Bilimbi Chutney / Irumbanpuli Chammanthi

There were about 43 comments in the inbox. Now you know the reason why couldn't you find any reply to your queries and comments..
Have posted a bilimbi pickle earlier. This one is very simple to make and tastes great with rice and dosas.



Ingredients,
bilimbi / irumbanpuli 6 medium size
small onions / shallots 6
green chillies 3 or 4 or as per taste
coconut oil 2 or 3 teaspoons
salt

How to prepare,
Grind all ingredients together except coconut oil to make a coarse paste.
Transfer to a bowl and pour coconut oil over it.
You may not get the exact color of the dish as you see in the picture. It might be light purple , the color of shallots..

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Tomato Chutney

Ladies of our neighbourhood would have a usual talk when they see each other, "innentha meen kittye?"(Which fish you bought today?).Recently a lady commented that she didn't like the way those ladies talk and these kinds of inquiries are not sincere! I always believed ladies from the village areas start a healthy conversation by asking such silly matters. And their relationships get stronger because of these regular chitchats! It is difficult to understand for those who live in cities especially who thinks that the world is me and my family only..
If we didn't get fish, mom makes this curry for lunch as a side dish with other vegetable curry.. She creates such simple side dishes if she gets some chillies, tamarind or tomatoes and few shallots.. :)

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Pumpkin Chutney / Mathanga Chammanthi

I think it wouldn't be nice if I proceed without mentioning about my loyal reader Shilpa. Unlike other girls, she started cooking before marriage, has been experimenting in her kitchen along with her studies! She tries out many recipes for her parents, has tried out few from this site also, and met me while she was looking for a recipe of 'mathanga chammanthi' for her father. Recently, Shilpa sent me some pictures of the dishes she cooked with the remaining part of soya beans after she prepared soya milk! I really loved them since it is very clever to use it in this way, usually there remains lots of 'okara / soy pulp' once after you prepared some soya milk! I hope you too can use her methods, try out and let us know.. :)
Shilpa was worried about the quality of the pictures she has taken, I think you did great, I didn't like even to 'touch' camera, until I start blogging.. :)

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Sweet chutney for biryani / Beetroot-dates chutney

Eat beetroot, or red spinach , its a cure for anaemia, that was the fact I had heard a lot about beet-roots since from childhood.I just thought people say because of its dark purple colour, but later searching lot in net, I could find out many "beetroot health benefits" sites which tell the same thing.. I always loved it in pickled form , which is not a healthy option always,didn't like thoran /dry dish, but later found beetroot pachadi is another good form to consume it without losing its nutrients.I have never seen beetroots with leaves here, and tried to plant the stem part chopped from beetroots, but it didn't grow well..
This time, a sweet chutney for a reader Prathibha and all of you cook yummy biryani. This is a biryani side dish, which comes from Malabar side. This recipe is from Mrs.K.M.Mathew, with few changes.
Here everyone seems to be busy with eid preparations , so bye now, enjoy this with biryani, all the best and Eid Mubarak to you all! :)

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Thick Tomato Curry / Thakkali Chutney

Once my Daughter asked "is tomato a fruit or vegetable?" I had no doubt to reply it is a vegetable. She smiled " Yeah, that's why Encyclopedia Britannica explains farmers say tomato is a fruit , but those who love cooking says tomato is a vegetable....!" Any way this doubt has never arisen in my thoughts all these years.... :) Whatever it is , I liked it very much , in raw form or cooked.This simple and delicious chutney is good to take with rice, chappathi or dosa or any thing you like. We normally make this when we have no other curries we like. I have posted other tomato curries like tomato coconut milk curry, tomato pickle, thakkali pachadi etc, earlier, hope you all will love them. Hm, am still craving to take little thakkali chutney with rice , by mashing the green chillies in it... yum! :P



Ingredients for making thakkali chutney
tomatoes 4 big chopped
small onions / pearl onions 1 handful chopped
onions 2 chopped
green chillies 3 chopped
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
red chilly powder 1 or 2 tsp
salt

For seasoning,
mustard seeds 1 tsp
curry leaves 2 stalks
coconut oil



How to prepare
Heat coconut oil in a wok.
Allow mustard seeds to splutter.
Add curry leaves.
Put chopped shallots and onions.
Stir until it is semi transparent.
Add green chillies and tomatoes.
Add all the powders and salt.
Place the lid and cook on a low flame.
Cook well stirring occasionally.
When tomatoes are mashed well, remove from fire.
Normally , no need to add water.
If you found it very dry, sprinkle little water while cooking.
You can make this without adding shallots too, if you are lazy to peel them.
Then use onions instead.
Enjoy!

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Chammanthi Podi / Roasted Chutney Powder

Am scared to look at those serious faces! Years back, the picture was different. I have seen parents talking with others while waiting out side of a Dr's room, when I was a child.Nowadays people are more cautious and many don't speak to strangers, and some are stubborn to give a smile back. Moms from the previous generation are more innocent, who would never give up a chance to talk! When I look for mom, I can see she is seriously talking with a lady of her age! hm, what they are talking, may be discussing a recipe, or some family problems or about health..
Definitely , this recipe came through that way, shared by a Christian lady to mom during their chat in the hospital OP section.. :) This "roasted" version of chammanthi is good to keep for few days, or to send to your loved ones abroad..



Chammanthi podi Ingredients
coconut 2 numbers
small onions 10
ginger 2 " piece
garlic 4 or 5 cloves optional
tamarind 1 lemon size
red chillies 15 or as per taste
curry leaves 6 or 7 stalks
coconut oil 1 Tb sp



How to prepare
Chop small onions,ginger and grate coconut.
Remove seeds from tamarind.
Heat coconut oil in a heavy bottomed vessel.
Fry red chillies.
Add all other ingredients to this.
Stir continuously on a medium high flame.
Stir until the mixture reaches a nice brown / red color and crispy.
Remove from fire.
Allow to cool.
Powder them.
You can keep this for long in fridge, take with kanji, rice, dosa and idly etc.
The color depends on the chillies you use.
If you love dried prawns (unakka chemmeen), roast them and powder with this chammanthi podi...

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Some Mango Memories!

Do you have some sweet mango memories related to your childhood?
If you are born and brought up in a Keralite village, the answer will be definitely yes.Here is the mango season arrived and there are lots of sweet memories going through the mind while seeing raw mangoes falling in the courtyard.The wind was little hasty, so mangoes fell down with branches many times..
What was the easiest way to eat some raw mangoes? Take a clean cloth, (most of the time it was a bath towel, that was stolen from the ayal/ rope used to dry clothes) put mango and salt in that (if you have chilly powder,then it too),hold all the sides of cloth together and make it like a cover, just hit on the walls or trees many times using all your strength, slowly open the cloth, you get crushed pieces of raw mango mixed with salt!
Let me take breath... :) This was the mostly eaten dish by us during child hood if it was mango season. The most important thing was that we didn't need anybody's permission to make this since the ingredients were easily available.
The other dish, was little more hard to make, as kids it was difficult for us to cut mangoes with a knife. Any way the bigger children in the group did this work. Getting all the ingredients were not easy, but we managed to get each item from different houses.We chopped mangoes as small pieces (kothi ariyuka), mixed it with chopped small onions,green chillies, red chilly powder, salt and coconut oil. The aroma was super, still I can't resist eating it!
The method was different for each places, some added curry leaves and some added vinegar. Once when I prepared it , just to show my girl how were we used to make them. Then hubby said, they kept the mixture in the sun for some time "to set", or some times added hot "kanjivellam" in that.He took all mango mixture with plain rice that time.
It brought about the pleasant pictures of my class mates, who came home once while coming back after attending a friend's marriage.We all about 7 girls finished one horlicks jar of this mango mixture together in one sit.. :) Every one loves it, if it is a kid or an adult.
This is not a pickle and not kept for next day. It should be eaten fresh.
The large leaf in the picture, which I served this mango is the leaf of "podi ayni", which is a plant that grows here with coconut trees.In olden times,(before plastic age) it's large leaves used to carry things by foding the leaves carefully.People especially workers in the land used it to carry and eat food, or to cover meat or fish etc.
There are some more "mango specials" like manga chammanthy,manga curry, manga achar and manga tholi or manga thol (mango pieces dried in sun), uppu manga etc... Hope to post them later, Insha Allah..



Ingredients
Raw / green mango 2 medium size
shallots / chuvannulli 10
green chillies 2 or more
red chilly powder 2 tsp or as desired
coconut oil 1 or more Tbsps
salt



How I prepared
Chop mangoes with skin. Chop finely.Cut other ingreidients too. Mix magoes with them. Add chillie powder , salt and coconut oil.



A podi ayni tree near house.

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Dates Chutney / Eithappazham Chammanthi

Though I had seen a number of dates pickle recipes, a chutney was new to me! It needed only few ingredients and was so simple.I prepared it on a salkkaaram day, without any hope. But for my surprise, every one asked it again.Nowadays mom makes this most of the days, it seems she forgot our poor old local chammanthies.. :) Enjoy this sweet chutney!



Dates Chutney / Eithappazha chammanthi Ingredients
Dates 8
curry leaves few
pearl onion 1
garlic cloves 4
green chilly 3 or 4
coconut grated 1/2 cup
vinegar 1 tsp
salt enough



How to prepare
Chop dates into pieces.Crush all the ingredients together except dates and vinegar in a grinder.Add chopped dates and crush again to make a thick paste.Add vinegar and mix well. Check salt.
Recipe by Shabna Naushad, Madhyamam.

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Kappa , Meen , Ulli chammanthi / Tapioca , Fish , Small Onion Chutney

Kappa /tapioca with fish and ulli chammanthi /shallots chutney is a delicious dish which I usually crave for... :) This fish preparation is not a curry , it is the "mathi thappuvechathu" dish which we do prepare using the old baking method! (See the recipe and baking method here)
During a specific season, we get fresh big sardines (mathi / chaala) which contains lots of fat ( meen neyyu) in it and with the lesser number of bones too. That kind of sardines are good for preparing this. Sardines soak in the thick masala of freshly ground ginger, garlic, shallots, pepper, gooseberry (or tamarind) etc and slowly reduce water on a medium heat.You can try this with ayala/mackerel also.



For preparing Kappa / tapioca,
Cut and peel the roots. Wash and boil in water enough to soak it. Add salt when it is boiled. Cook and drain when it is done.



I have posted a Ulli chammanthi recipe before, with dry red chillies. This one is with green chillies, which is best with kappa.

Ulli chammanthi
Small onions 7
Tamarind 1 gooseberry size
Green chillies 4 (according to taste)
Salt
Coconut oil

Peel small onions, wash them.. Grind all the ingredients together and add coconut oil in the end.

See other Kappa / Tapioca preparations here.

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Mango Chutney / മാങ്ങാ ചമ്മന്തി

Green mango chammanthi
raw mango 1
small onions 8
ginger 1" piece
green chillies 6
curry leaves 1 sprig
garlic clove 1 optional
salt
coconut oil



Peel and cut mango. Peel ginger and small onions.Wash and grind all the ingredients together. Add little coconut oil over this. Mix.



Red mango chammanthi
Use red chillies or red chilly powder instead of green chillies. Roast whole dry chillies in little coconut oil for this.
You can take this with dosa, idli and rice.

See mango chutney / മാങ്ങാ ചമ്മന്തി with coconut.

Guess why I didn't write the malayalam name for mango. :)

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Brinjal Chammanthi / Chutney

Brinjal / Egg plant / Vazhuthananga / Kathirikkai

Ingredients and method
Brinjals 3 medium size
small onions 4
garlic cloves 2 small size
ginger 1/2 inch
green chilly 2 or 3
coconut oil
curry leaves few
tamarind 1 small gooseberry size or as desired
salt

Cut brinjals into small pieces. Heat coconut oil, saute small onions and garlic cloves until small onions are transparent(don't think about garlic). Take them out and keep aside. Saute the brinjal pieces till they are cooked. Crush green chillies, small onions and fried brinjals. Grind garlic and ginger with curry leaves and tamarind. Mix them with the above crushed preparation. Add salt. Mix well and pour little fresh coconut oil over it.

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Puli Inji / Inji Puli

Ingredients and Method
small onions 8
tomato 1 small
ginger 2 inch piece
green chillies 4 chop into round pieces
garlic 7 (small size) cloves
turmeric powder 1/2 tea spoon
chilli powder 2 tea spoons or as desired
fenugreek seeds 1/4 teaspoon
mustard seeds 1/2 tea spoon
curry leaves few
coriander powder 1 tea spoon
tamarind pulp 1/2 cup thick or as desired
water 3/4 cup
coconut oil
jaggery 1/2 inch piece
salt

Grind ginger and garlic into paste.(You can chop them too as small pieces )Cut small onions into two. Heat oil, splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds.Saute garlic and ginger paste for few seconds or more till the raw smell goes. Then add curry leaves, chopped tomatoes, small onions,chopped green chillies and all the powders and salt. Saute for a while. Add tamarind pulp and water and bring to boil. Reduce water after adding jaggery piece. If you want too thick inji curry, roast some parboiled rice , powder it and add to the gravy.You can keep this fridge for many days. The inji curry preparation can keep out side too for about four more days. If you don't like more sour things, reduce the amount of tamarind.

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Nellikka Chammanthi /Gooseberry Chutney

Do you like to take a very healthy side dish with your rice? Me always lazy to eat gooseberries, found this way to have raw gooseberries, without losing its vitamin C content. This is the way to avoid my DH's usual queries, did you throw away it? I forget the refrigerated gooseberries all the time when he buys. Pickles/Achar, Uppilittathu(in brine),gooseberry syrup etc are the other forms of Kerala Nellikka/Gooseberry dishes.

Ingredients and method of preparation
Gooseberry 6 chop and discard seed

Ginger 1/2 inch piece

Garlic 1 clove optional

Small onions 6

Curry leaves few ( I prefer adding lots of curry leaves)

Green chillies 2 or 3 or as desired

Salt

Grind all the above ingredients together. Add little (about 1 teaspoon) coconut oil on top if you find it too spicy.

Goose berry is rich in vitamin C.It provides immunity.It has an anti ageing property and makes body cool. It is the main ingredient in the "Chyawanprasam" which is famous rasayana for immunity. It is also known as Amla.

Read here about Indian Gooseberry

Healing properties of Indian Gooseberry / Amla / Emblica Officinalis

See the sardines in pepper and tamarind / Mathi thappuvechathu using Nellikka/Gooseberry.

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Malliyila Chammanthi / Coriander chutney

Ingredients

Coriander one bunch
Ginger one inch piece
Garlic one clove
Juice of one lemon
Green chilly two or three
Curry leaves few
Salt
Coconut grated two table spoons

How to prepare

Clean and chop coriander leaves.

Chop ginger , green chilly and garlic and mix with coriander leaves and coconut.

Add salt, lemon juice and curry leaves.

Grind well till very smooth paste.

Just spread on Bread, Dosa or take with Idli.
When I was looking for a healthy snack for hubby, my friend Ganga shared this recipe.

Sandwich prepared using this chutney.A simple,healthy and delicious snack!

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Tomato chammanthi / chutney

INGREDIENTS
Tomatoes - 2,

small onions - 7,

tamarind - one small goose berry size,

ginger - one inch piece,

red chillies - 5,

curry leaves - few,

coconut oil - 1 table spoon,

salt.

METHOD
Heat oil in a pan.

Cut tomatoes.

Add peeled small onions and red chillies in to the oil and fry.

When they change color add chopped tomatoes.

Fry for a while.

Grind this with all the other ingredients.

Good with dosa, idli and rice.

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Thenga chammanthi / coconut chutney

Ingredients

coconut grated- 1 cup,

shallots(small onions)-5 nos,

tamarind-1 goose berry size or raw mango pieces-of one mango,

curry leaves -few,

ginger - 1 inch piece,

chilly powder-one tea spoon,

green chilly - 2

salt

garlic - 1 clove optional

Method

Grind all the ingredients together .

Have with rice and curd,vegetable curry or fish curry.

Best with dosas and idlies also.

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coconut pudina chammanthi / side dish for biriyani

Ingredients and method
Grated coconut 1 cup
Small onions 5
garlic clove 1
ginger 1/2 inch piece
mint / pudina leaves 6
green chillies 2
curryleaves few
juice of 1 lemon
salt

Grind together all the ingredients except lemon juice.Add lemon juice with the ground chutney and mix well.

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