Kolam by Sudha Balaji

Kothamalli thokku - side dish for rice , idli dosa We need coriander leaves .  I have taken four clusters of coriander leaves, tamarind ,  Separate the leaves from the stems .  The stems interfere in grinding and some of them may not get ground properly Take shallots or onions an four cloves of garlic -  these are optional Take five or six red chillies Add tamarind. Add little water and wet grind all ingredients  in a mixer Heat oil in a pan , add mustard Add the wet ground mixture of coriander leaves Add turmeric powder - two spoons ( small as shown in the photo ) Add four spoons of dhania powder Add little chilly powder since we have already added red chillies.  If we want more kaaram ( hot ) we can add more chilly powder Heat it till the coriander leaves , onions and garlic get cooked. Close with a little because the thokku usually sputters. Once cooking is complete add salt I add jaggery also...

There are many options for side dish for rice with vendhaya keerai or fenugreek greens or just vendhayam or fenugreek.  I have tried to share some traditional and different varieties that I prepare as side dish for rice at home for children and family.  Similarly with radish or mullangi what I have shared is a different kulambu that  is prepared with jaggery added so it will liked by children due to its sweet and sour taste.   It is also an excellent side dish for Pongal Easy vendhaya kulambu without coconut without toor dhal How to prepare fenugreek kuzhambu  The ingredients are Mustard, urad dhall,  , gram dhall  , fenugreek, asafoetida, red chillies and green chillies cut vertically Gram dhal is taken a little more than normal because we do not use toor dhal for this recipe We can add or decrease chillies depending upon the karam we need. Add a little oil in a vessel and saute with mustard, urad dhal, gram dhal, asafoetida, red chillies ...

This is a traditional method of making mixed vegetable curry for Bhogi festival.  This tradition has been there from time immemorial.  Probably, this idea was started to prepare a recipe from the freshly harvested vegetables that are available during Sankranti. Usually, we prepare this as a side dish for for pooris we make on Bhogi day.  Since we live in Tamil Nadu, pooris with Bhogichi bhaji and Venn Pongal (the traditional and healthy breakfast of Tamil Nadu made with rice, moong dhal and lots of pepper) is also part of our menu. For festivals onion and garlic are avoided in cooking in our family so this recipe is without onion and garlic. The vegetables usually used are sweet potato, potato , carrot , cluster beans, flat beans, green beans seeds.  All the vegetables are cooked separately in water boiled in a vessel and not in a pressure cooker because they can become too soft and some of them will not be discrete also owing to the high temperature in the coo...

Payatham paruppu recipe | Moong dhal recipe | Side dish for chapathi | poori  This is an easy and quick to make side dish that is tasty too.  The moong dhal and tomatoes give the sweet taste balanced by green chillies and if required red chili powder. The ingredients are as shown in the pictures above.  They are finely chopped onion, sliced tomatoes, garlic cloves sliced, green chillies, curry leaves.  For 100 grams dhal we can take one onion and one tomato, few cloves of garlic.  Actually, garlic is optional.  Finely chopped green chillies are needed to balance the sweet taste of the dhal and tomatoes. Moong dhal is cooked in a pressure cooking after adding a pinch of turmeric powder.  So that it gets cooked well as shown in the image above.  Alternatively, all the vegetables and chillies can be cooked with the moong dhal in a pressure cooker to make it easy for us and reduce the number of processes. In a vessel called van...