Avarakkai Kootu and Thakali Thayir Pachadi

Hope you all had a great Diwali. For us this year, for 2 reasons it was a very sober occasion without any spark. Yeah, first we could not light crackers here, as we do in India. Even if we could have celebrated, we shouldn't have, because of a condolence in the family, that being the second reason! So, Diwali went by without any event, though we had a nice dinner party in a friend's place.

What we need:
Avarakkai/Broad beans - 200 g
Toor Dal/Moon dal - 1 cup
Grated Coconut - 4 tbsp.
Red Chilli - 2 or 3
Cumin (Jeera) - 1 tbsp.
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed

For tempering:
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp.
Mustard - 1 tsp.
Split Urad dal - 1 tsp.
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - a sprig

How to do:
1. Wash and cook the dal with a pinch of turmeric powder. Mash well and set aside.
2. In a vessel, take the chopped avarakkai and add enough water to cover it. Add a pinch of salt, cover and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, grind together coconut, cumin and red chillies with little water into a paste.
4. When avarakkai is cooked, add the ground paste, salt and reduce the flame.
5. In about 3 or 4 minutes, the raw smell of coconut and red chillies will start to leave. Then add the mashed dal, bring to a boil and remove from the flame.
6. In a seasoning wok, heat a tbsp. of oil, add mustard, followed by split urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaves. Add this to the kootu.

Variations:
1. Both toor dal and moong dal will taste good for this kootu. For a change, you can also try adding half of each dal.
2. Replace red chillies with green chillies for an enhanced taste and flavor.
3. To save time, you can also pressure-cook the avarakkai.

Thakali Thayir Pachadi
Tomato Yoghurt Raitha

What we need:
Ripe tomato, medium sized - 1
Salt - as needed
Yoghurt - 1 cup

For tempering:
Oil - a tsp.
Mustard - a tsp.
Cumin - a tsp.
Split urad dal - a tsp.

How to do:
1. Chop the tomatoes fine and de-seed it. Add it to the yoghurt along with some salt.
2. Heat oil and add the ingredients for tempering. When they are done, add it to the yoghurt and mix well.

Serve togther with kootu and rice!

My dear friend, Sanghi has passed this lovely award to me. Thanks buddy, you made my day!