THUVIAL (THOGAYAL)

Please pardon my language when I choose to use thogayal over thuvial. It just feels very personal.

At times I wonder how smart our elders were in coming up with such simple yet lip smacking recipes. If one notices, it’s the same ingredients time and again. The only difference is the combination and the final texture the ingredients are given, such as raw or fried. Another thing to notice is that Tam Bram cuisine is all about having the dish with another dish or ingredient, that will accentuate the final taste. One such dish is thogayal. A humble mixture of roasted daal, and chili thogayal has many versions. Hence, I chose to remain non specific in the above mentioned ingredients as they will vary according to the thogayal. When mixed with hot rice and nalla ennai (sesame oil), the melange of flavours is simply out of the world. I can assure you, that a mouthful of hot rice and thogayal, will take you to your younger days. Oh! I almost forgot. Pop in some papadaam and let it crack in between the moistness of hot rice and thogayal.

A- Ingredients

Urad dal— 2 tbsp

Dry red chili— 2

Asafoetida— ¼ tsp or a small piece

Tamarind— tiny bit

Fresh coconut— ¼ cup

Salt— ½ tsp

Oil– 1 tbsp.

B-Method

Heat oil in a pan, add the urad dal and red chili and fry till the dal turns red in colour. Put of the heat add the tamarind, asafetida and salt give it a stir. Grind together fried ingredients, fresh coconut adding little water. Thogayal doesn’t have to be smoot it could have a granular texture.

Peerkangai Thogayal

Peerkangai / Ridge Gourd + all ingredients in A + 1 tbsp oil.

Procedure: – Peel, wash and chop the peerkangai into small pieces. Heat one tbsp oil in a pan add the peerkangai and cook them till water evaporates from the vegetable.

Proceed as in B- Method.