Side dish for poori or chappati - Sudha Balaji recipes

Bombay chutney

Ingredients

Gram dhall flour ( kadalai maavu or besan ) - one small cup

Turmeric powder - half tea spoon

Chilli powder - half tea spoon or less

Asafoetida - to sprinkle on chutney

Tomatoes - one big size finely chopped

Onions - optional 

Mix gram dhall flour, turmeric powder, chilli powder, sprinkle asafoetida and add salt to taste.  Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and then add water so that the solution is watery or dilute because the besan flour has the tendency to thicken or clog when we heat.  In a pan add oil, saute with mustard seeds, urad dhall, curry leaves. Add tomatoes to this and fry.  If onions are to be added they should be added first for frying before adding tomatoes.

After frying the tomatoes add the solution of gram dhall flour and other ingredients and stir for a few minutes.

When the solution becomes thick cooking is complete.  Remove from the stove and add coriander leaves.

Some add a pinch of sugar to give a different taste.

Simple side dish for poori and chappati with ripe bananas or mangoes

This is an easy and delicious side dish for idly, dosa, chappati and poori.

poori or chappathi can have side dishes made with elaborate preparation.  When time is a constraint we can have simple and quick side dishes too.

This is called sheekaran in Marathi

Take finely chopped ripe bananas in a bowl and milk ( we can also add curd instead of milk ).  Finally add sugar and mix well with a spoon.  The side dish is very tasty.  Some children simply love it. Of course adults can also try.

 Chow Chow paal kootu         

This is a very tasty side dish for rice as also for chapathi , poori or dosa. The images below give an idea on the step by step procedure

Ingredients

   Dhania - 1 table spoon,

 gram dhall - 1 tablespoon,

 toor dhall - 1 table spoon ,

 urad dhall - 1 table spoon 

, chillies as required , asafoetida  

Chow chow cooked and in pieces

Roast all the ingredients after adding some oil in a vessel till they turn golden brown in colour.

Then add grated coconut and grind all together in a mixer with little water to get a fine paste 

Now add a little oil to a vessel and saute with mustard , urad dhall and curry leaves

Add chow chow  ( cooked ) and the ground paste and stir well

Turn the stove to sim position as due to presence of coconut  the kootu may solidify

Add salt according to requirement

Switch of the stove when the kootu starts to boil

 Carrot - poricha kootu

Poricha kootu as we say in Tamil is an excellent side dish for rice and chappathi.  

The images above show some of the intermediate steps in the preparation of this dish.

The ingredients are 

Urad dhal - 2 table spoon

Pepper - 1 table spoon

Little rice

Red chillies- 2 nos

A pinch of asafoetida

Coocked and mashed urd dhal with a pinch of turmeric powder

Grated coconut

Cooked carrot pices

This dish is hot due to the presence of pepper and hence the role of chillies is very less.  So we take only two red chillies

Take a teaspoon of oil in a vessel and roast all the ingredients ( till the urad dhall turns brown ).

Then allow them to cool on a dry plate.  Add grated coconut and grind in a mixer.

Again take a teaspoon of cooking oil in a vessel, saute with mustard, urad dhal and curry leaves.

Then  add the cooked carrot pieces. and then toor dhall.  When the mixture reaches boiling point,

add the ground mixture of the roasted ingredients and coconut.to prepare the kootu

When the poricha kootu starts boiling remove from the stove after switching off the stove.

Saute again with mustard and urad dhal ( This is optional )

Rajma masala

Ingredients

Soaked rajma -  100 gram

onions - 3 nos

tomatoes - big size 1 no

chilli powder - 1/2 tea spoon

turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon

Dhania powder - 2 tea spoon

Rajma masala - 2 tea spoons

Ginger garlic paste - optional  or garlic cloves

Green chillies - 2 nos

Salt to taste

Soak rajma for 6 to 8 hours.  Cook rajma in a pressure cooker.  One fourth of the quantity of rajma should be broken in two or  three pieces.

Add cooking oil to a pan and fry onions and green chillies . Add tomatoes cut in small pieces and  cook  for two to three minutes.  Add turmeric powder, dhania ( coriander ) powder and little water and close the pan with a lid and continue cooking for five minutes.  Remove the pan and allow it cool.  Grind in a mixer to get gravy.  

Add rajma, rajma masala and salt to gravy and cook the mixture for two to three minutes.  Garnish with coriander.  To make it more special we can add cream.

One fourth of the quantity of rajma should be broken in two or  three pieces.

This gives a general idea of preparation.  We can modify the quantity of ingredients to suit our taste and health.

Soya chunks recipe - gravy for side dish

An easy and tasty gravy with soya chunks .
  I have used the smaller ones available because some may not like big chunks in a recipe.

• Soak the soya chunks in water for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Mean while onion, tomato are to be fried in oil
• Squeeze the soya chunks to remove all water
•  This is added to the fried onion and tomato
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder , chilly powder, garam masala
• Add a little gram flour dissolved in water.
• Add salt to taste , a pinch of sugar
• Close the vessel for five minutes and the stove is in sim position
• Again garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with  soft chapatis or pooris .  
• My children love it as a lunch box recipe.  
• It can also be prepared for Sunday special and easy recipes