Growing up, I remember my mom always cooked food by combinations – if it was keerai masiyal (mashed spinach), it has to be eaten with vetha kozhambu (Note: Sambar without lentils is usually called kozhambu) . If you had paruppu usili (crumbled cooked lentils), then mor kozhambu is a must. How can you have paruppu thogaiyal without jeera rasam? Another such match made in my mom’s kitchen is pongal with gotsu.
Gotsu, a tangy vegetable dish is the perfect accompaniment for the savory pongal. As pongal is made with lentils, gotsu is a lighter slightly watery dish made without lentils.
3 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 red chillies
2 tsp red gram (channa) dhal
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
Handful of whole channa dhal
1 medium size onion diced
1 medium size potato diced
Powder coriander seeds, red chillies and red gram dhal after dry-roasting them.
In a skillet, add oil, splutter mustard seeds and then saute onion, followed by potato. Add tamarind paste and the ground powder, followed by a cup of water and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
This is my entry to Jihva for love – the dish that I learnt from my mom, who sowed the seeds for very many interests in my life including cooking.
Mythreyee
May 3, 2008 at 9:06 AM
Looks fantastic. I had this last week. One of my relatives made this combination. She added bell peppers too.
Bell peppers are a wonderful addition to this as well. – A-kay
Divya Vikram
May 3, 2008 at 11:09 AM
looks lovely..
Arundathi
May 3, 2008 at 3:34 PM
in my home too – pongal with gotsu – delicious!
Madhuram
May 3, 2008 at 5:39 PM
My mother used to make eggplant kothsu for pongal. My favorite food combination is poori and potato masala.
Yup – eggplant gotsu is the standard. But since I don’t eat eggplant, my mom used to make with onion-potato combo. – A-kay
Madhavi
May 3, 2008 at 6:16 PM
Looks delicious, lovely recipe!!!
http://vegetarianmedley.blogspot.com/
sreelu
May 4, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Hmm looks mouthwatering, never heard of this combination with pongal. Now I am craving for pongal š¦
This goes even better than the sambar or chutney with pongal – you should try this. – A-kay
m's mom
May 4, 2008 at 12:32 AM
vaththa kuzhambu &sutta appalam(ulundu)
vengaya sambar & potato kaara curry
Morkuzhambu &pittalai
poricha kuzhambu & puli pachadi
Adai &Avial
idli 7thengai white chutney along with molaga podi
Dosai,sambar & the inevitable molagapodi of course………….one can go on & on
-all these r perfectly made for each other combo s–isnt it??????????
btw,Akay
my annual preparations of vadumangai,aavakkai,mango sweet pickle & of course the summer special vadaams had been a fairly good success this yr-this is something which makes me stay in chennai in spite of this scorching agni nakshthram!!!!!!!!!!!
Yup – all this brings me a smile – wish I can eat it now. Of couse, poori – masaal, bajji – thengai chutney springs to mind too š You should tell me how you make the avakkai and of course, the vadams. – A-kay
Mitr
May 4, 2008 at 9:33 AM
A-kay,
I’ve made pongal this weekend with brinjal gotsu, that is our combo ):, the potato looks good too, will try it next time.
Ah! Brinjal gotsu is the standard, right? I like even carrots in my gotsu actually. – A-kay
Raaga
May 4, 2008 at 2:05 PM
paruppu usli and menthi kuzhambu
paruppu urundai and milagu kuzhambu
mor kuzhambu and vazhaikkai karumadhu
Pongal and Gojju is also a combo at my place
š
Laksh
May 4, 2008 at 10:00 PM
mor kuzhambu/paruppu usili of course tops my list followed by kootu rasam, keera masiyal vatral kuzhambu š
Nice post!
Keerai masiyal – vatral kozhambu is my all time favorite. – A-kay
easycrafts
May 4, 2008 at 11:21 PM
For me its always…
mor kuzhambu and paruppu usli
bisi bela bhath–raita
Puri — Chole š
Oh yea! Bisi bele bhath and potato fry is a good combination too š – A-kay
shri
May 5, 2008 at 6:02 AM
First time here,your site is so lovely.Nice recipe.
Thanks for stopping by. – A-kay
UL
May 6, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Puttu and kadala for me…btw, I think this would be perfect mother’s day post to your mom š
Ah… puttu and kadala – spoken like a true-blood Mallu š – A-kay
Spillay
May 7, 2008 at 8:50 AM
A-Kay. Looks wonderful! I’m so into food these days that it is always a pleasure to see so many new (and easy enough) recipes. Thank you for sharing :(love):
We all go through such phases, I think. Thanks for stopping by. – A-kay
Sachita
May 7, 2008 at 4:43 PM
Ha.. the combos. Apart from tasting awesome, these I guess also compensate nutrition wise(Protein-vitamin wise).
My favorite, probably a combo only in my house is Rasam satham with Pudhina thogayal.
Very comforting. Cuddling up with a teddy bear comfort:)
It isn’t good to read your posts at midnight, hunger pangs …:)
Thanks for stopping by at my site. Rasam saatham with paruppu thogayal is good too š – A-kay
Madhuram
May 11, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Hi Akay,
Are you okay? No posts from you for a long time now. Take care.
Thanks to you (and others) who checked-in on me. I am doing good and the lack of posts was due to hectic schedule and nothing else. I am glad to have found friends like you on the net š – A-kay
Nithu
May 13, 2008 at 1:25 AM
Looks so yummy. i love vethakozhambu with usli. Great combination!!
Yeah – the lentil rich usili is balanced by vetha kozambu. But for me, it is usili with mor kozhambu š – A-kay
Madhuram
May 14, 2008 at 4:57 AM
I’m very glad that you are fine, A-kay. What are friends for after all?