney which can be served with South Indian breakfast (like dosa, idly and upma) even as a spread or a dip or as a side dish with rice and dal. This is my mom’s recipe, simple to make and you can still taste the tomatoes without overpowering the taste of spices and anything else.

Ingredients

10-12 large tomatoes
Tamarind (lemon ball size)
1/4th cup vegetable/ peanut oil
Salt to taste
2 tbsp mustard seeds
1/4th tsp methi/ fenugreek seeds

Seasoning
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
Red chilli powder, according to taste
10-12 small garlic cloves (peeled)
1/4th tsp hing
Fistful of curry leaves

Procedure

In a small pan dry roast mustard and methi seeds, cool them completely and grind into fine powder and keep aside.

Clean and chop tomatoes, heat oil in a heavy bottomed deep skillet (pan/pot) on medium heat, add chopped tomatoes, tamarind and keep cooking, do not put the lid at this point. Keep stirring in the middle to avoid burning the bottom of the pot. After 25-30 minutes the tomatoes will start to bubble. Reduce the heat to low-medium, partially cover the pot and simmer until the mixture cooks down to 1/3rd and looks thick (oil will start to float on the top of mixture, it takes 1-1 ½ hr to reach between sauce and jam consistency.) Now add salt and cook for 10 more minutes. Check the taste and add anything needed at this point. Turn off the heat and let the tomato mixture rest.

My mom uses the oil from the cooked tomato mixture to fry the seasoning. You can do the same or you use extra oil (around 2 tbsp).

Fry seasoning

Heat oil in a small pan/ skillet on medium heat, add garlic, mustard seeds and fry till garlic turns golden brown and mustard seeds pop. Now add hing and curry leaves and fry of a minute. Add red chilli powder, powdered methi & mustard seeds mixture, stir once and turn of the heat. Make sure not to burn the mixture (if brunt throw the mixture, clean the pan and fry again).

Now mix the seasoning into the tomato mixture, cool down completely and shift into container. Keep refrigerator. Stays fresh for 2-3 months.

You can enjoy this delicious chutney with all different kinds of dishes.

Pic #1: @00.00 minutes
Pic #2: @25-30 minutes
Pic #3: @1-1 1/2 hrs

Notes and Tips.

You can use dried red chilli instead of chilli powder. But first you have to dry roast red chillies along with methi and mustard seeds and grind.

I always grind extra powder and store it in the freezer. It always comes handy for me. You can skip the garlic if you don’t like and also can add lentils (urad dal, channa dal) for the seasoning.

Menthi Mukkalu

Mamidikaya Menthi Mukkalu (Raw mango with spicy methi masala)

My FIL: Are any of your friends traveling to USA in the next month?
My hubby: Yes, but why??
My FIL: For the obvious reasons. We started preparations for the pickles. Other than the usual, your grandmother is also preparing gongura and tomato chutneys. So we would like you to get them as soon as possible.
My hubby: I will let my friend know that you are preparing a big packet for him to carry.
My MIL: Do you want Menthi Mukkalu or any other instant pickles?
My hubby: “P” has become an expertise in making menthi mukkalu so don’t worry about it.
This is the standard conversion that happens during April and May months.

“Menthi mukkalu” is one of the instant green mango pickles from Andhra. Consider this instant pickle as a starting step to a wide variety of pickles that will come from India. Crunchy sour raw mango pieces are marinated over night with spicy chilli, methi and mustard mixture.

Ingredients

2 raw mangoes
6-8 dried red Chillies
½ tbsp methi seeds
1 tbsp mustard seeds
½ tsp hing
Salt to taste
4 tbsp oil

Procedure

Wash, remove the seed/pit and cut the mangoes into small pieces along with the skin. With ½ tbsp of oil in a kadai, fry methi, mustard seeds, red chillies and hing till the mustard seeds splutter. Powder them when cool. Add this powder, salt and remaining oil to the raw mango pieces and mix well. Shift the mixture into a clean jar and marinate overnight or at least 10-12 hrs and serve. This pickle will last for 1-2 weeks in room temperature and 3-4 weeks in refridgerator.
We usually eat with hot rice, mudda pappu and ghee .

Notes and Tips

You can add jaggery to sweeten a little. You can also dry roast the seasoning instead of frying in oil. If you are dry roasting then heat oil separately and add hing and cool the hing oil completely and then add to the mango mixture. You can use chilli powder instead of whole red chillies.

Kobbarikaya Mamidikaya Pachadi

K for Kobbirikaya (Coconut and Raw Mango Chutney)

Kobbarikaya mamidikaya pachadi has a special place in traditional Andhra’s raw cuisine. Sweet coconut and sour mango blend superbly. The spice from chillies and seasoning add an extra layer of flavor. Except for seasoning, all the ingredients used in this dish (pachadi) are raw. This is a simple, yet very tasty and easy to prepare dish. This is my family’s all time favorite pachadi.

Ingredients

1-1 1/2 cup coconut (fresh)
1 small raw mango (sour)
6-8 whole red chillies or green chillies
Salt to taste
Pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4th tsp methi seeds
1 tsp Oil
Pinch Hing
Curry leaves

Procedure

Cut the coconut into small pieces or grate. Peel the mango and cut into small pieces. In small pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, methi seeds, red chillies, hing. Allow the seeds to sputter, now add the curry leaves and remove from heat. Keep them aside. Grind coconut, mango pieces along with fried red chilles / green chilles, salt and turmeric; grind the mixture coarsely by adding water little into a paste. Adjust the taste, if needed add little mango for sourness. Shift the mixture into serving bowl. Add the fried seasoning and curry leaves and mix well.

Serve with rice and ghee along with perugu merapakyalu.

Notes and Tips

You can use frozen coconut instead of fresh. Defrost the coconut and then use. Use red chillies or green chilles. Mango should be sour. If the mango is too sour use little less or add coconut vice versa.

This is my entry for Nupur’s A-Z vegetables.

Beerakaya pachadi

Beerakaya (Telugu) also know as Ridge gourd or turiya in India which is commonly known as Chinese Okra in other countries (popular in Asia & Africa), is an easy to grow vegetable .Botanical name for this spongy vegetable is “Luffa Acutangula” or Loofah. This awesome vegetable is low in Saturated Fat, and Cholesterol, high in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Zinc, Thiamin, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese. This versatile vegetable is mildly sweet in taste, which adds a new dimension to the vegetarian cuisine, but sometimes it does taste very bitter.  So you might have to check the taste before cooking. Beerakaya is used a lot in Andhra cooking. .Either can be cooked with dal or even made into chutney & curries. Most common dishes made with beerakaya are (beerakaya with senagapappu, tomato, potatoes, stuffed with home made curry powder, onion masala), pappu (cooked with lentils), pachadi (very famous and favorite at my place) and also podi with the peels.

Ingredients

2 fresh beerakaya’s (clean and finely chopped)
2 broken dry red chillies
3-4 green chillies
1 tsp urad dal
½ tsp channa dal
½ tsp mustard seeds
Big pinch of methi seeds
Pinch of hing
Tamarind according to taste
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil
Fist full of coriander leaves

Procedure

Heat ½ tsp oil in a small pan add urad dal, channa dal, dry chillies and fry till light golden brown, add mustard seeds, methi seeds and allow them to sputter. Add hing and turn of the heat. Keep stirring otherwise popu will burn.

Heat the reaming oil in a pan on medium-low heat and add chopped beerakaya cook till soft, keep stirring in the middle turn of heat and cool.

Grind popu, green chillies, tamarind, salt and cooked beerakaya (slightly chunky), adjust the seasoning, and add if anything needed at this point. Now add coriander leaves and pulse couple of times and shift the chutney into serving bowl.

We usually eat with rice; I love it as a spread on my bread. It tastes delicious and also as dip.

Notes and Tips

Ripened fruit will be good for making chutneys.  Peel the ridges lightly and leave the skin for making chutney. In general beerakaya flesh is very tender and tastes delicious. You can even add fresh coconut.

Dosakai Avakaya

In traditional andhra cooking dosakai is used a lot. Dosakai pappu, Dosakai sambar, pachadi and avakaya are popular varities made at my place. Dosakai Avakaya is most popular dish and has a unique place in my cooking. This pickle is very easy to prepare and can be served the next day. Its mixed with spices and needs to be marinated overnight. This crunchy pickle is often served with mudda pappu. Only Indian cucumber (Nakka dosakai) will suite this recipe as its skin is thick and the flesh is crunchy. Other cucumbers would spoil fast as they have thinner skin and looses lots of water when pickled.

Ingredients

1 medium dosakai
3-4 tbsp mustard seeds
3-4 tbsp red chilli powder
2-3 tbsp salt
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp oil

 

Procedure

Wash and cut dosakai and remove the seeds. Pat to dry and cut into bite size peices (1/4 inch). Grind all the dry ingredients (mustard seeds, chilli powder and salt). Take a dry container and put the chopped dosakai pieces. Add 3/4th of the spice mixture lime juice and oil and mix well. Now add 1/2 of the remaning mixture and mix well. Taste the pickle and adjust the seasoning as needed. Cover it and leave it in room temperature over night. The dosakai will start absorbing all the flavors from the spices. Refridgerate the container. You can serve this pickle the next day.

This can be served with rice/idly, dosa and upma or your choice of meal. Keep refridgerate it will last for 6-8 weeks. On room temperature it last for 3-4 weeks.

Dosakai Pachadi

One more dish where no cooking is involved. Cucumbers are rich in vitamin c and also contains some amount of dietery fiber and contains lots of water. In general dosakai has light punget smell, which is why many people dislike, but when this is mixed and grinded with spice mixture, the smell compeletly disappears. This spicy, sweet and sour dish always takes a center stage at my place when ever I make. This is an other delicious dish from my MIL’s kitchen.

Ingredients

1 cup dosakai (peel and chop very small)
2 dried red chillies (broken)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp methi seeds
Hing (2 pinches)
Tamarind (melon ball size)
Jaggery (approx 1-1.5 tsp)
A big pinch of turmeric
2 green chillies
Coriander leaves (fist full)
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Procedure

Heat oil in a small pan, add red chilles, mustard seeds, methi seeds. Allow mustard seeds to sputter, add hing and remove from heat. In a grinder/food processor add to this mixture, tamarind, jaggery, turmeric, salt and grind coarsely. Add green chillies and coriander leaves and pulse for few times. Remove and mix it the dosakai pieces. Adjust the taste if needed. Pulse the whole mixture just one more time. Serve with rice.

Notes and Tips

Jaggery is optional. While adjusting the seasoning you can add few drops of lemon juice. We usally mix little oil/ghee in rice and then eat with this chutney. You can even serve this as a dip .Try it out . I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Tomatillo Avakaya

Avakaya means pickle. Instant pickles are easy to prepare and stays 3-4 weeks. These pickles are often prepared during special ocassion ( family gatherings, small ocassions and even sometimes for a change) in Andhra. Instant pickles are mostly made with Dosakai (Indian cucumber) and  raw mango. My mom makes a pickle with raw tomatoes. Raw tamotoes are sour (acidic) in taste when compared with the riped ones. This sourness makes the dish unique.

I was looking for raw tomatoes at all stores but no luck. Then one day I said to myself why don’t I try this dish with tomatillos. These look very similar to a raw tomato. I heard from many indians that, they used these tomatillos in dals.

Tomatillos have slight tartness and mildly acidic compared to raw tomatoes. With raw tomatoes, the pickle can be eaten next day. But with tomatillos, it takes atleast 2-3 days for them to absorb all the flavors of spices and lemon juice to loose their tartness.

Ingredients

10-12 tomatillos
3-4 tbsp mustard seeds
3-4 tbsp red chilli powder
2-3 tbsp salt
Juice of 1 lemon or lime
2 tbsp oil

Procedure

Remove the husk and clean the tomatillos. Pat to dry and cut into bite size peices(1/2 inch). Grind all the dry ingredints( mustard seeds, chilli powder and salt). Take a dry container and put the chopped tomatillos. Add 3/4th of the spice mixture lemon juice and oil and mix well. Now add 1/2 of the remaning mixture and mix well. Taste the pickle, adjust the seasoning. If needed add lemon juice and/or spice mix/salt. Cover it and leave it in room temperature over night. The tomatillos will start absorbing all the flavors from the spices. Refridgerate the container let it sit for 2 -3 days.

This can be served with rice/idly, dosa and upma or your chioce of meal.

Keep refrigerated. This pickle will last for 15-20 days.

Fresh chuntney and instant pickles at home

Andhra Pradesh is famous for its chutneys (Pachadi). Chutney is a fresh or cooked relish. A fresh chutney in India is customarily ground on a grinding stone and is made daily. The main ingredient can be nuts, lentils(dal), fresh herbs, fresh chilies, ginger, fresh vegetables, leafy vegetables and fresh green mangoes. Lime juice, tamarind, jaggery are added for additional taste. Seasoning for a chutney is commonly with spices like methi seeds, mustard seeds and hing. Cooked chutneys are made seasonally using fruits like tomatoes, mangoes, tamarind, which are combined with fresh seasonings like ginger, hot chilies and lemon juice, tamarind pulp (add little warm water and soak tamarind for 15 mins, mix well and sieve the pulp into a bowl) and cooked with spices to create a heavenly concoction of tastes.

Unlike many salty, oily, or sweetened pickles, fresh chutneys are prepared primarily with digestive spices such as ginger, lime, or lemon and tamarind. The texture as well as the intensity of chutney varies depending on the entrée with which it will be served. Chutney can be sweet-and-sour for a spicy main dish or extremely hot with a lot of green or dry red chilli, to be paired with a mild dish.

A complete Indian meal has four elements: a bread ( Roti ) and/or rice, a vegetable dish, a dal (lentil-based dish, Sambar or Rasam), chutney or pickle and curd ( perugu/yogurt). If you are in a hurry, the simplest meal might be just some rice or bread and chutney, but no Indian meal would be served without chutney.

Chutneys enhance the taste and stimulate appetite, a chutney is similar in concept to a Western condiment such as relish, sauce, or salsa, which is served not as a side dish but as a garnish and in small quantities. Sometimes a particular chutney is essential for a dish, as mint or green chutney (made with coriander leaves, green chillies, lemon/lime juice and spices) with samosas and coconut chutney with idly and dosa. Or the type and texture of chutney is chosen based on available ingredients.

There are two different types of condiments commonly used in Indian cuisine. One is the simple fresh chutney that is made for daily use, and the other is a more complex preserved condiment or pickle, called Ooragaya or Avakaya(commonly made with raw mangoes, goose berries, raw tamarind, gongura leaves) in Telugu. The main pickling agent being sesame oil , Mustard oil or ground nut oil.

In some chutney recipes, the main ingredients are cooked briefly before grinding, but are always cooled before serving. Many traditional Indian cooks still use a stone mortar-and-pestle to make fresh chutneys, but they can be made more quickly with a blender or food processor. To get an authentic taste I use pestle to make some chutneys.

Vankaya Banda Pachadi (Roasted Brinjal Chutney)

Fresh chutney are very common in my house. Brinjal is one of the vegetables I use frequently to make this chutney. Raw brinjal is known for its bitter taste. The bitterness can be eliminated by roasted the brinjal with its skin in a oven or on a stove top.

Ingredients

3-4 Medium Brinjals
1 medium onion finely chopped
4-5 Green chilles finely chopped
2-3 Tbsp tamarind paste
1 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Few curry leaves
Salt for taste

For seasoning -

2 Tbsp oil
2 whole dry red chillies
1 Tsp Channa dal
1 Tsp Urad dal
1/2 Tsp mustard seeds
few methi seeds
pinch of hing
pinch of turmeric

Procedure

On stove top: Clean and pat dry the brinjals. Brush them with oil and roast it on a stove top ( gas) over medium heat. Keep turning the brinjals, until fully roasted. When the skin of the brinjal is fully charred, that means the brinjal is fully roasted. Once done, sprinkle some cold water and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Once it is cooled down peel off the charred skin. Mash the flesh and keep it aside.Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a small kadai. Add channa dal, urad dal, methi seeds, red chillies and fry over medium heat until the dals turn light golden brown. Now add mustard seeds, hing and fry for couple of minutes and remove from heat. Keep this seasoning aside.

In the same kadai heat the remaning oil. Add curry leaves, chopped onions and turmeric and fry for few minutes. Just to remove the raw smell of onion.

In a pestle add the fried seasoning and pound it coarsely. Now add the mashed brinjals, tamarind paste, salt, green chillies , chopped coriander leaves and pound all toghter well. Adjust the seasoning, add the onion mixture and mix well. Remove it into to serving bowl. This can be served as a side dish with rice or roti and also can be served as a dip.

In oven: Preheat oven at 350 deg, prick the brinjals with fork and brush them with oil. Roast them in the oven till done. Small brinjals cook very fast (12-15 mins). If its a big one then roast for about 30-45 mins. Follow the rest of procedure as mentioned above.

You can use lemon juice instead of tamarind pulp. And also you can grind it in blender/ food processor. Do not add water and also do not grind too much as this will turn the dish into a paste. Just pulse for few seconds if you are using a food processor.