Kongu style onion tomato curry

As a proud girl from Kongu region, I am happy to share my region's variety of recipes. I am trying to find the old age recipes which was disappeared with our grandmothers.

This recipe is one of the very easy recipes that can be prepared easily and it is very well eaten with dosa's and chapathi's mainly. This is one of our family favorites. To serve as non veg dish, we can add egg to this too. I will share how to do that too. 

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How to prepare:

1. Heat up the kadai. Add coconut oil and wait until it melts. Add mustard seeds and wait until it crackles. Add urad dhal and roast till it becomes light brown.

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2. Split red chilies into 2 and remove seeds. Add it into the oil and roast till it changes color.Add curry leaves and it splutters immediately. Meanwhile peel onions and cut into small cubes. Likewise cut tomatoes into cubes too.

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3. Add cubed onions and add 1 tsp salt so that onions leave water once salt is added and it will leave water so that it becomes translucent (i.e., cooks) quickly.

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 4. Add tomatoes, turmeric powder and sambar powder.

 5.  Add salt. Cover and cook in high flame for 5 mins. Open, mash tomatoes well using a masher. Now you can see water separates from tomatoes. 

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5. Cover and cook again for 5 mins in medium flame. Check for salt. If water reduces, you can switch off the stove. Or else cook some more minutes till water is reduced and the mixture is thickened.

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11. Now it is ready to serve.

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A small video of how to do this recipe:

Here comes the full recipe:

Serves : 4

Cuisine: Kongunadu

Ingredients:

Coconut oil - 3 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 2 tsp

Red chillies - 4 

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Onion - 1 big

Tomatoes - 7

How to prepare:

1. Peel onions and cut into small cubes. Likewise, cut tomatoes into cubes too.

2. Heat up the kadai. Add coconut oil and wait until it melts.

3. Add mustard seeds and wait until it crackles.

4. Add urad dhal and roast till it becomes light brown.

5. Split red chilies into 2 and remove seeds. Add it into the oil and roast till it changes color.

6. Add curry leaves, and it splutters immediately. 

7. Add cubed onions, and add 1 tsp salt, so that onions leave water once salt is added and it will leave water so that it becomes translucent (i.e., cooks) quickly.

8. Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt. Cover and cook in high flame for 5 mins.

9. Open, mash tomatoes well using a masher. Now, you can see water separates from tomatoes. Cover and cook again for 5 mins in medium flame.

10. Check for salt. If water reduces, you can switch off the stove. Otherwise, cook for some more minutes until water is reduced, and the mixture is thickened.

11. Now, it is ready to serve and eat!

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Note:

1. Red chili variety that i am using is little bit spicy. So adjust red chilies according to your spice level. 

2. The tomatoes I have used is little tangy one.

3. In this sambar powder is freshly grounded, those will be spicy too. So adjust accordingly.

4. You can use any other oil other than coconut oil.

How to make strawberry jam at home without pectin

With just three ingredients, we can make a yummy, tasty strawberry jam at home. No pectin is used. I used lemon juice instead which acts as a preservative.

How to make:

Wash, drain, and remove hull (stems) of strawberry (if using fresh strawberries) and measure them.

In a heavy bottomed pan, add strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice, and mix well.



 Strawberries leave water when they are boiled.When they are mushy enough, use a hand blender to make it a puree.



Let it simmer until it thickens. Stir in between in regular intervals so that it doesn't stick to the bottom.



To test for completion, pour a little thickened jam on a plate and tilt it. if water is there in your jam it will flow. If not, it flows like a thick mass.

Switch off the stove, and cool it completely for about 2 hrs to store in an clean air tight container.

A video to make it:
                                           



Here comes the full recipe to save:

Makes: 1475g

Ingredients:

Strawberries - 1700 g/3.8 pounds
Cane sugar - 600 g/3 cups
Lemon juice - 6 tbsp

How to make:

1. Wash, drain, and remove hull (stems) of strawberry (if using fresh strawberries) and measure them.
2. In a heavy bottomed pan, add strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice, and mix well.
3. Strawberries leave water when they are boiled.When they are mushy enough, use a hand blender to make it a puree.
4. Let it simmer until it thickens. Stir in between in regular intervals so that it doesn't stick to the bottom.5. To test for completion, pour a little thickened jam on a plate and tilt it. if water is there in your jam it will flow. If not, it flows like a thick mass.
6. Switch off the stove, and cool it completely for about 2 hrs.
7. I got nearly 1475 grams of jam for the above used quantity.
7. Store in an clean airtight container, and place it in your refrigerator.

Note:

• Here, I am using frozen strawberries. If you get fresh strawberries, you can clean, remove the hull (stems of strawberry), and use it.
• If you don't want those tiny seeds in the jam, make a puree with strawberry, drain the pulp, and add along with other ingredients and do rest of the process.
• Lemon juice is used as a preservative. I prefer to add natural ingredients as much as I can.
• I always use cane sugar for my home needs. You can also use white sugar or jaggery powder instead. Measure the same quantity.
• It took nearly an hour to make this jam, so please be patient to achieve this thick, flowing mass consistency and cool to store.
• There is no need to thaw frozen strawberries.
• If you don't have a hand blender, use masher to mash it well. My hand blender is a stainless steel one, so I can use it while the stove is ON and boiling.