How to check and buy vegetables

Tomatoes : Tomatoes should be ripe, red and firm.

Potatoes : Potatoes skin should be clear without any shrink or green colour init.

Brinjal : Stem of the brinjal will be thick for good ones. Also check for holes init.

Ladies finger : Should select soft, fresh and tender ones. Tip of the vegetable will be tender.

Carrot : Select bright coloured ones without any green colour in it. Also take thin to medium sized for juicy and sweet carrots.

Beetroot : Make a pinch with your nails, to see the inner flesh colour. Rich colour shows the good ones.

Kathirikai Kulambu

Brinjals are one of the best vegetables which we can use for making gravies. It tastes yummy in which ever way your make, either it going to be any curry / avial / vathakal / kolambu / kootu / sambar any thing and it also goes well with any thing like tiffin, rice, chapatties, curd rice. Here comes a basic kolambu recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Tender Brinjal - 1/4 kg.


2. Onion (big) - 1 No. chopped


3. Tomatoes - 2 Nos. Chopped


4. Green chillies - 2 Nos. Slitted


5. Garlic - 8 cloves


6. Tamarind - Lemon sized (Soak and take the pulp)


7. Kulambu milagai Podi - 2 tablespoon


8. Coconut - grated 1/4 cup


9. Poppy seeds - 2 teaspoon


10. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon


11. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon


12. Red chillies - 2 Nos.


13. Curry leaves - few


14. Salt to taste

* If you don't have kulambu milagai podi, substitute it with 11/2 spoon Redchilly powder, 3 spoons of coriander powder and 1/2 spoon of turmeric powder.

Preparation :

If the brinjals are tender and small/medium in size, just cut the stem keeping the flower shaped part of the stem init. Just slit the brinjals to get four intact petals like cut. If the brinjal is big, cut it in to cubes.

Heat oil in a pan. Throw in mustard seeds, when it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, red chillies and curry leaves. Fry for a minute. Now add in garlic, onion and greenchillies, fry for a while till onion becomes soft. Now add in tomatoes, keep frying till it becomes soft and pulpy. Add the brinjals, keep frying till the colour of the brinjal changes. Add Kulambu milagai podi. Fry for a minute or two. Pour in the tamarind pulp with salt and some water. close the lid, let the vegetable get cooked in the gravy. Meanwhile grind the coconut and poppy seeds into paste. When the brinjals are cooked add in the coconut poppy seed paste. Boil it for some time. Serve with hot rice and any poriyal of your choice.

Idli Milagai Podi

Ingredients:

1. Urad Dhal - 1/2 Cup
2. Chenna dhal - 1/2 Cup
3. Red Chillies - 30 Nos.
4. Sesame Seeds - 1/2 Cup
5. Garlic - 1 Pod (big)
6. Curry Leaves - 1/2 Cup
7. Tamarind - Goseberry size
8. Asafoetida - Cherry sized cube / 1 tsp powdered
9. Rock salt - 1 Tablespoon

Preparation :

Heat oil in a kadai / wok. Add in Red Chillies, fry it for 2 minutes then add in chenna dhal, fry for a while, then goes Urad dhal fry for a while, and add in sesame seeds, curry leaves,garlic pods.If your adding asafoetida cube fry it before redchillies or else you can add the powdered one at this stage. keep frying till the dhal changes its colour and the curry leaves gets roasted/dried. put in the tamarind. Allow it to cool. Powder it coarsely. Store this in a container. Stays good for a long time. To serve mix it with sesame / sunflower oil. Usually this is relished with Idli, dosai, Adai, Pesarattu etc.

Tips: You can also sprinkle this podi on top while making dosas to get podi dosa or you can sprinkle on top of idli,drizzle some oil to make podi idli which will also taste yummy.