Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Majjiga Pulusu





One of the authentic Andhra foods and one of my favourite dishes.  My father is a great lover of this Majjiga pulusu. Everyone has their own way of making majjiga pulusu. Here is one way which I know and easy to make and tasty, It's very delicious and nutritious dish. Sour Curd is the best to prepare this dish.
Ingredients:
  • Plain sour yogurt (blended) – 3 cups
  • Bottle gourd /Sorakaya- 1 small (peeled and cut into 1" pieces)
  • Tomato – 1 or 2 medium size
  • Carrots -2 (peeled and cut into 1” pieces)
  • Onion-1 medium size (cut into 1" pieces)
  • Green Chillies -3 or 4 (upon your spicy level)
  • Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
  • Chick pea flour/Snegapindi/Besan – 5 tbsp
  • Salt - as per taste,
  • Oil – 2tbsp
For tempering / popu / tadka:
  • Mustard seeds/Avalu – 1tsp
  • Fenugreek seeds/Menthulu – 1tsp
  • Cumin seeds – 1tsp
  • Curry leaves/Karivepak – handful
  • Hing /Inguva -1tspp
  • Dry Red chillies - 3
Method:
  • Boil the cubed vegetable pieces, green chillies (cut length wise), salt turmeric with water until they get tender soft.
  • Beat the curd well adding water to form a smooth sauce like consistency.
  • To that curd add besan flour (snegapindi), mix well without any lumps
  • Grind ginger and add it to curd mix and once again mix well.
  • Add this curd mixture to the vegetables which are already boiled, (Before adding them check for salt)
  • Heat oil in a separate pan and add fenugreek seeds/menthulu, mustard seeds/Avalu, cumin seeds, dry red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves and let them splutter
  • Add this tadka  to vegetables and curd mixture and cook for 5 min on a slow heat .
  • Garnish with coriander leaves.
  • Serve hot with white rice/chapathi


Sunday, January 24, 2010

Spinach/Palak Pappu

When it comes to leafy vegetables, I always prefer spinach as it is one of the most nutrient-packed vegetables and its raw juice is an excellent source of chlorophyll.  It is also a superb source of vitamins A, B complex, C. The minerals in spinach are highly alkaline, making it helpful in regulating the body pH.  People who are vegetarians will get a lot of protein in this when compared to meat. I will cook weekly at least once any leafy vegetable. At this point of time I would like to mention something about dals .Normally with Dal especially with toor dal gas will be produced in the body a lot. So once my mother told me that if you fry a little bit the dal without any oil to a golden brown colour so that   the gas can be reduced. So I roasted the dal. . So Spinach / Palak pappu (dal) recipe goes like this:

Ingredients:
  • Spinach/palak – 1 bunch
  • Kandi pappu (Toor dal)- 1 cup
  • Tomato-1 medium size
  • Green Chillies-3
  • Tamarind- 1 small gooseberry size
  • Salt – as per taste
  • Onion – 1 small (optional)
  • Oil -2 tbsp
For Tempering/Tadka/Poopu:
  • Mustard seeds/Avalu – 1 tsp
  • Jeera – 1 tsp
  • Methi seeds/Menthulu – 1tsp
  • Hing -1 tsp
  • Red Chillies – 1 or 2
  • Curry Leaves /karivepaku – a handful
  • Coriander leaves – to garnish on the top.
Method:
  • Wash dal, tomatoes and spinach.
  • Chop tomatoes, green chillies and spinach, onion finely.
  • Cook   dal, Tomato, Green Chillies, Onion, and Spinach in 2 to 3 cups of water until dal becomes soft.
  • Soak the tamarind in Luke warm water for 5 min and extract the juice.
  • Add Salt and Tamarind juice to the cooked dal mixture and mix well.
  • Take another small pan with oil add mustard seeds, methi seeds, jeera, hing, red chillies and let them pop up.
  • Add the Tadka/poopu to the dal mixture and cook for another 3 min.
  • Garnish with Coriander leaves and curry leaves.
Note: you can add crushed garlic in tadka to get a different taste. Fried onions separately can be added in the dal instead of cooking them along with dal.


Friday, January 22, 2010

Idli Upma

Today I thought of having "Idly" as a breakfast. one of the easiest breakfast and quick one .then ii realized I don’t have chutney /sambar along with it to enjoy  the taste of "Idly " and I am  running out of time to prepare either of the things , that time I recollected a small technique told by my mother. Which is very easy to do?  Many of us normally have this problem in our daily routine in the kitchen. Sometimes we feel like lazy to prepare the chutney or sometimes leftover idly will be there. With that also we can try the below recipe. So here it goes like this: 
Ingredients:
  • Idly's : 4
  • Turmeric powder - small pinch
  • Mustard seeds(Avalu/Rai seeds) - 1tsp
  • Jeera - 1tsp
  • Hing /Inguva- a small pinch
  • Curry leaves - handful
  • Red chillies - 1 or 2
  • Oil -4tbsp
  • Salt - 1tsp     
Method:
  • Take a pan and heat the oil and put the mustard seeds, jeera, turmeric powder ,hing, and red chillies  and let them splutter for 2- 3 mins .
  • Mash the Idly’s to a rough coarse texture.
  • Add them to the tadka /poopu.
  • Add the required salt
  • Sprinkle the curry leaves on the top.
  • Serve it hot.
Note: If we want we can add Peanuts also.








Kattu Pongal/Venn Pongal

Kattu pongal is a hot dish that is traditionally prepared in South India for the harvest festival of Makara Sankranti celebrated on January 14th every year. When I am in Rajahmundry we   people used to have rangoli competition for sankranthi, whose design is the best and every year one of our elders used to be a judge and they will decide which rangoli is the best for that year. Once after this announcement, we all used to go to each and every friend home and wish them and finally by lunch time we used to come back to home. It was so fun in all those days. This hot dish is also prepared as 'naivedyam' or 'prasadam' as an offering to God during various festivals of India.
Ingredients:-
  • Rice  -  1 cup
  • Moong dal[pesarapappu] - 1/2 cup
  • Green chillies - 5 or 6 small
  • Ghee [clarified butter] -1/4 cup
  • Cashew Nuts - 10 or 12
  • Raisins - 5 or 6
  • Cumin seeds[jeera] - 2 tsp
  • Black pepper corns whole [miriyalu] - 10 or 12
  • Black pepper powder - 2 tsp
  • Ginger [allam] chopped-1 inch
  • Curry leaves[karivepak]- a handful
  • Asafoetida [hing,inguva]- 2 tsp
  • salt to taste
  • Coriander leaves [kothimeer] - a fistful
Method:-
  • Mix rice and dal wash
  • Add 2 cups of water do this process in a pressure cooker  add chopped ginger and asafoetida, salt, chopped green chillies slit wise  while cooking only .
  • Heat ghee in a pan fry cashews, raisins remove and keep a side
  • Add cumin seeds, black pepper corns, curry leaves  to the ghee pan and let it pop up
  • Add this to rice cover and cook for 2 whistles.
  • Remove from heat and let it cool, open the pressure cooker and spread the rice evenly in a big vessel.
  • Let it cool for 2 -3 minutes. And then add fried cashews, raisins and add the black pepper powder from the top.
  • Add the coriander leaves and curry leaves.
  • Mix all the rice evenly.
  • Serve hot with Coconut chutney /Sambar.

Note: This dish tastes good if it is served hot.




Avial

This Dish is very famous in Kerala. I love this dish and it is very nutritious food as many vegetables are mixed in it. It goes well with Hot Rice (or) with Roti /Chapathi. Don't Forget to Try this Recipe.

Ingredients:
  • Potatoes :  2
  • Fresh coconut (grated)  : ¼ cup
  • Raw bananas : 2 (Plantain)[Aratikaya]
  • Curd :  ½ cup
  • Lady fingers :  5
  • Green chillies  : 2
  • Onions : 2
  • Cumin seeds  : 1 tsp
  • French  beans : 6
  • Oil  : 2 tbsp
  • Drumstick :  1
  • Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
  • Carrot :  1
  • Red chilli powder : ½ tsp
For Tempering [Popu]
  • Mustard Seeds -1tsp
  • Jeera-1tsp
  • Hing /Inguva - 1tsp
  • Red chillies -2
  • Curry leaves -few leaves
  • Coriander leaves (kothmir)- 1 fistful
Method:
  • Roast cumin seeds and grind along with coconut and green chillies to a fine paste.
  • Cut vegetables into cubes and boil with salt till tender.
  • Add beaten curd, coconut mixture, and salt and chilli powder in that mixture of cooked vegetables.
  • Cook covered for 4-5 minutes.
  • Heat oil; add mustard seeds, jeera, hing, redchillis and few curry leaves.
  • Let them pop for few minutes.
  • Add them to the curry.
  • Sprinkle the Coriander leaves at the end.
  • Serve them Hot.
Note: This Dish need to be served hot to enjoy the taste.

Paramannam /Sweet Rice Pudding

This is a sweet dish which is prepared as a Naivedyam to God in almost every home in Andhra and on a daily basis. The dish is very easy to prepare and can be prepared in 2 different variations. This can be prepared either with jaggery (Bellam) or with Sugar.

Ingredients:
· 1/2 cup raw rice washed and drained
· 1/2 cup sugar or grated jaggery
· 1 let milk
· 1/4 tsp ground green cardamom
· fried cashew nuts and raisins for garnish
· 1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter)for frying cashew nuts and raisins
Method:
· Wash and soak rice in water for about 5 minutes.
· Heat a pan and bring milk to a boil.
· Lower heat and add the rice to the milk.
· Cook until the rice is soft and the mixture looks thick.
· Remove from heat and cool.
· Add the sugar (or) Jaggery and mix well and keep stirring till it mixes well.
· Heat ghee in a skillet and add cashew nuts.
· Fry for 1-2 mts till the cashew nuts turn light brown. Add raisins and stir for a few seconds.
· Add this along with the remaining ghee to the cooked rice.
· Add cardamom powder and turn off heat and keep covered for 5 minutes.
· Serve hot or cold.