Paruppu Thogayal

This is one absolutely simple thogayal that goes very well with poondu (garlic) rasam. Let me get straight to the recipe without blabbing much here ;-).

Ingredients (2 - 3 servings):

Cooking oil - a couple of drops
Toor dhal - 1/2 cup
Dried red chillies - 1 or 2 split into half
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat a couple of drops of cooking oil and fry the toor dhal first until it turns light golden brown in color followed by the dried red chillies.
2. Soak the fried toor dhal in water (just enough to cover the dhal) for about 15 - 20 minutes.
3. Grind the soaked toor dhal, fried red chillies along with some salt into a thick paste and your thogayal is ready.

You can mix the thogayal and ghee (clarified butter) with hot, steamed rice and it will take you to heaven.

Peerkkangaai (Ridge Gourd) Thogayal

Ridge gourd, called peerkkangaai in Tamil and beerakaaya in Telugu, can be used in different forms. I personally like the thogayal made with this vegetable rather than the paal koottu or sambar or anything else. It is very simple and easy to make. One cannot go wrong!!!! Also, peerkkangaai after it is left to dry on its vine can be used as a natural loofah :-).

Ingredients (about3 - 4 servings):

Ridge gourd - 2 medium sized, washed, peeled and cut into small cubes
Cooking oil - 2 teaspoons
Dried red chillies - 3 to 4 (vary this to suit your taste)
Tamarind - 1/2 inch stick if fresh/about 1/4 teaspoon if using paste
Urad dhal - about 1/4 cup (using a measuring cup)
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat about a teaspoon of oil in a pan, fry red chillies first followed by urad dhal, tamarind and asafoetida, until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color and set aside to cool down.
2. In the same pan from step 1, add another teaspoon of oil and fry the cubed ridge gourd until it becomes tender (this doesn't take too long). The ridge gourd leaves a lot of water during this process and drastically reduces in size. Set this aside to cool.
3. Grind the contents from step 1 and 2 with very little or no water to a paste. Peerkkangaai thogayal is ready (seasoning with mustard is optional)!

Peerkkangaai thogayal and moar kuzhambu make a wonderful combo. Enjoy!!!

Thaengaai (Coconut) Podi

Podi, in general, is a spicy powder which can be used as follows:
1.) for seasoning
2.) to mix with rice
3.) as a spicy side to go with idli, dosai, adai and the like

There are different podis for each of the above mentioned categories. Any type of podi that can be mixed with rice is comfort food, according to me. If you stocked up on your podis, you need not worry about cooking on a day when you feel lazy or tired or just don't feel like cooking. You can have rice and podi with some chips or yogurt. It is that simple and easy. I had planned to make thaengaai thogayal (thogayal is a spicy paste that can be had with rice) last weekend but ended up making thaengaai podi instead.

Ingredients (2 - 3 servings when mixed with cooked rice):

Cooking oil - a couple of drops
Grated/powdered coconut - 2 cups (using a measuring cup)
Dried red chillies - 4 to 5 (vary this to suit your taste)
Urad dhal - 1/2 cup (using a measuring cup)
Asafoetida - 1/2 teaspoon
Tamarind - a very small piece
(I don't use tamarind paste in thogayals and podis)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a small pan, fry the coconut and urad dhal separately in a couple of drops of cooking oil, with constant stirring, until they turn light golden brown in color and set aside. In the same pan, fry red chillies and tamarind separately and cool them.
Note: You need not FRY tamarind. You can sort of heat the tamarind at the very end for a few seconds (just to sort of soften it) when the pan is still hot.
2. Grind the above mixture along with salt and asafoetida to a coarse powder and you have the thaengaai podi.

Note:
The procedure for thaengaai thogayal is the almost the same as above except that you don't have to fry the coconut and you have to grind everything to a coarse paste by adding little water to it. You can store the podi version for a longer time than the thogayal version. I store all the podis in the freezer and they stay fresh for about 6 months.

Like I said before, you can have this with rice and ghee (clarified butter) or a few drops of sesame oil, and it also goes well idli and dosai. I like this with plain curd rice as well :-).