Kadalai Masal

This is a receipe for a snack that i used to have at Erode in a roadside cart( i believe at valaiyakara st). The cart had a lot of customers usually lining up well before the vendor started business. And the preparation time included cutting onions and tomotoes in front of you. It took a long time, atleast 45 minutes, there was no seating, except for the bicycles ofcourse. But the taste of the Kadalai Masal made it all well worth it.

There are 2 variants: Kadalai Masal and Thayir Masal. Thayir masal is cooler but the heat can be adjusted by adding hot chutney on top. You start by making 3 chutneys: coriander chutney, red chili chutney, coconut spice chutney.

coriander chutney:
o 1 cup of coriander leaves
o 2 green chilies for heat
o you can add 2 jalapeno peppers after deseeding and removing veins. deseeding completely removes heat from the peppers and adding only the flavor.
o blend these with very little water with 1 tsp salt

red chili chutney:
o 6 red dried chilies
o 1 tbsp coriander seeds
o 1 tsp salt
o optionally 4 tbsp cut onion
o blend them to a paste in a blender adding very little water

coconut chutney:
o 1/2 cup frozen or fresh coconut
o 1 tbsp soonf seeds
o 2 green chilies
o blend them to a past with 1 tsp salt

Kadalai Masal:
o 1/2 cup of finely diced onions
0 1/2 cup of finely diced tomatoes
o 2 tbsp coriander and coconut chutneys; 1 tbsp chili chutney
o toss all these together and then toss in 1 cup masala peanuts (or bonda kadalai)
and 1 cup of crumpled indian snacks like ribbon pakoda or thattai or murukku etc.

Thayir Masal:
Same as above but add 2 tbsp yogurt. and 1 tbsp red chili chutney for extra heat.

The amount of chutneys can be adjusted to get the desired effect of heat or spice or creaminess.
Peanuts and snacks should be fresh to deliver the best taste. I buy my snacks at Saravana Bhavan at Sunnyvale.

This will be a guaranteed party hit if done well.