Thursday, May 31, 2007

Recipe: Pudina Chutney


It has been very long since I last posted on my blog. As I said earlier, I was too busy with doing up the new flat, arranging for the grihapravesham, packing to move to the new place and also visiting Kerala to attend my nephew’s upanayanam. There are so many things to write about, it boggles my mind. I don’t know where to start.

We also had to suffer an unbearable summer. Kerala was worse with higher humidity. By the time I was back, I had prickly heat all over the body. Luckily for us, we have started getting rains for the past one week and the temperature has come down. I hope the rains continue.

Before I go into the details of grihapravesham and Kerala trip, let me give the recipe for Pudina Chutney, which our younger son has been asking for sometime now. Though I gave him the recipe over phone, he said, it tasted more like “chilli chutney” when he made it.

Pudina (mint) has excellent medicinal properties. It relieves indigestion, biliousness, flatulence, iron deficiency anaemia and hence including pudina chutney in everyday meal is very good for health. Tea prepared with pudina leaves to which a tsp. each of lime juice and honey are added is an excellent cure for common cold, sore throat and that bloated sensation in the stomach after a heavy meal.

A face pack of fresh pudina leaves cures pimples and blackheads and is a very good moisturizer.

So here is the genuine recipe for the chutney.


Ingredients:

Pudina leaves(mint leaves) : 2 cups
Coriander leaves : 2 cups
Green chillies : 3 or 4 nos.(according to taste)
Tamarind or : size of a marble
Tamarind paste : 1 tsp.
Jaggery : 1 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Curry leaves and ginger: optional



Method:

Wash the pudina leaves and coriander leaves and green chillies in running water and wipe with clean towel to remove all the moisture.

If using tamarind, soak in 2 tbsp. of hot water. Grind all the ingredients together. Your tasty pudina chutney is ready. ENJOY!



It may look like a lot of quantity of leaves to start with and so don’t grind in a very big jar of the blender. Add little quantity at a time and with each grinding the leaves will settle down when crushed and the whole lot of leaves will go in a smaller jar, which will be more convenient to grind. In a bigger jar, once all the leaves settle down the grinding won’t be proper as the quantity will be very little.

This chutney goes well with chapatis, puris, dosa, idli and rice. This can also be used as a sandwich filling.

Pudina chutney can also be used as a side dish for Molkoottal.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Long timeout

It has been a long time since I posted, and it will be longer still before I get another chance to post. First we had Vishu, then we had to move our home, and now I'm off on to a family ceremony for my nephew's thread ceremony (pictures of Puthucode when I return!).

In the meanwhile if you folks can post comments about things you'd like me to write about, please do so, it will give me a good list to start off with when I get back.