Danmuji also known as Radish Pickle or Chicken-mu is a popular Korean Side dish made with Radish, vinegar, sugar and salt. The pickle itself is crunchy, slightly sweet sour which pairs well with Korean Fried Chicken, kimbap or jajangmyeon. Korean Radish Pickle (Danmuji) I still remember eating danmuji, also known as chicken-mu, with my Korean...
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Thankfully that Indian borage plant, that was generously shared by my husband’s cousin is happily growing. We have made so much chutney and rasam with these leaves.I have some more leaves to make new recipes. Since it is winter, the leaf growth will be slow. So I am salvaging some of the excess leaves to make a thokku and keep for a few days so the plant can be left alone to be its best. So here is omavalli thokku.
What is a thokku?
Thokku is a borderline between pickle and chutney. It is spicy, roasted in oil and has a lot ground vegetables with spices and seasoning. It is a long standing version when compared to a chutney. The common varieties are tomato thokku, gongura leaves thokku or mango thokku. It is different from a thogayal as there are hardly any lentils used in this recipe. Thokku is used in the place of a pickle in the South Indian meal. They taste great with thair saadam or as a dip for idlies and dosas.
Omavalli leaves: fresh fleshy leaves of Indian borage plant is a key ingredient in this recipe. They have a slight peppery flavour laced with an oregano smell. The leaves wont give much volume to the thokku but is key to the taste and flavour. We don’t have much swaps here without altering the flavour. However, you can make mint or coriander thokku the same way.
Shallots and garlic : since it is a thokku recipe is like to store and use both for rice based meals and for idly dosa breakfasts, I add shallots and garlic for flavour. These also provide a good fragrance along with the omavalli leaves.
Tomato:here is volume and sourness that is needed for the thokku. Fresh tomatoes are the best. However, they are not the best at the moment in season so plain canned one will make the cut. You can choose just plain ones or the ones that are peeled and chopped. It is important to make sure they don’t have any salt or seasoning added to them.
Tamarind: to pack in a thokku punch you need a small lime sized ball of dried tamarind. You can swap this with about a teaspoon of prepared tamarind pulp.
Spices and seasonings: salty and spicy with a hint of sour is the aim of the best thokku. So let’s start with salt. You can use seasalt, table salt or the rocksalt crystals. My parents believe in rock salt. I have used generic salt from the supermarket.
For the colour and heat dry red chillies are used. I have chosen the bydgai variety to lower the heat index and just add flavour and colour. You can choose the variety you have at home for Indian cooking. Red chilli powder is fine to be used too. Paprika will not be useful, cayanne is ok.
Fenugreek seeds add a distinct aroma to the thokku. It is a usual ingredient in south Indian pickles.
Oil:sesame oil into a generous amount is needed to make this. The oil not only allows to cook and roast the thokku, but also acts as a preservative forming a layer on top. This cuts off aerobes and prevents the thokku from going moldy. Oil is added first at tempering and a second portion almost at finishing stages.
For tempering: mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry red chillies are needed for tempering the oil. I prefer to grind the curry leaves along with the omavalli leaves as i don’t get a lot here.
Though the ingredient list was a bit long, the making steps are simple. Slow cooking is the best hence the time taken is a bit for the best results.
Prep the ingredients: wash, drain and check the Indian borage leaves. Peel as set aside shallots and garlic to go with the blend. I have used canned tomatoes, however you can use fresh ones to make the blend.
Grind the mix:into the blender add the shallots,garlic, curry leaves, omavalli leaves, tamarind, chillies and fenugreek seeds. Add the tomatoes and blend to a smooth paste.
Tempering: add the half the quantity of sesame oil into the deep pot and set on medium heat. Add mustard seeds,dry red chillies and fenugreek seeds to it and let the mustard splutter.
Slow cooking: once the mustard seeds crackle, add the blend paste. Mix well so the the oil mixes in well. Add salt, asafoetida, pepper powder and slow cool this on a low heat. Mix intermittently and as it thickens add the rest of the oil. Cook it the oil starts showing up on the surface. Keep mixing and cooking till it is like a paste. At this stage the thokku is ready.
Storing: Remove from heat and cool it down. Transfer to dry bottles and once completely cooled, press down a bit so the oil layer is on the top covering the paste. Seal and store in a dark corner of the pantry.
The reason I store thokku is because you can spice up a lot of lunch box ideas within minutes. So here are my best combos.
The thokku stays well for upto three months. Ensure you transfer them warm into clean, dry glass bottles.
If you have made a huge batch remove a small portion into a smaller bottle to use often.this helps to reduce contamination of the bigger stock.
Use a dry spoon to remove a serving of pickle and don’t leave the pickle open for long.
Here are a few ideas that you can make and keep for a long while. Click on each of these highlights to take you to the respective recipe.
If you have not grown an Indian borage plant,I highly recommend one. They don’t rely on your green thumb,hardy and live well. In addition to making them as food the leaves can be seeped as tea.
When you have a lot of leaves, try this recipe and let us know what you think.
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Vengaya killu vadam or onion vadam is a flavourful crispy side to your simple Indian meal. Made in summer, this vadam stays good for the whole year and is absolutely loved during the rainy months. Try it?
Since our household is divided with respect to love for the allium family we end up with excess of onions during some grocery runs. When the sun was blazing (back to gloomy autumn now) i made a batch of vengaya killi vadam to use up the onions. With pouring rains last week, the weather was just about cozying up Netflix and chill kind of feel. So we fried a few of these as snacks. Apparently now they are no onion haters for this form of sun dried fryums. So here is the recipe for you.
Killu vadam is a version of the old method of making sun dried grain preserves where the cooked batter is pinched off and placed and small bits to dry rather than being extruded. Since this is fairly easy and of less washing, it seems to do a lot more of these than extruded ones. When you add shallots or onion as flavoring to the batter and then pinch off bits to dry then you get vengaya killu vadam.
Vengaya vadagam or thalippu vadagam is a very different preparation made to be used in curries rather than being fried to eat on the side of a meal or as snack. This is usually made with urad dal, chillies, curry leaves and lots of ground onions. However the vengaya killu vadam is a version of rice vadam with onions to flavour it.
Onions: Indian onions are pale pink and not as intense as the Spanish ones. They are perfect for this recipe. However, if that is not available use the Spanish reds. If none, the yellow one is fine (it is a bit sweeter). If you get shallots that is a much better alternative. I have tried a small batch with spring onions however, the flavour did not really come through.
For the vadam maav: the vadam maav mix in this case is one that you want to puff up and fry fast as the onions can burn easily. So, I use raw white rice (ponni) and sago pearls. I prefer these in equal ratio as that gives the best results.
Spices and seasoning: I prefer to use red chilli powder and salt. You can use chilli flakes, or even crushed green chillies to make this recipe.Cumin seeds taste good to add to the mix.
Soaking for the vadam maav: for this recipe we take an equal proportion of rice to sago.wash the rice till it runs clear and soak it for 4 hours. Wash and soak the sago separately.
Grinding the batter: Into the blender add the soaked rice, sago, salt red chilli powder (or green chillies) and blend into a smooth paste with enough water. Let this be in a pouring consistency.
Cooking the batter: Once the thinned out batter is ready, pour this into a deep pot set on low heat and keep mixing till the batter cooks and thickens. This is a slow process that is going to take time. Be watchful as it thicken as it will catch the bottom easily. You can add a bit of oil to help you mix well at this stage. Also, be mindful that the batter will splutter a lot and easily burn you as they bubble up.
Adding the onions: Wash peel and finely chop the onions.Once cooked the batter is fairly thick. Mix in the chopped onions and leave it covered for 10 minutes.
Drying: the batter after resting would have extracted some of the juice of the onions and flavour it. Mix well. Spread out some plates and brush them with oil ( sesame oil). When lukewarm,wet you hands in water and pinch of bits of the thick batter on to he plates. Place the plates in hot sun. In the evening, remove from sun, pull off the pieces from the plate and flip them over. Cover with a thin cloth and leave indoor in an airy part of the house. repeat the sun process for a couple of days till the center of the killu vadam also turns glassy and crisp. Once completely dry, Store in an airtight container.
Frying: In a frying pan add oil and let then come to a medium heat. Add a small piece of the vadam and check it it rises up easily and sizzles well. The oil is ready at this stage. Fry a few pieces at a time till the sizzling stops so as to have the center also cooked well. Remove from he oil, drain and serve with meals.
When it comes to vadams unlike vattal you don’t have to restrict them to meals. They are wonderful teatime snacks and can replace popcorn too.
In classic meal sense, onion vadam tastes awesome with parippu saadam, lemon rice , shallot rice or pongal.
They can accompany any curry bowl too.
Since these are sundried, storing it right is key to ensuring they don’t get spoilt and can be used throughout the year.
The dried vadam can be sealed in airtight boxes, preferably with a paper tissue lining. You can pack them in double zip lock bags for space saving storage.
When ready to use, remove the quantity you need. I don’t prefer to put back the left over to avoid any accidental moisture. You can save them separately in a bottle to use it later.
Once fried (or air fried) these vadams stay great for a week in storage container retaining their crunch.
The vengaya vadam recipe is vegan. It is a great treat for anyone who is going dairy free,nut free or even gluten free.
We are slowly experimenting and building up a collection.So far we make
Sago vadam
Avalakki sandige
And leftover rice vadam
Hope these come handy for you too.
Making vadams and vattals seems like a long process. however,they are tacklable if you do small batches and like me resort to killu vadams than elaborate settings. When you try out this onion vadam recipe do let us know in the discussion below how it turned out for you.
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Till the covid lock downs came i never realised my food tastes really good coz amma send the bases needed for the nice meal. So the sambhar podi, rasam podi, vattals and vadams needed to make a south Indian meal all were perfect as amma made them. This lack of skill really was a big gap that I couldn’t help learning to bridge. With ammas guidance vattals were the first try, then the sago vadams and then slowly trickier ones like mor milagai. This year as I was making some of these recipes I remembered to take images of mormiliagi to share with you.
Sundried chilli pickle made in south Indian homes and served with lunch or dinner. These chillies literally are translated as buttermilk chillies. The chillies are marinated in traditional buttermilk. This infuses the flavours of the yogurt, tenderises it and reduces the heat of the chillies. The marinated chillies are sundried and the stored. To add to a meal, these are deep fried.
The mor milagai vattal doesn’t require much, just three ingredients.
Chillies: green chillies are the main ingredient of this recipe. Ideally slight plump but spicy chillies are used for the recipe. However, you can use jalapeno or Serrano peppers too to make this recipe. Slightly plump thin walled chillies are the best as they dry fast and are delicious.
Traditional yogurt :natural set yogurt is what makes this recipe best. Ideally slightly sour yogurt is preferred as it makes the chillies less intense after marinating. Churn the yogurt with a bit of water to aid in the marination.
Salt: crystal salt or table salt is best to use here. You don’t need anything fancy.
This is probably the part that is going to test your patience and bit.
Sun dried vattals and vadams are best stored in a dry box with a tight lid and away from moisture. When removing some for use, ensure your hands are dry. In about 3 to 4 months it is best to sun the vattal again so it remains crisp and moisture free.
Once the yogurt cured chillies are completely dry, you can prep fry them in hot oil as needed for the meals. Alternatively you can airfry them too.
Fried mor milagai can be served with papads in any South Indian meal. Commonly paired with Thair saadam, koozhu , or ulundhu saadam, it provides a crunch and a heat kick to these nutrients dense lunches.
The mor milagai vattal is a perfect addition to the South Indian tempering when making poriyal too as it is slightly less pungent than the dried red chillies.
Mor milagai vattal is a traditional South Indian recipe that few make at home. It is not hard, but a slow task so keep up the patience and try atleast once. Let us know in the discussion below how your batch turned out with our recipe. Share the idea with friends and family.
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The sun-dried mango is a unique traditional preserve that is utilized as a pickle or as a component of curries and rasam. It is a summer tradition to make these maanga vattal. Try out this as my mother teaches me to make them.
One of the first things I ask for as soon as I drop my bags at Mum is for maanga vattal. This time was no different. With mango trees surrounding the house, these sundried mango pieces are a spicy quick treat that amma keeps with her hundred-odd varieties of pickles. When she said she had none in stock at this time I was a bit disappointed. I am sure she spotted it too. The next day there was a small basket of raw mangoes ready. So here we are capturing how the dried mango vattal is made. Win-win, I get the vattal and the learning of making it. Sharing the recipe here for you too to save and use when green mango is in season for you.
Raw mangoes- Sour green mangoes are specifically chosen to make sundried mangoes. the variety we have here is called “pulian” which is a local favourite for its extreme sourness. these are picked fresh from the tree using net baskets to prevent them from falling down and damaging.
Salt – Amma will not agree if it is not crystalline salt. She disapproves of the refined table salt as it has no flavour!! I agree, the minerals make the flavour better.
Chillies the chilli used in this recipe is for the pickle flavour. You can make salted pieces too. The heat is usually from dried and powdered Serrano peppers. If not use cayenne powder.
Once the mangoes are chosen break off the stem and wash off the stain that drains. Take care to protect your face as the stain causes burns. Slice off the flesh from either side of the mango seed. You can cut this into halves or quarters. The seed can be preserved as such or the side flesh can be cut away and dried.
Seasoning the mango pieces since it is a preserved form of mango, salt is the main preservative. Along with this chilli powder is added to provide spiciness and feel like a pickle. Once the salt and chilli are rubbed on the pieces. Leave this in the mixing bowl for a couple of hours so that the water from the mango is extracted with the salt.
3 to 5 days in the hot tropical sun is what makes the maanga vattal so perfect. The brined and seasoned mango pieces are arranged on a plate or clean cloth under the sun in a single layer. Try doing this early morning to avoid the sun glare. This will start drying and within a day the edges will curl up. Flip it over and dry it the next day. The pieces will shrink and roll as drying continues. After couple more days in the sun test if the centre is dry. When warm from the sun, the pieces will snap this is the best test for the drying process completed.
Once dried the maanga vattal shrinks to very small pieces. These can easily be stored in an airtight bottle in your pantry for up to a year. If the weather is a bit humid, make sure you redry it in the hot sun say once in three months.
To use remove the necessary pieces with a dry spoon and seal the bottle back again
The dried raw mango pieces are a fantastic side to give a spicy sour bite to simple meals, kanjis or koozhu. If you soak the pieces in a tbsp or two of warm water they soften to form a pickle.
Amma makes a fabulous vattalkozhambu curry with maanga vattal that we had blogged about a long while ago – Click here for the link.
I use the manga vattal she gives to make a quick rasam by boiling the same with excess water, crushed garlic, rasam powder, a shallot, curry leaves etc and seasoning to adjust. This is a thin rasam that is more like a soup broth than one to have with rice.
Try out making these maanga vattals in summer this year. there are a few other vattals and vadams w keep stock. the Sago papad, avalakki sandige, kumbalanga kondattam, thamarakizhangu vattal are some we have in stock. However, I am learning new ones this year from my mother. Will share them with you as I get them right. Try out this manga vattal if you get fresh raw mangoes and then try out the vattal kozhambu with it. Share us a review when you make these and rate the recipe with 5 stars. Subscribe so we can bring you the latest content or connect with us via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Stay on to explore more posts as I go back to help my mother.
Dry til chutney or ellu podi is a common accompaniment on the side of a home-style thali. This dry condiment is a melange of lentils and sesame seeds with spices. Make some of this vegan, gluten-free ellu podi to complement your meals.
Molagapodi or the dry chutney that is used with dosa or idly comes in many flavours like garlic chutney podi and dhaniya podi. This adds a lot of variety to the same breakfasts that we make day after day or the simple home-style lunch. Also, it is one with a fantastic shelf life, thereby a boon to providing some relief to busy mornings. Here is another one that is handy, ellu podi.
Sesame seeds are one of the tiniest ingredients that are common in the Indian kitchen. In fact, it is one of the hardest to harvest due to its size too. In the Asian markets, both black and white seeds are available. Both varieties of oil-rich seeds are rich in iron and calcium. Black sesame seeds are explored for their ability to reduce oxidative stress.
The polishing process at times removes the edible outer coating of the sesame seeds. This is the Hulled sesame seeds. If the outer coat is intact, it is unhulled. Nutritionally they are not very different. In addition, both hulled and unhulled seeds are equally edible roasted or raw. The hulled ones are brighter white and the unhulled white sesame seeds are slightly browned.
Sesame seeds- for this recipe I have used unhulled white sesame seeds. You can use black ones too and the podi looks much darker in colour. Upon roasting the sesame seeds have pop slightly and release the oils. upon grinding if the til chutney looks too oily roast some more of the lentils and adjust to form a dry powder.
Black gram dal- Urad dal or ulundu parippu is the base of most molagapodis. The skinned version is roasted and powdered. If using black sesame seeds, you can use the skinned black ones too. Roast well till they turn golden or aromatic.
Chickpea Dal-Bengal gram or kadala parippu is roasted separately and powdered with the urad dal. These two form the lentil base for most molagapodis. Roasted till slightly deeper brown the dal is crunchy and easy to powder.
Curry leaves- you can’t miss out on the karivepelai to give the classic ellu podi aroma. Add a handful if you have one. Dried ones will work well too, slightly roast before powdering.
Red chillies: depending on the spice levels you prefer can use a couple of different varieties here. The bydige or Kashmir red chilli adds a deep red colour without adding all that heat. Whereas the Guntur varieties give lighter red colour with a lot more pungent heat packed in. The ellu podi in the picture has bydige as I am not a huge fan of the heat.
Salt: Seasoning with salt is an absolute must to flavour and keep a good shelf life for the powder.
On the first day, the salt doesn’t flavour well as the fresh ground chillies take over the flavour. However, taste test the next day to adjust the salt levels as by now the lentils will start absorbing the flavours and the pungent heat is slightly toned down.
Roasting: dry and slow roasting of each ingredient ensures that the lentils are cooked and also that they can be powdered well. The sesame seeds crackle when roasted releasing the oil needed to bring the powder together. Each ingredient has a different time to roast, so have to be done separately.
Grinding: A spice mill or a coffee grinder can powder the spice mix. Powder the lentils and seasoning separately and then mix them well together. At times the sesame seeds will become mushy upon grinding as they release a lot of oil. Add a tablespoon or two of the lentil mix and grind further to reduce the stickiness.
The til chutney will become rancid if exposed to air much faster. If you are making a batch store it in an airtight bottle on the countertop for about 15 days. Use a dry spoon to serve it. If keeping for a bigger batch keep it in the fridge to slow down the loss of flavour.
With lunch thali- The dry til chutney can replace the thogayal in the classic south Indian thali meal. It provides a lovely pickle kind of side to add flavour to the dishes.
With idly and dosa- Just like using molagapodi, Ellu podi can be used to dip the idlis and dosas to have. You can add a touch of oil to make a paste that can be smeared on the idlies.
Make a thogayal- Add two or three tbsp of warm water to about the same quantity of til chutney powder and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. This will form a thick soft chutney. Further you can dilute it with water if needed.
In variety rice- Just like we make pickle masala rice, sprinkle the chutney podi on the stirfrying leftover rice and make a delightful ellu rice. You can add a tempering of mustard seeds and garnish with coriander leaves to make it more flavourful.
In parathas- Add a tablespoon of til chutney to the atta before kneading it and mix well. This gives a unique flavour to the paratha when cooked, yet cannot be seen much.
Add to sandwiches and wraps– Use the til chutney in your rolls, wraps and sandwiches as this dry spice mix will add flavour without going soggy. Add cooked and drained beans, herbs, or a basic salad to the wrap to make it filling. Smear a bit of the paste-like ellu podi on the slices of bread and make a basic tomato-cucumber sandwich, it tastes amazing.
The dry til chutney recipe is added to the A_Z collection of recipes for the Alphabet T. Sesame seeds are Til in Hindi and this long-stay chutney is what I chose to showcase.
When you make this ellu podi, tag us or share with us how you like it. Leave us a comment with a 5-star rating to tell us how it is, we would love to hear from you. Stay subscribed as this year we will try our best to bring you a lot more recipes. Stay connected and see you again soon.
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