Potlakaya kobari perugu pachadi / Snake gourd yogurt chutney

As always I have been missing in action :) But I am enjoying my days as my In-laws are here and days have gotten a bit busier than usual. As my daily schedule has changed a bit and we slowly getting used to it, school also got out for summer and with both kids at home hollering at each other and making as much sound as they possibly can, I surely can use a breather from both of them!

Coming to the cooking, I am learning new recipes from my MIL and today's recipe is one of them. I am not sure how many people have eaten to tasted snake gourd in their life! It a very common vegetable in India, but here in US its not that common. Though Indian groceries carry them, they are sometimes not even worth to look at. I usually find them dry, shriveled and not at all worth buying. But whenever they do look fresh, I tend to buy them. I make a simple fry by chopping it into circles. There are couple more varieties of dishes we make out of it. But this recipe of my MIL is my favorite. Using coconut and yogurt along with snake gourd, it makes a very yummy and tasty combination.

We call it Potlakaya perugu pachadi, but it can also be used as Snake gourd raita, since it is made of yogurt.
It is best eaten with hot rice with a drop of ghee. But you can eat it with stuffed parathas where raita makes for a good side dish. Even with rotis and chapathis, it tastes delicious!
The actual recipe calls for sour yogurt, but here it is substituted with a small piece of tamarind. If you don't want to use tamarind, go ahead and use a bit of lemon juice.


Ingredients:

1 small potlakaya / Snake gourd, about 7-8 inches long, cut into pieces
1/4 cup fresh or frozen coconut
15-20 green chillies (use according to your taste, more or less)
2 garlic cloves, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp jeera, cumin seeds

1/2 cup yogurt
some water as needed
a small piece of tamarind (this can be substituted with lemon juice or totally skipped if the yogurt is sour)

Tempering:

2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp Chana dal
1/4 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera or cumin
2 dry red chili, broken into pieces
few curry leaves
pinch of hing, inguva, asfoetida

salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves


Method:

In a small pot, add some water, the pieces of potlakaya, cover and cook until it is cooked, not soft but just cooked.
Heat a few drops of oil, add the coconut and chilies and saute until the coconut starts to turn color. Remove aside and cool.
When cooled, grind the coconut, chili, tamarind (optional), yogurt, cooked snake gourd, 2 cloves of garlic and 1/4 tsp jeera together.
You don't have to grind it to smooth, just that you don't have any big pieces. It also shouldn't be of runny consistency. It should be thick and should have consistency like coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

Now for tempering. In a small pot, add the remaining oil and heat. Add the garlic, chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, jeera and let them splutter.
Add the red chili, curry leaves and a pinch of hing. Saute for 10 seconds.
Add this to the ground snake gourd yogurt mixture. Add salt to taste.
Stir in the chopped coriander leaves and its ready to be served.
Serve with hot rice with a drop of ghee. But it also yummy to eat with rotis or chapathis or even even hot hot savory pongal or katte pongali.
Enjoy!!!

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Cucumber Raita / Cucumber in yogurt

Raitas are the best accompaniment to any dish, especially to biryanis, fried rice or pulavs. There are so many types of raitas made from so many dish ingredients. Its basically what you like and what tastes good put together in yogurt to form raita.
Since its made in yogurt, it good for your health too.
Here is present to you cucumber raita. I have previously posted onion raita. Its almost the same, just made with cucumber.
There are different ways you can make this....you can cut cucumber into small pieces or even shred or grate it! I have chosen to chop it into small pieces, I like it the chunky way. If you like tomato in your raita, go ahead and add it. I didnot add it in this recipe.
I like it simple, spicy and thick, not too runny!
I like to eat raita even with chapathi, roti or any type of parathas too. You can also add some grated carrot to it for color.

Ingredients:

1 cup of thick yogurt
1 big cucumber or 2 small ones, chopped or grated
1 small onion or 1/2 of big onion (red onion preferably), chopped
2 green chillies, chopped
1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
few drops of lemon juice

Method:

Mix all ingredients together with yogurt. If you like it little runny, add some water to it.
Add some lemon juice, so that it little bit soury! :)
Serve with
Mutton 'Dum' Biryani
Hyderbadi Chicken Biryani
Vegetable pulao
Peas fried rice
Peas pulao

Methi Besan paratha
Stuffed spring onion and besan paratha
Aloo paratha
Methi paratha
Gobi paratha

Enjoy!!!

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Vegetable Pulao with Onion Raita

Vegetable Pulao with Onion Raita

Another one pot meal, easy to make and handy when there is less time. Well its not only made there is less time but also for parties, pot luck get togethers and accompaniment to masala curries or chicken dishes :). For me its a saviour when there is less time like today when I am stuck in outdoor activities almost for the whole day. Well why not when it has all the veggies and rice in one dish and it will be eaten with raita and I don't have to make any other side dishes.

I used crispy bread too, to give it an extra touch. And the masala powder I used is not the typical biryani masala powder. It's a version of homemade curry powder and I used it with dry garam masala. It can be made with regular biryani masala powder too.

I made this very easily. I sauted the veggies for couple of minutes on the stovetop and put everything together in the electric rice cooker and let the cooker do its magic!!

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati rice (washed and soaked for atleast 1/2 hour)
1 small potato, chopped big
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped beans
1/4 cup corn
1/4 cup peas
2 bread slices (shallow fried to crispy)
Salt to taste

Dry masala;

6-8 cloves
4-6 one inch pieces cinamon sticks
6 cardamom pods
1 anise star
1 tsp shahi jeera or kala jeera
1/2 tsp jeera
4 bay leaves

Masala powder: (grind to powder)

1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
3 dried red chillies
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 large onion juliened (cut lengthwise)
4 green chillies (I used less to make it less spicy, adjust to your taste)
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
4 tbsp oil
3 tbsp chopped coriander

Method:

Wash rice and soak for atleast 30 minutes. When cooking in the electric cooker and that too with uncooked veggies I put less water, like for 2 cup basmati rice, I put 4 cups of water, but in this condition I put only 2 1/2 to nearly 3 cups of water. This is because the veggies have enough water to sustitute the remaining needed water to cook the rice.
Grind the masala powder ingredients to powder.
In a pan, heat the oil, add the dry garam masala. Add onions and green chillies. Saute only for few seconds and add the ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 10 sec and add all the veggies and saute for couple of minutes with salt and add the masala powder. Don't add the whole amount of the powder, if you think its too much. Add only as required. Add this whole veggie mixture to the soaked rice and adjust the salt by tasting the water. The water should taste a bit salty. Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook in the rice cooker.
Meanwhile shallow fry the bread to crispy. You can bake it too. drain it on napkin and cut to pieces.
After the rice gets cooked, add the bread pieces and some more coriander leaves and mix it up with the rice.
Serve with an curry or with raita. I served it with simple onion raita. Enjoy!!!

Onion raita recipe:

Ingredients:

1 large red onion, chopped small
1 green chilli, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste
enough yogurt to suit your consistency

Method:

Mix everything together and serve. Enjoy!!

This is going to Pari from Foodelicious's 'The Combo Event'

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