South Indian Lunch Recipes - Lunch Menu #5

Today's South Indian Lunch menu is from the Tamilnadu Region. Next to sambar we prepare kadayal recipes  like keerai kadayal, pasiparuppu kadayal, kollu masiyal, paruppu kadayal.... that means mashed dal and mashed greens to go along with rice for the lunch.

Mashed greens can be either prepared by using only greens or can be combined with dals like toor dal, masoor dal, etc. Mashed greens ( Keerai Kadayal ) with hot steaming rice and a dollop of ghee is a classic combo. Keerai Kadayal - keerai means greens and kadayal means mashing the greens with the help of a traditional wooden blender, in Tamil we call this as mathu. The menu today is Pasalai keerai kadayal, rasam, curd, simple potato fry.
Have a look at other South Indian Lunch Recipes 👉 here

White Rice
Pasala keerai Kadayal ( Mashed Red Vine Spinach with Dal )
Rasam
Potato fry
Curd

Pasala Keerai Kadayal


Ingredients :

• 30 to 40 leaves Pasala Keerai / Indian Spinach
• ( Pasala Keerai in Tamil. In English - Basella alba and also known as Malabar Spinach, Red Vine Spinach, Indian Spinach, etc..  )
• 10 no of Shallots or 1 Red Onion, medium-sized
• 4 Garlic cloves
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 4 dry Red chillies
• 2 tbsp cooked and mashed Toor dal/ split pigeon peas / Red gram
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp Oil

Preparation :

• Peel the shallots and roughly chop them.
• Wash the spinach leaves, roughly chop.
• Mash the garlic cloves with the help of a knife.
• Cook and mash the toor dal.

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan/ kadai, when hot add cumin seeds and allow it to crackle.

• Add dry red chillies and garlic cloves to it and fry for few seconds.

• Add the chopped shallots to it and fry till it turns a light golden brown colour.

• Then add the spinach leaves/ pasala keerai and salt, give them a good mix.

• Saute and cook until it is wilted, say about 3 to 5 minutes

• Then add the cooked dal and 1/2 cup of water and mix well.

• Cook till the water is absorbed.

• Transfer to a bowl for easy mashing or grind it in mixie or blender.

• With the help of wooden masher/ mathu, mash them.

• Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with hot piping rice and a dollop of ghee to it.

Paruppu Rasam | Dal Rasam | Lentil Rasam

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Dal water ( water from pressure cooked toor dhal or any lentil like green gram, horse gram, etc.. )
• 1 large Tomato
• Tamarind
• 1 tp Mustard seeds
• 1/8th tsp of Asafoetida
• 3 Dry Red Chillies
• 1 tsp Jeera / Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• Few Coriander Leaves
• Salt as required
• 1 tsp Oil

Preparation

• How to make Dal water for rasam - Pressure cook 1 cup of toor dhal( split pigeon peas  ) along with 2 cups of water.  When the pressure is released from the cooker, add 1 more cup of water an bring it to boil. Mix well and take out the water leaving the dal. reserve this water in a bowl. Use the remaining dal for making sambar.

• Tamarind extract: Soak the tamarind in warm water for 20 minutes. After soaking time, squeeze and extract the pulp Strain the mixture and reserve the tamarind water.

• Rasam Powder: Take cumin seeds and pepper, coarsely ground together with the help of ammikallu or mortar pestle. Mash the garlic too and keep aside.

Method:

• Heat oil in a chatti or saucepan or small kadai/ wok. When hot add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter.

• Add dry red chillies and asafoetida.

• Immediately add the prepared tamarind water/ extract, next add the tomato, here lightly mash the tomato in hand and smashed garlic cloves, cumin pepper grounded. Mix well.

• Let it boil for 2 to 3 minutes so that the raw smell goes off.

• Add the dal water, salt, and mix well.

• Once the water starts to boil, switch off the flame immediately.

• Finally add some coriander leaves, transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot with white rice.

Potato Fry

Ingredients

• 1 large Potato
• 1 tsp Red Chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• Few Curry Leaves
• 1 tbsp Oil
• Salt to taste

Method

• Cut potatoes into small bite-sized pieces ad keep aside.
• Heat oil in a non-stick pan, when oil is medium hot add chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
• Then add the potato pieces, curry leaves and mix well. Cook and fry the potatoes in low flame.
• Cook the potatoes for 10 to 15 minutes. Keep sauteing and fry the potatoes till roasted and cooked.