Spicy Verkadalai Sundal/ Spicy Peanut Sundal

Think Navarathri and two things that immediately come to my mind are Golu – arrangement of doll in steps and sundals. A variety of sundals are prepared on each of the nine days. Even though, sweets are also prepared but somehow, everybody seems to be more inclined towards this humble dish – Sundal. Sundal is a simple dish, made out of steamed legumes like Chickpeas, Mung Beans, Cowpeas, Peanuts etc. Though, it may seem humble, each kind is a powerhouse of proteins and nutrients. Moreover these are steamed and tempered in just about a teaspoon of oil and hence they are all the more healthy. A totally guilt free and healthy snack that can be relished not only during the festive season but even otherwise.

Verkadalai sundal is by far my favorite one. I think if you take a popularity vote, this sundal would top the list, since peanuts are generally liked by young and old alike. So here is my way of making this sundal. The tempering and flavor is slightly different from the regular ones with coconut. I like this version a lot. Read on to find out about this slightly different preparation:

What you’ll need

1.       Raw peanuts – 1 cup

2.       Coriander seeds – 2 tsps

3.       Dried Red Chillies – 2 (Adjust according to taste)

4.       Asafetida – a big pinch

5.       Salt to taste

For Tempering

1.       Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

2.       Curry Leaves – Few

Method

Soak the peanuts in water for about 2 hours. Drain the water, wash the peanuts, and about ¼ cup of water and pressure cook it for about 3 whistles. Drain the water and keep aside.

Heat a Kadai, dry roast the coriander seeds and red chillies till a nice aroma comes. Grind it into a powder and keep aside.

Now in the same Kadai, heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add curry leaves. Next toss in the cooked peanuts, add the spice powder, asafetida and salt to taste. Stir well for a minute.

Yummy and tasty verkadalai sundal is ready.

Sending this to Vrat Ka Khana hosted by Kalyani
Also linking to Flavors of South India

Rava Kesari

Navarathri has begun! The festival season brings in so many fond memories. My daughter especially loves it. During the 4 years we lived in S. G. Palaya, Bangalore, we had so much fun during this season. Actually, round the whole year, every Friday a few of us friends would get together at one house and recite Lalitha Sahasthranamam, prepare and offer some prasadam to Devi and return with a donnai of Sundal and some sweet. During Navarathri, this ritual would be done on all nine days but in a more grand, festive and colorful way.  Arranging Golus, reciting Lalitha Sahasthranamam, preparing neivedyams, dressing up in sarees, dressing up my little one, visiting other houses for vettali paaku and bringing home a bag of goodies. All of us used to take special care and purchase something for our little friends (Kids) who used to accompany their mothers and grandmothers. So that was the reason for my daughter’s happiness. She would very readily get ready for these sessions on all nine days of the festival. Oh! How I miss those days!

Coming back to the present, here in Hyderabad, though I did keep Golu, last year, since my younger daughter was really little (8 Months), but I couldn’t feel the festivity. And this year, my lil one has grown into mischievous young girl, that I can’t even imagine opening my box of dolls. So my dolls are all lying packed neatly in the loft of my houseL. Instead, I just placed one doll in my Puja shelf and am performing Pooja and neivedyams to that.

Yesterday was the first day, and I started with my favorite sweet dish – Kesari. This is known by many names all over India, some know it as Sheera and some call it Sooji Ka Halwa. There are different variations to this simple recipe, like Milk Kesari, Pineapple Kesari etc. Here is my version of the simple and yummy sweet dish that gets done in just a few minutes.

Serves:  4 to 6

What you’ll need:

1.       Rava/Sooji/Semolina – 1 cup

2.       Sugar – 2 cups

3.       Ghee – ¼ cup + 2 tbsp

4.       Water – 3 cups

5.       Cardamom/Elaichi – 3 to 4

6.       Cahews – few

7.       Raisins – few

8.       Orange food color – a pinch (optional)

Method

Heat a non stick pan or a heavy bottom Kadai, with the ghee. Fry the cashews and raisins. Once the cashews turn slightly golden, add the semolina and fry on medium heat till the color changes slightly and a nice aroma starts coming.

 In the meanwhile, boil 3 cups of water and keep ready. Reduce heat to low, add the boiling water, and a pinch of colour to the semolina, while stirring continuously. Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 2 minutes or till all the water has dried up.

Next add the sugar and stir well. Keep stirring till the sugar is dissolved completely and the semolina and sugar becomes a whole mass and leaves the sides of the Kadai. Add powdered cardamom and mix well.

That’s it, yummy kesari is ready. Serve warm.

Note:

1. The amount of sugar mentioned is right for us, you can reduce to 1 cup or increase max upto 3 cups depending upon your taste.
2. Also you can reduce the quantity of ghee by a tbsp or so if you feel like.
3. Some people also add a cup of milk with water. But somehow I prefer adding only water and this way it has a shelf life of minimum two days.

Apple Smoothie

Last week’s events were very disturbing, with my system not booting properly and my blog showing malware warnings. Thankfully, the latter issue is resolved, but my system is still behaving rather erratically. It boots up if it feels like and on some occasions I guess it simply doesn’t feel like coming alive. Now that my system decided to boot up, let me sit and finish the post, before it gives up on me.  Have to do something soon about it.

So friends, it’s time for another edition of blog hop, a fun event organized by Radhika. Today, I landed Vidhya’s Space, KurryLeaves. Since, Navrathri is starting today, I wanted to cook something satvik – sans onions, garlic and spicy masalas. So I chose this simple yet healthy Apple smoothie. Now, to the recipe:

Makes 2 large servings

What you’ll need

1.       Apple – 1

2.       Dates – 4 to 5

3.       Chilled Milk – 1.5 cups

4.       Honey – as required

Method

Chop apples into small pieces. Soak the dates in a little warm milk if they are hard, else use as such.

Blend the chopped apples and dates with enough milk to a smooth consistency. Add honey if desired, according to your taste. Serve chilled.

Check out what the other blog hoppers are upto, by clicking here.

Sending this to Blog Hop Wednesday by Radhika, and to ABC- Series, A for Apple by Ramya

Avial

From the time my blog has come into being I have been wanting to post this recipe. But somehow I never got together to do it. A day before Onam, a friend of mine was casually speaking to me about Onam feast preparation and avial came into picture. She wanted to know how to make it and she just told me that she’ll look up my blog for the recipe and that’s when I had to tell her that I have not yet got a post on Avial. She was very surprised ‘cos, the name of my blog is Palakkad Chamayal, and avial is a very regular feature in a Palakkad Iyer’s Kitchen. So that’s when I decided it’s high time for me to post this specialty dish from Kerala.

Avial is a yummy blend of different veggies in a spicy coconut and yoghurt gravy flavored with coconut oil. It makes use of vegetables like, Ashgourd, pumpkin, raw banana, yam, drumstick, yard long beans, snake gourd, carrots and French beans. Some people even add eggplants or brinjals. But I don’t add it. Some people prefer to substitute yoghurt with raw mango or tamarind pulp. Avial is made in two ways, one has more gravy and can be mixed with rice, just like Mor Kuzhambu, we call it Avial Kootan and the other is Gatti Avial, which is slightly thicker in consistency and acts more like a side dish for Sambar or Molagootal.

Actually preparing avial has become a rarity at my place since we moved to Hyderabad. The reason being, that we find it very difficult to get ashgourd and pumpkin, which are one of the main ingredients in the local shops around our locality. So for this Onam, I made sure I got all the required vegetables from the raithu bazaar, and prepared it for our Onam Sadhya.

A few months back, when I had gone to Trivandrum to visit my brother’s child, I happened to visit the Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple. My brother’s BIL, who is born and brought up at TVM, and is very attached to the temple took us to a guided tour of the temple. Then he narrated this incident about how avial came into being. The king of Travancore, conducted poojas, called Murajapam for a specified period of days, every year, in which a many vedic scholars participated. One year, it so happened that there were no vegetables left for the last day of the Murajapam. A small quantity of different vegetables left over from the previous days was available. So the head cook, used all these left over vegetables and prepared a dish and he named it avial, which means a combination of this and that. This dish was liked very much by the king and all. The cook was handsomely rewarded and avial became a regular fare in any feast.

I have to mention here, that Adai is my Husband’s the most favorite dish. And he loves the combo of Adai with Avial. So whenever we have Avial for lunch, the dinner menu gets fixed immediately as Adai.

This has become an unexpectedly long post. So now let’s just get to the recipe.

Serves: 4

What you’ll need

1.       Ashgourd – 100 gms

2.       Pumpkin – 100gms

3.       Raw banana – ½

4.       Yam – 100gms

5.       Carrot – 1 Medium

6.       Drumstick – 1

7.       Beans – 4 – 5

8.       Potato – 1 small

9.       Turmeric Powder – a pinch

10.   Salt to taste

11.   Yoghurt – ½ cup slightly sour

12.   Coconut oil – 1 tbsp

13.   Curry Leaves a few

To Grind

1.       Scraped Coconut – 1 ½ cups

2.       Green chillies – 4 – 5 ( adjust according to taste)

Method

Wash peel and cut all vegetables lengthwise into about 2” sized pieces.

In a heavy bottom Kadai, add the Yam, plantains, ashgourd, at the bottom (since these veggies take slightly longer time to cook) and then add the other veggies. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt to taste. Add about 1 cup of water and cook covered until the vegetables are just done. They should not get mushy. If after the veggies get cooked there is lot of water remaining, cook uncovered till the moisture has almost dried up.

In the meanwhile, grind fresh scraped coconuts with the green chillies into a fine paste using very little water.

Add the ground paste and the slightly sour yoghurt. Mix slowly without mashing the vegetables. Add curry leaves and drizzle the coconut oil. Mix carefully until the veggies are coated with the coconut and yogurt. Remove from heat.

Yummy gatti avial is ready. This can be used as a side dish for Sambar and rice or with Molagootal. Or as I mentioned with Adai.

To make Avial Kootan, i.e aviyal of pouring consistency, use more of yoghurts and do not let the water evaporate while cooking the vegetables. This is best had with pappadms.

Note: 

If using raw mangoes, need not use yoghurt or just use a little bit of fresh yoghurt.

Linking this to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Divya and toFlavors of South India hosted by Nayana and to Food Palette Series -Finale Rainbow Colors

Green Moong Sabzi with Dates

Green Moong or Mung beans are nature’s best gift to mankind. Not only are they rich in proteins, but are high in dietary fiber too. They are easily digestible and hence easy on the system. Sprouted moong are rich in vitamins A, B, C and E and they are also an excellent source of minerals like Calcium, Iron and potassium.

I make green moong sabzi atleast once in 10 days keeping in mind its health benefits. Today’s recipe is a quick and easy one that goes well with rotis and parathas. I generally make it by simply sautéing chopped onions and tomatoes with spice powders and adding the cooked moong. This recipe is slightly different. It makes use of dates and fresh coriander leaves. I simply loved the aroma that came wafting through while I was cooking this. The taste was an aromatic blend of sweet, spicy and tangy flavors.

This is my SIL’s recipe who herself is a great cook. Thanks dear.

Serves: 3

What you’ll need:

1.       ½ cup of Moong

2.       Onion – 2 Medium

3.       Tomato – 4 Medium

4.       Turmeric Powder – a pinch

5.       Salt to taste

6.       Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp

7.       Oil – 2 tsps

For Grinding

1.       Fresh Coriander Leaves – 1 Medium Bunch

2.       Dates – 3- 4 (I used black dates)

3.       Green chillies – 2

4.       Ginger – a small piece

Method

Wash and soak green moong for about 30 minutes. Discard the water used for soaking, wash again add enough water and cook the green moong in a pressure cooker for about 3 to 4 whistles.

Finely chop onions. Roughly chop tomatoes and blend in a mixer. Grind all the items mentioned under For Grinding into a fine paste using very little water.

Heat a Kadai, with oil. Add the cumin seeds and wait till it changes color. Next add the chopped onions and sauté till the onions brown. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and sauté. Next pour the tomato puree and fry well, till all the moisture is dried up. Now add the ground coriander and dates paste. Fry for about 2 to 3 minutes or till everything becomes as a whole mass. Now add the cooked moong and salt to taste. Give a good mix. Add about 1 cup of water. (Add more if required). Bring to a boil and cook covered on low heat for about 5 minutes.

That’s it, delicious Moong sabzi is ready to be served with rotis or parathas.

Linking this recipe to Life is green hosted by Shilpa, HealthyLunch Box Ideas – Dates hosted by Arthi

Awards

I am honored to receive these awards from my blogger friends Ramya, Sangee and Mugdha. Thanks lot friends for thinking me and my little space.

    

I would like to pass these on to my friends

1.       Khushi – A girl’s diary

2.       Prathima Rao – Prat’s Corner

3.       Santhosh Bangar - Santhosh's Kitchen

4.       Hari Chandana – Indian Cuisine

5.       Pushpa – Taste as you cook

6.       Suja – Kitchen Corner - Try It

7.       Neha – From my heart

8.       Premalatha Aravindan – Prema’s Thaligai

9.       Vidhya – Sugar n’ Spice

10.   Swathi – Zesty South Indian Kitchen

Srilankan Coconut Dal | Blog Hop Wednesday

Dal in any form is hubby dear’s favorite. He can have dal with rice or roti for days together. Even when we go out for lunch or dinner he never fails to order some variety of dal. His favorite being the simple Dal fry.  I too am ok with it, since making a simple dal is always a breeze. And paired with some spicy potato curry and rice it does make a scrumptious and filling meal on a lazy day when you are not in mood to cook something elaborate.  

So when I saw this recipe at Swetha’s space I wanted to try it out. The result was a creamy and tasty dal with a blend of aromatic flavors. We had it with rotis and the dal tasted very different from the usual ones.  And I see myself making this regularly in future. You can find the original recipe here.

Serves: 3 to 4

Ingredients

1.       Red Lentils - 1/2 cup

2.       Onions/shallots/Sambar Onions - chopped - 1 big

3.       Garlic - 1-2 small cloves

4.       Curry Leaves a few sprigs

5.       Green Chillies - slit 2

6.       Turmeric Powder- a pinch

7.       Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp

8.       Cumin seeds + Black Pepper crushed - 1 tsp

9.       Coconut Milk - ½ cup

10.   Lemon juice

Tempering 

1.       Vegetable Oil/Ghee

2.       Dried Red Chillies - 1-2 chopped

3.       Curry Leaves

4.       Onion finely chopped - 1-2 tbsp

Seasoning Spices

1.       Equal amounts of mustard, cumin and fennel seeds.

Method

Wash dal, and add chopped onions, garlic, slit green chilli, curry leaves, turmeric powder, freshly ground, cumin and black pepper powder, fenugreek seeds and required amount of water. Pressure cook this for 3 whistles. Once cooled, remove the dal and transfer it into a Kadai.

Place Kadai on heat, add coconut milk. (I used store bought and added ½ cup of thick coconut milk diluted with ½ cup water.) Add salt and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Heat a small frying pan, add a teaspoon of oil/ghee.  Add the dried red chillies and curry leaves. Once they turn crisp add the chopped onions and fry till they turn brown.  Finally add the mustard, cumin and fennel and when they splutter pour it over the dal. Mix well. Squeeze a dash of lemon juice and mix well. ( I used ½ of a lemon)

Yummy and tasty dal is ready to be served with rotis or rice.

Let's check out the other blog hoppers spaces.

Sending this to Blog Hop Wednesdays and event started by Radhika and to MLAA hosted by Cathy and started by Susan.

Moong Sandwiches

After posting a series of Palakkad Special recipes, thought of sharing a simple but healthy and filling breakfast recipe.

Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. On all weekdays, our breakfast would consist of simple oats porridge, without sugar and some fruit. It’s only on the weekends, that I spend some time and prepare something for breakfast.

 I and my daughter love sandwiches thus I like to experiment with different kinds of fillings. So here’s one such nutritious and filling sandwich. This moong filling is one of my favorites and is loved by one and all in the family.

What you’ll need:

1.       Bread Slices – as required

2.       Butter – as required

For the filling

1.       Green Moong – ½ cup

2.       Potato – 1 Medium

3.       Onions – 1 Medium

4.       Garlic – 2 or 3 cloves

5.       Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp

6.       Turmeric Powder – a pinch

7.       Chaat Masala – ½ tsp

8.       Chilli Powder – ½ tsp

9.       Salt to taste

10.   Oil – 1 stp

Method

Soak moong in water for about ½ hour. Pressure cook the moong and potato for 3 whistles with just enough water. Once pressure releases, drain the water from the moong. Remove skin from potato and mash and keep aside.

Finely chop onions and garlic.

Heat a Kadai with a tsp of oil. Add cumin seeds, as it changes color, add the chopped onions and fry for a minute. Next add the chopped garlic and fry till onions turn light brown. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder. Fry for a minute. Now add the mashed potato and cooked moong. Mix well. Add chaat Masala and salt to taste. Give everything a good mix. Remove from heat and let it cool.

To make the sandwich, Butter bread slices lightly. Spoon a little filling on one slice, place another slice of bread on top.  Make as many as required. Heat a sandwich maker, place the sandwiches and grill till they are well browned.

Serve immediately with tomato ketchup.

Sending this to Let’s Cook – Scrumptious Breakfast, event hosted by Radhika and to MLLA 39 and event by Susan hosted by Cathy
Also linking this to Ayeesha's Anyone can Cook and to Fast Food not Fat Food hosted by Archana started by Priya

Idichu Pizhinja Payasam | Chadhachadhayam

In my previous few posts I have been writing Onam is just round the corner, 2 more days to go etc, and Onam is already here. So tomorrow is Thiruvonam. Everybody must be busy shopping for their Ona Kodi (New Clothes), Ona Sadhya and also preparing for the Pookolam.

No, festive meal is complete without a payasam and so is the case with the Onasadhya. So today’s post is a Payasam – Idichu Pizhinja Payasam. The star ingredient of this payasam is coconut milk, and we all know how it is extracted, by grinding and squeezing scraped fresh coconut. In olden days, when there were no blenders or mixers, people used to pound the scraped coconut in a stone mortar. Idichu in Malayalm refers to pounding and pizhinja means squeezing and hence the name.

 This payasam also known as chathachathayam is offered as Neivedyam, during Navarathri at our Annapoorneshwari Temple in my native place Puthucode. The highlight of the Navarathri Sadhya is the Navarathri Pulinkari and this payasam. Though I have not had the chance to taste the prasadam, my brother has had it many times and he has no words to describe it. He just loves it. So what are we waiting for, let’s get straight to the recipe:

What you’ll need:

1.       Rice: ¼ cup

2.       Powdered Jaggery – 1 cup

3.       Coconut Milk – From 1 big coconut/ readymade coconut milk – 200ml

4.       Ghee – 1 tsp

Method

1.       Wash and drain rice. Cook the rice in a pressure cooker by adding water in the ratio of 1:3.

2.       Scrape the fresh coconut. Now to extract coconut milk:

a.       Blend the scraped coconut in a mixie or blender. Squeeze the milk out and strain it. This is the first milk.

b.      Now add about 1 cup of warm water to the coconut residue and blend it again. Squeeze out the milk in another vessel and strain it. This is the second milk.

c.       Now add about 2 to 2 ½ cups of warm water to the coconut residue and blend it again. Squeeze out the milk in yet another vessel and strain. This is the third milk.

3.       Heat a heavy bottomed Kadai or vessel; add the jaggery and the 3rd milk, mix well.  Let the jaggery dissolve completely. Strain for impurities and put it back on heat. Let this boil for about 5 minutes till the raw smell of the jaggery is gone.

4.       Now mash the cooked rice well and add it to the jaggery and coconut milk. Mix well without any lumps. Let this boil for about 3 to 4 minutes or till the rice and jaggery are well blended.

5.       Now add the second milk and let it boil for 5 to 6 minutes or till the payasam starts thickening a bit.

6.       Now, remove from flame, and add the thickest milk or the first milk. Stir well. Add a teaspoon of ghee for flavor.

Yummy and tasty Payasam is ready to be served. Tastes best when served warm.

Note:

Store bought readymade coconut milk can be used. If using readymade milk, dilute half of the coconut milk with about 2 cups of water and proceed as mentioned above. But the payasam tastes best when made with fresh coconut milk.

Here are links to few other recipes for Onam:

Sambar
Kalan
Olan
Idichakka Thoran
Beans Carrot Thoran
Paal Payasam
Paruppu Payasam

Linking this to Kerala Kitchen, hosted by Divya.

Wishing all my readers and friends a very Happy Onam.

Kalan/ Onasadhya

Two more days to go for Onam. Generally preparation for the Onam feast would start 2 to 3 days before the D day, like Frying Chips, making the pulinji.

 Kalan or Kurukku kalan is also one such item which can be prepared half way through and the final touches can be given on the day you want to consume it.  No sadhya is complete without Kalan. This is made by concentrating (kurukku) sour curds. Vegetables like Raw Banana and Yam (Chenai) are used to prepare this yummy dish.

My father used to love this. So Kalan was made very often in my house.  But with changing times this has become a rarity. So here is the recipe:

Serves:  4

What you’ll need:

1.       Raw Banana or Plantains – ½ cup

2.       Yam/Chenai – 1/2 cup

3.       Sour thick curd – 2 cups

4.       Freshly ground pepper – 1 tsp

5.       Turmeric powder – a big pinch

6.       Jaggery – a small piece

7.       Salt to taste

To Grind

1.       Scraped Fresh Coconut – 1 cup

2.       Green Chillies – 3 to 4 (Adjust spice according to taste)

For Seasoning

1.       Coconut oil – 1 tsp

2.       Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

3.       Fenugreek Seeds – ¼ tsp

4.       Dried Red Chillies – 1 or 2

5.       Curry Leaves

Method

1. Wash and peel the raw banana and yam. Dice them into 2” square pieces.
2. Heat a heavy bottom Kadai, cook the raw bananas and yam pieces in just enough water with turmeric powder and pepper powder. (You could pressure cook it too).
3. Whisk the sour curds well and dilute it with 1/2 cup of water add it to the cooked veggies. 
4. Now let it cook in slow flame for about 25 to 30 minutes. Keep stirring once in a while. (Make sure that you use really sour curds, else the curds may start splitting.) The curds should reduce to almost ¼ of what you started with. At this stage you can switch off the flame and store in a vessel for further use. This will keep good for even about a month.
5. If preparing for immediate use, then grind the coconut and green chillies to a fine paste using a tbsp or 2 of curd. Now add this paste to the concentrated curds and mix well. Add salt and a small piece of jaggery. Mix well.  Let it come to a boil then remove from flame. Do not boil for a long time.
6. Heat a Kadai with oil, add mustard seeds, once they splutter add the fenugreek seeds and dried red chillies. Take care not to burn the fenugreek seeds. Pour over the Kalan. Garnish with curry leaves.

Yummy Kalan is ready to be served with some steaming hot white rice.

Note:

Since it is very concentrated, it is mixed in small quantities with rice and eaten.

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Divya

Beans Carrot Thoran

Hi Friends!

Onam is one of the important festivals of Kerala and is celebrated in a grand way. According to popular legend, onam is celebrated to welcome King Mahabali, whose spirit is said to visit Kerala during Onam. The festival is a 10 day affair, starting on the Attam day and continuing to the last day Thiruvonam. The start of the festivities is marked by the floral designs laid on the floor in the front yard of houses. On the day of thiruvonam, huge and exquisite pookalams (floral designs) are laid out; people wear new clothes, go to temples and have a grand feast. This feast is called the onasadhya. The sadhya or feast would consist of 11 to 13 main dishes and people whether rich or poor, will make it a point to cook and have a grand feast atleast on this particular day. So that’s a wee bit of info regarding Onam.

Since Onam is fast approaching, we at home are getting ready for the Ona sadhya. A typical onasadhya would consist of Kalan, Olan, Aviyal, Thoran, Kootu Curry, Kichadi, Pulinji, Achar, Kaaya Upperi, Papadam, Pazham, Payasam, Paruppu, Sambar, Rasam, Curds and ofcourse Rice! Today I am posting a simple thoran.

Serves: 3 to 4

What you’ll need

1.       French Beans – 250 gms

2.       Carrots – 3 Medium

3.       Scraped coconut – 2 tbsp

4.       Green Chilies – 2 to 3

5.       Turmeric Powder – a pinch

6.       Salt to taste

7.       Curry Leaves a few

8.       Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

9.       Split Urad Dal – ½ tsp

10.   Oil – 2 tsps

Method

Wash string and finely chop beans. Wash, peel and finely chop carrots.

Heat a Kadai with oil, add mustard seeds once it crackles add the urad dal. Stir, once dal changes color, add the chopped beans and carrots. Stir well. Now add the turmeric powder and salt mix well. Sprinkle a little water and cook covered on medium flame till done. Keep stirring and checking once in a while so that the vegetables don’t burn. Add more water if required.

In the meanwhile, pulse the scraped coconut, green chillies and curry leaves just for few seconds or till the chillies and curry leaves are ground properly. Do not add water.

Once the vegetables are cooked, check if any water or moisture is remaining, if so, cook uncovered till the moisture evaporates then add the ground coconut, stir well.

Beans carrot thoran is ready. Serve it as an accompaniment with Sambar and rice.

Here are few other Ona Sadhya Recipes

1. Sambar
2. Olan
3. Idichakka Thoran
4. Paal Payasam
5. Paruppu Pradhaman

Linking this to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Divya and to Life is green hosted by Shilpa