A story of Ayah’s tomatoes and her Vengaya Kos
The traditional accompaniments for idlis and dosais are sambhar and chutney or thuvaiyal. While this was true in the Muthiah household too, it was only at the breakfast table that these were featured. Dinner was a different story – non-vegetarian days mean kozhi kuzhambu (chicken curry), vegetarian days meant the Chettinad specials, the mellow pachadi (a version of potato and eggplant sambhar made with moong dal) or the spicier vengaya kos (an onion curry rich in tomatoes with a hint of potatoes) or kalla veetu kathirikkai (eggplant and potato curry).
The ongoing joke in our family was about Ayah’s obsession with tomatoes. The day before Ayah was due to arrive either in the US or in Australia, we had to hit the grocery stores and clean them out of their entire stock of the ripe, red fruit! Her first question on arrival, of course after the dutiful peck on the cheek and a cursory how are you, was whether we had stocked sufficient tomatoes for her cooking spree. If it were America she was visiting, the first dish of her visit was my brother-in-law’s absolute favourite – vengaya kos. And since she thought she was feeding an army, we were soon back down to less than half our stock of tomatoes and due for another visit to the green grocer!
Ayah had another quirk. She believed that you shouldn’t wake up to a sink full of dirty dishes and so every single one of the 101 utensils, and the kitchen sink, she had used had to be cleaned by the time the clock struck midnight. Now, since she had the honour of being visiting chef, she couldn’t be tasked with doing the dishes, and so each of our homes had a nominated dishwasher-in-chief – my brother-in-law, in America, and my father-in-law, in Australia! Both have vivid memories of Ayah, of her cooking and their dishwashing (and her midnight share trading, but that’s fodder for another post). Every day she was around meant a feast, a refrigerator filled with tomatoes and... a sink filled with dirty dishes! Aiyah’s role in all this, apart from watching the fun? She’d trained him to spare enough time from his beloved typewriter, at least when he was overseas, to make his own black coffee and carry his cups and plates to the sink and rinse them - something that would have scandalised his mother if she were around…
Back to the vengaya kos – Ayah’s version belied the name and relied rather heavily on the use of tomatoes. But, the name matters not, for it is the perfect accompaniment for any South Indian palagaram, be it idli or dosai or idiappam (stringhoppers) or even chappati (which was not very popular in our house). My brother-in-law’s constant grouse to my sister and me, over the years, has been that we have not been able to exactly replicate his Aithai’s (mother-in-law’s) recipe... After much research and tweaks, we believe we’ve hit upon a recipe that is fairly close to hers – many thanks to our family cook, Shanthi.
The apprentice, with his healthy dislike of gravies of any sort and his even healthier dislike of chopping onions, had to be coaxed into testing this recipe, but it eventually got his father’s nod of approval, bar some criticism for slightly overcooked bits of tempering. As for the young man himself, his verdict, with a sigh of relief, is “a very easy dish that doesn’t require an enthusiastic cook to supervise my onion chopping skills”!
Note: This recipe makes enough for 4 generous serves and can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. However, if you’d like to make less, you can halve the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 big potato, cut into ½ inch strips
2 big onions, sliced into ½ inch strips
3 big tomatoes, minced fine or ground coarsely (grinding will give a thicker gravy)
2 tablespoons chilli powder (reduce if you want it less spicy)
3 cups water
Salt to taste (~1.5 teaspoon)
For Grinding
6 tablespoons grated coconut
1 tablespoon pottu kadalai (roasted channa dal) or 4 cashewnuts
1 teaspoon khus khus (poppy seeds), leave out if not available
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (aniseed / sombu / saunf)
For Tempering
4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 inch stick cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (aniseed / sombu / saunf)
5-6 curry leaves
Method:
1. Cut the onions and potatoes and tomatoes as mentioned.
1 big potato, cut into ½ inch strips
2 big onions, sliced into ½ inch strips
3 big tomatoes, minced fine or ground coarsely (grinding will give a thicker gravy)
2. Make a fine paste with all the ingredients listed under the For Grinding section.
6 tablespoon grated coconut
1 tablespoon pottu kadalai (roasted channa dal) or 4 cashewnuts
1 teaspoon khus khus (poppy seeds), leave out if not available
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (aniseed / sombu / saunf)
3. Heat the oil in deep frying pan or kadai. Add all the ingredients listed under For Tempering and fry for a few minutes.
4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 inch stick cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (aniseed / sombu / saunf)
5-6 curry leaves
Apprentice Note: Have all the ingredients ready before you start heating the oil because they tend to burn quickly, as I discovered
4. Next, add the onions and cook till translucent. Add the potatoes and fry for a couple of minutes. Finally add the tomatoes.
5. Fry for a minute and add the chilli powder and salt. Allow them all to cook in the oil itself for 2 or 3 minutes, until tomatoes are well cooked and oil starts separating. Add 3 cups water and cook until the potatoes are cooked.
2 tablespoons chilli powder (reduce if you want it less spicy)
3 cups water
Salt to taste (~1 teaspoon)
6. Now add half the ground coconut mixture and mix well. Cook until the gravy thickens a little bit. If you need more thickness, add more of the mixture. If too thick, add more water. Taste and add more salt / chilli powder as required.
Note: If there is any ground coconut mixture left, it can be frozen for a couple of months.
Note:
If you have a pressure pan, the cooking time will be reduced. Start
step 3 in a pressure pan instead of a kadai / frying pan. Continue with step 4 and 5.
Once the oil starts separating, add the ground coconut mixture and the water and pressure cook for two whistles.
Wait 10 minutes until the pressure releases from the cooker and cook again until gravy is as thick as required.
Serves: 4 people
Apprentice Rating: Easy
Recent Posts:
