Beetroot Thoran: How to make Beetroot Thoran
Now what is a Thoran:
Thoran is a traditional Kerala dry vegetable recipe made with grated or finely chopped vegetables like yam (suran), bittergourd (karela) , cabbage (bandh gobhi), carrots (gajar) , beans (beans like chawli beans, french beans) , red amaranth leaves , drumsticks or drumstick leaves. The basic ingredients in which the vegetables are cooked are shallots, coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, green chili or red chili and coconut oil.
Thoran is one of the dishes that is served in the Sadya along with the other dishes. ( A Sadya is a grand feast where a vegetarian meal comprising of various dishes is served on a plantain/banana leaf.)
If you do not like the raw taste of beetroot, than you should try this recipe. Its great. It goes very well with rotis, parathas and specially the Kerala Parota and even cooked rice. You could also have this recipe as a side dish.
In this recipe, I wanted some spiciness that would soften the sweetness of beetroot and coconut. So, I added both red chili and green chili along with ginger. I also added coriander powder, red chili powder and crushed whole garam masala. This was my variation to this recipe and the beetroot thoran was awesome and great.
You have to chop the beetroots finely. You could also use grated beetroot which will cook faster than chopped beetroots.
For all those who do not have fresh coconut, you could easily substitute with dry or dessicated coconut. Of course fresh coconut has a different taste, but the thoran tastes equally good with dessicated coconut too.
- 2 beetroots ( chopped or grated)
- 4 tsbp grated fresh coconut
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 4-5 shallots (chopped into 4 pieces)
- 10-12 curry leaves (whole or chopped)
- 1 whole red chili
- 1 green chili, finely chopped
- 3/4 tsp finely chopped ginger
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 cardamom, 2 peppercorns, 1/2 ” cinnamon, 1 clove ( crushed to a medium coarse powder in a pestle and mortar)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- salt
How to make the Beetroot Thoran:
- Heat the coconut oil in a kadai or wok.
- Add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the cumin seeds.
- The cumin seeds will start to sizzle now. Immediately add the shallots and curry leaves.
- Fry the shallots on a medium flame for 2 minutes.
- Now add the whole red chili, chopped green chili and ginger.
- Fry for a minute.
- Add all the dry masala powders including the crushed and powdered whole garam masala.
- Fry for a half a minute and then add the beetroot.
- Mix the chopped beetroot with the rest of the spices.
- Add the grated coconut and salt
- Cover and cook the beetroot till it is done.
- To facilitate faster coking of the beetroot, you could add some 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of water to the beetroot. Cover it and cook.
- Serve with rice, chapatis or even parathas.
Spring Onion Carving Tutorials
Implementation
Learning how to carve spring onions for food decoration is a basic of vegetable carving. Carved spring onions are mainly used as decorative elements for food dishes, or as part of display for a fruit and vegetable carving basket. The green curl strips of the onion leaves makes food dishes look more distinguished .
Equipment for spring onion carving
- A carving knife.
- Wooden cutting board.
- Spring onions
- Bowl of cold water
Choose fresh small narrow leaf spring onions and clean them in cold water. Cut leaves to about 2.5 inches in length. Immerse in cold water for about 10 minutes before carving.
Large spring onions leaves are not suitable for carving.
Use a carving knife to cut the leaves into 2-3 mm wide stips from the base to the end of the leaves.
Carve all leaves
Soak carved spring onion in cold water as when the carved leaves are immersed in cold water some of them will become saturated and warp and curl.
leave in water for 15-20 minuts
Hold carving knife and spring onion as in the picture
Curl stips by passing between finger and knife. Do not press too hard as stips will cut.
Soak for a futher 10 minuts
The finished carving will keep in fridge for over a week if put in sealed food container.
Tag :
Carving
Tomato Rice Recipe
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Serving Size: 4
ingredients
5-6 tomatoes
1 large capsicum or 2 small capsicum
1 large onion or 2 small onions
1 inch ginger
6-7 garlic flakes
1/4 or 1/2 cup fresh coconut or dry coconut
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 cloves
1 inch cinnamon
3 tbsp oil
2 cups rice
salt
water
coriander leaves and fresh coconut for garnishing
method:
- slice the onions and capsicum.
- make a smooth and fine paste of the tomatoes, ginger, garlic, coconut, green chillies, cinnamon, cloves, jeera powder.
- clean and wash the rice. you can also soak the rice for 20-25 minutes.
- in a pan heat oil or ghee.
- fry the cumin seeds, bay leaves.
- add the sliced onions and brown them.
- now add the sliced capsicum and saute for 2-3 minutes.
- measure the masala paste in a measuring cup and add it.
- for 2 cups of rice you will need 4 cups of the paste.
- if the paste yield is less then add water.
- add salt and cover and cook the rice till its done.
- garnish with fresh grated coconut and chopped coriander leaves
- serve hot.
i wonder why its called tomato rice and not tomato capsicum rice. in the sheets that were handed out to us it was called tomato rice. since it uses less numbers of capsicum than tomatoes, at least logically for me i also decide to call it tomato rice.
lets begin the step by step recipe of tomato rice
you will need fresh juicy red tomatoes. of course i know you know that, but i have to write something…
serve the tomato rice hot hot…
tips:
if you want a more mushy rice add more water. thats what i did. i added 2 cups water later to get a mushy and soft texture.
use the same measuring cup that you have used to measure the rice.
you can also pressure cook the rice.
when the rice is cooking keep an eye on it by checking it with a fork so as to ensure that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan. add more water if the water dries up and the rice mixture looks dry.
to add more spice increase the quantity of green chillies.
Tag :
Tomato Rice Recipe
Kerala Avial Recipe
avial was a regular dish at my home. my mother would make it once a week with sambar. mom made this when we were for a short visit at my parent’s place. i took the pics and was pretty pleased with the pictures.
in avial, we use mix vegetables, but of a different kind. not the usual cauliflower, carrot, peas, beans combo. the vegetables that are generally added to avial are:
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Serving Size: 4-5
Ingredients
The Veggies:
1 cup chopped pumpkin/kaddu
1 cup chopped yam/suran
1 cup chopped colocasia/arbi
1 cup chopped raw plantain
1/2 cup chopped ash gourd/petha
1/2 cup chopped tendli/gherkins
1/2 cup chopped snake beans/chawli
1/2 cup chopped cluster beans/gavar
2 stalks of curry leaves
The Coconut Masala:
1 and 1/2 cup grated coconut
2 green chilies
1 tsp cumin
Tempering Ingredients:
2-3 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 dry red chilies or kashmiri red chilies
Other Ingredients:
1 cup beaten curd/yogurt
1 tsp turmeric powder
3 cups water
salt
a step by step recipe for making the south indian kerala classic dish at home follows:
firstly chop all the vegetables and keep aside.
keep the chopped colocasia in salted water for 20 minutes to reduce the sliminess.
keep the chopped plantain in salted water for some minutes to avoid discoloration before cooking.
begin to cook the vegetables with curry leaves in water with some salt added to it. as we have used curry leaves at this step, we have not added curry leaves in the tempering. but you if you don’t add curry leaves now, you must fry them when making the tempering.
whilst the veggies are cooking we prepare the ground coconut masala – ingredients as shown in pic below.
grind the coconut, cumin and green chilies with little water to a coarse paste.
by now the veggies will be half cooked,
so its time to add some bright yellow color to the avial – turmeric powder…
stir the turmeric with the rest of the half cooked veggies.
after a minute, add the ground coconut paste.
stir the paste with the rest of the cooked veggies.
let the mixture simmer for some more minutes till the veggies are completely cooked. take beaten curd in a bowl or cup.
when all the veggies are cooked, add the curd.
stir and simmer the avial for a minute and close the fire.
now comes the seasoning. in hot coconut oil, add the seasoning ingredients and when they sizzle.
pour the hot seasoning on the avial.
as soon as you finish pouring the seasoning, cover the pan with a lid for 3-5 minutes so that the aromas and flavors are absorbed. later, stir well the seasoning with the rest of the avial.
serve the hot avial with rice and some papads.
enjoy.
in avial, we use mix vegetables, but of a different kind. not the usual cauliflower, carrot, peas, beans combo. the vegetables that are generally added to avial are:
- drumsticks/phalli
- carrots
- cucumber – the oblong cucumber used in sambar
- raw plaintain
- pumpkin/kaddu
- ash gourd/petha
- green beans – any variety can be used. we have used chawli (snake beans) and gavar (cluster beans)
- tendli/tindora (gherkins)
- suran/elephant yam
- arvi/colocasia
- snake gourd
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Serving Size: 4-5
Ingredients
The Veggies:
1 cup chopped pumpkin/kaddu
1 cup chopped yam/suran
1 cup chopped colocasia/arbi
1 cup chopped raw plantain
1/2 cup chopped ash gourd/petha
1/2 cup chopped tendli/gherkins
1/2 cup chopped snake beans/chawli
1/2 cup chopped cluster beans/gavar
2 stalks of curry leaves
The Coconut Masala:
1 and 1/2 cup grated coconut
2 green chilies
1 tsp cumin
Tempering Ingredients:
2-3 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 dry red chilies or kashmiri red chilies
Other Ingredients:
1 cup beaten curd/yogurt
1 tsp turmeric powder
3 cups water
salt
firstly chop all the vegetables and keep aside.
