Chayote/Chow Chow skin thogayal

I strongly believe in the saying "It's FUN to have Food but it's SIN to waste Food". Even from a cook's perspective its really painful to see the food we prepare putting so much effort to get wasted. But in practical day to day life we can't always make the exact quantity of any dish. Also sometimes we discard some edible parts unknowingly. Hence I decided to start posting some "left over recipes".My mom always says the skin of any vegetable is highly nutritious. This thogayal I learnt from her.It goes very well with idly dosas or as side dish for curd rice. Tastes great even when mixed with plain hot rice paired with any curry. Sharing the recipe and I hope readers find it usefull too!

Chow Chow skin Thogayal

Cuisine: Indian Category: Side dish Difficulty level: Easy Prep Time: -- Cook time: 10 mins Servings: 4

Ingredients Chow chow or Chayote skin From 1 big Chow Chow Grated coconut 2-3 Tsp Urad dal 3 Tsp flat Asafetida A generous pinch Dry Red Chili 6 Tamarind A small pinch Salt 1/2 Tsp flat Oil 1-2 Tsp To Temper Oil 1 Tsp Mustard 1/4 Tsp Urad dal 1/4 Tsp

Method             1.     Peel the skin of Chow chow and assemble all the ingredients. In pan add oil and roast the urad dal along with red chili, tamarind asafetida and grated coconut for few minutes. Once the dal is roasted well switch off and cool down the ingredients.      2.     Roast the chow chow skin with little oil for few minutes. The skin tend to get bit dark and start browning at the edges. Cool down and add all the roasted ingredients along with salt to the mixer. Grind to a thick paste by adding water little by little.      3.Temper with ingredients mentioned. Serve with rice or idly/dosas!!                                         Notes

·         Compound asafetida is highly recommended for thogayal. If you use powdered asafetida add it lastly after roasting other ingredients.      ·         Black urad dal with skin also adds great flavour. In case of non availability you can use ordinary urad dal too.       ·         Adjust spice according to your preferance.      ·         Tempering is optional and since we added Asafetida while roasting I didn't add while tempering.      ·         Fresh skin works best. I usually make kootu/ poriyal and make this thogayal evening for dosas.

I personally love it lot along with godumai dosai or rava dosai :).

Peanut Chutney

I learnt this chutney only after marriage. We usually pair Idly with coconut chutney, tomato thokku or sambhar. One day I got bored of all these and surfed in net for new chutney recipe and landed up in this chutney. We usually find it difficult to empty peanuts so I instantly liked the idea of making chutney  :). Did some minor variation according to our taste preference. Hope it helps you also!

Peanut Chutney

Cuisine: Indian Category: Side dish Difficulty level: Easy Prep Time: 15 mins Cook time: 5 mins Servings: 4

Ingredients Peanut/Verkadalai 1/4 cup Grated coconut 2-3 Tsp Channa dal 1 Tsp Ginger 1 inch piece Green Chili 3 medium sized Tamarind A small pinch Salt 1/2 Tsp flat To Temper Oil 1 Tsp Mustard 1/2 Tsp Curry leaves 1 spring Asafetida A generous pinch Preparation     1.     Soak tamarind in little hot water for 10 minutes. Chop the green chilli, ginger and coconut. Dry roast the peanuts for 2-3 minutes, cool down and discard their skin.

Method             1.     In pan add oil and roast the channa dal for 2-3 minutes in medium flame. Once the dal turns golden brown switch off and add this to mixer along with peanuts, ginger, green chili, coconut, tamarind and salt. Add water little by little and grind to a smooth paste. Temper with ingredients mentioned.     2. Enjoy with hot idly/dosa. Goes well with paniyaram too!!                                         Notes

·         You can use the skin less peanuts and make the process more easier.      ·         First grind to a smooth paste by adding little water. Then you can add more water according to your desired consistency.       ·         You can chop coconut to small chunks instead of grating. But make sure you don't add big pieces as they won't get ground.

I personally love to pair idly along with this chutney and idly podi :) !!! 

Tomato Onion Chutney with Coconut

This is a chutney which I learnt from a maid aunty who worked in our neighbour home. In our home we usually pair idly dosa with either tomato thokku/ idly podi/ coconut chutney. This aunty is a specialist in few dishes like brinji sadham, kuruma and this chutney. It tastes so yummy with idly and we even used to call this dish as "Sarasa Chutney" (by her name!). Though Idly is my favourite combo for this chutney it is basically an all rounder which goes well with dosa, upma pongal even paniyarams! Since it is essentially a mix of tomato, onion, coconut it gives lot of volume too. Do try it if you haven't made this type chutney so far :).  

Tomato onion chutney (with coconut)

Cuisine: Indian Category: Side dish Difficulty level: Easy Prep Time: -- Cook time: 15 mins Servings:  4

Ingredients Tomato 1 medium sized Small onion 6 Green chili 3 medium sized Grated coconut 4 Tsp Channa dal 1 Tsp Oil 1 Tsp Salt 1/2 Tsp To temper Oil 1 Tsp Mustard 1/2 Tsp Urad dal 1/2 Tsp Curry leaves 1 spring Asafetida A small pinch

Method     1.     In pan add 1 tsp oil and once it gets hot enough add channa dal along with onion and green chili. Saute for 2 minutes and then add chopped tomatoes and cook till they become soft.     2.     finally add the coconut and saute for 1 minute. Cool down the ingredients and grind to smooth paste by adding little water. Temper with ingredients mentioned.     3.     Yummy chutney is ready in a jiffy!

Notes      ·         If you don't have green chili you can replace with dry red chilies but the colour and taste may slightly differ.      ·         Coconut gives the sweet taste to this chutney hence do not compromise.      ·         First grind without water and later add water according to your desired consistency.      ·         You can replace small onion with 1 big onion. Just cube the onion and proceed.

Enjoy with any tiffen item of your choice :)