6 Easy Dessert Recipes for Valentines Day

I know some of you are planning your special day with your special someone and I am sure a lot of the plans must involve food. The best kind of food, actually. The kind you make yourself. Here are 6 easy recipes for Valentines Day.

Click on the pictures for the recipe.

Paruppu Thogayal Recipe, How to make Paruppu Thogayal

Recipe for Paruppu Thogayal, the dal or lentil chutney from TamilNadu using toor dal. Before I even go into the recipe, let me start off by saying that I know my paruppu thogayal looks like hummus. Imagine making something so drab and brown look pretty! I just ran out of ideas so make a dent with the back of the spoon, sprinkled some Kashmiri chilli powder over it and then poured some nallennai on top.

I can't think Paruppu Thogayal without thinking of Kavya, my niece. This is her absolute favourite! The sis makes it super well and this is one of those recipes that I learnt for TH. Super easy, very versatile, and you can find a few good uses for it apart from just mixing it with rice.

Also check out:
Moong dal thogayal recipe
Kothamalli thogayal recipe
Chow chow thogayal
Eggplant chutney
Thakkali Chutney
Peanut chutney

Paruppu Thogayal / Lentil Chutney Recipe

Makes about 1.5 cups 
Serves 4
Preparation time: 2 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
1 cup of toor dal / thuvar dal
1/4 to 1/3 cup of grated coconut
3 cloves of minced garlic (optional)
3-4 of dry red chillies
A pinch of hing / perungaayam / asafoetida
2 tbsp of oil
Salt

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a wide pan and add the toor dal. Fry until reddish golden brown - about 3-4 mins.

2. Switch off flame and add the coconut and minced garlic (you can also add chopped garlic pieces since you are going to grind it anyway). Mix well.

3. Next, add the red chillies and the hing. Mix well with salt. Set aside to cool completely.

PS: You can combine steps 2 and 3 and add everything in one go.

4. Grind to a coarse paste with enough water.

Done! Goes best with rice and vatral kuzhambu. Absolutely yum! TH also lives paruppu thogayal and curd rice.

Notes:

- You can add a hint of tamarind if you wish, and omit the garlic if you don't like the flavour. Also, use this as a dip for pita bread or chips, will taste great and will be a good change from the traditional party dips.

- If you prefer a more smooth paruppu thogayal, soak the roasted dal mixture for about an hour and grind to a smooth paste. You can omit the coconut if you wish too. Another idea that my sis does is to powder the dal mixture, add water to the mixie jar and let it soak in the jar for 30 mins. Grind a bit more, add a bit more water, let it soak, and then after another 30 mins, grind it fully. This will reduce the need for more bowls and you can get it all done in the mixie jar - soaking and grinding.

Puli Aval Recipe - How to Make Puli Aval (Tamarind Poha Recipe)

Puli aval or tamarind poha recipe - I have always believed that if you could make a tasty one-pot meal in less than 30 mins, you shouldn't bother yourself with the ones that take 2 hours and taste the same. Especially on a weeknight. Especially if you are tired. Agreed?

My MIL is the queen of easy cooking. You will never find her slogging for long hours in the kitchen but the delightful part is, everything comes out tasting great.

Puli aval is one such recipe that got made on a weeknight. If you want to cook up a fast meal after work, here's what I suggest.

As soon as you get home, soak the aval (poha or flattened rice) in the tamarind extract and go take a shower, change, and relax/read for a bit. After 30 mins, proceed with the rest of the recipe which takes less than 15 mins.

If you like Indian recipes with aval or poha, then check out how to make vadai with aval, a quick snack with aval, and potato poha with onions.

Puli Aval (Poha or Flattened Aval Cooked in Tamarind)

Serves 2
Preparation time: 35 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
2 cups of aval / poha / flattened rice
1 tsp of tamarind paste or 1/2 cup tamarind extract
2 tbsp of sesame / gingelly oil
1 tbsp of channa dal / kadala paruppu
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
A few curry leaves
2-4 of dry red chillies, halved
1/2 tsp of pepper powder (optional)
Salt to taste


Instructions:

1. Rinse the aval once in cold water and mix well with the tamarind paste (diluted in 1/2 cup water) or the tamarind extract for 30 mins.

2. Heat oil and add the dal, hing, curry leaves, and chillies. Fry for 10 seconds and add the soaked aval. Add salt and pepper, mix until heated through, and remove from fire.

Serve hot with chips or appalam and curd.

Notes:

1. This tastes very similar to tamarind rice so I would love to try it with chuttaracha chammanthi which is Amma's standard combination with puliogare.

2. Next time I make it, I will add some roasted peanuts, one minced onion, and probably some grated vegetables (like carrots) to make it a bit more nutritious and enhance the flavour a bit.

Raw Papaya Thoran, Kaplanga Thoran, Kerala Thoran Recipes

Raw papaya is one of my absolute favourites. Often called omakka (or kappalanga) in Kerala, it's very easily available in most backyards and makes for a very light side dish. Although the simpler kaplanga ezhukkupuratti is what I would go for first, the thoran comes a close second.

Raw papaya is very easily available in Singapore too, thanks to the Thais and their affinity towards raw papaya salads.

The method used to make kappalanga thoran is very non-fussy and this is how amma makes most of her thorans. You can leave it to cook and focus on other dishes.

Also check out moringa thoran, spinach thoran, and papadom thoran recipes, all from Kerala.

Raw Papaya (Kaplanga) Thoran Recipe

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
1 small raw papaya (kaplanga / omakka)
1/2 cup of grated coconut
2-3 shallots
1 tsp of jeera / jeerakam / cumin seeds
3-4 green chillies
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tbsp of (coconut) oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
A few curry leaves

How to make Thoran:

1. Peel the raw papaya, cut into half, deseed and chop into very small pieces. In malayalam, we'd say "kothi ariyuka".

2. Coarsely grind the coconut with the shallots, green chillies, turmeric and half the jeera. Mix this thoroughly with the chopped papaya along with salt. Add the rest of the cumin seeds whole to this mixture. (Alternately, you can also grind all of the jeera along with the coconut).

3. Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the curry leaves and after 5 seconds, add the raw papaya mixture. Stir well to combine the oil and make a small mound of it towards the centre of the pan and pat it down firmly.

4. Keep the flame at the lowest possible and cook the papaya covered. There's no need to add any water. (you can use a wider lid for the whole pan as well, it doesn't necessarily have to be tightly closed like below.

5. Let this cook for about 10-15 mins until the papaya is soft. You can mix it in between if you feel like the bottom is burning but if you keep the flame low, it should be fine. I do mix it once or twice in between, pat it down again firmly, close, and cook further.

That's it. Serve hot with rice and sambar or theeyal.