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.

Vegetable side dish for meals or kai or kari amudhu varieties

1.       Vadhakal

(i)                  Karam potta vadakal

Vegetables like cabbage, beans, kothavarangai, avaraikai, sweet potato, boiled potato, karamani, pavakai and capsicum can be cooked in this way with less oil.  For those who have to avoid both oil and coconut can use this method.

Method:

Any one of the above vegetable – ½ kg

Cooking oil -1 tsp

Mustard – ½ tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Salt  -1tsp

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Chili powder -1tsp

Curry leaves

1. Wash and cut the vegetable in to small pieces. 
2. Heat the kadai. Add oil and add mustard seeds and asafetida. 
3. When the mustard seeds splutters, add curry leaves and fry for a second then add the cut vegetables and half a cup of water. Add salt and turmeric powder. 
4. Keep the pan closed. Stir now and then. Once the vegetable is cooked and there is no water left in the pan, add chili powder, mix well, switch off the stove and close the pan. Serve after a minute. 
5. To add a flavor, you can add curry powder (karamdhu podi/sambar podi) [refer curry powder recipe] after adding chili powder.
   
   
   

Tips:

·          Cabbage needs less salt and water.

·         Sweet potato and potato should be cooked separately in pressure cooker and no water should be added. It takes just 3 minutes to fry the cooked vegetable.

·         Capsicum needs less water and less cooking time.

·         Keep the pan open while cooking the green vegetables to retain the color.  

(ii)                  Thengai potta vadakal

vegetables like cabbage, avaraikai, beans, kothavarangai , vazhaikai, karamani, beetroot,carrot and cauliflower can be used for this type of side dish.

 

Ingredients:

Any one of the above vegetable - ½ kg

Oil- 1tsp

Mustard – 1tsp

Urid dal - ½ tsp

Red chili -1

Asfotida – a pinch

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Salt – 1tsp

Grated coconut – 1 karandi

Method (1) 

     1. Chop and cook any one of the above vegetable separately adding salt and   turmeric powder and salt. The excess water can be drained off. 

2. Heat the kadai, add oil, mustard and hinge. Once the mustard splutters, add urid dal, and red chili pieces.

3. Fry till the urid dal turns brown. Add curry leaves and cooked vegetable. 
Stir well and add the grated coconut. Keep it for a minute on the stove. 

Tips:

·         Binjal can also be done in this method.

·         Lady’s finger should be cooked in tamrind water.

·         Cabbage curry if done without turmeric looks attractive.

·         But we may lose the nutrients in this method as we drain off the water after cooking. To avoid this (except brinjal and lady’s finger), we can drink the water adding little pepper powder.

Method (2) 

     1. Heat the kadai, add oil, mustard and hinge. Once the mustard splutters, add urid dal, and red chilli pieces.
     2. Fry till the urid dal turns brown. Add curry leaves and chopped vegetable and ½  cup of water. Keep the pan closed. Stir occasionally. Water can be added if necessary. 
     3. Once the vegetable is cooked ( you can check by smashing a piece) add grated coconut and stir well. Keep it on the stove for 10secs.