Veluthulli / Garlic chammanthi

Including Garlic to our diet through variety of dishes is a healthy practice. Garlic is generally good for our stomach and will help digestion.

INGREDIENTS:

• Grated coconut - 1 cup
• Garlic - 2 nos
• Red Chilly - 4 nos
• Curry leaves - 2 -3 leaves
• Salt to taste

PREPARATION METHOD:

• Crush all the other ingredients together.

Recommended Combination: Garlic Chammandi can be served with Kappa Puzhukku.

Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi Podi/ Dry Prawns Chutney Powder

Ingredients

1. Dry coconut powder or fresh grated coconut - 1.5 cup
2. Dry prawns - 1/2 cup
3. Pearl onion - 8 chopped
4. Ginger - 3 inch piece chopped or grated
5. Curry leaves - 2 - 3 sprigs (You can add as much as you want since it enhances the taste of this chutney powder)
6. Dry red chillies - 5-6 (You can add more if you want it very spicy)
7. Whole pepper corns - 15 - 20
8. Tamarind - Large goose berry sized
9. Salt - To taste

Method

1. Dry roast the dry prawns and keep aside.

2. Roast the grated coconut, pearl onions, ginger and curry leaves stirring frequently. Take care not to burn it. When it turns light brown, add the dry red chillies.

3. When the coconut turns brown add the tamarind, salt and roasted dry prawns. Stir-fry for a few more minutes and switch off.

4. When it cools down, grind in a mixer till you get a coarse powder.

UNAKKA CHEMEEN CHAMMANDHI

A good quality, cleaned and dried small shrimps are avaiable in the market now a days to make this delicious condiment, which will go so well with kanji / rice porridge or can be squished with some rice and had. In the past, chammanthi's are ground to chammanthi form using ammi kallu. But now in modern life style, blender / grinder will have to do. Using ammi kallu to preapare chammanthi, will brings out unique flavors, which a modern day grinder might not.

Ingredients

1 cup - Dried small shrimps
8 to 10 - Dried whole red chilies
1/2 cup - Freshly grated coconut
5 flakes - Garlic
small piece - Ginger
A small marble size - Seedless tamarind
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Heat a pan with little coconut oil, add dried shrimps, red chilies and on a low flame fry, taking care not to burn the ingredients till the shrimps are fried and cooked in that low flame. Take off the stove and cool.

2 ) Add to a blender / grinder, the fried ingredients, run the blender and powder the shrimp and chilies. Then add garlic, ginger, curry leaves, tamarind, coconut and salt to taste. Run the blender and grind all the ingredients well to a coarse mixture.

Serve as a side dish with kanji or rice.

Tomato Chammanthi

Ingredients :

Tomatoes - 2
Small onions - 7
Tamarind - a small gooseberry size
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Red chillies - 5
Curry leaves - a few
Coconut oil - 1 tblsp
Salt - to taste

Method :

1.Heat oil in a pan and add , peeled onions and red chillies and fry them till they change in colour

2.Now add the chopped tomatoes and fry for a while

3.Grind  the above with the remaining ingredients

4.Serve as side dish with dosa, idli or rice

Chuttaracha Chammanthi

Chuttaracha Chammanthi, also known as Chutta Mulaku Chammanthi literally means roasted (chutta) chillies (mulaku) chutney (chammanthi). It is an authentic kerala accompaniment to kanji (rice gruel) and is mostly seen as the common man's food. I especially love the flavour the roasted chillies give the chutney. And what's more, its oil free!

:

What I Used

Grated Coconut - 1 cup
Dried red chillies - 4
Shallots - 4
Garlic - 2 cloves (optional)
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Tamarind - half a lemon size
Salt - to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat a non-stick pan and roast the red chillies dry (without oil) till it reaches the stage just before burning.

2. Add the coconut, chopped shallots, garlic and coriander powder and roast for another 2 mins. The coconut will start getting brittle. At this stage, remove from fire.

3. Grind this mixture in very little water with salt and tamarind.

Ulli Chammanthi

I’ve blogged about an Onion chutney before,eventhough this one is also prepared with Onions , this is not a chutney,we call it Chammanthi.Chutneys and chammanthis are different,chammanthi is usually prepared in ‘Ammikkallu /Arakallu ‘ ( a variety of Mortar-Pestle), without adding any water.Here you can prepare it either in a small jar of an Indian mixer or in a wet grinder.This chutney goes well with Kappa/iddli.

Recipe follows …….

Ingredients :-

Shallots /Pearl Onions(Kunjulli) – 10 medium sized

Red Chillies/Green chillies – 5-6 (use it according to your spice level.Or else you can substitute 2-3 tsps of Chilli powder.You can also mix paprika with red chilly powder for a bright red color.)

Curry leaves – a sprig

Tamarind (Vaalan puli)- a gooseberry(nellikka) sized ball

Salt – to taste

Coconut oil – as needed

Method:-

Grind all the ingredients except coconut oil, together into a coarse paste.Season with coconut oil and serve.

Note :- Alternatively you can saute onions,curry leaves and chillies(only if you’re using red chillies/chilly powder,we dont usually fry green chillies ,it can be ground raw along with other ingredients) in a little oil before grinding.Rest of the procedure remains same

Manga (Mango) Chammanthi

This is a quick dish prepared with sour green mangoes,the more sour the best.I love to have this for dinner along with Kanji(rice gruel) and pappadam.

This is how I make my Manga Chammanthi…

Ingredients :-

Green mangoes sliced – 1 cup
(If you want you can peel off the skin,but usually it is prepared with the peel on)
Green chillies – 4-5(use it accordingly)
Shallots – 2
Ginger – 1/2 inch piece
Grated coconut- 1 cup
Salt – to taste

Method:-

Grind all the ingredients together in a wet grinder/small jar in the Indian mixer.If your mangoes are not sour enough add 1 tsp vinegar/lime juice while grinding.