Tomato Mint Chutney Recipe | Thakkali Pudina Chutney Recipe

This Tomato Mint Chutney is my mom-in-law's quick and easy chutney recipe that uses no coconut. She makes this in bulk and stores it in the refrigerator for up a week, serving it with pretty much everything. I made it last month when I got a fresh bunch of mint leaves from Little India. The flavour is just amazing and I get away with making no kuzhambu if this chutney is there for lunch. If you want to see more chutneys for rice, then check out this peanut mint chutney, brinjal chutney, and chow chow chutney recipe.

It has a longer shelf life because this chutney uses no coconut. So what gives it the volume? Read on!

Tomato Mint Chutney with No Coconut

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yields ~ 2 cups

Ingredients:
1 cup of packed fresh mint leaves, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 large (or 2 medium-sized) onions, sliced
1/2 cup of pottukadalai / roasted gram dal
3-4 of dry red chillies
1/4 tsp of asafoetida / hing
1 tbsp of oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
1/2 tsp of urad dal
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they begin to pop, add the urad dal and fry until golden brown.

2. Add the onions and when they turn golden brown (about 4-5 mins), thrown in the red chillies, torn into halves and the chopped tomatoes. Stir well and cook for another 5-6 mins until the tomatoes turn soft.

3. Add the chopped mint leaves and cook for 3 mins until the leaves wilt and soften. Then, add the roasted gram, salt, and hing. Mix well to combine all the ingredients together and remove from fire. Cool and grind without adding any water.

A delicious, simple and mild chutney that's bursting with mint flavour is now ready!

Notes:

- for a variation in flavour, replace mint with coriander leaves or curry leaves. You can also add some coriander leaves to this mint chutney but it's best to keep the herb flavours separate.

- store in a dry container in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze for up to a month.

- you can add 2-3 cloves of garlic along with the onions when frying them, for more flavour

- goes well with rice, dosa, idli, rotis, and even bread, as a spread.

Rava Pongal-Rava Ghee Pongal-Rava Pongal Recipe

I love Ven Pongal and my mom-in-law makes it really well. During their last visit, she made pongal with rava which was very new to me. Makes it a bit lighter than regular khara pongal which is quite heavy and I am usually not hungry at lunch time if I have pongal for breakfast. I would still eat though. When has not being hungry ever stopped some of us from eating, eh?

Anyway, I am almost leaning towards saying that I like rava pongal better than the regular pongal. It's more creamy and if you add the recommended amount of ghee, which I must admit is a lot, it's absolutely heavenly.

Rava Pongal Recipe

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source: my MIL

Ingredients:
2 cups of rava / semolina
1/2 cup of moong dal (cherupayar / paasi paruppu)
1 tsp of black peppercorns
1 tsp of jeera / cumin seeds
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp of ghee / clarified butter
1/4 tsp of hing / perungaayam / asafoetida
10-12 cashew nuts, halved
A few curry leaves
Salt to taste

How to Make Rava Pongal:

1. Cook the moong dal with 1.5 cups water until mushy and soft. Mash further with a fork or potato masher until there are no more lumps. Pressure cooker works quickest here.

2. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in pan and add the pepper and jeera along with cashew nuts. Roast until the cashew nuts turn a golden brown and then add the rava. Roast on low fire for about 5mins until it begins to change colour to a light brown.

3. At this stage, add the salt and hing. Mix well.

4. Then add the cooked moong dal. Mix to incorporate and lower the flame.

5. Meanwhile, bring 2.5 cups of water to boil in another pan.

6. Add the boiling water to the rava-moong dal mixture. Mix well to incorporate.

Then add the 1/4 cup ghee.

7. Stir well to combine and in about 3-4 mins, you will see the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan.

Serve HOT!

The best combination for rava pongal, or any type of pongal, is gothsu which I haven't tried before. We had it for dinner with some vengaya kara kozhambu with coconut milk which went beautifully with the rava pongal.

Eggless Dulce de Leche Brownies | A David Lebovitz Recipe

I made these dulce de leche brownies a while back, when I made dulce de leche for the banoffee pie. I was reluctant to post it because of how the final brownies look in the pic. They look burnt and too dark and not at all delicious but the thing is, they were delicious. They really really were.

But seeing that I may not make dulce de leche any more in the near future, and since this is a really good recipe which I tried eggless, I want to share it anyway.

Eggless Dulce de Leche Brownies

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes 8 large brownies
Adapted from: David Lebovitz's A Sweet Life in Paris

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of chopped bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate (6 oz / 170gm)
1/2 cup of butter, cut into pieces (8 tbsp)
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
3 tbsp of flaxseed powder / flaxseed meal (or 3 eggs)
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of any nuts of choice (optional - I used pecans)
3/4 cup of dulce de leche

How I Made It:

0. Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C. Line a square cake/brownie pan with aluminium foil and lightly grease it with butter or baking spray. You can also use the pan directly, make sure it's greased.

1. Melt butter gently in a pan and add the chocolate to it. Mix well until combined and smooth. Remove from fire and allow to cool.

2. Meanwhile, whisk the flax seed meal in 9 tbsp warm water until it gets a goo-ey texture.

3. Add the cocoa powder to the butter-chocolate mixture and stir well until smooth. You can sift the cocoa powder in to make the mixing easier.

4. Next, add the flaxseed mixture, mix well...

... then the sugar and vanila. Mix mix mix.

And the flour. Mix in until combined and there are no streaks of flour left over.

Finally add the nuts if using and fold them in.

5. Transfer this into the greased pan.

6. Add the dulce de leche by the spoonfuls on the brownie batter.

7. Using the tip of a pointed knife. draw it around the top of the batter to create swirls (just like for marble cake).

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30mins. My dulce de leche got caramelized and turned a dark golden brown. It tasted delicious and was mildy chewy.

My Notes:

- In David's recipe, he doesn't mention cooling of the chocolate mixture before adding the rest of the ingredients so I didn't do that. This resulted in the batter getting super greasy, the butter oozing out, etc. So the resultant brownies had crisp edges which is not all bad but if you want goo-ey soft brownies, I recommend cooling the mixture before proceeding, as I have mentioned in the steps.

2. My dulce de leche turned a dark brown and while it tasted great, I would probably try adding it in the middle next time with the chocolate on top so it stays melty and soft as you bite into the brownies. The brownies themselves are super dark because of the brand of chocolate I used.

3. You can lessen the amount of sugar if you'd like although if you add nuts, I'd recommend sticking with the amount I used.

4. You can also, of course, make this without the dulce de leche and that would be a great plain eggless brownie right there!

Btw, in case you haven't read it already, highly recommend the book A Sweet Life in Paris this recipe is from.

   

Food Photos Prop Shopping in Kappabashi-Dori, Tokyo

If you've been reading me for a while, you would probably know that I try to find food photo props wherever I travel to. Although I'd been to Tokyo a couple times before, I never got to see much because they were 3 or 4 days trips spent between the hotel and the office. During my last trip, I took a couple of days off, TH joined me, and we celebrated our 4th anniversary there. I also took advantage of the timing to say we must visit the restaurant-supply stores street in Tokyo - Kappabashi Dori!

You can read more about Kappabashi here, but essentially it's an entire street filled with restaurant supply stores and more interestingly, the fake food pieces that Japan is very popular for.

Our visit turned out to be a bit of a bummer because we reached around 6pm and most of the stores were shutting down. To avoid disappointment, go earlier in the day.

In spite of that, I managed to find some good stuff.

This brown plate is the first thing I picked up. It's actually a sushi plate and came in a few different sizes. They are meant to be bought as a set I think but in true food blogger fashion, I bought just one. I used it in the Vanilla Panna Cotta Recipe post and was quite surprised when quite a few of you noticed it.

These are probably my favorite buy from the street though. I bough 6 because I wanted to have a set to also use when I have guests (and not just for food pics!). They are meant to be green tea tumblers (ceramic) but the possibilities are endless. They are just the right size to serve coffee, tea, milkshakes, ice-cream, payasam or pretty much any dessert when you have guests over.

Paneer Payasam

Mango Lassi

I used those tumblers to serve Paneer Payasam and Mango Lassi when my family was visiting.

Then there's the pretty green oven dish. I triple-checked and the lady at the store confirmed they are oven-safe although it doesn't say so anywhere on the dish itself. The green is lovely, the sides have a nice swirly design and I am in love! Haven't used it yet. Check out the bowl in use in my Kappa Masala Recipe post.


I also got 6 battered steel dessert spoons to go with the blue tumblers on top. They had a lot of battered steel utensils starting from large ladles but somehow, I found these the prettiest. Also, they are quite expensive.

Finally, the gorgeous dark peach-orange delicate ceramic bowl. I envisioned serving Thai raw papaya salad in this even before i bought it. It's been 4 months and the salad still hasn't happened, but it will, one of these days. This bowl deserves the limelight. I have never seen a colour like this before, and certainly not on a bowl.
Kappabashi also has a good selection of Santoku knives which are Japanese iron knives, super sharp, super long-lasting. You must pick up one if you are into knives like I am. They will even engrave handle for you so they make great gifts too.

The only downside to prop shopping in Tokyo is, it's not cheap. This bunch of things up here cost me close to 100 SGD. But the quality is fantastic and they will last you a lifetime if you take good care of them.

Here's a post with a few good pictures of Kappabashi.
How to get there? Get to Asakusa Station and it's abou a 600m walk

So, which item is your favourite?

Banana Stem Paruppu Usili Recipe-Usili Recipe

Paruppu Usili is TH's favourite dish and I make it regularly, usually with beans but often with other vegetables that I feel will make a good combination with the lentils.

Remember the banana stem that I painstakingly cleaned up (if not, check out how to prepare banana stem before cooking)? I used half of it to make banana stem thoran which I absolutely love and then reserved the rest to make paruppu usili. It turned out really well, a great blend of textures and flavours.

The first I learnt to cook for TH was paruppu usili so each time I make it, I am reminded of the first time I tried it. The recipe was quite off and I remember adding onions to it, a total Brahmin no-no (although TH and his family are fine with it).

There's a lesson in there folks. Start somewhere, just start, even if your paruppu usili ends up with onions in it!



Other usili recipes I've made: Paruppu Usili | Asparagus Usili | The "fake" usili I made first

Banana Stem (Vazhai Thandu) Paruppu Usili Recipe

Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
2 cups of banana stem, chopped fine
1/2 cup of toor dal (tuvaram paruppu)
2 tbsp of channa dal (kadala paruppu)
2-3 of dry red chillies
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
2 tbsp of oil
1/4 tsp of asafoetida (perungaayam)
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Soak the toor dal and channa dal for an hour.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the chopped banana stem and cook on low fire for 5-7 mins until they are half cooked and beginning to soften.

3. Grind the soaked dals along with the red chillies, turmeric, salt, and hing to a smooth paste without adding any water.

4. Add this to the semi-cooked banana stem and mix well.

5. Cook on low flame until the dals are cooked and the banana stem is soft (about 10-12 mins). Adjust salt if necessary.

Serve hot with rice, kozhambu, and chips/papad.

Eggless Vanilla Cake Recipe - Eggless Sponge Cake Recipe

Here's the recipe for an easy eggless sponge cake that can form a base to pretty much any party cake or birthday cake you want to put together. My cake recipes usually don't have a story attached to them. Wait, that's not true. There is a story but it's usually just one line - "I felt like eating cake so I baked one and ate it all". However, this eggless sponge cake recipe has a slightly longer story behind it.

I have the habit of taking pictures of recipes from cook books to try later. Mostly, these pictures just stay in my phone album, forgotten and hardly ever looked at again but this cake recipe came out of that dungeon one day.

Flashback: I was in Gurgaon some time last year and walked into some random book store that had every single Nita Mehta book every printed. When I first saw it, I thought I would buy half of them and come back but I got so overwhelmed that all I did was browse through half a dozen of them, click a picture of one recipe, and leave without buying any.

Over a year later, this cake happened because I was trying to sort through my phone pics and free up some space on the memory card and I chanced upon this recipe I had taken a picture of ages ago.

Before I give you the recipe already, one more thing. I am not a fan of cake recipes with oil instead of butter. I am wary of them, and often insist in my head that I can taste the oil and it's not good and butter is the food of the Gods and that's what we should always always bake with.

This cake is an exception though. You really can't taste the oil, even if you are paranoid and dramatic like me.

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes one 8" cake
Source: Originally from Eggless Desserts by Nita Mehta (also adapted from Sharmi)

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour / maida
1 cup of plain thick curds / yogurt (not too sour, at room temperature)
3/4 cup of sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup but that would make it on the sweet side)
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 and 1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of any neutral oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 tsp of vanilla extract / essence

How to Make Eggless Sponge Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Grease an 8" cake pan (or loaf pan) with some butter or oil and set aside.

2. Beat the yogurt well removing any lumps and add the sugar to it.

3. Beat well and add the baking powder and baking soda to it.

Beat again and set aside for 5 mins until you see small bubbles on the surface of the mixture.

4. To this, add the vanilla extract and oil. Mix well until the ingredients are combined.

5. Sift in the flour in three batches into this mixture.

6. Gently fold the mixture using a whisk or rubber spatula (or even a wooden spoon) until you see no more streaks of flour.

7. Pour into the prepared pan...

... and tap it firmly on the counter top a couple times to get rid of the air bubbles.

8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins until the top turns a golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with dry crumbs.

Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Notes:

- To make a vegan vanilla sponge cake, replace the yogurt with applesauce. A reader tried this and got great results!
- This recipe can be used to bake basic sponge cakes that can be layered and frosted. You can also bake them into loaves or cupcakes
- If you find that your cake is browning too much on top and not cooked inside, cover the cake pan with aluminium foil and slit it on top a bit to let the heat out
- To make this an eggless chocolate sponge cake, replace 1/3 cup of the flour with cocoa powder and sift them together before adding to the wet mixture
- The cake stores well outside for up to two days and in the refrigerator for up to 5 days