Hummus

Hummus is a dip/spread that is made from chickpeas. In fact, hummus is the Arabic word for chickpea. You may notice that many hummus recipes call for garbanzo beans, not chickpeas. Hummus tastes different everywhere. Some types of hummus have a strong lemon flavor, some have an overwhelming garlic flavor, and some hummus has a spicy tone. When making your own hummus, you have to keep your own taste buds in mind. If a recipe calls for a lot of tahini and you don't like tahini, scale down the amount or simply omit it. The fun about Middle Eastern cooking is that the ingredient amounts aren't set in stone. Add a little of this and take away that and you still have a culinary masterpiece!

Hummus is one of the more popular Middle Eastern dips. Served with fresh or toasted pita bread, hummus makes for a great snack or appetizer. Tahini is an important part of the hummus recipe and cannot be substituted. However, it can be omitted.

Source Adapted from here

Ingredients :

• chickpeas or garbanzo beans - 1can or 2 cups

• Liquid from can of chickpeas - 1/4 cup

• Lemon juice (depending on taste) - 3 -5 tbsps

• Tahini - 11/2 tbsp

• Garlic, crushed - 2 cloves

• Salt - 1/2 tsp

• Olive oil- 2 tbsp

Method:

• Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor.

Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.

• Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.

• Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).

• Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.

• For a spicier hummus, add a sliced red Chile or a dash of cayenne pepper.

Storing Hummus :

• Hummus can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can be kept in the freezer for up to one month. Add a little olive oil if it appears to be too dry.

Note : While using the chickpeas , boil them till tender soft and use the same boiled water (broth) in the preparation process.

Tahini Process :

Ingredients:

• Sesame seeds /Nuvvulu (white)/Till - 2 cups

• Olive oil or vegetable oil - 1 cup

Method:

• Take a pan and toast the sesame seeds for 5-10 minutes, tossing the seeds frequently with a spatula. Do not allow to brown. Cool for 20 minutes.

• Pour sesame seeds into food processor/grinder and add oil. Blend for 2 minutes. Check for consistency. The goal is a thick, yet pour able texture. Add more oil and blend until desired consistency.

Gongura pachadi/Red Sorrel leaves Pachadi

Gongura pachadi is famous through out Andhra and without this pachadi no marriage function will be there in Andhra . Gongura is a very rich source of Iron, vitamins, folic acid and anti-oxidants essential for human nutrition. "Gongura" is popular in Tamilnadu as well, which is called "pulichakeerai" in Tamil. The famous combination with "pulichakeerai" is "Ragi Kali/Ragi Mudde", which once used to be a regular food for the people in villages (since these items are easily available in agricultural forms). In Maharashtra markets, it is called Ambaadi (अंबाडी). It is known as Pitwaa in Hindi, Nalitaa Saaga in Oriya, Mestapat in Bengali, Pandi in Kannada and Sorrel Leaves in English. It is a summer crop, and the hotter the place, the more sour the leaf gets.

This gongura pachadi can be done using dry red chilies or green chilies .When red chilies are used , the consistency of the pachadi will be little hard and dry and need more oil while tempering. Green chilies will give a moist consistency and cannot stay for a longer period.

There are 2 varieties of gongura , one is white stem gongura and the other is red gongura .White gongura has a little bitter taste than the red variety . Both of them really taste well. Gongura pachadi with hot rice with a dash of ghee and slice of red onions. Hmmm!!!! no words to express the taste. so Delicious. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients :

• Fresh Red Sorrel leaves/Gongura Leaves - 2bunches

• Whole dry red chilies - 10

• Green chilies - 3(depending on

• spice level add more)

• Urad dal /Minapappu/black gram dal - 1/2 tbsp

• Senega pappu/chana dal /bengal gram dal - 3/4 tbsp

• Coriander seeds/Dhaniyalu - 1 tbsp

• Salt to taste

• Tamarind pulp - 1/2 tbsp

• Oil - 2 tbsp

Tempering/Seasoning:

• Oil - 3tbsp

• Mustard seeds/Avalu - 1 tsp

• Hing/Inguva- 3 tsp

• Whole Dry Redchillies - 2 (deseeded)

• Curry leaves/Karevepaku - few sprigs (optional)

Method :

• Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Add the leaves and tamarind pulp /extract and sauté them until soft and let all the water in the leaves gets evaporated. Remove and let it cool.

• In the same vessel add 1 tbsp oil and add methi seeds and fry till light brown .

• Add coriander seeds,Urad dal,chana dal and dry red chilies and fry stirring constantly till light brown .Remove them and take into a bowl and let them cool down to the room temperature.

• In a grinder , add all the roasted ingredients(methi ,coriander seeds,urad dal,chana dal ,dry red chilies) into a coarse texture.

• Now add the sorrel leaves/gongura leaves and grind once again along with the above grinded seasoning.

• [you grind the chutney /pachadi as per your taste. I like the pachadi to be in a coarse texture instead of a smooth paste.]

• Heat 3 tbsps of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds/

• Avalu and let them crackle down , now add the inguva /hing and remove from heat and let it completely cool down before adding to the pachadi/chutney.

• Note: Normally for the pickles and pachadi to stay longer the final tempering needs to be added once they are cooled down to room temperature . Especially when adding hing/inguva if added when it is hot ,there is a chance of pickle getting black in color .

• This pickle can be stored in refrigerator and can be used for 15 days and goes well with hot steamed rice, a dash of ghee and sliced red onions.

Tamarind Rice/Chintapandu Pulihora

Pulihora  or Puliyodhara, or Chitrannam is a very common preparation in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Indian cuisine. Puli means sour taste. Pulihora can also be referred as sour rice. It is also known as tamarind rice or lemon rice. In the North coastal part of Andhra Pradesh, people used to call it Saddi but younger generations may not know this name.It is made with tamarind, a spice very popular in southern India.In the districts of Andhra Pradesh, it is considered as the hindus' festival food. It is given as prasadam in temples, were devotees queue to get pulihora after darshan of the God.Pulihora tastes sour, spicy hot and salty at the same time. It is considered to be a good stimulant for a dead tongue. It is easy and inexpensive to cook and is a good stomach filler.As Hindus consider turmeric powder as a symbol of auspiciousness, this dish is cooked for almost all good occasions and during festive days. It is also distributed in temples under the name of Prasad. Other versions of pulihara are made with Un-ripe sour Mangoes, sour pomegranate and lemon.

This is a all time favourite for everyone at my home . If soem relatives are coming or some occasion is there , going out for a picnic or a long distance , festival , No need to mention any occasion pulihora is the first item in the menu list in my home. So here goes the reciepe :

 Ingredients :

• Rice -1 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Tamarind - 1 big size lemon /gooseberry
• Bengal gram/Chana dal - 2 tsp
• Urad dal/Black gram dal - 11/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Green chillies - 4 (depending on spice level)
• Red Chillies - 3
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves - few sprigs
• Asafoetida/hing/Inguva - 2 tsp
• Well Rosated Peanuts - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 2tbsps(for seasoning )

 Method :

• Take rice in a vessel and wash it thoroughly and discard the water and add fresh measured water to it.(for 1 cup of rice = 2 cups of water ).Place this rice in a pressure cooker or in a electric cooker and cook it till it is done.
• Remove the cooked rice from the cooker and spread it evenly ina large plate or vessel and let it cool down .
• Soak the tamarind in hot water for 10 min and squeeze thepulp out of it.(the pulp should be thick and not too watery ).
• Add this tamarind pulp to the cooked rice and salt to it and mix well.
• Cut the green chillies length wise and remove the stalks out of it .
• Take another vessel and add oil for seasoning.When the oil is hot enough, add urad dal,chana dal. mustard seeds/avalu, asafoetida,green chillies,curry leaves and red chillies and let them splutter. Add the well roasted peanuts to it and let them also fry for 3 min in the seasoning. Remove from heat and add the turmeric powder and mix well.
• Now add this whole seasoning mixture to the cooked rice and mix very well thouroughly to ensure all the seasoning,tamarind pulp and salt everthing gets absorbed into the rice and taste's good.
• Serve the pulihora at the room temperature.

Note :

• Usually if it is prepared in the morning it tastes good by evening by absorbing all the ingredients in it.
• Always better to serev this at room temperature.
• Peanuts should be well roasted (crackling sound has to come from the peanuts while roasting) otherwise, peanut inside will be raw and doesn't taste good.
• Usually will be there for minimum of 2 days

Wheat Flour dosa /Godhuma Dosa

After a long time , i am back to blogging . Got a new laptop recently as a birthday gift from my dearest hubby R. So just thought of first clearing all the drafts and then try out the new one’s . In this attempt today i thought of posting one simple ,yet easy and instant breakfast ,healthy breakfast.”Wheat Dosa (Godhuma Dosa) is one of theinstant breakfast which we can prepare when we are running out of time

this is the best one . Here goes the recipe :

Ingredients:

•  Wheat flour /Chapathi atta -1 cup
•  Water - sufficient enough to mix the batter
• Jeera powder - 1 tsp
• Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Red Mirchi powder - 1tsp
•  Salt - as per taste

Method :

• Mix a cup of wheat flour with 2 cups of water .
• Stir in a teaspoon of rd mirchi powder,black pepper powder ,jeera powder and salt .
• Thoroughly mix teh batter without any lumps . The consistency of batter must be like the regular dosa batter or like a thick butter milk batter and should be in a pourable consistency not too watery nor too thick .
• Don’t let the batter sit for a long time once the batter is ready start pouring the dosa on the hot tawa .
• To prepare, the dosas lightly oil the dosa tava .
• Heat the tava over medium high and when it is hot pour a ladleful of batter on the hot tawa nd spread it in the shape of a dosa .sprinkle little oil on the surroundings of the dosa and cook for a minute or two.
• Wait until the underside of the dosa turns to be golden and then gently turn it to the other side.cook for another minute or two.
• Remove and serve hot with any chutney.