Paruppu Thogayal Recipe. Easy to do and very tasty side dish, served with rice for lunch. Made with lentils – toor dal and coconut. With step by step pictures.
Note: For Chutneys and masala powders, I use a combination of Byadagi chillies and the regular Tamil gundu chillies or Guntur chillies. Byadagi chillies are not very spicy but it gives a very bright red colour to the chutney when ground. Byadagi Chillies come from the Haveri district in Karnataka. The chilli is long and wrinkled and deeply red. Its not very hot but imparts a dark colour and aroma. I have used Byadagi chillies today for the thogayal. They impart a bright red colour to the chutney that’s very appealing. If you want a spicy chutney, add a combination of byadagi and guntur chillies.
Prep Work: First, we will be charring the tamarind in fire. Its called as “sutta puli” in tamil. Take a marble size tamarind and press with fingers to form a sphere. Insert the tamarind in a skewer and char it in fire on a gas stove for 15-20 seconds. The outer skin would turn black. Remove and set aside to cool.
Heat oil in a heavy skillet and add in the toor dal and dry red chillies. Slowly roast the lentils on a low flame till the lentils are light brown in colour. Set aside on a plate to cool.
Dry roast fresh shredded coconut on a low flame till it slightly changes colour. Do not roast the coconut for long. Remove from heat and set aside on a plate to cool. If you like the flavor of raw coconut, you can skip this step of roasting coconuts.
Note: If you want a rich thogayal, add more shredded coconut.
Grinding:
Take all the prepared ingredients, raw garlic, salt and grind it in a heavy duty mixie jar with very little water (upto 1/4 cup water) to a thick paste.
I have been using my Panasonic heavy duty mixie for over a decade now and its still going strong. My mom, aunt and Vinodh’s aunt all use Panasonic and we love it as it does a great job of grinding masalas to a fine powder or paste. Here is where you can buy them.
Serve hot with rice and ghee. Ghee is a must!!!!
- 1 Marble size tamarind
- 1/2 cup toor dal
- 3 Byadagi chillies
- 2 Guntur Chillies
- 1/3 cup fresh shredded coconut
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 cloves garlic
- Insert the tamarind in a skewer and char it in fire on a gas stove for 15-20 seconds. The outer skin would turn black. Remove and set aside to cool.
- Heat oil in a heavy skillet and add in the toor dal and dry red chillies. Slowly roast the lentils on a low flame till the lentils are light brown in colour. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- Dry roast fresh shredded coconut on a low flame till it slightly changes colour. Do not roast the coconut for long. Remove from heat and set aside on a plate to cool.
- Take all the prepared ingredients, salt, raw garlic and grind it in a heavy duty mixie jar with very little water (upto 1/4 cup water) to a thick paste.
- Serve hot with rice.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Chutney
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
- 1 Marble size tamarind
- 1/2 cup toor dal
- 3 Byadagi chillies
- 2 Guntur Chillies
- 1/3 cup fresh shredded coconut
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 cloves garlic
- Insert the tamarind in a skewer and char it in fire on a gas stove for 15-20 seconds. The outer skin would turn black. Remove and set aside to cool.
- Heat oil in a heavy skillet and add in the toor dal and dry red chillies. Slowly roast the lentils on a low flame till the lentils are light brown in colour. Set aside on a plate to cool.
- Dry roast fresh shredded coconut on a low flame till it slightly changes colour. Do not roast the coconut for long. Remove from heat and set aside on a plate to cool.
- Take all the prepared ingredients, salt, raw garlic and grind it in a heavy duty mixie jar with very little water (upto 1/4 cup water) to a thick paste.
- Serve hot with rice.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Chutney
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
Find it online : https://www.kannammacooks.com/paruppu-thogayal-recipe/
Recipe for Vetrilai Poondu Sadam. Variety rice preparation flavoured with betel leaves and garlic.
Betel leaves have a special place in every South Indian family. Mine ain’t different. All the gossips happen around the “Vethala-Paaku” Plate. After lunch, the family will gather around for chewing betel nut. Betel leaves will be spread with chunnam-lime and a betel nut or supari would be kept. The leaf would be folded and would go straight to the mouth as one single bite. It will be chewed and chewed along with the gossips.
This recipe for betel leaves rice is very unique and popular in the kongunad region. The rice turns so flavorful. Here is how to do Vetrilai Poondu Sadam / Betel Leaves Rice with Garlic.
Cooking the rice: First, lets talk about the rice. We will be using seeraga samba rice. One can use basmati rice too! The whole idea is to get the texture right. Its very important that the grains of rice do not turn mushy. Here is how I do it. Wash and soak the seeraga samba / basmati rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain the water. Add 1.5 cups of water to every cup of rice used. Cook in a pressure cooker, medium flame – for exactly 2 whistles. Switch off the flame and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. The pressure will release on its own during that time. After 15 minutes, open the cooker and fluff up the rice. Immediately, transfer the rice to 2-3 plates to cool it down completely. The rice needs to be completely cool.
Masala for the rice:
Dry roast all the masala ingredients on a low flame till brown and fragrant. Set aside to cool. Once cool, grind to a fine powder in a mixie jar. Set aside.
Tempering: Along with the betel leaf and garlic, we use another spice called Kalpasi . Kal means rock and Pasi means green moss. Its also called as stone flower. Kalpasi is nothing but a unique variety of moss that usually grows on rocks in a moist place. They are carefully harvested and dried and used in cooking. It imparts a very earthy aroma to the dish.
Heat peanut oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter. Add in the curry leaves, chana dal, peanuts, cloves and kalpasi. Add in the chopped garlic and fry on a low flame till the garlic is nicely roasted and brown.
Add in the chopped betel leaf, salt and the ground masala. Stir for 2-3 seconds just to coat the masalas in oil. Do not fry for a long time. The masalas might burn.
Add in the cooked rice and remove from heat. Mix well to combine.
Serve the rice hot with potato fry.
For the masala
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorn
- 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
Other ingredients
- 2 tablespoon peanut oil
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 2 teaspoon chana dal
- 2 tablespoon peanuts
- 2 cloves
- 1/2 inch kalpasi / stone flower
- 10 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 betel leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup seeraga samba rice
- Cook the rice and set aside.
- Dry roast all the masala ingredients on a low flame till brown and fragrant. Set aside to cool. Once cool, grind to a fine powder in a mixie jar. Set aside.
- Heat peanut oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter. Add in the curry leaves, chana dal, peanuts, cloves and kalpasi. Add in the chopped garlic and fry on a low flame till the garlic is nicely roasted and brown.
- Add in the chopped betel leaf, salt and the ground masala. Stir for 2-3 seconds just to coat the masalas in oil.
- Add in the cooked rice and remove from heat. Mix well to combine.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Rice
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
