For this month of , I was paired with Shobana who gave me two delightful ingredients -Ridge gourd and Bengal gram for the Shhhh Secretly cooking Challenge with the theme "Chutneys".
It was unusual to see that although we make it frequenty, I was yet to post this thuvayal. Thuvayal or Thogayal as its known in Tamil is different from the nomenclature of chutney in the sense that it has lentils , tamarind and vegetables as the base, in addition to coconut.
Some chutneys / thuvayals also use onions (shallots mostly), but we dont use them
Its also much thicker than chutneys. And makes it easy to mix with rice as well as as a dip with Idli / Dosa / Pongal / uthappam etc. We had this with Quinoa Adai for breakfast (that explains the early morning rush pictures :p)
Without much ado, lets get started on this thuvayal. Similar thogayals on my blog are :
Inji Thogayal (GInger chutney)
Pudina Thogayal (Mint chutney)
Paruppu Thuvayal (Lentils only chutney)
Karivepalai Thogayal (Curry leaves chutney)
For dips with Idli / Dosa, check out more than 20+ varieties of chutney here.
So, here's presenting a Vegan, GF dip to go with your dosa / Idli or even rice+sesame oil. Keeps for upto 3 days under refrigeration.
Prep time : 15 mins, cook time : 5 mins, Serves : 3 generously.
What you need:
- Ridge gourd peels - 1 cup (scrape the hard thorny ridges with the knife, and with a peeler, peel thick peels along with a little flesh, but not too much)
- Channa dal / Bengal gram / kadalai paruppu - 2 TBSP
- Urad dal / Ulutham paruppu - 1 tsp
- Dry Red chillies - 3 large
- Tamarind - about small lemon quantity
- Fresh / frozen coconut - 1/4 cup
- Handful of coriander leaves - optional but tastes great !
- Salt - to taste
- Oil - 1 TBSP
Tempering:
- Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Sesame oil - 1 tsp
- curry leaves - few
Method:
- In a pan, heat 1 TBSP oil. Saute the dals one by one till golden brown, drain to a plate. Now add the tamarind, red chillies and the ridge gourd peels and saute on low heat for 3-4 mins till the peels turn slightly crisp (remove the chillies after 30 seconds, though).
- Cool, grind all the ingredients with adequate salt and very little water to a thick thovayal consistency. add a tsp of water if required to get all the ingredients together.
- Make the tempering with the mustard seed and curry leaves. Add to the chutney and serve.