Aloo Raitha

I love the Aloo raitha my mom makes. It goes well with almost all dishes and is very easy to prepare too.

Ingredients:
2 Boiled potatoes
1 cup curd/yogurt
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp salt

Preparation:
Add pieces of boiled potatoes to curd.

Heat 1 tsp oil, add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Add a pinch of turmeric/haldi & cut green chillies. Mix this seasoning with the curd & potatoes.
As a variation to this, we could grind green chillies & coconut and add this to curd & potatoes mix.

Serve this with any Pulao/Rice.

Urad Vada

Last time I remember enjoying urad vadas was at the beach in Kanyakumari. Not that I hadn't eaten any after that, but I can still recall how we relished them there. So, the glimpse of that tasty memory prompted me to prepare some at home.

Preparation:
Soak urad dal for 4-5 1 hour and grind it with salt and less water added, to make a viscid mix.

Ingredients for chutney:
1 cup of shred/sliced cococnut
4-5 chillies
Coriander leaves
1 tbsp roasted channa
1 tsp salt
Tamarind/Lemon juice

Mix & grind these to desired coarseness (some like it coarse, some like it fine).

Seasoning/Tadka for chutney:
Heat 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Add urad dal, wait till they are fried to golden brown. Add aesofetida/Heeng and mix this seasoner with chutney.

Urad vadas:
Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions, ginger & green chillies to the dough. Drop beads of dough in oil and deep fry them till golden brown. Serve with chutney.Usually vadas are made plain, without adding the onions. Adding onions gives a tasty flavor.

Vadas thus prepared can also be served as Dahi vada.

Soak vadas in curd/yogurt. Refrigerate it. While serving, garnish it with little red chilli powder, chopped coriander leaves and boondi.