This is one v neck vest which i just finished…i will upload the details later!!!
Potlakaya perugu pachadi May 13, 2008
Ingredients
Chopped potlakaya or snake gourd – 2 cups
Beaten curd- 1 cup
Green chillies
Ginger
Turmeric powder
Salt
Coriandar leaves
For popu
Oil
Menthi seeds- 2
Red chilli- 2
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves- a sprig
Method
- Take a pan and add 1 tbs oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and menthi seeds and let them splutter. Add a pinch of turmeric.
- Add chopped potlakaya pieces and salt. Mix it well and cover it with a lid and cook till done.
- Grind green chilli and ginger into paste and mix it with the beaten curd. Add the cooked vegetable and mix it well. Garnish with coriandar leaves.
This curry tastes amazing with hot steaming rice!
Velli ulli karam April 10, 2008
Ingredients
2 tsp Oil
1¼ tsp Salt (or to taste)
½ tsp Asafoetida powder
10 nos Curry leaves (fresh)
½ cup Coconut (grated) (dry dessicated preferred)
6 clove Garlic
10 nos Dry red chili
½ cup urad dal
¼ cup chana dal
Method
- Heat 1 tsp oil in a kadai and roast the dry red chilies, garlic and curry leaves, remove.
- In the same pan add these in the following order and roast Bengal gram, toast until slightly golden and remove.
- Add the second tsp of oil, toast Split black gram until golden and remove,
- Now turn off the flame and toast the coconut (the heat in the pan should work) till slightly golden.
Remove and cool all the ingredients - Grind all the ingredients except garlic (dry red chilies + bengal gram + split black gram + curry leaves + salt + asafoetida) to a fine powder.
- When done add garlic cloves and run on pulse, (2 to 3 times) just to pound and blend.
- Cool again and then store in air-tight jars.
Serve this podi liberally drizzled with gingely oil as a side for steaming hot idlis.
Carrot Halwa ~~ sweet as home March 30, 2008
Halwa ~~ A dessert made from various kinds of fruits, vegetables, grains and lentils. The ingredients in Halwa are grated finely and fried in ghee and sugar. Nuts and milk may also be added. Halwas have the consistency of a very thick pudding.
This is the technical definition of halwa but the whole experience of eating this dish away from homeland is totally different. Although I ate this halwa in quite a number of restaurants but somehow I felt that they did not get the taste right. Frankly speaking, I did not know that by adding condensed milk, the taste will come out this amazing!!! I thought the ingredients would be only milk sugar and carrots..thats it. With condensed milk..the taste comes out real good.
Try this recipe and let me know how was it!!
Ingredients
4 cups grated carrot
1 cup condensed milk
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 cup cashewnuts
1/4 cup badam
2 cloves
2 tbs ghee
Method
-
Wash and peel carrots and then grate them finely.
-
Take a deep skillet and add two tbs ghee. Add cloves,cashewnuts and badam. Add grated carrot. Keep stirring till it cooked properly. It will take at least 15 minutes to do this on medium heat. Do not cover the skillet with any lid.
-
Add condensed milk and mix it well. Add the cardamom powder. Keep stirring for five minutes more.
-
Add sugar slowly and keep mixing for 10 more minutes.Halwa is ready to eat. You can top it with dry coconut powder.
Hyderabadiiiii Bagara Baingan March 20, 2008
This is another typical hyderabadi dish which goes quite well with biryani. With a rich gravy made of peanuts, coconut powder and sesame seeds, it gets tastier the day after it is made same like biryani.. I tried different versions of this dish but this is the one i liked the best so far. Its quite important that the stuffed brinjals are fried well and there is no rawness left in the brinjals and taste of the stuffing goes right into the heart of the brinjal!! Well..here goes the recipe..
Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 cup thick tamarind pulp
1 large onion
4 green chillies
For stuffing
1/2 cup coconut
1/4 cup peanuts
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cummin seeds
Salt to taste
Method
- Wash and clean each brinjal. Make two slits(plus sign) in each brinjal from base towards stalk end without separating quarters. Don’t remove the stalk. Soak the brinjals in salted water for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, roast coconut, peanuts,sesame seeds, coriandar seeds and cumin seeds. Cool and grind it into a coarse powder. Add little salt and mix well.
- Now take each brinjal and stuff the powder into the slits and keep them aside.
- Grind chopped onion and green chili into a smooth paste.
- Heat oil, drop the stuffed brinjals into hot oil, shake the pan from time to time and lift out brinjals when they change colour. This process will take at least 15-20 minutes on medium high heat. Make sure that brinjal pieces are not torn off. Better use a tong to rotate the brinjals.
- Take another pan and add oil and cumin and curry leaves. Once they splutter, add ginger garlic paste and fry.
- Add ground onion and green chilli paste and fry till oil seperates and the paste becomes light brown in color.
- Add the remaining stuffing and mix it well. After few minutes, slowly add the brinjals, then add salt, tamarind pulp and sufficient water to cook the brinjals till tender but firm. It will take at least 15 minutes on medium high.
Serve hot with mutter pulav or plain rice!
Oats/wheat pongal March 19, 2008
This is one of the dishes which will be quite tasty for people having diabetes.
Ingredients
Oats/Wheat rava 1 cup
Yellow moong dal 1/2 cup
Black pepper powder 1 sp
Cumin seeds 1 sp
Curry leaves
Ginger grated 1/2 sp
Asafetida powder 1/4 sp
Ghee 2 sp
Salt
Method
- In a cooker vessel put oats or wheat rava, yellow moong dal together. Add 3 cups of water and pressure cook as usual.
- Take a pan and add ghee. Add the seasoning ingredients and fry well. Mix it well with cooked wheat rava/oats and yellow moong dal. Serve hot!
Chamagadda vepudu or Colocasia curry March 15, 2008
Its comes on top in my favourite curries. Its quite different and interesting to cook. If the root is steamed properly, the curry comes out amazing. Here is the simple recipe.
Ingredients
Colaccsaia/chamagadda/arbi/Taro root – 1/2 kg
salt – to taste
hing – to taste
chilli powder – to taste
turmeric powder – 1 tsp
besan – 2 tbsps
oil
For tempering
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp gram dal
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds
4 red chillies
10 curry leaves
Method
- Wash properly and steam the colaccasia in a presure cooker till it is cooked. Once cooked, run them under cold water and then peel the skin carefully.
- Alternatively you can peel the skin and also steam it but you will lose all the nutrition in it.
- Cool it for some time and then cut into cubes.
- In a plate, take salt, hing, chilli powder, turmeric powder and besan and mix the powders well.
- Sprinkle this on top of the vegetable and leave aside for 10 minutes. You can retain little of this powder to add later on.
- In a non stick pan take oil, add tempering and let it splutter.
- Add the pieces one by one and keep on low gas and almost fry it stirring in between.
- Lastly you can add the leftover powder (optional) and stir for 5 mins more.
- Initially, the pieces will be slippery but if roasted well, the vegetable will become crispy and tasty.
Serve hot with rice with a dash of lemon juice!
Good old idli.. March 5, 2008
From wikipedia..
The idli (IPA:?dl?i), also romanized “idly” or “iddly”, is a savory cake popular throughout South India. The cakes are usually two to three inches in diameter and are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils and rice.
Most often eaten at breakfast or as a snack, idli are usually served in pairs with chutney, sambar, or other accompaniments. Mixtures of crushed dry spices such as milagai podi are the preferred condiment for idlis eaten on the go.
Making idli batter and fermenting it is not at all rocket science!! The batter will ferment perfectly if the temperature is between 65-70F. The chutneys and sambhar varieties are so many that its difficult to keep count. I sometimes eat it with chintapandu tokku..which my mil had sent all the way from Hyderabad. It has the tangy tamarind taste with hot spice of red chillies. One lick and it blows your mind!!!
This is my official entry to Jugalbandi monthly click event 
For making perfect Idli batter the ingredients are -
1 cup minapappu or urad dal or black lentil
2 cups ground rice or cream of rice
A pinch of baking soda
1 tsp salt
- Wash the dal completely and soak it for 4 hrs.
- Again wash it and grind it thick. While grinding ural dal, wash and soak 2 cups of cream of rice in water.
- Once you are done with grinding, transfer it into a big bowl. Now remove the water from the soaked cream of rice by pressing it hard inbetween your palms. This is a tedious process but its worth it.
- Now mix the batter well with (your hands of course) and add salt and baking soda and let it ferment.
- The batter size increases when it ferments nicely and emits a strange odour.
- Now comes the fun part, apply some oil on the idli plates and add 1 tbs of idli batter in each and let it steam cook for exactly 18 min. Serve hot with sambhar or coconut chutney. It tastes heavenly!!
Gobhi Manchurian February 26, 2008
Ingredients
2 Cups of cauliflower florets
1 cup spring onions
4 green chillies slit vertically
1 cup onion sliced
Salt to taste
1 tbs red chilli powder
Hot chilli sauce
Soya sauce
Green chilli sauce
Ingredients for the batter
1 cup maida or all purpose flour
3 tbs corn flour
1 tbs red chili powder
salt to taste
A pinch of turmeric
A pinch of Baking soda
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
A pinch of red food color
Method
- Boil the cauliflower florets in water with little salt. Drain them and keep it aside.
- Mix the ingredients for the batter in a bowl and keep it aside for 10 min.
- Take a deep pan and add 1 cup of vegetable oil. Dip each floret in the batter and deep fry till golden brown. Put these fried florets on a tissue paper so that excess oil is absorbed.
- Take another pan and fry spring onions and green chillies. Add the sauces and fry for a while. Add the florets and mix well so that the sauce is evenly coated. Add salt and red chilli powder.
- Sprinkle coriandar leaves and spring onions on top and serve hot!
Red potato fry February 12, 2008
Here is one dish you would like to eat on any snowy day At least thats what I like to eat! Of course I like the spicy version..just bake them..sprinkle spices thats it..its done and ready to eat!
Ingredients
5 red potatos
1 tsp vegetable oil
half tsp jeera
Salt to taste
Turmeric
Red chilli powder
Italian seasoning
Seasoned salt
Method
Add a tsp of oil in a pan and add jeera, turmeric and red chilli powder. Now add the washed and cut potatoes (with the skin) into it and mix well so that the oil is evenly coated. Add salt and again mix well. Cover it with lid and let it cook. It will take about 15 min to cook properly on medium heat. Sprinkle italian seasoning and seasoned salt and serve it HOT!!
