Vegetable side dish -Podimas

Vegetables like potato and vazhakai can be used for podimas.

Urulai kizhangu (potato) podimas:

Method: 1
Ingredients:
Potato - ½ kg
Green chillies -2 or 3
Ginger - a small piece
Curry leaves
Lemon -  ½

Mustard - ½ tsp

Oil - 1tsp

Urid dal - ½ tsp

turmeric powder - a pinch

salt - 1 tsp

1.     Wash well and pressure cook the potatoes.
2.          Peel the skin and smash.
3.          Heat the pan, add oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida.
4.          Add urid dal after the mustard seeds splutters.
5.          Add chopped green chilies, chopped ginger and curry leaves after the urid dal turns brown.
6.          Add turmeric powder to the oil and then the smashed potatoes
7.          Add salt. Stir well. Keep it on the fire for 2 minutes.
8.          Squeeze lemon after it gets little cooled.

Method:2

Ingredients:

Potato - ½ Kg

Mustard seeds - ½ tsp

Oil - 3 tsp

Urid dal - ½tsp

Red chili - 1

Chili powder - 1tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - 1tsp

Asafotida - a pinch

Method:

• Follow step 1 to 4 from the 1st method.
• Follow step 5 except the green chilies and ginger. Instead add red chili pieces along with urid dal.
• Add salt and red chili powder finally. Sir well.

Vazhakai podi(mas)

Ingredients:
Vazhakai (Raw banana) - 2
Coconut oil -1tsp
Cooking oil - 1tsp
Mustard - 1/2  tsp
Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli - 1
asafoetida - a pinch
Ginger -  small piece
Green chili - 2
curry leaves
Grated coconut -2 tbs
Salt - 1tsp
Method:

• Remove a small portion of the top and bottom of the raw banana. Cut it into two pieces. 
• Place the pieces in the pan and add water till the pieces immerse. Boil the water. Turn the pieces after sometime.
• When the raw bana is half boiled (Do not cook too much), remove it from fire. Leave it to cool.
• Peel the skin and grate it using carrot grater.
• Grate giner and chop the green chilies.
• Heat the pan add cooking oil. Add mustard followed by urid dal, asafoetida and red chili pieces. Fry till urid dal turns brown. Add cocnut oil, green chilis, ginger and curry leaves and fry for a second.
• Add grated raw banana and salt. Stir well in low flame. Add grated coconut and stir well.

 Note: If the raw banana is over cooked the dish will become lump. So it should be half cooked. Once the skin turns dark, you can just poke with a knife and check.