Cucumber Chutney

I have already shared many chutney varieties in my blog. Today I have come up with a chutney which is easy to make and best for the summer to reduce the heat. Tastes similar to coconut chutney with coriander leaves flavour. U could not recognize the taste of the cucumber in this chutney but it is best at summer days to include cucumber in your diet to reduce the body heat.

Healthy and tasty chutney variety which could be prepared easily with the ingredients available in your pantry. Do try this at this summer days to reduce the heat.

INGREDIENTS:
Cucumber- 1 medium
Coconut, grated- 1/2 cup
Roasted chana Dal/ Pottukadalai- 1 tablespoon
Green chillies- 2-3
Garlic -1 clove
Coriander leaves- 2 tablespoon
Salt- to taste

To temper:
Oil- 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
Dry red chilli-2
Curry leaves- 2 strand

PROCEDURE:

• Peel and cut the cucumber into pieces.(I have used tender cucumber so i have not peeled)
• In a blender jar add the cucumber, coconut, roasted chana dal, green chillies, garlic, coriander leaves and salt.
• Grind well to make a fine paste. Add water if required to dilute the chutney.

• Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds then add the dry red chillies and curry leaves and fry in that oil.
• Transfer the tempering over the chutney and mix well.
• Serve hot with any dosa varieties or steaming hot idlis.

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Cucumber Buttermilk | Vellari Neer Mor

Buttermilk and lassies are the main beverages consumed through out India to reduce heat during the summer days. The reason being, that it reduces the body heat and is really an easy to prepare drink in a seconds. There are many variations available with the buttermilk drink such as plain ones, spiced ones, also those with added flavours such as fruits and veggies.

One such variation is cucumber buttermilk which i prepared last summer and became our family's favourite drink. It is absolutely easy to make and really tasty; super cooling with the goodness of cucumber. I used to make a mild variant each week in this drink by changing one or two ingredients. One of the days I would add one or two small/peal of onion, while on the other I would add coriander leaves, roasted jeera powder or chat masala. You could alter your cucumber drink by adding your spice or herb of choice.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cuisine: Indian
Makes: 3 glasses.

INGREDIENTS:
Cucumber,chopped- 1
Green chilli, cut- 1 small
Ginger, chopped-1/2 inch
Coriander leaves- 1 tablespoon(optional)
Yogurt/ Curd- 1/2 cup
Water- 2 cups
Salt- to taste
Roasted jeera powder- big pinch/ glass(optional)

PROCEDURE:

• In a blender jar add the roughly chopped cucumber, green chilli, ginger, coriander leaves and yogurt; blend well to make a coarsely ground paste. Add water to dilute the mixture around 2 cups with required salt; blend well for fifteen to thirty seconds to make a frothy buttermilk. 

• Serve chilled in glasses by sprinkling roasted jeera powder on top if you wish.
• Note: Use cucumber and yogurt straight from fridge so that the drink would be chill when u consume.
• You could replace yogurt with buttermilk and add less water while blending.
• For variation add herbs and spices of your choice like coriander leaves, pepper powder.
• Peel the cucumber if you does not like the taste of it.
• You could add a teaspoon of powdered oats too for making the drink more healthy.

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Instant Cucumber Dosa

Cucumber dosa is an instant dosa which does not require any fermentation. This dosas comes handy to prepare for morning breakfast or dinner. Crispy dosas similar to rava dosas in texture but varies in taste and flavour and nutrition. This includes a vegetable too which makes the dosa healthy and nutritious.

Especially at this summer season we love to include melons in our diet. Some times one or two left over cucmbers remain in fridge untouched. You could make use of that and make a yummy dosa out of it. Crispy tasty and healthy dosas!!!

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Soaking Time: 3-4 hours
Cooking time: 3 minutes/ dosa
Cuisine: South India
Makes: 10 large dosas

INGREDIENTS:
Raw Rice- 1 cup
Cucumber- 1 (1 cup)
Green chillies-2-3
Coriander leaves- 1/4 cup
Jeera/cumin seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger- 1/2 inch
Coconut- 1/4 cup
Salt- to taste
Oil- 1/2 teaspoon /dosa

PROCEDURE:

• Soak the raw rice (basmathi or dosa rice or any type of raw rice) in water for about 2-3 hours.
• Drain the water and add the rice inside a blender jar. Add roughly chopped cucumber, green chillies, coriander leaves, jeera, coconut and salt. Add a small piece of ginger if you wish.
• Grind every thing together as a fine paste by adding enough water (around 1 cup). Make sure there will not be any un ground pieces.

• Add the contents in a bowl and dilute with 3 or more cups of water till you get a milk like watery batter.
• Adjust the salt if required.(No fermentation required)

• Heat a dosa tawa to high heat and wipe the tawa with oil. Now take a ladle full of batter and start adding from the edges of the pan to the centre of the pan. Fill the big holes with batter.
• Or you could add a ladle full of batter and swirl the pan like how we do for appam.
• While pouring you could hear the sizzling sound of the batter forming holes on the dosa indicates the right consistency of the batter.

• Drizzle half a teaspoon of oil on top of dosa and allow to roast in the oil. It takes little longer time to cook this dosa than regular dosa.
• Do not flip and cook the dosa once the dosa get roasted it comes easily from the pan.
• You could refrigerate the left over batter for later use.
• Notes: Mix the batter well and prepare each dosa add water to the batter if required after preparing some dosas.
• Heat of the pan is essential to form the holes in that dosa.

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Tomato Cucumber Lassi

Tomato Cucumber Lassi: Lassi is a cool refreshing drink consumed especially during of summer to reduce the body heat. It could be made in salty and sweet versions. Adding fruits or vegetables adds nutrition, colour and also flavour to the lassi.

Here i have used two veggies (now tomato is classified under fruit so one fruit and a veggie technically) which are available in our kitchen every day. It gives a nice flavour, nutrients and also pink colour to the lassi. Try this easy to make tasty lassi at this summer season and stay hydrated!

INGREDIENTS:
Tomato, well ripen- 2 medium
Cucumber-1 medium
Yogurt/Curd- 2 tablespoon
Chilled water- 1/2 cup
Sugar- 1 tablespoon (adjust the sugar according to your taste)

PROCEDURE:

• Peel the cucumber and roughly chop them and add inside the blender jar. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add together with the cucumber.

• Now add half a cup of chilled water, sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt. Blend well till you get frothy layer on top.
• Serve chilled.

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Cucumber Juice

To reduce dehydration during summer days I try being more on a liquid diet than solids. The store bought juices are loaded with lots of preservatives, colour and sugar. So avoid buying them and prepare some quick fix drinks. One such recipe which you could make in a jiffy is the  Cucumber juice. Upon drinking this juice you could to feel the cooling effect immediately in your body.

A perfect drink for the summer days. You could prepare this drink in 2 minutes. If you have some chilled water you could prepare in a jiffy after returning out from shopping from the scorching sun.

INGREDIENTS:
Tender Cucumber, chopped- 1 cup
Sugar- 1 tablespoon
Chilled water- 1 cup
Lemon- a squeeze

PROCEDURE:

• Peel and remove the seeds from cucumber and chop them into pieces.
• Add the sugar and the chilled water in a blender or juicer jar.

• Blend well it it becomes nice paste with out any pieces in it and whipped well.
• Squeeze the lemon juice  and mix well. Add extra sugar or water if required. 

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Cucumber Kichadi/ Vellarikka Kichadi/ Cucumber Pachadi/ Vellarikka Pachadi

    Kichadi/Pachadi is an Indian salad, made with yogurt and cucumber, usually served as an accompaniment to rice or indian breads. Pachadi and Kichadi is a side dish made from different vegetables like ginger, cucumber, pineapple, lady's finger, bitter gourd or ginger.etc. For Kerala Sadyas (Grand feast) Pachadi /Kichadi is prepared the day before.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Cuisine: Kerala
Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:

Cucumber, peeled and chopped-1 (about a cup)

Salt- to taste

Curd/Yogurt, beaten - ¼ cup

To grind:

Coconut – ¼ cup

Green chilli-2

Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon

To temper:

Oil-2 teaspoons

Mustard seeds- ½ teaspoon

Dry chilli, broken-2

Curry leaves- 1 strand

PROCEDURE:

• Peel the cucumber and cut and remove the inside seed portion using a knife and chop them. 

• In a blender grind coconut with green chilli as fine paste. Add mustard seeds with the paste and pulse twice or thrice.

• In a pan add cucumber, salt and water to submerge the cucumber and cover it and cook till soft to touch.

• Drain if excess water is there in cucumber. Add the ground paste, salt and allow to cook for fifteen to thirty seconds. Do not cook long time the mustard seeds makes the pachadi bitter. Switch of the stove and add the beaten yogurt.

• In a pan add oil and add mustard seeds when it splutters add dry chilli and curry leaves. Add this tempering on top of cucmber kichadi.

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