Pudhina (Mint) thogaiyal

Once a way the kitchen needs to smell of exotic herbs that bring a healthy and fresh aroma to the stale masala flavour in the air. In everyday Indian cooking the use of green leafy herbs cannot be discounted. So many health benefits and so detoxing too.

Pudhina or mint is one such herb which is so full of benefits. After a heavy meal day, pudhina infused lime water can do wonders to your intestines. Regular use of this herb helps to keep us healthy enough to keep binging on junk😀

Below is one of my favorite pudhina recipe which takes about 15 minutes to prepare and is super tasty with hot rice and ghee...yummm

Ingredients:

-1 bunch of pudhina leaves

- 2-3 dry red chilies

- a small pinch of tamarind soaked in warm water 

- 1 tsp oil

- 1 tbsp Urad dhal

- 1/2 cup of shredded or sliced coconut

- a pinch of hing or asafoetida

- salt to taste

Prep time: 15 mins       Grind time: 5 mins

Preparation:

- Soak the tamarind in a bit of warm water and set aside

- In a kadai, heat 1 tsp oil, add the Urad dhal, red chilies and roast until the dhal turns red.

- Now add the hing, washed and drained pudhina leaves and salt.

- Fry it for a minute or two until the leaves come together.

- Switch of the heat and add the coconut and stir them together and set aside on a plate to let it cool.

- Once this cools, grind in a mixie/ blender along with the soaked tamarind.

- Remove on to a serving bowl and serve with rice, dosa or idli.

Notes:

- Additionally, you can temper urad and channa dhal in a bit of oil and add after the pudhina has been made to a paste. This will give extra crunch when eaten with rice.

Sweet potato / sakaraivalli kizhanghu curry...non fry method

Sweet potato as any other variety in the family is so versatile and tasty however cooked. This can be plain boiled and eaten or mixed with masala or fried or made into sambar...the uses are endless. Most of the recipes I come across are about frying the veggie up like a roasted curry. Am wondering why the variation to the sweet potato curry is not so popular. The below is a very common way we cook this veggie in our families and it's super healthy, tasty and quick to make.

All you need to do is boil the potato, grind masala and mix them together...simple isn't it?!😀

Prep time: 20 mins.      

Cook time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

1 medium size sweet potato or 2 small

3-4 red chilies (vary as per ur preference)

1-1/2 tbsp channa dal

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1/2 tbsp urad dal

2 tsp oil to fry

A pinch of asofoetida

Salt to taste

A sprig of curry leaves

Preparation:

- Boil the sweet potatoes in a pressure cooker to two whistles. A fork or toothpick should pass thru the veggie clean.

- while waiting for the veggie to cook and pressure to yield in the cooker fry up for the masala and grind them into a powder.

- in 1 tsp of oil, first add channa dal, after 30 secs add urad dal, once they begin to get golden add the coriander seeds and red chilli and in the end switch off heat and add the asofoetida powder. 

- let this cool down before you grind it into a coarse powder

- when you are able to open the cooker, drain the water and peel the skin of the potatoes. Mash them lightly with a spoon to make small pieces. Need not be symmetrical.

- in a kadai, heat 1 tsp oil, splutter little mustard, 1 tsp urad  dal, curry leaves and then add the potatoes in.

- on this add the masala you just freshly ground, add salt as necessary.

- mix them all up and remove and serve hot with rice.

Notes:

- if adding asofoetida as crystals, you can fry them up in the beginning and keep aside. If using powder, add towards end of frying masala or directly while doing tadka. Reason being, if fried a lot it can turn bitter.

- I did not have coriander seeds, so added coriander powder directly to curry.

- this curry can be mixed with hot rice and a tsp of ghee and served with papad or mor khuzhambu( a.k.a kadi or majjige huli or majjiga pulisu).

- this can be eaten as a side for rasam or curd rice too.