Chettinad Pirattal made easy

Chettinad pirattal

                       This is the most needed guest in all the chettinad festivals and happenings. off course this taste delicious and well accompanied with sambar rice, rasam rice or curd rice. 

                      Traditionally, this recipe is prepared by grinding the fresh ingredients like coconut, poppy seeds, red chillies and  fennel seeds and added to the sauteed vegetables to enhance the taste.In this recipe, potatoes, carrots are the basic veggies and cauliflower, butter beans can be added as the add-ons. Now a days, peoples are adding beat-root to make the dish colorful for kids.    
                      My mom used to do this chettinad pirattal, almost once in 3 days, she prepare this dish in the traditional way by grinding the fresh ingredients.

                    But in this fast forward world, i thought of making it simple n quick with the same taste. this dish is make quick if  GARLIC POWER (click on the link to read the recipe of garlic powder) is in hand. garlic powder can be  made in no time  n refrigerated in an air-tight container. 

Garlic powder is grounder out of red chillies, garlic, dry coconut pieces and roasted gram. click on the pic to view the full recipe of  garlic powder.

Let's pick up the ingredients  for this recipe:

Potato n carrot  - 1 cup (diced).

Capsicum - 1 small (diced) (optional- i luv the flavor in this dish)

Onion - 1 (chopped).

Tomato - 1 (large- chopped).

Garlic powder - 2 tsp .

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp.

Salt - as needed.

Green chillies - 1 (slitted)(optional).

Coriander powder - 1 tsp.

For tempering:

Fennel seeds- 1 tsp.

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.

Cinnamon stick - little for flavor.

Peppercorns - 4-5 (optional).

Curry leaves powder - 1 tsp (or fresh curry leaves).

oil - 3 tsp.

Tip: i used to buy a huge amount of fresh curry leaves, plug the leaves, clean n pat dry, place it in a microwave safe container or spread it in a microwave safe plate, place it in the microwave high for 4 minutes n  3 minutes as a standing time, remove n store in a air tight container. In this way, the flavor of the curry leaves remain the same even tough it's dried.

Method:

=> heat oil in a pan, temper cinnamon, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns(opt) and curry leaves.

=> add in chopped onions, saute for 3 minutes.

=> add in tomatoes, saute for 3 minutes.

=> add in veggies, saute for a minute.

=> add in 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1 tsp of coriander powder and needed salt, stir in to mix well.

=> close the lid, cook on low flame till done, make sure it's not burnt, if needed can  spray some water.

=> saute the capsicum in 1 tsp of oil on high flame for a minute.

=> open the lid, add the sauteed capsicum, stir in.

=> add in 2 tsp of garlic powder, stir for 2 minutes till the veggies are well coated with the garlic powder.

=> its done and ready to enjoy n serve.

I luv this dish along with curd rice....what's ur favorite combo?.....try it n let me know.....