Tomato lentil coconut milk soup (Thakkali pachadi)

This is a modified version of a recipe my mother used to make when we were kids. This goes well with salted cracked wheat porridge. The cracked wheat porridge is made by cooking cracked wheat in water with salt. A bowl of porridge was then served with a teaspoon of clarified butter and this gravy.
I added cooked lentils to the gravy to pack more nutrition into it.

Ingredients :

Red ripe tomatoes - 3-5
Green chillies        - 2-3 (chopped according to spice level)
Garlic                    - 3-4 cloves ( chopped)
salt                        - as per taste
Coconut milk        - 1/2 cup(thick)
Fresh dill              -  1 tsp (chopped fine)
Lentils                  - 1 cup (pressure cooked)
Water                    - as required

To season:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil                   - 1-2 tsps
cumin seeds    - 1 tsp


 Chop the tomatoes into small cubes. Heat a pan and add a tsp of oil. Once the oil is hot add the chopped garlic and green chillies. Saute for a couple of minutes and add the tomatoes. Let them cook for 5-10 minutes until they become a little thick in consistency. Now add the cooked lentils, salt and water and cook covered for another 5- 10 minutes. Now lower the heat and add the thick coconut milk. Switch off stove once the liquid form small bubbles and before it boils. Once it cools down a little add the chopped dill leaves.
Heat a small pan and add 1 tsp of oil. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds to the hot oil. Once the mustard seeds splutter add this to the soup.

The soup can be had as such or with rice/chapathi/bread/Porridge.

Tips:

1.To cook the lentils , add 2 cups of water to 1 cup of lentils and pressure
   cook for 2 whistles.
2. To cook lentils on stove top, soak them for a couple of hours and cook on
    stove top for about 45-60 minutes.
3. You could use green tomatoes or tomatillos instead of red tomatoes.

Vegetable flat rice cakes ( Nombu adai)

These rice cakes are made on the occasion of "Kaadayain nombu". This is celebrated in relation to an ancient Indian tale of a princess who prayed to the God of death to bring her husband back from death - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri_and_Satyavan.
The sweet and savory cakes are made for this occasion. These cakes are made from rice flour and dal(lentils or black eyed peas). We added a few veggies to our savory ones to make it a complete meal.

INGREDIENTS

Rice flour           - 1 cup
Carrots               - 1/4 cup(finely chopped or grated)
Celery                - 1/4 cup(finely chopped)
curry leaves       - 4-5 
Ginger                - 1/4 inch(finely chopped)
Green chillies     - 1-2 (finely chopped) - optional
Black eyed peas - 1/2 cup (soaked for 2-3 hours and pressure cooked)
Water                  - about  2 cups
Salt                     - as per taste

In a pot boil about 2 cups of water. Once the water starts boiling lower the heat to low and add chopped veggies, ginger, chillies,salt and cooked black eyed peas. Slowly add the rice flour and keep stirring to avoid lump formation. Switch off the heat once all the rice flour is mixed well with the water and the color changes to off-white.

Make small balls about 1.5 to 2 inches in size. Then flatten them on your palm or on plastic or wax paper to thin circles and place a hole in the center. Wet your hands while flattening the flour mixture to avoid it from sticking to your hands.

Steam them until done. This should take about 15-20 minutes. Serve them with chutney.

Rice cakes before steaming

Steamed rice cakes

Tips

1. You can use an idli steamer or rice steamer to cook these. I used idiyappam plates to steam them.

2. You can  avoid black eyed peas and add chopped nuts if you prefer.