Mixed vegetable pickle

Ingredients:

1. Mixed, finely chopped vegetables - 4 cups (Carrot, cabbage, potato, chow-chow, knol-khol, fresh peas, cauliflower, keerai thandu, etc)
2. Lemon - 6 big
3. Red chillipowder - 1/2 cup
4. Salt - 1/2 cup
5. Oil - 1/4 cup
6. Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Dry roast and powder:

1. Fenugreek (Methi) - 1/2 tsp
2. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

• Wash and scrape the outer skin and dice vegetables into small pieces
• Pressure cook vegetables till one whistle (Steam cook without adding water)
• Allow it to cool, spread over towel to remove excess moisture
• Mix with powdered salt, chillipowder, and lemon juice
• Heat oil, add mustard seeds to splutter and remove from fire
• Cool down to room temperature and mix with pickle
• Add fenugreek (methi) and cumin powder at the end
• Mix the pickle once or twice every four hours for one day
• This can be served immediately

NOTE: This pickle stays good for one week only as the veggies are steamed.

If prepared without steam cooking the veggies, and removing excess native water from the chopped veggies, follow the same procedure: mix daily once or twice for 1 week. This can be stored for 1 month in the refrigerator.

Mango ginger tamarind pickle

Scrape outer skin and cut ginger into thin rounds. Cook in thin tamarind extract for 5 to 10 mins. Add salt, jaggery, and chillipowder at the end. Heat oil separately, add mustard seeds, asafoetida and add to the pickle. Dry roast fenugreek (methi) - 1 tsp - and powder it. Add to the pickle after removing from fire.

Mango ginger pickle

Scrape and chop mango ginger (a type of seasonal ginger) into thin, round pieces. Mix salt and lemon juice with that. Heat little oil, add mustard seeds, sliced green chillies ( 1 or 2) and mix with the mango ginger. Allow it to soak for one day and use.

Fresh green pepper can be made like this. Omit the green chillies and use more lemon juice.

Capsicum in small pieces can also be pickled the same way.

Carrot, cauliflower, cabbage, fresh peas mixed and chopped and seasoned as above.

Avu chutney (Karnataka)

Ingredients:

1. Cucumber - 1 or 2 small
2. Thick tamarind extract - 2 tsp
3. Oil - 1 tsp
4. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Grind together:

1. Grated fresh coconut - 2 tbsp
2. Roasted gram - 1 tbsp (level)
3. Green chillies - 1 or 2
4. Red chillies - 2
5. Asafoetida - a pinch
6. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
7. Salt - to taste
8. Jaggery - little
9. Turmeric powder - a pinch
10. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

• Scrape outer skin and slice the cucumber into thin 1 1/2 inch long pieces
• Grind the ingredients mentioned to smooth paste with minimum water possible
• Mix tamarind extract after grinding
• Just before serving mix sliced cucumber
• Heat oil, add mustard seeds to cracle and add it to the chutney

You can use grated carrot or finely chopped tender snake gourd instead of cucumber. Also, finely diced tomatoes with reduced tamarind can be substituted for the cucumber.

Raw mango gotsu

Ingredients:

1. Raw mango - 1
2. Asafoetida - 2 pinches
3. Green chillies - 2
4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
7. Oil and mustard seeds - for seasoning

Preparation:

• Select mango which is sweet and sour in nature
• Scrape outer skin and slice into think, broad pieces
• Heat oil in a frying pan, add mustard, slit green chillies and then mango pieces
• Fry for a minute, add enough water to cover the pieces
• Mix salt, turmeric and jaggery to the mixture
• Cook till mango becomes soft and mix becomes thick

Variation:

Omit green chillies in above. Grind 3 red chillies, grated fresh coconut - 2tbsp, chutney gram - 1tbsp, coriander seeds - 1 tsp, cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp to smooth paste. Add when mangoes are cooked till soft. Boil for one or two minutes and remove from fire.

Thengai (Coconut) Thogayal

Ingredients:

1. Grated fresh coconut - 1/4 cup
2. Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
3. Red chillies - 6
4. Tamarind - 1 tbsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Oil, mustard seeds for seasoning

Preparation:

• Heat little oil and fry chillies and dhal together till golden
• Grind with coconut, salt, tamarind to coarse paste, with little water
• Season with mustard seeds

Variations:

Ginger and Coriander Thogayal: Omit coconut, fry chopped ginger and grind with fried ingredients, salt, coriander leaves and tamarind

Onion thogayal: Dice onion to medium sized pieces. Fry till transparent, fry urad dhal and chillies and follow the same recipe

Paruppu thogayal

Ingredients:

1. Gram dhal - 1/4 cup
2. Red chillies - 5
3. Tamarind - 1 tsp
4. Salt - to taste
5. Garlic - 6 teeth peeled
6. Oil - for frying and seasoning
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Preparation:

• Heat little oil and fry chillies and dhal together till golden brown
• Cool down and grind to coarse paste with tamarind, salt, garlic with little water
• Season with mustard seeds.

You can also use thuar dhal instead of gram dhal and follow the same recipe.