Tomato Pickle

Ingredients:

500gms Tomatoes

1 cup Oil

1 (lemon size) Tamarind

1 tbp Methi seeds

2 tbp Mustard seeds

½  cup red chilly pwd

1 tbp Sugar

¼ th tbp Turmeric Pwd

1 tbp Salt

7-10 pods of garlic

Method:

• In a small pan dry roast Methi seeds first and then add Mustard seeds. Turn off the heat when they start to splatter. Cool it and make powder of it.
• Chop tomatoes and coarsely grind them.
• Add oil in a pan and start cooking the tomatoes. Add tamarind juice and cook till almost all the water evaporates.  
• Add salt, sugar, chilly pwd, turmeric pwd and mustard-methi pwd. Mix it well.
• In a small pan add 2 tbp of oil and fry the garlic pods. Add it to the above Pickle.

Tip:

• Fry garlic until it turns brown in a very low flame.
• If you don’t like to use Garlic, you can replace it with Asafetida.

Bendi chutney or Okra chutney

To serve 4 people:

Ingredients:
• 500 gms of Bendi or Okra's
• 3-4 tbps of oil
• 2 big tbp of urad dal
• 5 dry red chillies
• Very little tamarind (small marble size)
• Asafoetida a pinch
• Pinch of turmeric
• Salt to taste


Method:
• In a pan add 3tbpsof oil and fry bendi. Fry till they don't stick to each other. Some of them may turn into little black in color. Cool it after it is done.
• Heat oil in an another pan add urad dal and fry for about a minute. Add asafoetida and dry red chillies. Fry till are cooked.
• Grind the above fried tempering (tadaka) into a coarse mixture. Add tamarind just for taste.
• Now add the cool fried bendi to the grinder and just grind it into a coarse mixture. Serve it with hot rice.


Tips:
• Don't fry bendi often. The more you keep frying it the more sticky they become.

Palli Pachadi (Peanut Chutney)

Ingredients:
• 100gms roasted peanuts
• 2 garlic pods
• 3 green chillies
• 1tbp of tamarind paste
• Salt to taste
• 100ml of milk
• 1 teaspoon of oil
• ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
• Asafoetida a pinch
• 2 dry red chillies

Method:
• Grind peanuts, garlic, green chillies, tamarind paste and salt to a smooth paste by adding milk.
• In small pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida and red chillies.
• Add seasoning to the grinded paste.
• Serve it with idly, dosa etc.

Cabbage chutney

Ingredients:
• 200gms of cabbage
• 2tbps of oil
• 1 ½ tbp of urad dal
• ¾ tbp of mustard seeds
• ¼ tbp of methi seeds (about 8 seeds)
• Asafoetida a pinch
• 3 dry red chillies
• 5 green chillies
• 3 tbps of coriander leaves
• Salt to taste

Method:
• Heat oil in a pan and add methi seeds, urad dal, mustard seeds, asafoetida and dry red chillies. Fry for about 2mins and grind it to a smooth paste.
• In the same oil fry chopped cabbage and green chillies. Add salt and fry till the cabbage is cooked softly.
• Let it cool down. Mix the above grinded powder with coriander leaves and cooked cabbage.
• Now grind them all together. Serve hot with rice, roti or dosa.

Tip:
• While grinding the seasoning try to drain oil as much as u can else it will not be grinded properly.

Tomato chutney

To serve 6 people:

Ingredients:
• 600gms tomatoes
• Half lemon size of tamarind
• 2tbps of oil
• 1 ½ tbp of urad dal
• ¾ tbp of mustard seeds
• ¼ tbp of methi seeds
• Asafoetida a pinch
• 4 dry red chillies
• 5 green chillies
• 3 tbps of corinder leaves

Method:
• Heat oil in a pan and add methi seeds, urad dal, mustard seeds, asafoetida and dry red chillies. Fry for about 2mins and grind it to a smooth paste.
• In the same oil fry chopped tomatoes, tamarind and green chillies.
• Fry till the water evaporates and it starts to become thicker.
• Let it cool down and mix the above grinded powder with coriander leaves, tomato paste and salt.
• Now grind them all together. Serve hot with rice, roti or dosa.

Tip:
• While grinding the seasoning try to drain oil as much as u can else it will not be grinded properly.
• Tamarind adds taste to the chutney.
• You can also add 50 ml of tomato puree when u r frying the tomatoes.