Tamata pachadi / Tomato chutney

Tamata pachadi / Tomato chutney

Another of everyone's favorite. This is going to be my 10th blog post...wow...10 posts already...these posts went by fast..lol.
Another easy recipe and also a versatile dish. Goes along with any food nicely. Eat it with Dosa, Idli, Rice or Roti, tastes good with anything. The healthy side of it, its all tomato and tomato is one of the antioxidant foods which boosts the immune system.I read somewhere that cooked tomatoes are better and the heat allows more good and preferable antioxidants in tomatoes to be made available to the body for easy absorption when eaten with oil. Another good ingredient in this chutney is garlic. Garlic is also known for it good and very good qualities :), and I like mine garlicky!!! you can adjust the spice to your taste.

Ingredients:

4-5 tomatoes
6-8 big garlic cloves
4-5 green chillies
small lemon size tamarind ball
Salt to taste
2 tbsp oil

Tempering:

1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
1/2 tbsp chana daal
1/2 tbsp urad daal
1/4 tbsp jeera
4-5 red chillies
5-6 curry leaves

Method:

In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil, add the chana daal and urad daal and let them brown. Add the garlic, tomatoes, green chillies and tamarind. Let everything cook and come together, that is let most of the liquid that came from the tomatoes dry up. You can add the salt too. Remove from heat and let it cool.
Grind this adding some water. Heat the other tbsp of oil and add the mustard seeds and jeera, let them splutter before adding the red chillies and curry leaves. Stir this into the ground tomato pachadi / chutney and your chutney is yours to enjoy!!! :)

Tip: This is good for about a week in the fridge.

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Fish Fry ( Canned Tuna )

Fish Fry ( Canned Tuna )

Canned Tuna is such a useful item in my pantry. It always comes to my help in time of need. Well it happened like this... I wasn't feeling well y'day, so was thinking of something easy to cook and which the kids will eat without any fuss. Well anything non-veg would work fine, but something easy to cook...hmmm...I make this whenever I want cooking to be done in 10-15 min. The thing is, it also tastes good in a sandwich and also with rice. It is also the base for the fish cutlets I make.
Tuna fish in the can is already cooked. We get 2 varieties in the market, one in water and one in oil. Both taste the same, but these day I use only the one in water to keep it healthy. People eat it just like that adding only mayo to it. This is just cooking it the Indian way with garam masala and onions.

Ingredients:

3 5oz cans of canned chunk light tuna in water
1 large onion or 2 small chopped small
Salt to taste
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1-2 tbsp oil
garnish with coriander leaves

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and fry them until they are translucent. Add ginger-garlic paste and stir. Open the cans of tuna and drain the water. Add this to the pan with salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and garam masala powder.Fry it until everything is properly mixed and cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves.

As I said before, you can eat it with rice or in a sandwich. In a sandwich, enjoy it with raw onions and tomatoes on the side or in the sandwich for a easy snack, lunch or dinner.

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Bendakaya pulusu / Lady's Finger / Okra in tangy tamarind curry

Bendakaya pulusu / Lady's Finger / Okra in tangy tamarind curry

Pulusu means a sauce of tangy sour flavor made from tamarind pulp. A little bit of jaggery or sugar is added so that its not too sour. In Andhra, We can make fish pulusu, pappu pulusu (with lentils), vegetables or even meat like mutton or lamb. A hint of methi powder gives a good flavor to the pulusu to the vegetables pulusu. Bendakaya or Okra cooked in this tangy sauce tastes yummy and flavorful. It can be eaten with hot rotis or with hot rice. A drop of ghee on the hot rice will make it more yummier. :)
Another recipe which is not that difficult to make and with simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

1/4 kg of Okra / Bendakaya
1 large onion cut into somewhat big pieces (not too big, not too small)
1 large tomato, chopped
4-5 green chillies slit lengthwise
1 lemon sized ball of tamrind, extract pulp and keep aside
1/4 tsp sugar or jaggery
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1-2 tbsp oil
water as needed
salt to taste
1/2 tsp methi powder (dry roast methi seeds and powder them)
Garnish with coriander leaves

For Talimpu / Tempering:

1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
1/4 urad daal
2-3 red chillies
5-6 curry leaves

Method:

Wash the okra and pat them dry. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces. In a pot, heat the oil, add urad daal, mustard seeds and jeera and wait for them to splutter. Then add the red chillies and curry leaves. Add the onions and green chillies and cook the a little. Then add the okra pieces, tomato, salt, tumeric powder and chilli powder. Cook until okra is cooked but not falling apart. Now add the tamarind pulp and stir. Add enough water and let cook covered, until everything comes together. There should be still gravy in it when cooked. Now add the methi powder and the sugar. Cook for another couple of minutes and garnish with coriander leaves. Enjoy!!

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Colocasia / Arbi / Taro root / Chamadumpa fry

Colocasia / Arbi / Taro root / Chamadumpa fry

So many names for a simple plant! It is another easy vegetable to cook and tastes good when eaten hot on cold winter days.
Colocasia leaves and the root tuber are eaten in many in various forms in many countries. In India too the leaves are used to make tangy curries or fritters while the root also can be used to make tangy tamarind curries (pulusu), stir fry and fritters or bajjilu.
The root tuber is starchy as the potato, but is a little different in texture. It also has a stickiness to it when it is cooked or boiled.
I like Chamadumpa as it is something different from the usual potato. I like to cook it simple, just with a pinch of turmeric, salt and chilli powder or with talimpu (tempering) and onions. It tastes good any way.

Ingredients:

10 boiled and peeled Taro root, chamadumpa, colocasia, or Arbi and chop them round
1 small onion chopped lengthwise
3-4 green chillies slit lengthwise
1-2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

For Tempering:

1 tbsp Channa daal
1/2 tbsp urad daal
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
2-3 red chillies
5-6 curry leaves
a pinch of hing (optional)

Method:

Boil and peel the tubers. Just make sure that they are not mushy. Chop them in rounds.
In a pan, heat oil, add channa daal, urad daal. When they brown, add the mustard seeds and jeera. When they splutter, add the red chillies and curry leaves. Add turmeric and chilli powder and cook for few seconds. Add the chopped tubers and add salt. Stir everything till properly mixed. Fry them till they brown.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Enjoy it hot with rice or chapathi. :)

Tip: You can boil or not boil the taro root. If the tuber you have are small, the try it without boiling them. You might have to cook them for a little while longer till they are cooked on the pan.
If they are big and thick, then try by boiling them for a litlle while, but not till they are mushy. I boiled them in the microwave, cooled them and peeled them.

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Saturday morning breakfast - Green moong daal dosa / Pesarattu / Green Lentil crepes

Who can say no to dosa! I can't. Be it any kind of dosa, I like them all. Just the time it takes for it to get ready, by that I mean, soaking, grinding and fermenting....thats a long time. On top of that, in winter, for us....fermenting time increases!!!! So sometimes, to cut out the fermenting time, I make easy dosas :). Like this one, Pesarattu or Green Moong daal dosa. Its healthy, has lots of fiber, so it has to be good for you right!! It doesn't have any fermenting time so you can directly go to making the dosa.

To the moong daal / pesara pappu, add a little amount of rice (brown rice can be substituted) and soak it overnight or 5-6 hours. Grind it with a little bit of water and salt to the dosa consistency. I like to add ginger and green chillies to the daal while grinding, it gives a good flavor to the batter and you can omit putting them on the dosa like some people do. I do this so that I dont have to pick out little pieces of ginger and chillies when I serve it to kids. But my kids like to eat it plain and by already adding it to the batter, the dosa becomes more flavorful. And for the rest of the people, I add chopped onion and sprinkle jeera on the dosa while roasting it.

 Serve it with fresh ginger chutney or ginger pachadi. I served it with homemade ginger pickle (not fresh made). The sweet sour taste of the pickle goes good with this spicy dosa.

Ingredients:
1 cup of moong daal / Pesara pappu
1/4 cup rice (brown rice can be substituted)
1 inch piece of ginger
2-3 green chillies
salt to taste
oil for roasting the dosa
chopped onion
jeera

Method:

Soak daal and rice overnight or 5-6 hours. Grind with ginger and green chillies. Make the dosa on the pan, sprinkle some oil for roasting. When you see the dosa browning, add the chopped onion and jeera and fold over. After fold, roast on both sides till brown and remove. Serve hot with chutney.

You can convert this dosa into Pesarattu upma, one of Andhra's specialities, by adding plain upma made from sooji or ravva. You just have to wrap or stuff the upma inside the fold of the dosa. Serve it hot and Enjoy!!!

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Halwa / Ravva kesari Poli (Halwa or Ravva kesari stuffed sweet roti)

Halwa / Ravva kesari Poli (Halwa or Ravva kesari stuffed sweet roti)

This is a easier alternative to making Bobbattlu, which is time consuming. These polis can be made in a jiffy!! All you need is halwa or Ravva kesari. As I said in my previous blog, when I make Ravva kesari, I take some of it aside before adding the nuts. It will sure be difficult to roll it out like a chapathi or roti with the nuts or raisins.

To make Dough:

2 cups Maida (all purpose flour)
1 cup whole wheat flour
a pinch of salt
2 tsp of oil

Knead with just enough water to make dough of softer consistency.

Poli:

Flatten out a small ball of dough. Put a small ball of kesari / halwa in the center. Flatten out the edges of the dough to cover the halwa ball and seal. Press or flatten this ball with hand to the size of your palm. Make sure no holes come up in your flattened dough ball. Then roll it out with a rolling pin using some dry flour making sure that its not breaking apart.
Fry it on a medium heat pan. Put oil on both sides when it starts to brown and remove from heat.
You can put ghee instead of oil, but on the healthier side olive oil will do just fine!!

Kids also will love this variation to the regular chapathi or roti. It can be eaten plain and hot or with any curry.

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Something other than Sambaar / Pappu Chaaru (Lentil Soup with veggies)

Something other than Sambaar / Pappu Chaaru (Lentil soup with veggies)

Sometimes sambaar gets too redundant and I feel like making something other than sambaar. Thats when I make Pappu chaaru or Pappu kattu. I donot know where these chaarus and kattus originated from, but since I learned to make them from my Mom, I too make them at home. Pappu kattu is little different from Pappu chaaru, I will blog that later sometime. Pappu chaaru means nothing but Pappu meaning daal and chaaru meaning rasam or soup. Only difference is that in rasam many people dont add daal or any veggies. Here in sambaar or pappu chaaru you can add a variety of veggies like - anapakaya (bottle gourd), drumsticks, pearl onions, tomatoes, regular onions, lady's finger (bendi), brinjal (eggplant), carrots, beans etc.,. I made with what I had in my fridge...only pearl onions and anapakaya :( . The only difference between this and sambaar is that the main ingredient of sambaar which is sambaar powder doesnot go in it. So Pappu chaaru = sambaar - sambaar powder. So easy right!!...trust me it is!!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cooked daal (toor daal, khandi pappu)
triple the amount of water as of daal (or to whatever consistency you like)
12-15 pieces of cut anapakaya (bottle gourd)
15 pieces of pearl onions
1 tomato
1 onion (chopped into big pieces)
3-4 thai green chillies
you can add any other veggies you like
1 lemon ball size tamarind ( soaked in warm water, and strain out the pulp)
salt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Garnish with coriander leaves

Tempering:

3-4 cloves of garlic ( smashed a bit)
1/4 tsp urad daal
1/4 tsp jeera
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 whole red chillies broken into halves5
5-6 curry leaves
1-2 tbsp oil
a big pich of hing / inguva

Method:

In a pot add a small amount of water, add the veggies including the onions, green chillies, tomato and salt. Cook until everything is cooked but not soft or smooshy. Add turmeric, chilli powder and tamarind juice to it. Then add the cooked daal and three times the water. Cook for 5 min. until well combined. If you think its too thin or watery, add more daal or if its too thick, add more water. In a separate pan for tempering, add oil, garlic, urad daal, jeera and mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add red chillies, curry leaves and hing. Mix this into the pappu chaaru mixture and stir. Let the whole come to a boil once before turning off the heat. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy!!! :)

TIP: Do not add the tamarind with the veggies in the beginning, the veggies will not cook. If you think its not sour enough, add lemon juice or more tamarind juice. Tomatoes can get smooshy but if you dont want smooshy tomatoes, add them towards the end, same goes with the onions.

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Aloo mudda kura/ Alugadda pidippu/ Mashed Potato curry

Aloo mudda kura/ Alugadda pidippu/ Mashed Potato curry

This type of potato curry is very easy to make and tastes yummy with white rice or with chappatis or rotis. I like to eat it with pulihora too. This recipe can also be used as a filling for aloo bonda or aloo paratha(minus the onions...it will be difficult to roll it out with onions).

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes
1 chopped onion (cut lengthwise or chopped...your wish)
3-4 thai green chillies (chopped)
1 tbsp of channa dal
1 tbsp of urad dal
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
2-3 red chillies
5-6 curry leaves
1/4 turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
You can 1/2 tbsp grated ginger if you wish...it tastes good with or without it!!
1 tbsp oil or more if you like :)

Method:

Boil or bake the potatoes and peel them when cool and mash. I directly bake them the microwave to make it easy. In a pan, heat the oil for tempering. Add channa dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, jeera. Let the seeds splutter before adding red chillies, curry leaves and green chillies (you can add the ginger here). Add onions and fry till light brown color. Add turmeric powder and stir before adding the mashed potatoes and salt. Stir until everything is mixed properly. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
And there you go...Mashed potato curry is ready. Enjoy!!!

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Chintapandu Pulihora/ Tamarind Rice for Sankranthi festival

Like I said in my previous blog, Pulihora is an all time favorite for kids and adults. It was my favorite while growing up and now I am glad that my kids enjoy it too. Out of all the different types, Chintapandu pulihora or Tamarind rice is my favorite. Making the mix at home is not at all difficult. I usually make more of the mix and save it in the fridge so that I can make it again over the next week. Tamarind rice with plain dal or mudda pappu and aloo curry is the way I like to eat it. It also tastes good with plain yogurt.

Tamarind Rice/ Chintapandu Pulihora

Ingredients:

100g tamarind (soak in warm water, squeeze and remove pulp)

1/4 cup peanuts

1/4 cup cashew nuts

1 tbsp channa dal

1 tbsp urad dal

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp fresh chopped ginger

1/4 tsp hing/ inguva

4-5 green chillies slit down the middle (thai green chillies)

3-4 dried red chillies

10-12 curry leaves

1/2 tsp tumeric powder

salt to taste

1/2 cup oil

2 cups cooked, cooled rice

Method:

Soak tamarind in a little water for some time untill it gets soft. Then squeeze, remove pulp and keep aside. Heat oil, add peanuts and fry till they start to  brown, then add cashews, all the dals, mustard seeds and fry till everything turns brown and mustard seeds start to splutter. Add the curry leaves, red chillies, ginger, green chillies and fry a little before adding the hing and turmeric powder. Let it cook a little before removing from heat. In a different pot, cook the tamarind paste for about 10min on medium heat. When you see it thicken, add the above mix and salt to your taste and cook for another 5 min before removing from heat. Now your pulihora paste or mix is ready. Now you can add it to the cooked cooled rice and don't forget adding salt because rice will absorb the salt and you will have to add more to get the right taste.

Tip: If you think that your tamarind paste wasn't sour enough, you can add some lemon juice to the rice while mixing. Some people even add a lttle bit of jaggery/ gud to the paste to give the sweet sour taste.

See it isn't that difficult to make pulihora paste and I am sure it tastes much better than the store bought one. So go ahead and try it!! and you will enjoy it!!!  

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My first ever blog post!

"Vakratunda Mahakaaya, Suryakoti Samaprabha

Nirvighnam Kuru Mey Deva, Sarva Kaaryeshu Sarvada"

After thinking for a long time on what to blog about and how to go about doing it, today I started doing it, at last!!! I am looking forward to Happy blogging days ahead :)

My first post was supposed to be on Sankranthi day but since it was not, I am going to post it today.

Pulihora and vada are all time favorites with Andhraites and also in my house. Though there are different type of pulihoras, my favorite is chintapandu pulihora or tamarind rice.

I am posting what I cooked on Sankranthi day. I typically make a type of vada, a type of pulihora, a type of dal, white rice, plain dal, a curry which usually is aloo mudda kura. This Sankranthi I made Masala Chanaga vada, Chintapandu Pulihora/Tamarind rice, Pappu Chaaru, Mudda Pappu, Halwa poli, White rice and Aloo Mudda kura(potato curry). And most importantly a sweet as Prasadam or Naivedyam. This time I made Ravva Kesari.

Masala Chanaga Vada and Ravva Kesari

Ravva Kesari:

Ingredients:

1 cup Ravva (dry roasted on a dry pan on low heat)

1 cup Sugar (or less to suit your taste)

3-4 tbsp Ghee (or less for the health conscious)

1 tbsp Cashew halves

1 tbsp golden raisins

1 1/2 cup water

a pinch of Elaichi powder/ Green Cardamom powder

a pinch of yellow or kesar food color

Method:

Ravva tends to burn really fast on high heat so dry roast the ravva on low heat without any oil or ghee. Once it starts to turn color, remove from heat and transfer to a clean, dry plate. Add sugar and water and bring it to a boil. Add the elaichi powder, a pinch of food color and couple of tbsp (or less) of ghee to the sugar and water mix. Slowly add the roasted ravva stirring it continuously into the sugar and water mix otherwise it will form balls which then become very hard to dissolve. The mix now might look watery but the ravva will absorb all the liquid slowly and become thicker. Cover it and let it cook on low heat until completly cooked.

At this point what I do is take out half of it if I intend to make halwa poli, and keep aside (because you don't want nuts in your poli).

Heat the rest of the ghee (in a separate pan) and roast the cashews and plump the raisins in it. Add it to the rest of the mixture and TADAaa.... your Ravva Kesari is ready!!!....

Masala Chanaga Vada:

Ingredients:

2 cups of Chanagalu (chick peas, Garbanzo beans)(soaked overnight)

1 inch piece of ginger

1 inch piece of cinamon stick

2-3 cloves

1/4 cup of channa dal soaked in water for 30 min

1 small chopped onion

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

a pinch baking soda (optional)

3-4 tbsp rice flour (optional)

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method:

Soak Chanagalu overnight.

When ready to prepare this recipe, soak 1/4 cup channa dal in water for about 30 min. In a grinder/mixie, add soaked chanagalu, cinamon stick, cloves, ginger and grind until smooth but not too smooth (just make sure that ginger, cloves and cinamon stick are properly ground). Take this into a new bowl and add chopped onion, coriander leaves, soaked channa dal, baking soda, rice flour and salt. Mix well. Make small flattened balls with your hand and deep fry them in oil.

Vadas are ready to eat, when they are cool enough to eat, just plain or with chutney or tomato ketchup. Enjoy!!

After finally getting down to wrinting my first blog, I am going to call it a night...I will post the rest of the recipes over next few days...

GN everyone!!!

 `

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