Coconut Chutney/Thengai Thogayal My MIL's Version and Some Gupshup

A Very Long, unexpected break from blogworld. Came down to Chennai, thinking i will be able to do some justice to my blog too, but sadly, i couldnt literally touch the PC all these days. From the day i landed here @ Chennai, it was Shopping almost everyday till we reached the station to catch the train to Hyderabad for the Wedding!!! Even the security outside Kumaran/Pothys started asking us, "enna Madam, innaikuma??? :)"

Had a Great time @ the Wedding. Next Exciting thing after the wedding was the Blogger Meet!!!! So Happy to meet the face behind Great Blogs!!!!

Now Atlast found some time for my very own blog. Thengai Thogayal/Coconut Chutney is a condiment and it makes a great combo with idly/dosa & Rice. This is my MIL's Star Recipe. Every time My Hubby comes down to Chennai, This chutney is made almost everyday, exclusively for him!!! Now, this brings a J feeling to me!!! There are certain things that are so special in our life, nothing can replace them!!! one such thing in my dear hubby' s life is his Amma's Thengai thogayal. 

Now let go to the recipe

Ingredients
3 tbsp urad dal
1 cup freshly grated coconut/1/2 shell flesh of a medium-sized Coconut
9 nos Red Chillies
a small ball of tamarind  (Size of a Gooseberry)
a fistful of fresh Coriander
Salt to taste

Method
Roast urad dal and Red Chillies with little oil. Grind it with rest of the ingredients to a paste. I prefer it to be little coarse!!!! Transfer it to a bowl.

Heat 1tsp of oil and splutter mustard seeds and a pinch of hing and pour it over the thogayal/chutney. Enjoy with idly/dosa or even with rice.

This Thogayal stays fresh/Good for 2 days, when handled with care. Use a Clean,dry spoon and store it in Refrigerator.

Thachi Mamu with Thengai Thogayal, mmm!!!! yummy!!!

Sour cherries: going, going...

SOUR CHERRY STRUDEL

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

1 quart fresh sour cherries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped almonds
8 sheets phyllo dough
1 ounce 70% dark chocolate
Powdered sugar for dusting


INSTRUCTIONS

Remove pits and stems from cherries. Rinse.

Combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch and almond extract in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring intermittently. Set aside to cool.

Place 2 phyllo sheets on cutting board and dry for 15 minutes. Crumble. Mix into cooled filling.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place 6 other sheets of phyllo on a cutting board. Brush one sheet with butter and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining sheets, layering buttered sheets one over the other on cookie sheet.

Spoon cherry filling on stacked sheets vertically, leaving a 3-inch border from the edge. Sprinkle with almonds. Turn top edge and bottom edge of phyllo sheets down to cover filling. Roll phyllo widthwise. Place roll on cookie sheet, seam side down.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until phyllo becomes golden.

Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.

Melt dark chocolate. Drizzle over strudel. Dust with powdered sugar.

Chakka/Jackfruit Molagushyam and announcing the winner of the giveaway

My neighbor aunty gives me a share of jack fruit every time she cuts one at her home. They have a tree in their backyard. The thought of fresh, sweet jack fruit itself is very salviating, but it is also accompanied by the tiresome process of  separating the arils. But Aunty usually gives me the seeded arils and that leaves me with ready-to-use fruit bulbs. Most of the times, it will be just ripe and firm. Apart from making chakka curry, mostly I end up making this simple molagushyam. Though this doesn't take any ingredients other than salt, chilli powder and ground pepper to spice it up and light garnish of coconut oil and curry leaves, it tastes awesome. This can be prepared in 10 minutes.

 

 

 

You need

 

• Ripe jackfruit arils chopped into bite size - 2 cups
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Ground pepper - 1/4 tspn
• Salt to taste
• Coconut oil - 1 tspn
• Curry leaves - few sprigs

Method

 

Take the chopped jackfruit pieces in a cooking bowl. Add the chilli powder, pepper powder and salt. Add a cup of water to it.  Cook on medium heat till the color of the JF changes to a darker shade of  yellow. Add more water as it cooks. The consistency is saucy. It thickens on cooling. So adjust accordingly. Serve as side dish for rice. It tastes good as a side for puri too. The sweetness of the fruit is balanced by the mild heat from chilli and pepper.

 

 

 

 

 

Now to the winner of the giveaway.  And the random number generated is
 

 
Vaishali is the lucky winner of $50 worth gift certificate sponsored by CSN stores. Vaishali, I have sent you a mail. And to the rest who took time to leave a comment there, sorry and better luck next time.
 
P.S: Thanks to all who appreciated the new look of my blog. The part of the appreciation should go to my dear friend Shoba, who was intrumental in getting this new look. She suggested the color theme and even picked the pictures for the header. She patiently gave feed back in the process of  updation and when she finally said its looking great and I know she means it.