SuvaiArusuvai - Veg Recipes of India

Another method to make Tamarind Paste at home, which can be substituted for pastes purchased at shops. This paste or the other  Tamarind Paste  which is made traditionally, eases the work while cooking. In this fast forward world one need to do things in a faster pace. These also help those who have doubts in their cooking or for those who are not so confident as to how things need to be done properly. Take a kg of tamarind, cover it with water, add 50 gms  kulambu/ sambar powder , 50 gms salt, 5-6 pinches asafetida, a spring curry leaves and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Strain out solids. Bottle the pulpy paste. Lasts for ever refrigerated. Use this in place of store bought paste for making the following

Ingredients: Tamarind paste - 1/2 cup Jaggery grated - 3 cups Roasted Jeera Powder - 2 tsp Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp Salt to taste Black salt - 1 tsp Garam masala - 1 tsp Method: Add 5 cups of water to tamarind paste and boil it in low flame for about 10 mins. Strain it through a seive and add jaggery, chilly powder, cumin powder, salt, garam masala and mix thoroughly. Cook again on low flame till jaggery dissolves completely and the mixture gets semi thick. Remove from flame. This chutney thickens even more when cold. Can be stored in an airtight container. The recipe stays good for about 3 months. When serving if it is thick can be thinned by adding a little warm water to it and mixed thoroughly. Great side dish for samosas, kebabs etc.

A great side dish for chats, samosas, tikkas and kebabs. Ingredients: Dry Grapes - 50 gms Dates - 50 gms Jaggery - 3/4th cup Tamarind Paste - 3 tbsp Garam Masala - 1 tsp Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp Cumin - 1 tsp Salt to taste Method: Dry roast cumin seeds in a pan and grind it to a fine powder. Cook grapes and dates in water. (Add the required quantity of water, which will make them soft and tender). Grind them to a fine paste using the same water. Add jaggery, tamarind paste, salt, garam masala, chilly powder, cumin powder and bring it to a boil.

Tamarind Rice have different varieties. The traditional Tamarind Rice can be made either as instant rice or using Pulikaichal.  Ingredients to make Instant Tamarind Rice:  Cooked Rice - 2 cups Gingely Oil - 1/4 cup Mustard - 1/2 tsp Bengal Gram Dal - 2 tbsp Ground nuts - 2 to 3 tbsp Cashewnuts - 10 to 12 nos Curry Leaves - 1/4 cup Red chillies - 2 to 4 nos Tamarind Paste - 6 tbsp Multi purpose Powder - 3 to 4 tbsp Powdered Salt - To taste Method to make Instant Tamarind Rice: Add 1 tbsp of gingely oil in a pan and when hot add the mustard seeds. When it splutters add it to the rice spread on a flat bowl. Mix well without damaging the rice. Add oil again in pan and fry the Bengal Gram, Ground nuts, cashew nuts, Red chillies and curry leaves to it. After sauteing it for a few minutes add the tamarind paste and bring it to a boil. Add Multipurpose powder and mix well. Add it to the rice and  add salt to it. Mix well without damaging the rice. Instant Tamarind rice is read

Preparing and storing Pulikaichal will help in making Puliyodharai easily whenever needed. Ingredients: Tamrind - 1 tennis ball sized Salt - (Better Rock salt) 1/4th handful or to taste Vendhayam(Fenu greek) - 1 tbsp Red chillies - 10 to 12 nos Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp Asafodeita - 1/2 inch piece Mustard seeds - 2 tspn Gingely oil - 1/4th cup Bengal Gram - 1/2 cup Groundnut (Raw) - 1/4 cup Curry Leaves - 1/4 cup Method:  Soak the tamarind in hot water and extract tamarind juice. The juice should be thick. This size of tamarind will give 2 to 3 cups of thick extact. (Alternatively around 12 to 14 tbspns of Tamarind Paste can also be used) Dry roast methi seeds. Fry 1/4 cup of Bengal gram in 1 tsp of gingely oil along with 6 Red chillies. Grind bengal gram and red chillies together with methi seeds and asafodeita to a fine powder. Heat pan and add gingely oil to it. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add the groundnuts to it and fry it till it turns crispy.

Ingredients: Tamrind Paste - out of 200 gms of Tamrind (close to 1 1/2 cups) Jaggery - 2.5 to 3 cups Jeera Powder - 2 tsp (Jeera roasted and ground to fine powder) Red Chilly Powder - 2 tsp Black Salt - 1 tsp Garam Masala - 1 tsp Salt to taste. Method to make Tamrind Chutney: Make tamrind juice to the paste by adding about 4 cups of water and cook for about 10 mins. Simmer the flame and add jaggery, chilly powder, cumin powder, salt, garam masala. Cook till the jaggery dissolves completely and the chutney becomes semi thick.This chutney thickens on cooling.

Ingredients: Tamrind Paste - 5 to 6 spoons (better thick paste) Red chilly - 20 (more if you want it more spicy) Salt - 1 tsp Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp Oil - 1 tbsp Method: Grind salt, cumin seeds dry and keep aside. Grind the tamrind and chillies together and to it add the powder and grind again to make everything blend finely. Use this paste to make sambar or rasam in a hurry