Avarakkai Kootu and Thakali Thayir Pachadi

Hope you all had a great Diwali. For us this year, for 2 reasons it was a very sober occasion without any spark. Yeah, first we could not light crackers here, as we do in India. Even if we could have celebrated, we shouldn't have, because of a condolence in the family, that being the second reason! So, Diwali went by without any event, though we had a nice dinner party in a friend's place.

Coming to our dish for today, post-festival always calls for simple, comfort food to ease the tummies that were loaded with all types of sweets and savories. So, I made this simple Avarakkai kootu, with a pachadi to complement it. I have added a bit more Dal than I usually do, because V likes it that way. And tomato raitha is the best combination for this kootu. I suggest serving this combo with rice, a spoon of dal mixed with the rice and a dollop of ghee!

Avarakkai KootuBroad beans cooked in coconut gravy, simmered with Dal
Serves 2

What we need:Avarakkai/Broad beans - 200 g
Toor Dal/Moon dal - 1 cup
Grated Coconut - 4 tbsp.
Red Chilli - 2 or 3
Cumin (Jeera) - 1 tbsp.
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed

For tempering:Coconut oil - 1 tbsp.
Mustard - 1 tsp.
Split Urad dal - 1 tsp.
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - a sprig

How to do:1. Wash and cook the dal with a pinch of turmeric powder. Mash well and set aside.
2. In a vessel, take the chopped avarakkai and add enough water to cover it. Add a pinch of salt, cover and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, grind together coconut, cumin and red chillies with little water into a paste.
4. When avarakkai is cooked, add the ground paste, salt and reduce the flame.
5. In about 3 or 4 minutes, the raw smell of coconut and red chillies will start to leave. Then add the mashed dal, bring to a boil and remove from the flame.
6. In a seasoning wok, heat a tbsp. of oil, add mustard, followed by split urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaves. Add this to the kootu.

Variations:1. Both toor dal and moong dal will taste good for this kootu. For a change, you can also try adding half of each dal.
2. Replace red chillies with green chillies for an enhanced taste and flavor.
3. To save time, you can also pressure-cook the avarakkai.

Thakali Thayir PachadiTomato Yoghurt Raitha

What we need:Ripe tomato, medium sized - 1
Salt - as needed
Yoghurt - 1 cup

For tempering:Oil - a tsp.
Mustard - a tsp.
Cumin - a tsp.
Split urad dal - a tsp.

How to do:1. Chop the tomatoes fine and de-seed it. Add it to the yoghurt along with some salt.
2. Heat oil and add the ingredients for tempering. When they are done, add it to the yoghurt and mix well.


Serve togther with kootu and rice!

My dear friend, Sanghi has passed this lovely award to me. Thanks buddy, you made my day!

The rules of the award are:

* You must thank the person who has given you the award.
* Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
* Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
* Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
* Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
* Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
* Leave a comment in the nominated blogs to let them know they have been nominated

By now, most of you would have been tagged for this award! I would like to nominate Sandhya, Jeyashri, Ambika, Kanchan, Saraswathy of Taste of Sara's Kitchen. Please accept it dearies!

Now to the 7 things about me that may (or may not!) interest you!

1. I am a very friendly person and a non-stop chatter box. It is sometimes hard to put up with my rants and raves! ;)
2. Photography, Mehndi designing are my passions, next to cooking.
3. The best thing that has happened to me till date is my darling hubby! Touchwood! :)
4. My parents are my best friends. Being the only daughter doesn't mean I am a spoilt brat, but I have all the love of my parents for myself.
5. My passion for cooking has developed only recently; precisely after I became a full-time homemaker. Until then, I loved to eat but never ventured anything other than sambar, rasam and poriyal.
6. Books give me the best company. I love to read as much as I can. Sidney Sheldon and Dan Brown are my favorite writers.
7. I am a freaky Shop-oholic! Love to shop till drop! I am trying hard to curb this obsession. :D
So if you have reached till here, thanks for bearing my lengthy post. Happy Cooking and happy blogging!!

34 comments:

Anupama said...

Very nice entries Rohini... Your avarakkai koottu reminds of my Mom's & has a lot of similarity to hers too :-)

Raje said...

Kootu looks delicious Rohini and the raita is a yummy combination. Congrats on the award dear!

Unknown said...

Both the recipes looks gorgeous dear!!Congrats and keep going!!

Unknown said...

Lovely Kootu & raita, real comfort food.

Sarah Naveen said...

Wow!!! simply yummy recipes!!!

Ambika said...

Hey Rohini, Congrats and thanks for sharing the award with me. You know what, after reading your tag, I know we will hit it off right away, in fact I could just copy paste those things in my blog, except for the Mehendi and photography :)

Raks said...

My favorite,avarakkai kootu :)
Thakkali pachadi is looks good,will try it out!

Sushma Mallya said...

Nice one rohini,both look very healthy and must be very delicious as well

Shanthi Krishnakumar said...

Good combination and I slightly fry the tomatoes. It's in my drafts. Will post it later.

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

great combination.My daughter loves this kootu ver much. i to make it in the same way and for the pachidi,i just saute the tomatoes for 2 mins.both looks very great.
thank u so much for sharing the award with me.

lata raja said...

Congrats on Kreativ blogger! Aamam latest Dan brown padichchaachchaa? I'm waiting for the paper back version, hard cover is very expensive here:(
Sorry to hear about no spark deepavali, but nonetheless may the cheers stay with you forever.
Very nice kootu and thayir pachchidi.

Priya Suresh said...

SUch a delicious combination ROhini..kalakals!

Rohini said...

Thanks everybody!!

@ Shanthi and Jeyashri: Frying the tomatoes gives an absolutely great taste, I completely agree. I like the raw smell though! ;)

@ Lata: Thanks a lot dear! Reg. The Lost Symbol, it is the same here, but my friend-neighbour has already bought it, so it is waiting for me to open it ;)

Srikitchen said...

looks delicious!

Sandhya Hariharan said...

Love the tomato patchadi....
U are rocking... gal!!

Can you do me a favour... I m not able to leave comments for the Kitchen Queen's page.
the box doesnt appear below the page.
Could you let kitchen queen know abt it.

SE said...

hi rohini..first time here..you've got a nice space and pachadi looks very yum

Anonymous said...

Luv both the dishes Rohini!nice combo!

Vrinda said...

Thanx for the visit Rohini...My mom also makes tomato pachadi same way..avarkkai kootu is new to me sounds like a nice gravy...

Unknown said...

never tried avarakaai in kootu..avarakkai is my dh fav..shud try this sfor him...yummy

Chitra said...

Never tried both.Looks mouthwatering..Will try kootu next time when i buy avarakkai :)

kamalabhoopathy said...

Nice clicks. And kootu and pachadi matching for each other.

pria said...

Looks yummy dear

Shobana senthilkumar said...

Hi rohini,
first time here..u have got a nice space...dish luks yum,,,

Mythreyi Dilip said...

Superb recipes Rohini, both recipes are different and new to me:) Great clicks!!!

Sanjana said...

Ahh congratulations on the award! :D and omg, I just ate dinner and this post has made me hungry again! Whaaaaaaaats goin' on?! :p Keep up the good work, lovely! x

Anonymous said...

congrats on ur award..and its such a pleasant sight to see some kootu recipe after some heavy eating last weekend.

Trish said...

This looks absolutely scrumptious. You have quite the recieps here...love them. I shall return. Sorry about your loss....

Congrats on the award. I stopped by to actually ask...as I see on your comments on 'kitchen queen' that if you can notify her...I did try to leave a comment there too but could not...something with her verification area on the posting. Can you let her know that I tried? You seem to have access. Best of wishes sent your way.

Unknown said...

nice blog with nice recipes..

Sree vidya said...

Great combo. kootu and pachadi complement each other.
Nice to know more abt you.
We have a lot in common. I too love sheldon and brown.

Rohini said...

Thanks a lot buddies!

Sh... said...

A wonderful post. Yeah I read till the end..:) Congrats on the award and happy cooking!!

Recipeswap said...

Congrats on your award,both dishes look great!

Dhanya Ganesh said...

Both the curries looks yummy.Hope you have a nice Diwali. Also Congrats on your Award dear:).

Kanchan said...

Hey,
Thanks for the lovely award Rohini !
Was on a small Diwali break, missed your lovely posts,will go through all of them now :)
Hope you had a fun filled Diwali !