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.

Ingredients to make the omavalli thokku

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.

Lets make Indian borage pickle.

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.

What pairs well with omavalli thokku?

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.

• I like the lunchbox with thokku rice and cauliflower mezhukkuperatti. As a fusion I make thokku pasta with loads of vegetables. I use a spoon of thokku in stirfries and kadamba poriyal.
• As a classic sit down meal, steamed rice with kootu, some vattal or vadam and this thokku is a soulful end to a massive week.
• Dont limit the thokku to just home meals. Try a wrap with baked veggies and the thokku spread on the wrap. Ooo, yum!!

How to store Indian borage pickle?

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.

Other pickle ideas

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.

• Green pepper pickle
• Gooseberry pickle
• Mango fenugreek pickle
• Ginger pickle

Stay connected

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.

What is vengaya killu vadam?

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.

How is vengaya killu vadam different from vengaya vadagam?

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.

Ingredients to make onion vadam

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.

Lets make vengaya killu vadam

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.

How to use this onion fryums?

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.

Storage and  meal prep.

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.

Is this recipe vegan?

The vengaya vadam recipe is vegan. It is a great treat for anyone who is going dairy free,nut free or even gluten free.

Other vadam ideas from our blog

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.

Stay connected

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.

What is mor milagai?

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.

Ingredients to make mor milagai

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.

Let’s make yogurt cured chilli

This is probably the part that is going to test your patience and bit.

• Wash and clean the chillies and pat them down with a kitchen towel.
• Trim the stalks with a scissors so you a centimeter above the stalk.
• Slit the chillies and set them aside.
• In a jar mix together yogurt water and salt.
• Shake it up till it becomes evenly incorporated.
• Soak the slit chillies in this mix. Shake up the mix well and leave it overnight to soak.
• Drain the chillies the next day morning and dry the chillies in sun. Place the remain liquid in fridge.
• In the evening, place the partially dried chillies back in the buttermilk solution.
• Dry them again the next day.
• This process repeats t0 about 3 to 4 days till the buttermilk milk mix is almost over. And the chillies semi dry.
• For the next couple of days, sun dry the chillies till they are crisp.
• Once well dried, store in air tight bottles.
• To deep fry, heat oil in a small wok. Once the oil is hot or sizzles when a small piece of the chilli is dropped in it, place 3 to 4 chillies at a time and roast till it us crispy.
• Drain from the oil and the chillies are ready for your meal.

Storing the sundried chillies

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.

How to use the mor milagai vattal?

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.

Serving ideas for mor milagai

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.

Other sundried vattals from our blog 

Sago fryums

Lotus root vattal

Mango vattal 

Kumbalanga vattal 

Stay connected

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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