Kollu Podi / Kollu Idli Podi, a delicious spice mix made with horse gram as the main ingredient. It tastes great as a side dish for idli and dosai.  

Kollu, also known as Horse gram, is popular in the Kongu region of Tamilnadu. While growing up, we never used kollu in our home. After marriage only, i heard about the kollu. Though it's not frequently used in my in-laws place, i heard about many recipes using kollu from the neighbours. 

For the past few years, i have been using kollu in our diet occasionally. Out of various recipes that i have tried with kollu, this kollu podi is my favorite. If you're looking for a different style of podi for idli/dosai, then definitely give this a try!

Kollu / Horse gram 

Kollu / Horse gram is a legume and it's widely consumed in Coimbatore or Erode district. Kollu is high in iron and calcium and including them in diet regularly would be highly beneficial. 

There is a popular saying in Tamil " இளைத்தவனுக்கு எள்ளு; கொழுத்தவனுக்கு கொள்ளு". It means "Sesame seed for skinny; Horse gram for fat". I don't know how far that claim is true :-) But i believe in including varieties and moderation when it comes to food. 

In this recipe, i have added urad dal and chana dal(1/4 cup) for 3/4 cup of horse gram. Instead of using two dal, you can use any one dal(1/4 cup). 

  

Though you can use this podi as paruppu podi and eat it with rice, i personally like it as idli/dosai podi. But you can have this podi with rice and sesame oil/ghee on the top just like paruppu podi. 

Ok, now let's check out on how to make this delicious and aromatic kollu podi.

Kollu Podi | Kollu Idli Podi | Horse gram podi

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 1 cup 
Recipe Category: Spice Mix | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Kollu Podi, Kollu Idli Podi, Horse gram podi Kollu Podi / Kollu Idli Podi, a delicious spice mix made with horse gram as the main ingredient.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Kollu / Horse gram - 3/4 cup

Kadalai paruppu / Chana dal - 2 tbsp

Urad dal - 2 tbsp

Red chilli - 10 

Garlic - 5 cloves

Curry leaves - 3 sprigs

Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp

Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Procedure

First, heat a pan and then add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the dals(chana dal and urad dal).

 

Roast them till they are golden brown and then keep it aside. In the same pan, add the red chilli, garlic and curry leaves.

Saute them till the curry leaves are crispy and then keep it aside along with the dals.

Finally add the kollu/horse gram in the same pan and saute till they starts to pop and then switch off the flame. Let all the roasted ingredients to cool a bit.

Add all the roasted ingredients into the mixie/blender jar along with asafoetida powder and salt. Grind them into fine powder. 

That's it. Kollu Podi is ready. Let it cool down completely and then store it in the air tight container. 

Related: How to make Ellu Podi 

Notes:

• Let the roasted ingredients to cool before grinding otherwise while grinding, the hot steam from the ingredients make the powder wet and reduce the self life of the powder.
• Use dry and clean spoon for serving.

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Restaurant Style Mint Chutney | Mint Chutney with Coconut

Restaurant Style Mint Chutney, a delicious and flavorful green chutney that goes well with South Indian Breakfast items like idli, dosa and so on. This mint chutney is one of my recent favorite chutneys that i often make as side dish for breakfast and dinner. It tastes exactly like the restaurant mint chutney ! 

Already i have a mint chutney recipe which doesn't have any coconut. If you're interested in no coconut mint chutney, then check out this mint chutney recipe.  

This Mint chutney recipe is vaguely inspired from the Chef Ventakesh Bhat mint chutney recipe. I have made a little tweak in the recipe to suit our taste. 

Substitution Ideas 

• Instead of green chilies, you can also use the red chilies. But the color of the chutney is not as vibrant as here.
• If you don't like the garlic flavor, then skip it or add a piece of ginger.
• Fresh or frozen coconut can be used in this recipe.

Restaurant Style Mint Chutney

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Chutney | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Mint Chutney, Restaurant style mint chutney, Mint chutney with coconut,Chutney recipe Restaurant Style Mint Chutney, a delicious and flavorful green chutney that goes well with South Indian Breakfast items like idli, dosa.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Mint - 1/2 cup (tightly packed)

Onion(small) -1 

Tomato(small) - 1 

Green Chili - 4 

Garlic - 2 cloves 

Tamarind - a pea size 

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Coriander leaves - a few

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp 

Chana dal - 1 tsp

To Temper 

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

Peel the onion. Chop the onion and tomato roughly into small pieces, slit the green chilies. Wash the mint leaves & also keep all the other ingredients ready to saute. Heat the pan with oil.

Add the cumin seed, urad dal and chana dal. Saute them till the dal turns golden brown. 

Then add the onions, tomatoes, tamarind, green chili & garlic. Saute them till the onions and tomatoes are soft. 

Next add the mint leaves and saute till the leaves are wilted and then add few coriander leaves. 

Give a good mix and then add the grated coconut , switch off the flame and mix a good mix in the residual heat. Let the mixture cool a bit.

Transfer the mixture into a mixie/blender jar and then add salt. Grind them into coarse paste. 

Then add the water as needed and grind them into smooth paste. Transfer into a bowl and temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper " and add into the chutney. 

Delicious Restaurant style Mint chutney is ready. You can serve this as side dish for idli, dosa and paniyaram varieties.

Related : How to make Soft Idli and Crispy Dosa

Related : How to make Chettinad Kuzhi Paniyaram

Notes:

• Cumin seeds give great flavor to the chutney so don't skip it. 
• Add water little by little and grind the chutney till it's smooth. As it has dal, it takes time to become smooth. 
• Adding dal increase the quantity of the chutney.  
• Make sure that the mint leaves are wilted well to avoid the raw smell in the chutney.
• 

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Thakkali Kai Chutney | Green Tomato Chutney | Chutney Recipes

Thakkali Kai Chutney, a delicious chutney made from raw/green/unripe tomatoes. In our tomato plant, there were so many unripe tomatoes when the temperature started to drop here and I was wondering what to do with all the unripe tomatoes since this is the first year we're growing the tomato plants.

So after extensive online search, I found a couple of simple ways to ripe the tomatoes after they are plucked from the plants and got success with around 80% of tomatoes  and with the remaining green tomatoes, tried various recipes and this chutney is my most favorite among all of  my experiments. 

The cumin and the mint used in this chutney really elevates the taste and flavor to another level. In the last one month, I had already prepared this chutney 3-4 times. It tastes great with both idli and dosa varieties. 

So if you're able to get hands on green tomatoes, then definitely give it a try on this chutney or else you can use the regular tomato also for this chutney. Now let's check out on how to make this delicious chutney.

Thakkali Kai Chutney | Green Tomato Chutney

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 to 3 
Recipe Category: Chutney | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Thakkali kai Chutney,Raw tomato chutney,green tomato chutney,side dish for idli, Thakkali Kai Chutney, a delicious chutney made from raw/green/unripe tomatoes.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Thakkali Kai/Raw Tomato/Green Tomato -  3
Onion - 1/4
Green chili - 4
Chana dal - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - a handful
Mint leaves - a handful

Coconut - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
To Temper 
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

First wash and chop the tomatoes roughly, then clean mint & coriander leaves and keep all ingredients ready. Heat a pan with oil, add cumin seed, chana dal and urad dal. 

Roast till they are golden brown, then add the tomatoes, onions & green chili. Saute it in the oil for couple of mins and then cover the pan with lid and let the tomatoes cook.

Once the tomatoes are soft, add the mint & coriander leaves. Give a good mix and then add the coconut & switch off the flame. 

Mix the coconut with the rest of the ingredients in the residual heat. Let them cool completely. Then add into the mixie jar along with salt and grind into smooth paste. Add water as needed for grinding the chutney.

Temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper " and add it into the chutney. 

Tasty and flavorful Thakkali Kai Chutney is ready. Serve it with idli or dosa.

Related:How to make Red Capsicum/Bell pepper Chutney

For more idli and dosa side dish recipes, check out my collections.

Notes:

• Adding dal gives the thick consistency to the chutney.
• You can try this chutney with regular tomato too.
• Mint & cumin seeds give great flavor to the chutney.
  

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Thakkali Chutney, a delicious and easy to make chutney with tomatoes as main ingredients. It tastes great with both idli and dosa varieties. In our home, Amma makes thakkali chutney with coconut and everyone at home likes it so much. 

But the recipe that i'm sharing today doesn't have any coconut and it's super special to me because today in this recipe i have used our garden tomatoes. If you've followed me on IG, you might already knew about it. Cooking with the veggies that you've grown gives such a immense pleasure, every first time veggie growers can relate to my joy. 

Around last April we planted a  few slices of tomatoes in a pot for the first time. In the past, we used to grow a few varieties of flowers mainly like roses, marigold and hibiscus and never thought about growing any veggies since we're in an apartment.

But this year, ST did some searching on the internet and came up with few veggies that we can grow easily in a container. One among them is tomatoes. Watching them grow, learning about the plant anatomy and what works or not, all are really interesting in this process. 

Finally after 3 months of planting the seeds, a couple of tomatoes are ready to use today, so i made this delicious tomato chutney as a side for dosa today. It's  even more tastier than usual knowing that the tomatoes are grown by us :-) 

Thakkali Chutney | Tomato Chutney

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Chutney | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Thakkali Chutney,Tomato Chutney, No Coconut Chutney, Indian Chutney,Tamilnadu Chutney, Red Chutney, Restaurant Tomato Chutney Thakkali Chutney, a delicious and easy to make chutney with tomatoes as main ingredients. It tastes great with both idli and dosa varieties.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Thakkali/ Tomato - 2
Pearl onion - 3
Red chili - 4
Chana dal - 2 tsp
Garlic - 2 pods
Carrot - 1/4 inch piece
Salt - to taste
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
To Temper 
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

Peal the onions & garlic. Cut the tomatoes and carrot into small pieces. Heat the pan with oil, add the red chili & chana dal  and roast till they dals are golden brown and keep it aside.

In the same pan, add the onions, carrots & garlic, saute it for 2 mins and then add the tomatoes & salt. 

Saute them for about 2 mins. Cover the kadai with lid and cook till they are soft and let it cool a bit. In the mean time, add the roasted chili & dal in a mixie jar and grind into coarse mixture.

Next add the tomatoes into jar along with the little water(i have used the washed water from the pan) and grind into smooth paste.

Temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into the chutney. 
Tasty Tomato Chutney is ready. Serve it with idli/dosa. 

For more side dish for idli & dosa, check out my collection.

Notes:

• Sweetness from the carrot helps to balance out the tomato tartness.
• Adding dal gives thickness to the chutney, otherwise the chutney would be runny.
• Sesame oil gives great flavor to the chutney.

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Beetroot Chutney | No Onion No Tomato Chutney

Beetroot chutney, a delicious and easy to make chutney with beetroot and other indian spices. When I heard about this chutney for the first time, I was skeptical how it would taste because of beetroot's strong earthy flavor. 

But I still gave it a try and for the first couple of my tries, it was not that good and eventually made few changes every time when I made and finally found the recipe of our liking. I have been making this chutney for a while now  and it tastes awesome with idli,dosa, paniyaram and almost all south indian breakfast/tiffin items. 

Beetroot is the main ingredient in the chutney therefore the taste and flavor greatly depends on it, so choose the good one like firm and bright colored beetroots. Next saute the beetroot well in medium low flame until the raw smell is gone completely otherwise the chutney has strong earthy flavor. Finally this chutney need a little more spiciness to balance out the sweetness from the beetroot, so add a few more chilies than the regular chutney.

Honestly, It's one of the delicious chutneys that i have made in recent times, totally love it with idli and dosa.   Do i need to say about how pretty the chutney color is ? It's vibrant and makes you mouth water !! Now let's check out on how to make this vibrant looking and delicious chutney.

If you like vegetable based chutney then you may like this chow chow/chayote chutney too.

 

Beetroot Chutney

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 3 
Recipe Category: Chutney | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Beetroot Chutney, No onion chutney,No tomato chutney,Side dish for idli and dosa Beetroot chutney, a delicious and easy to make chutney with beetroot and other indian spices.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Beetroot (small)- 1 
Coconut(grated) - 1/4 cup(tightly packed)
Chana dal - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Red chili - 4
Garlic - 2 cloves
Tamarind - 1 small piece
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
To Temper
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

First peel the beetroot and grate it finely. Heat a pan with a tsp of oil, add chana dal.

Next add red chili & garlic and roast till the dals are golden brown, remove from the heat and transfer into mixie/blender jar.

In the same pan, add the grated beetroot and saute till the raw smell of the beetroot leaves. Then switch off the flame and add the grated coconut and tamarind. 

Mix it well with the beetroot and let them cool a bit. First grind the dal mixture into coarse powder and then add beetroot mixture along with salt and water.

Grind them into smooth paste. Temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper " and add into the chutney. 

Tasty and colorful chutney is ready to serve. Serve it with idli or dosa. We had it with dosa. 

Related : How to make Restaurant style Tomato Chutney

Related : More Side dish for idli and dosa

Notes:

• Don't reduce the amount of dal, it gives nice flavor and taste to the chutney.
• Depends on the sweetness of the beetroot, you may need more or less of red chilies.
• Instead of grating the beetroot, you can chop them finely and saute. But grating the beetroot helps to cook them quickly.

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