Teelkoot - Sesame Chutney

Tilkut in Marathi



Time: 25 minutes
Makes: 1.5 cups chutney

Ingredients:
1 cup Black Sesame Seeds
1/4 cup roasted Peanuts
1 tbsp Red Chili Powder
1/2 cup dried Curry Leaves
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Jaggery
1 tbsp Tamarind
1/4 cup dry Coconut, grated

Method:
1) Dry roast Sesame Seeds for 3 to 4 minutes. Dry roast grated coconut over medium low heat until brown. Peel the roasted peanuts.
2) Wash and clean curry leaves. To make the curry leaves dry, spread them over a clean cloth and dry them in shadow until moisture evaporates. Do not dry them in direct sunlight. Heat a pan and dry roast curry leaves. It will make them completely dry and Tilkut will last longer.
3) Put Black Sesame seeds, peeled peanuts, roasted coconut, Red Chili Powder, roasted curry leaves, jaggery, Tamarind and salt to taste. Grind all in a grinder and make a fine powder. Store in an airtight container.

Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki Sauce in Marathi

Time: 5 to 7 minutes
Makes: 1 cup Sauce (sufficient for 4 persons)

Ingredients:
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 and 1/2 cups plain yogurt, (Full fat) (See tip)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh dill  (or 1 tsp dried dill) (For substitute option see tip below)
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste

Method:
1) Strain the yogurt for 1 hour to make it slightly thick.
2) Put strained yogurt, garlic cloves, dill, olive oil, lemon juice and salt in the blender. Blend well. Then add cucumber and give a few pulse. Cucumber should be slightly coarse.

Serve with Falafel and Falafel Wraps.

Tips:
1) Traditionally, Tzatziki sauce is made of Greek yogurt (strained yogurt). If its available, then use it directly. Otherwise, use plain yogurt by straining it for an hour.
2) Dill can be substituted with mint leaves.
3) Lemon juice can be substituted with little vinegar.

Basic White Sauce

White Sauce in Marathi



Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 1 cup white sauce





Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp All purpose flour (Maida)

1 and 1/2 cup hot milk

2 pinches salt

1 tsp sugar



Method:

1) Heat a nonstick pan. Add butter and wait till it melts. Add all purpose flour and saute for a minute or two. Keep sauteing because if you stop it will burn and color will go brown. Also, do not saute too much. Otherwise, white sauce would turn brown in color.

2) After sauteing, add hot milk and stir vigorously to prevent lumping. Cook until sauce thickens.

3) Add salt and sugar. Mix. Turn off the heat.

Use white sauce immediately.

Garlic peanuts Chutney

Garlic Chutney in Marathi

Time: 10 minutes
Yield: approx 1/2 cup

Ingredients:
10 big Garlic cloves OR 1 medium bulb of garlic
Salt to taste (I used approx 1/2 tsp)
4 to 5 tbsp roasted peanuts powder (coarse) (Shengdanyacha bharadsar koot)
1/2 tsp amchoor powder
1 tsp red chili powder
2 tbsp oil

Method:
1) Peel garlic and chop roughly. Keep mortar and pastel ready. Add 1 tsp red chili powder into the mortar.
2) Heat oil in a tadka pan. Add garlic and saute until garlic turns golden brown. Pour this hot garlic and oil over red chili powder (into mortar) and stir with spoon. (Tip 1)
3) Now add salt, peanuts powder, and amchoor powder to the mortar. Crush nicely until well blended.
Serve with paratha, dosa, or as a condiment along with the meal.

Tips:
1) If you add red chili powder to the hot oil, it may burn the chili powder. The tadka pan is also hot which keeps the oil temp. high.

Date Tamarind Chutney

Dates and tamarind chutney in Marathi

Yield: Approx 1 cup Chutney
Time: 10 minutes


Ingredients:
Pitted baking Dates 150 grams (Tip 1)
lemon sized Tamarind (seeded)
1/4 cup grated Jaggery (Optional) (Tip 2)
1 Green chili or 1/4 tsp red chili powder
4 to 5 Mint leaves
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
2 pinches Black salt (Kala namak)
Pinch of salt

Method:
Tamarind Pulp
1) Soak tamarind into 1/2 cup hot water. Or you can boil 1/2 cup water, add tamarind, turn off the heat and cover the pot for about 1/2 an hour.
2) Once tamarind water cools off, add it to blender and blend nicely. Then strain add the thick pulp by using fine mesh.
Dates pulp
3) I used pitted baking dates which are seeded and crushed nicely. Add few tbsp water to it and mash with hands.
4) In a blender add green chili, mint leaves, mashed dates, tamarind pulp, jaggery, coriander-cumin powder, black salt, and pinch of normal salt. Blend it together and make the chutney.
This chutney goes well with any chaat items, samosas and pakodas.

Tips:
1) If you are using normal whole dates, use around 13 to 15 dates. Remove seeds first. Then soak into warm water for about 2 hours. Use water only enough to cover the dates. Drain and reserve the water. Blend the dates to fine paste. If required, use little reserved water to make the paste.
2) I like extra sweetness to this chutney. Sometimes, only dates don't give this chutney the required sweetness. So, i have used little jaggery for sweetness. You can use sugar instead of jaggery.