Prawn Thokku, a delicious and flavorful masala made from the prawn and the exotic Indian spices. It tastes great as a side dish for rice and rasam combo. It's so easy to make with just a handful of ingredients  and the taste is simply awesome. 

Though i eat prawns regularly at restaurants, making them at home has never been a thing until a year ago. I thought cleaning prawns would take a lot of time so never attempted to cook at home. 

Now that my little one likes prawns a lot, i jumped in to cook the prawns at home because you know that the prawns available at Indian restaurants here are mostly too spicy or/and oily. Hence i prefer to give him home cooked prawns.

Like me, if you're new to cook the prawns at home, i highly recommend you  give this recipe a try . It's such a beginner friendly recipe and i guess no one can mess up this recipe. For the past few months, this prawn thokku has been a regular in our weekend lunch menu. 

As i said earlier, i usually make prawns for my little one so the spices are very mild but you can adjust the spices as per your liking. Here are some key points to make yummy prawn thokku

• Make sure to use coconut oil for this thokku, it gives a wonderful flavor and taste to the thokku.
• Adding a lot of onions and sauteing them well add more taste to the thokku so be generous with the onions.
• Make sure to cook the masala till you can see the oil around the edges before adding the prawns.
•  Once you add the prawn, don't cook for a long time, it will make the prawn rubbery.

For those who live in Canada, currently i'm buying the prawns from the T&T store and i prefer the shelled prawns over the unshelled prawns and i do the un-shelling and deveining the prawns at home. 

It's a little bit tricky to get the knack of cleaning the prawns quickly. I had tried a few methods of cleaning prawns and found the fork method is quite easy and have been following it for a couple of months now. You can google it on how to do it. 

Ok, now let's check out how to make this delicious prawn thokku.

Prawn Thokku | Spicy Prawn Masala

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Prawn thokku, Spicy prawn masala, Indian prawn masala Prawn Thokku, a delicious and flavorful masala made from the prawn and the exotic Indian spices. It tastes great as a side dish for rice and rasam combo.

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

Ingredients

Prawn (unshelled & deveined ) - 250 gms

Onion (medium size ) - 1

Tomato( medium size )  - 2

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Cumin Seed - 1/2 tsp

Fennel Seed - 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 & 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chili powder - 3/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Coriander leaves - a few

Procedure

First clean the prawn twice or thrice in the water. Before the final wash, add a little bit of turmeric powder in the prawn, mix well and then wash & keep it aside.

Heat a thick bottomed pan with coconut oil, add the cumin seed and the fennel seed, let them splutter.

Then add the finely chopped onions and saute till they are translucent.

Next add the ginger garlic paste and saute till it's aromatic and then add the finely chopped tomatoes, all spices(turmeric, red chili and coriander powder) and salt.

Give it a good mix and then cover the pan with lid cook till the tomatoes are mushy. 

Next add the prawns and mix it with the masala and cover the pan with lid and cook the prawn for 8-10 mins or until it's done. 

Finally add the pepper powder and the finely chopped coriander leaves. Give a good mix and then switch off the flame.

Delicious Prawn Thokku is ready.

Related: How to make South Indian Style Salmon Fish Curry 

Notes:

• If you have curry leaves, add a spring while sauteing the onions,  it gives a nice aroma.
• Coconut oil gives a great flavor to the thokku, so i  highly recommend to use it.

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Kothamalli Thokku, a delicious and flavorful condiment made from the fresh coriander leaves and some Indian spices. This thokku tastes great with tiffin items like idli, dosai or as condiments for south indian meals especially it tastes amazing with curd rice and sambar rice. 

Last year, when i had kothamalli/ coriander leaves in our garden, i started to make this thokku with the abundant coriander leaves harvested during the season.  As of now, I have been making  this thokku  for almost a year repeatedly.  It's such a hit at my home !

If you like coriander flavor a lot then i would highly recommend to give this thokku a try and i'm sure that you will simply love it and it's going to be a staple in your house just like ours.

Now let's check out  how to make Kothamalli Thokku/ Coriander Pickle.

Kothamalli Thokku | Coriander leaves pickle

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 4 
Recipe Category: Condiments | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Kothamalli Thokku, Coriander leaves Thokku, Coriander leaves pickle Kothamalli Thokku, a delicious and flavorful condiment made from the fresh coriander leaves and some Indian spices.

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

Ingredients

Coriander leaves - 1 small bunch

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Red chili - 4 

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Tamarind - 1/2 inch piece

Jaggery - a small piece

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

To Temper 

Oil - 1 tbsp 

Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Heat the pan with 1 tsp of oil and then add the red chili, fenugreek seed and ginger slices. 

Roast till the red chilies are brown.  Add the tamarind and let it sit in the heat for a couple of mins and then transfer into the mixie jar. In the same pan, add the coriander leaves(don't discard all the stems, thin stems are okay for this recipe and it gives a nice texture to the thokku).

Saute till the coriander leaves shrinks. Switch off the flame and let it cool down. 

Once the roasted mixture is cooled down, add a piece of jaggery  into mixture and grind into coarse. Then add the coriander leaves and salt. 

Grind them into coarse paste. Now for the tempering, heat the oil in a pan and then add the mustard and urad dal, once the mustard starts to crackle add the kothamalli thokku and saute for a couple of mins. 

That's it, Delicious Kothamalli Thokku is ready. Cool down completely and then store it in airtight container.

Notes:

• It stays well for upto 10 days in the refrigerator.  
• If you add more oil, then you can store it at room temperature as well. 
• When you make this thokku in  smaller quantities , you don't need to add a lot of oil for tempering.
•  Adding more oil helps to preserve the thokku for a longer time. 

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Egg Thokku, a simple and delicious accompaniment made from the boiled eggs. It can be served as side dish for all types of pulao, biryani, meals or even with chapati/roti too. It's one of our favorite way of eating eggs and it's good for lunch boxes too. 

If you have followed my instagram page , you might knew that how many times i have packed this egg masala for ST's lunch box. So far he never get bored of this and keep on asking for making them whenever possible. 

One time, i had shared quick story  on how to make this on my instagram page . Many requested  the full recipe so here is the detailed post for this simple dish.
Now coming to the recipe, if you have boiled eggs in hand, within 10 mins, this muttai thokku will be ready. Take your time and saute the onions well, that will give that nice color & taste to this masala. Here in today's recipe, i have used curry masala powder since i was preparing as accompaniment for my mushroom biryani. 

But when i make the same as accompaniment for sambar / rasam rice, i would go for sambar powder to spice it up. So it's really up to you, what flavor you're looking for and you can use the spices accordingly. Now let's check out the recipe.

Egg Thokku | Boiled Egg Masala | Muttai Masala

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Egg Thokku, Muttai Thokku,Muttai Masala, Egg Masala Egg Thokku, a simple and delicious accompaniment made from the boiled eggs. It can be served as side dish for all types of pulao, biryani, meals or even with chapati/roti too.

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

Ingredients
Boiled Egg - 2 
Onion - 1/2 
Tomato - 1/2 
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/4 tsp
Curry masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Curry leaves - few 
Coriander leaves - few
Oil -1 tsp

Procedure

Boil the egg and keep it ready, check out here on how to boil eggs perfectly. Cut the onion into thin slices and tomato into small pieces. Heat the kadai with oil, add the onions and curry leaves with pinch of salt. 

Saute till the onion become translucent and then add the tomatoes and spices(turmeric, red chili, curry masala powder) & salt.

Cut the boiled egg into halves and keep it ready. Cook till the tomatoes are mushy and the raw smell of the spices are goes off. 

Place the yolk side of the egg on the masala and cook it for 2 mins and then gently flip & cook the other sides too for 2 mins. Finally add the chopped coriander leaves on the top.

Tasty and spicy Egg Thokku is ready.

Related:How to make Egg Dum Biryani

Related:How to Boil Eggs in Instant Pot

Notes:

• Instead of curry masala powder, garam masala or sambar powder can also be used.
• Adjust the spices as per your liking.
• Boiled eggs shouldn't  be over done, soft boiled eggs would be great for this recipe
• Don't cook the eggs for long time in masala, it should be rubbery.

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Mango Sweet Pachadi | Mango Thokku | Mango Pachadi

Mango Sweet Pachadi/Thokku, a sweet, sour & spciy thokku made from the raw mangoes. When i was kid, i was so crazy about this mango pachadi and i kept on insisting Amma to make this whenever i saw raw mangoes in the kitchen. 

It tastes best with curd rice, but i like to have as it is just like jam 😄. Now i think that it's kind of like jam,you can spread this on chapathi,roti or even on dosa and have it as rolls, it would be delicious for sure.
To make delicious thokku, you should balance the sourness from the raw mango, so depends on the sourness of the mango, you may need more or less of red chili powder and jaggery. 

The mangoes that i have used here have mild sourness, if your mangoes have more sourness, increase the red chili powder than the quantity mentioned here or vice versa.So what you're waiting for?Try this delicious thokku when mangoes are in season.

Mango Sweet Pachadi

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Mango Sweet Pachadi, Mango Pachadi,Mango Thokku Mango Sweet Pachadi/Thokku, a sweet, sour & spciy thokku made from the raw mangoes.

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

Ingredients
Raw Mango(thinly sliced) - 2/3 cup
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste 
Jaggery powder - 2 tbsp
To Temper
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

Peel the mango and sliced into thinly.Heat a kadai with 1 cup of water and bring to boil, then add the sliced mangoes.

Let it cook, once the mangoes becomes soft, add the turmeric,red chili powder and salt and cook till it becomes mushy.

Once the mango becomes mushy and thick, add the jaggery powder and mix well.

Finally temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into the mango pachadi.

That's it,Sweet and Sour Mango Pachadi is ready.

Related : How to make Spicy Raw Mango Thokku

Notes:

• If you don't want to make it as more sweet, then reduce the amount of jaggery.
• Depends on the sourness of the mango, you may need more or less of red chili powder.
• It stays well for more than a weak in refrigerator.
  

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Tomato Thokku | Thakkali Thokku | Tomato Preserves

Thakkali Thokku, a delicious,spicy and tangy condiment made from the tomatoes. It stays well for days at room temperature or even weeks in the refrigerator. It's one of our family favorites and we love to have it with idly, dosa,chapathi and with curd rice.

Since it stays well at room temperature , i would prefer this to pack this tomato thokku along with chapati/idli on our first day of any trip. The day before the trip itself, I used to prepare this and keep it in the refrigerator, so it comes handy on the early morning trip packing. 
When we were in Hosur, i had prepared this tomato thokku a lot in tomato season. In Hosur farmer's market, when tomatoes were in season, the price would be so cheap,i remember that it was Rs 5 per kg or sometimes 3 kg for 10 Rs. 

At that time, i would make this thokku atleast once in a week and we had it along with all three meals in a day. 
Now,let's see how to make this delicious thokku. For this recipe, i shot a little video for demonstration. Have a look and share your thoughts.

Tomato Thokku | Thakkali Thokku

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 1 cup 
Recipe Category: Preserves | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Thakkali Thokku, Tomato Thokku, Thokku, Thakkali Urugai, Tomato Pickle Thakkali Thokku, a delicious,spicy and tangy condiment made from the tomatoes. It stays well for days at room temperature or even weeks in the refrigerator.

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

Ingredients
Tomato - 4 
Garlic - 6
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and then peel the garlic.

Cut the garlic into small pieces, put the tomatoes into the mixie jar and grind into smooth paste.

Heat a kadai with oil, add the mustard, let it splutter and then add the garlic.

Add few curry leaves and saute it in oil for one min, then add the tomato puree.

Now add the spices(turmeric & chili powder) and salt.

Give a good mix and then let it boil, once it comes to vigorous boil, keep in medium flame and cover the pan with lid and cook till it becomes thick.Stir in between to avoid sticking at the bottom.

Finally add the jaggery and fenugreek powder and cook till the oil oozes out from it. Switch off flame.Let it cool completely and store in air tight container.

Tasty Tomato thokku is ready to serve.

Related: How to make Mango thokku 

Notes:

• If you have small  garlic pods, then no need to cut,use as it is.
• It stays well for 2 weeks at refrigerator.
• Once it comes to boil, cover the pan with lid, it helps to avoid spluttering.
• If you're plan to preserve for more than a month, then use little extra oil.
• Jaggery helps to balance the sourness and spiceness, so don't skip it.
• Fenugreek seed is roasted and powdered in motor & pestle to make fenugreek powder

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