Soraikkai Thuvayal

 

 

Meals. At times, they're something I put together in a jiffy. At others, they are painstakingly thought through. Ever since A started eating regular meals, I have started putting more thought into what I put on the table. All the same, I don't want A to have conventional ideas of what a meal must be and must not be. So, it doesn't have to be rice or roti. A meal could be dosai, pasta, soup and a sandwich, rice-dal-sabzi, parathas... as long as it has carbohydrates, proteins, fats and a good portion of vegetables, it is a meal.

 

One night, I decided to make wheat doddaks for dinner. A few years ago, I added moong flour to the batter and have not stopped since. Thus, the wheat and green gram doddak was born. My carb and protein elements had been taken care of. In order to convert it into a full meal, I grated some bottle gourd into the batter and made little doddaks for A. Now, that was a full meal for him. It had all that I wanted in his meal and it was something he wanted too (to be able to eat by himself).

But why all this talk about doddaks in a post about a thuvayal? Because putting in grated bottle gourd into the batter may make it a meal for my little one, but we adults need something to go with the doddaks. And since I have been known to make a thuvayal out of just anything, I decided to make the vegetable element of our meal into a thuvayal.


This recipe deviates from my usual thuvayal but is a keeper recipe.


1 cup Bottle Gourd, peeled and diced
2 tbsp Coconut, scraped
4 Red Chillies
1 tsp Mustard
1 tsp Cumin
3 tsp Urad Dal (Black Gram Dal)
1 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Sesame Seeds
1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
3 tsp Oil
1 tbsp Tamarind Paste
Salt to taste




 

Heat the oil and fry the red chillies, mustard seeds, sesame seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, chana dal and black gram dal for a couple of minutes. Add the bottle gourd and fry for 2 minutes. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes. Grind the mixture along with the coconut, tamarind paste and salt.

Serve with the doddaks. Serve on buttered toast. Serve with rice. Serve with chapatis. In short, serve it just about any way you like.