Carrot paruppu Usili

Paruppu usili is a traditional south indian dish which is made from dal and vegetables. Usili can be made from a variety of vegetables You can use capsicum, cabbage, avarakai, banana flower, beetroot, French beans, cluster beans, snake guard. Most common one is beans. I have used carrot in this dish.

Tastes best with rice and kolambu.

Serves: 3 

Ingredients:

1.       Carrot - 4

2.       Channa dal (Kadala paruppu/Bengal gram) - 1/2 cup

3.       Toor dal (Tovaram paruppu/Red gram) - 1/2 cup

4.       Dry chilli - 3

5.       Salt as needed

6.       Aesophatida – a pinch

7.       Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

8.       Curry leaves – 5nos

Method:

1.       Soak Channa dal and toor dal in water for 15-20 min.

2.       Chop the carrot into very small pieces and cook it with little salt. Keep it aside.

3.       Blend the dry chilli in a blender slightly. You can adjust the no of chilli as per your need.

4.       Now add the soaked dal, salt, a pinch of aseophatida and little water to the blender and blend it to make a fine paste.

5.       Heat oil in a pan.

6.       Add the grinded dal and saute it nicely. Add oil as needed. 

7.       Saute till the dal is cooked and becomes soft.

8.       Cool the fried dal. Blend it slightly in a blender so that any large lumps would be broken down and the dal will look like coarse powder. You can store this in a airtight container in freezer for even 10 days.

9.       Heat oil in a pan.

10.   Add mustard seeds, curry leaves and fry till they splatter.

11.   Add the fried dal and cooked carrot.

12.   Fry nicely. Add salt and oil as needed.

Serve hot with rice and kolambu

Sodhi

‘Sodhi’ is a traditional dish of tirunelveli made from coconut milk. Tastes best with rice, ginger chutney and applam.

Ingredients:

1. Coconut – 1
2. Garlic – 10 cloves(chopped)
3. Drumstick – 1 medium(cut into pieces)
4. Brinjal – 3 medium(cut into large pieces)
5. Potato – 2 medium(cut into large pieces
6. Green Gram(Moong dal/Paasi parupu) – 1/4 cup
7. Green Chilli – 3
8. Jeera – 1tsp
9. Ginger – 2inch
10. Chopped Corainder – a handful.
11. Salt as needed

Preparation Method:

1. Grate one full coconut
2. Blend the grated coconut with approx. 250ml of water. Strain the blended coconut in a cheesecloth or strainer(Squueze out the pulp nicely). Keep the coconut milk aside. This is called the first milk. (Or thick milk). Keep this aside.
3. Again blend the coconut pulp with approx.. 250 ml of water and strain. This is the second milk. Keep it aside.
4. Do the same a third time. This is the third milk.
5. Cook green gram nicely. Mash it weel. Mix this mashed green gram with the second milk and keep it aside.
6. Grind one green chilli, jeera and ginger together and keep it aside.
7. Cook Drumstick, brinjal, potato, slit green chilli and chopped garlic with little salt in the third milk.
8. Once the vegetables are cooked, reduce the flame to sim.
9. Add the second milk mixture and grinded mixture to the cooked vegetables and let it boil in simmer. Do not increase the flame as this will curdle the milk. Keep stirring in between.
10. Once this starts bubbling, add in the first milk and let it boil in simmer.
11. Once it starts bubbling, add chopped coriander leaves and switch off.
12. Add juice of two big size lemon and stir well. Serve hot with rice and ginger chutney.