Chutney with Plums

Season (May through October) for fresh plums started and we have a lot of plum trees around our house. The sour taste of unripe plums tempted me to make this novel chutney. These plums are similar in taste to Gooseberries/Amla/Usirikaya. This sweet and sour chutney makes a delicious side dish with dosas/rotis/rice (it goes very well with curd rice).

Plums are rich in antioxidants and offer a high level of defence against free radicals. They are also a good source of both iron and potassium and also contain vitamin E.


Ingredients:

1. Unripe Plums - 1 cup (remove seeds and cut into pieces)
2. Salt - as required
3. Dry red chillies - 4 no. (as required)
4. Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
5. Oil - 2 tsp
6. Chana dal - 1 tsp
7. Urad dal - 1 tsp
8. Popu mix (Chana dal + Urad dal + Mustard seeds + Cumin seeds) - 2 tsp
9. Curry leaves - 1 stem (optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan. Add dry red chillies, chana dal ( 1tsp), urad dal (1 tsp) and fry till dal turns brown in color.
2. Add the plums and salt to the above mix and fry till plums become tender. Keep it aside and grind after it's completely cooled.
3. In parallel, heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan, add the popu mix, curry leaves and fry for 2 mins.
4. Add this fried popu mix to the grounded plum chutney. Adjust the salt.
5. Add sugar to counter the sour taste of the plums, but is optional.
   

Fish Fry

Here is a simple fish fry recipe. Marinate the fish fillets with spices, shallow fry in oil and serve with onions, chillis and seasoning. This can be served as an appetizer or a side dish for biryanis/kichidis/pulaos. I have used tilapia fish fillets and can be replaced with any kind of fish.

Ingredients:

1. Fish fillets - 1 lb
2. Salt - as required
3. Chilli powder - as required
4. Garam masala - 1 tsp
5. Coriander seeds / Dhaniya powder - 1 tsp
6. Lemon juice - 1 tsp
7. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
8. Besan flour - 1/4 cup
9. Ginger Garlic (GG) paste - 1 tsp
10. Oil - 4 tsps and more for shallow frying
11. Onion - 1 (sliced lengthwise)
12. Green chillies - 3 ( or as required, sliced lengthwise)
13. Popu mix (Mustard seeds, cumin seeds) - 1 tsp

Instructions:

1. Clean and cut the fish fillets into pieces of 1/2" thickness.
2. Marinate the fish with turmeric, salt, chilli powder, garam masala powder, dhaniya powder, GG paste, besan flour and lemon juice for 1 hour.
3. Heat oil in a pan and fry the fish pieces till they turn brown in color. Flip carefully to other side and fry for another 2-3mins. Add oil as required and adjust the heat to avoid over frying the fish.
4. Heat 1tsp of oil and fry the popu mix, onions and chillis. Add salt as required. Garnish this on top of fish pieces. This step is optional.

Sambar (Pappu Chaaru)

Sambar (lentil soup) is a popular vegetarian dish in South India. It is an easy and healthy dish made with dal and vegetables like carrots, drumsticks. Here is my version of sambar (Andhra style) -

Ingredients:

Toor/Tuvar dal - 1cup
Water - 5 cups
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Tamarind paste - 4 table spoons
Oil - 4 tsps
Onion - 1 no.
Tomatoes - 2 no.
Mixed Vegetables/Carrots - 1 cup
Drumsticks - 1 (cut into 2 inch pieces)
Popu mix (cumin seeds, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal) - 2 tsps
Curry leaves - 1 stem
Salt - as required
Red Chilli powder - as required

• Pressure cook the toor dal with 2 cups of water until 1 whistles. Mash the daal and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and add popu mix, curry leaves. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the onion slices and fry till golden brown. Add ginger-garlic paste. Fry for another 2 mins.
• Add the tomatoes, turmeric, tamarind paste, salt, mixed vegetables and drumstick pieces and cook until the vegetables are soft.
• Add 3 cups of water to the above mix and as the water starts boiling add the mashed dal, chilli powder and mix well. Cook for another 10mins.
• Serve with idlies or rice.

Perugu Chaaru

It's the easiest side dish to prepare and it's supposed to cool the body especially in summer. In our place, we call it Majjiga chaaru even though it is made using yogurt. It is similar to raita, but we add popu mix to it. And it goes well with any kind of rice and/or vada.


Ingredients:

Plain yogurt - 1 cup
Onion - 1 (chopped into small pieces)
Green chillies - 2 (finely chopped)
Red dried chillies - 2
Popu mix (cumin seeds, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal) - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 stem
Ginger - 1 tsp (small pieces)
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as required
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Oil - 2 tsp

• Heat oil in a pan. Add popu mix and curry leaves. When mustard seeds start popping, add red chillies, green chillies and fry for 2 mins.
• Add the ginger pieces, turmeric and onions and fry till onions turn brown in color.
• Turn off the heat and add this mix to the curd in a bowl along with salt. Mix well.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.