VIRUNDHOMBAL

Mint leaves coconut chutney - a simple chutney made with mint leaves, coconut, garlic cloves, green chillies, urid dal and tamarind. This mint leaves chutney is a regular dish in hotels for tiffin varieties. Though I make this regularly for rava dosa and dosa, the colour of the chutney will change a little bit. Recently when I spoke to Chef Revathi Shanmugam mam through a phone call, I asked her how to prepare hotel style mint leaves chutney.  She clearly explained the recipe and clarified my few doubts. Today I tried this chutney, and it turned out well and tasted similar to the hotel style mint leaves chutney. Now I am confident to post this popular mint leaves coconut chutney.  Let's see some few tips for this chutney For this chutney you can add 2 to 3 cloves of garlic or a small piece of ginger.  Always use fresh mint leaves. Wash the mint leaves well and drain the water completely. Do not overcook or saute the mint leaves for a long time.It will reduce the colour an...

This Saravan bhavan tomato thokku recipe which is actually a different tomato chutney and easy to make. This thokku tastes good with idli, dosa, chapathi and curd rice.  The method and preparation of this tomato thokku doesn't require much time. To make this tomato thokku we have to cook the tomatoes along with tamarind and ginger. Then the cooked tomato mixture is flavoured with chilli powder and a pinch of sambar powder. Make sure to use fresh red ripe tomatoes which makes the best thokku.  Few tips for a tasty thokku Use less ginger or omit it completely.  Do not cook the thokku in an iron kadai. Do not add water while grinding the tomato mixture.  If you like a smooth thokku grind them to a smooth paste or if you like small bits of tomatoes here and there in the thokku grind it coarsely.  You can also increase the garlic cloves for an extra kick of flavour.  A perfect thokku does not have a runny consistency or a dry thick chutney consistency. While coo...

Quick tiffin sambar recipe with moong dal, toor dal and combination of vegetables. We have tasted this tiffin sambar many times at our Grandma's house prepared by our home chef Deivanai at Tirunelveli. Usually they put onions, chow chow (chayote), carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, green chillies and dals. We have different versions of tiffin sambar in every household with any vegetables as they prefer. You can add capsicum, drumstick or yellow pumpkins too. This sambar recipe is a bit unique recipe with a  combination of dals and  without any tamarind. I wanted to try this quick tiffin sambar at home for a long time. Last week during my visit to Tirunelveli I called her up and asked for the recipe. She explained the recipe  with a few simple steps and the sambar turned out well. This tiffin sambar is a simple yet tasty sambar and perfect side dish for idli, dosa and ven pongal.  Check out my other side dishes for idli and dosa Brinjal Kichadi  Brinjal Kichadi wi...

Tirunelveli style Getti chutney recipe with full video and step by step instructions. We usually call this chutney as travel chutney because we pack this chutney in a plantain leaf for idlies for our train travel. The aroma of the chutney when packed in plantain leaf will be awesome.  Few years ago many of us always pack food with us when we travel, whether it's a train travel or small day trip because there is a specific set of food items we have to eat while traveling. So it is essential to eat healthy food you travel. Idlies along with this getti chutney are one of the best food items to pack for travelling. We can prepare this chutney with red chillies also. This chutney method is similar to the basic coconut chutney. This getti chutney is ground with less amount of water and then we have to saute the chutney along with the thalippu vadagam until the chutney  gets thick. As we are adding thalippu vadagam in the chutney you will get a nice flavour and tastier than the regul...

Onion tomato chutney recipe with full video and step by step pictures. In 2005 when we were in California I have seen this Chettinad style onion tomato chutney recipe in the Aval vikatan magazine and made it immediately for dinner. I have been thinking to post this chutney in my blog for a long time. Finally, after 16 years, today I made this onion tomato chutney for paniyaram. Normally for tomato chutney or onion chutney we saute the red chillies in oil and then we grind it along with the onions and tomatoes. But for this chutney, the red chillies are dry roasted well and then powdered separately. This red chilly flakes are further sauted with onions and tomato puree. I have tried  many chutneys onion tomato combinations, but this chutney is a unique dish. We are adding the chopped small onions in this chutney without grinding it and that makes it more flavourful with a mild chunky texture. This chutney has very few ingredients, so make sure they are good and fresh. Chop fresh oni...

Brinjal Chutney / Kathirikkai thuvaiyal is a tasty chutney dish, generally made as a side dish for idli and dosa. My mother makes this brinjal chutney often and  yesterday only I called her to get the recipe details. Before that I haven't tried this method yet and today I followed the method without any tweaks and it was tasty with suda suda idli. As my husband bought a huge pack of brinjals, he suggests me to prepare this chutney. Before going to the recipe I will the share the important tips my mom shared with me for this thuvaiyal.  1. Depending on what kind of brinjals you are cooking, you may adjust the roasting techniques. If you are cooking with smaller brinjals, it will cook faster. If you are using larger brinjals, it will take a long time to roast. When roasting the brinjals, make sure to add the correct amount of oil because it will be difficult to peel the skin. Check the brinjal flesh is soft by inserting a knife in the middle to make sure it's roasted throughout....

Brinjal Kicahdi - we often prepare kichadi as a side dish for idli, dosa and ven pongal. Already I posted brinjal kichadi with moong dal , onions, tomatoes and coconut. Today we are going to see brinjal kichadi without dal which has thinner consistency when compared with brinjal kichadi with dal. Both kichadis taste good with idli or dosa. In this kichadi, the chopped brinjals are cooked along with tomato and green chilly. Then the tomato and green chilly are grounded along with coconut and fried grams and added to the kichadi. For this kichadi, there is no sambar powder or red chilly powder just green chillies and red chillies are added for the spiciness. This brinjal kichadi tastes so much good with Tirunelveli white brinjal. But it is not available in all the places so green brinjals or purple tender brinjals can be used. Now we will see the how to prepare brinjal kichadi without dal with step by step photos.  Here is a short video for Brinjal Kichadi without dal Si...

Mint leaves coconut chutney paired with rava dosa is one my favourite combination. In many restaurants I have tasted this chutney and after a few practices I found, how to retain the beautiful pale green colour in it. Because after grinding the chutney with coriander leaves and mint leaves the colour will change to a dull green colour. The secret is just a teaspoon of chana dal and we have to saute the coriander leaves, mint leaves and green chillies just for a minute. Try to use fresh coriander leaves and mint leaves and do not add a bunch of leaves for grinding. Just 10 to 15 mint leaves and a few coriander leaves is enough for a cup of grated coconut. Now let's see how to prepare this chutney.

Tomato chutney is commonly called as Kara chutney in hotels due to the red colour of the dish. This chutney is not much spicy and it has a combination of flavours like sweet, hot and sour. The sweet taste of the onions, heat from the red chillies and sour from the red tomatoes make the chutney so delicious.  Not only this chutney looks good, but also tastes nice. You can use this chutney as a side dish for idly, dosa, poori, panniyaram, bajis and bondas and also you can use this as a spread for bread slices. My son is a big fan for this kara chutney and he asks me to spread inside the dosas.  A simple and tasty tomato chutney with just four ingredients. I have used small onions for this chutney you can also use big onions too.  Here is my other recipes with tomatoes Tomato onion thokku , Tomato sabji , Tomato chutney with green chillies , Tomato dal , Tomato rasam and Tomato pasta .  Here is a short video for Tomato Chutney