kalakkalsamayal

#MudakattanKeeraiChutney : 

#MudakattanKeerai [ #MudakathanKeerai ] is a wild creeper commonly found on the road sides and in waste lands of villages. It is known as Balloon Vine or Love in a Puff or Heartseed or Heartseed vine.

It is found that the extracts of leaves reduce fever. It is traditionally used as an anti arthritic agent and helps in reducing joint pain.
Generally I used to include mudakattan keerai paste with dosai maavu or grind with rice & urad dhal [ black gram ] to prepare Mudakattan dosai.

I have made mudakattan dosai with some of the millet varieties.

This time I tried a chutney from Mudakattan keerai [ Mudakathan leaves ].

Here presenting two chutneys from Mudakattan keerai. 

The first one being Mudakattan with Nellikkai and the 

second one Mudakattan with fried gram [ pottukadalai ].

1. Mudakattan-Nellikkai Chutney :

*What I have shown in the image is green chilly only but the color is red.

Method :

Heat a kadai with half a teaspoon of oil on a stove over medium flame.

Add asafoetida piece & black gram and fry for few seconds and then add horse gram.

Keep stirring till horse gram splutters and black gram turns golden brown.

Transfer into a bowl.

Add half a teaspoon of oil in the same kadai and add turmeric powder.

Immediately add chopped nellikkai [ amla ] pieces.

Keep stirring till the pieces become soft.

Transfer into a bowl.

Again in the same kadai add half a teaspoon of oil and add ginger & chilly. Saute for a minute and then add onion & garlic. Keep stirring till onion changes to dark pink color and gives out nice aroma.

Transfer into the bowl.

Now in the same kadai add half a teaspoon of oil and put in nicely chopped mudakattan keerai.

Keep stirring till keerai becomes soft and well cooked.

Let all the fried and sauteed items cool down to room temperature. 

Take all the sauteed ingredients, fried items along with salt, jaggery & lemon juice.

Grind into a smooth paste. Check salt.

Check sourness of the chutney. The mudakattan keerai gives slightly bitter taste to the chutney. So add lemon juice liberally that helps to subside the bitter taste.

Thus prepared spicy chutney goes well with Idli and also a superb accompaniment to dosai.

2. Mudakattan-Fried gram Chutney :

In the second chutney I have taken karpooravalli leaves [ Omavalli ] also along with Mudakattan keerai. Mudakattan keerai doesn't have any aroma and so I have included karpooravalli to give an extra punch to the chutney.

I have used jaggery in the first chutney to neutralize the bitter taste of the mudakattan keerai. Here I have included fried gram [ pottukadalai or porikadalai ] for the same purpose. The chutney has come out well and the taste was superb.

Method :

Heat a kadai with half a teaspoon of oil on a stove over medium heat.

Add ginger & chilly. Saute for a minute and then add onion & garlic. Keep stirring till onion changes to dark pink color and gives out nice aroma.

Transfer into a bowl.

Again in the same kadai add half a teaspoon of oil and put in nicely chopped mudakattan keerai.

Keep stirring till keerai becomes soft and well cooked.

Transfer into the bowl.

Now in the same kadai add half a teaspoon of oil and saute tomato pieces till done.

Transfer into the bowl.

Let all the items cool down to room temperature.

Combine all the other ingredients with sauteed ones and blend into a smooth paste.

Check salt and sourness.

Transfer into a serving bowl.

Mudakattan spicy chutney goes well with Idli and 

also with dosai.

Bringaraj chutney	Ammaan pacharisi thuvaiyal [ Asthma plant chutney ]	Pudhina yogurt chutney
Vallarai [ centella ] chutney	Poduthalai thuvaiyal	Pineapple-Mint Chutney	Vetrilai [ Betel leaf ] chutney
Katharikkai [ Brinjal ] chutney	Ammaan pacharisi [ Asthma plant ] Paruppu thuvaiyal	Maangai herbal chutney [ Raw mango herbal chutney ]

#VetrilaiChutney  #BetelLeafChutney :

#Vetrilai is called #BetelLeaf in English. The scientific name is Piper betle.

The betel leaves are rich in Vitamin C, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, carotene and Calcium. Betel leaves are analgesic and helpful to ward off pain. We used to chew betel leaf, betel nut and lime after a heavy meal. This is because of its carmative, anti-flatulant property and increases metabolism and stimulates intestine to absorb vital vitamins and nutrients.

The Betel leaf and pepper along with honey is an excellent home remedy for cough, cold and congestion in the respiratory tract. Boil some bruised betel leaves in a cup of water along with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom & black pepper and keep boiling till the amount of water reduces by half. Intake of this decoction helps to relieve congestion in the respiratory tract and breathing problem.

I like to chew lime smeared betel leaves and scented areca nuts after a heavy meal. That helps to digest the food in the stomach. The betel leaves I used in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are less spicy in taste. Generally after eating betel leaves, the tongue would turn numb as the taste buds lose its sensitivity. It takes some time to get back the sense of taste by the tongue. The betel leaves available in #Chittranjan are spicier and thicker in size. That is why, the taste buds in my tongue used to take quite a long time to gain back its sensitivity after the consumption of betel leaves here.

Some days back I bought betel leaves to chew after lunch. But I could consume only one leaf and saved the remaining leaves in the fridge. I didn't like to waste those leaves. I saw one or two sambar recipes using vetrilai. But it wasn't appealing to me and I wanted to prepare a dish using those leaves in raw form with its taste intact. 

Daily I have been serving idli with chutney or sambar to two to three persons apart from me and my husband since when Corona pandemic lock down was announced at the end of March 2020. Most of the days I used to prepare herbal spicy chutney using predominantly Mint, curry leaves, karpooravalli and other condiments. An ingredient that imparts sour taste to the chutney has to be included to prepare a tasty chutney. I always use lemon and during Summer unripe mango [ maangai ] and nellikkai [ amla ] whenever it's available, to give sour taste to the chutney. I use almost all the ingredients in the raw form to get its full nutrients. 

In the same way this time I have decided to include betel leaves in place of mint or curry leaves to make a spicy chutney for breakfast.

Vetrilai Vengaya Chutney :

Method :

Wash betel leaves [ vetrilai ] two or three times in water. 

Take all the given ingredients in a mixie jar. 

Initially run the mixie without adding water. Then add some water and grind into a smooth paste.

Finally adjust salt and lemon juice. 

Yes the chutney is ready to serve with hot idli or dosai or appam.

Serve a spoon of Vetrilai vengaya chutney and pour a teaspoon full of gingelly oil [ sesame/til oil ] over it as the chutney is spicy. Mm... Enjoy!!

Bringaraj chutney	Ammaan pacharisi thuvaiyal [ Asthma plant chutney ]	Pudhina yogurt chutney	Vallarai [ centella ] chutney
Poduthalai thuvaiyal	Capsicum Chutney	Muttacos [ Cabbage ] chutney
Katharikkai [ Brinjal ] chutney	Ammaan pacharisi [ Asthma plant ] Paruppu thuvaiyal	Maangai herbal chutney [ Raw mango herbal chutney ]