A quite Sunday morning I sat down with my cup of tea contemplating the menu for the day. My mind would not give a green signal to any of the dishes that came to my mind. For the past couple of days I could not do any justice to my hunger pangs due to poor appetite. Finally I decided on” pirandai thogayal” and” vebambu” rasam. Yes my menu for an appetizing meal was chutney like preparation called “thogayal” prepared with the “cissus quandragularis” also known as the devil’s backbone and popularly known as” pirandai’ in Tamil.
This is an ancient herb used in traditional cooking and has several health benefits ranging from bone health to digestive and heart health. As these quadrangular vines do not have a specific taste fragrant herbs such as pudina, curry leaves, coriander and ginger is added to make the recipe tasty. This when mixed with hot rice drizzled with ghee is really heavenly. The neem flower rasam is manna to stimulate the taste buds.
SERVING – 3-4
- PIRANDAI – 2 TBSP CHOPPED
- BLACK GRAM DAL – 1/4 CUP
- MINT LEAVES – 1 HANDFUL
- CURRY LEAVES – 1 HANDFUL
- RED CHILLY – 3
- PEPPER – 1 TSP
- ASAFOETIDA – 1/4 TSP
- TAMARIND – 1 MARBLE SIZE
- SESAME OIL – 1 TBSP
- SALT TO TASTE
METHOD
- Take a heavy bottomed pan, add oil and heat it
- When oil is hot add the dal, chilly and pepper and sauté till the dal turns golden brown.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and sauté for about 5 minutes.
- Grind to a coarse paste along with required amount of salt and a sprinkle of water
NOTE
- Try to use an iron pan to sauté.
- Use of black gram dal with skin enhances the nutrition
