Kodi Guddu Pulusu[Egg in Tamarind Gravy

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:18:11 +0100

“Pulusu” in andhra means thick gravy curry cooked with tamarind and onions. This dish tastes sweet and sour and is best eaten hot with steamed rice accompanied with papad or potato fry. With quite a few ingredients in hand this dish is easy and quick to prepare. When I’m tired and not in a mood for cooking a full course meal this dish goes to my rescue.For those of you who do not eat eggs, substitute with other vegetables like lady’s finger (bendakaya), brinjals (vankaya), bottle gourd (sorakaya) etc.,

I have used organic eggs but normal eggs would also do as good as the organic ones. Store bought or home made tamarind paste can also be substituted in this dish. I usually soak tamarind in little hot water, extract the pulp out of it and refrigerate it for further use. I have used sugar in the recipe but it can also be replaced with grated jaggery or brown sugar as well. Lets hop on to the recipe.

A few tips for boiling eggs:

1. Bring water to boil in a sauce pan. When the water starts bubbling up, with a slotted spoon, slowly slide in one egg at a time into boiling water. Let the eggs cook for 10-12 mts in the water. Switch of the flame. Allow to cool off a bit and remove the shells. When in hurry. discard hot water and run the eggs in cold water under a tap and remove the shells.

2. Another alternative I follow while boiling eggs is, pressure cook eggs with 4 cups of water to 1 whistle. Let the pressure settle down, then remove the lid, discard the water and remove the shells of the eggs.

We need:

4 eggs (boiled, shells removed and make slits lengthwise)

lemon sized tamarind (soaked in 1/2 cup warm water and extract pulp out of it)

4-5 tsps oil

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)

1 tsp mustard seeds (avalu)

1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

4 dried red chillies

curry leaves - 2 sprigs

4 medium sized onions - finely chopped (makes 3 cups of chopped onions)

6 green chillies - finely chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ginger & garlic paste

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tbsp red chilly powder (adjust according to your spice levels)

3 tbsps sugar

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - 4 sprigs (finely chopped)

How to:

In a kadhai/wide pan, heat 1 tsp oil. Add pinch of turmeric and drop in boiled eggs gently into the pan. Fry on medium flame for about 2-3 mts till brown spots start appearing on the eggs. Remove and set aside.

Add remaining oil ( 3 tsps) in the kadhai. Reduce the flame to low. Add in methi seeds and fry for 20 seconds. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and allow to splutter then add red chillies and fry for about 30 seconds.

Throw in curry leaves, chopped green chillies and chopped onions. Add turmeric (1/4 tsp), salt. Increase the flame to medium and fry till the onions turn soft and light brown.

Once the onions turn light brown, add ginger garlic paste and fry for about 1 to 2 mts till the raw smell disappears.
Add cumin powder, coriander powder and chilly powder. Mix well and fry for 1 minute.

Add squeezed tamarind juice/pulp + 1 cup of water and bring it to boil. Add sugar. Adjust salt and chilly powder. Simmer and let it cook for about 3-4 mts.

Gently add in all the fried eggs, dropping one egg at a time. Allow to cook for about 10-15 mts till the gravy thickens.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

Tags: egg, egg recipes, pulusu

Mysore Pak

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:20:29 +0100

If someone asks me what are my fondest memories with mom, I’d remember standing beside her and helping her out to make this delicious indian sweet “Mysore Pak”. I always heard people thinking this is the hardest recipe to fix at home but trust me, a little patience is what you need to make this dish. I happened to have a couple of disasters in my kitchen before I learnt to make it the right way. So do not give up, if you fail to do so the first time. If your mysore pak is yellow on top and the middle layer looks light golden brown in color it means you have successfully made this dish. Many a times I ended up my mysore pak looking yellow in color all the way inside and out but finally got to do it after many attempts in the kitchen and I’m happy to share the recipe with my dear readers now. Pardon me for not adding detailed pictures. With both my hands occupied in making the dish and hubby dear not around, I ended up taking the final outcome of this dessert. But I promise to update the post with a few more pics asap.

Ingredients: (makes about 12-14 pieces)

1 cup besan (senagapindi)

5 tbsps of peanut oil (to mix in besan)

1 cup melted ghee (I melted the ghee first and then measured to 1 cup)

½ cup peanut oil

1 cup sugar

¾ cup water

Others:

Sieve

Wide heavy bottomed vessel to cook the mixture

Wooden spoon for stirring

Slotted spoon to pour in the ghee & oil mixture while cooking.

Edged tray to pour in the mixture (I used a 9″ cake pan greased with ghee and set aside)

Small cup of water to test the sugar syrup consistency

PROCEDURE:

Heat 5 tbsps of peanut oil to smoking point and pour this in besan. As soon as you pour the oil in, it makes a sizzling sound. Mix the besan gently (be careful, the oil is hot. Use a wide spoon to mix, if required) so that the oil coats well and the mixture resembles crumbs. Sieve this mixture and set aside. This process helps to avoid lumps while mixing with sugar syrup.
Heat 1 cup of melted ghee and ½ cup of peanut oil together to smoking point, reduce the flame to low and leave it. We will be using this later after adding besan to the sugar syrup. So ideally you will have two burners, the left one with hot melted ghee on low setting and the right one for cooking sugar syrup and besan mixture.
In a wide heavy bottomed vessel, add sugar and ¾ cup of water. Cook on medium heat till the syrup reaches one string consistency. This took about 5-8 mts for me. A good sign that indicates the syrup is reaching the desired consistency is, you see bubbles/froth appearing as the sugar gets dissolved. (also see “tips” at the bottom of the post)
Now reduce the flame to the lowest setting and slowly add in the sieved besan flour to the sugar syrup while mixing with your right hand. Take the help of your friend if you cannot do both simultaneously.
When the besan is well mixed with the sugar syrup and no lumps are seen,using a slotted spoon start pouring in the heated oil and ghee mixture with your left hand while stirring the besan and sugar syrup mixture with your right hand. The ghee & oil should be poured at intervals. An easy way to do this is, as you pour in the first spoon of ghee and oil in the besan mixture it makes a sizzling noise, showing holes in the mixture and absorbs all the ghee. Then pour in the next spoon of ghee & oil and follow the same steps. By the time you are finished adding all the ghee & oil, the besan starts leaving sides of the vessel and showing a frothy mixture with lots of holes.
At this point immediately remove the mixture and pour it in the prepared greased tray. Do not press or adjust the top layer to form a smooth surface. Leave it to cool for about 10 minutes, cut into desired shapes, allow it to cool completely after making cuts and serve.

Tips:

A few things that you should keep in mind while making this recipe:

Make sure all the ingredients used are fresh and no cut backs on the quantity of ghee & oil mentioned in the recipe.
Make sure you grease the tray with ghee and set it aside, ready to pour in the cooked mixture into it. You do not want to do this in the last minute because the mixture gets burnt in a blink of eye if you turn away even for a minute.
Never attempt to make this dish on a high flame.
One String means when you stretch the syrup between the thumb and index finger it forms a thin string. Alternatively you can put a drop of the syrup in a small cup of water. If the syrup does’nt dissolve in water, reaches to the bottom and forms a ball it means the syrup is ready.
At any point of time do not stop stirring the mixture when you start adding the ghee & oil to besan - sugar syrup mixture.

Tags: besan, ghee, Indian Sweets, mysorepak

Thotakuura pappu [Amaranth leaves dal]

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:07:59 +0100

With the temparatures going down indicating the beginning of spring, I saw these fresh greens at an Indian grocery store that’s near to my office and decided to cook them tonight. My aunt (atta) makes thotakura vepudu, that tastes so heavenly, even people who hate greens would want to have some more. While I debated with hubby dear to cook a stir-fry or with dal, I had to give up and settle down with dal finally. It’s a simple yet comforting dish and goes well with any vepudu (stir-fry), or just papad alone. Lets jump on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup toor dal (kandipappu)

3 cups water

3 cups thotakura leaves (do not include stalks)

1 tsp of oil

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 small lime sized tamarind (soaked in a cup of water and extract the pulp out of it)

For the tadka/popu:

1 tbsp cooking oil or ghee

2 cloves of garlic (crushed slightly)

1 tsp mustard seeds (avalu)

½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

5 dried red chillies (broken to pieces)

2 twigs of curry leaves

pinch of hing powder (asofetida)

1 medium sized onion finely chopped (about ½ cup of chopped onions)

chopped coriander leaves for garnish

PROCEDURE:

Wash and pressure cook tur dal with water, thotakura leaves, oil, and turmeric powder. (Adding oil and turmeric cooks dal softly)
Let the pressure cool down, while you get ready with the popu/tadka
In a small pan, heat oil/ghee, and on low flame fry garlic till lightly brown. Add mustard seeds. When they start to crackle, add cumin seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and hing powder. Fry for few seconds.
Throw in the chopped onions and let it fry on medium flame for 3-4 mts till the onions turn soft and lightly pink in color. Turn off the flame and set aside.
Now mash the tur dal with a ladle, and add chilli powder, salt to taste and tamarind extract. Mix well.
Add the popu/tadka that was fried earlier to the tur dal. Cook on medium flame for 4-5 mts till the desired consistency is reached. It should not be too watery but should look like thick.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice, and bangaladumpa vepudu or with rotis.

Variation: Instead of pressure cooking thotakura along with kandipappu, sometimes I cook the tur dal with a little oil and turmeric. Mash it and set aside. Add the thotakura to the tadka (after frying the onions) and saute for 3-4 mts. The rest of the procedure would be the same. Adding the popu/tadka to the mashed dal and cooking it for approximately 4-5 mts.

Tags: Pappu, Thotakuura

Aratikaaya Mulakkada Iguru [Plantain Curry]

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:01:05 +0100

A series of incidents have kept me away from blogging lately. Well, to name a few… I broke my camera, fell sick, got busy at work blah blah. In a way I’m happy to fall sick. Any guesses whats the good part about it?? Oh! Yes hubby dear cooking dinner and me enjoying the delicious dishes. Although, he does’nt know how to cook I must say he did quite a good job and I’m proud of him. Well, things have come back to normal but since I’m still recovering and want to spend less time in the kitchen, I decided to fix something with minimal ingredients for dinner.As I tweaked into the refrigerator, I happen to find plantains lying around and realised its been ages I stopped cooking a curry with plantain,since hubby dear is not a big fan of them. But I decided to give it a try one more time and he liked it. It’s a simple and delicious gravy dish that goes well with hot rice or rotis. I also add hard boiled eggs to this curry when I do not find fresh drumsticks in the grocery stores here.Ok, now lets take a peek at the recipe.

Note Note: Since plantains turn black after they are peeled and cut, I usually set aside a bowl of water mixed with 3 tbsps of curds (plain yoghurt) and throw in the cut plantain pieces into it to prevent from discoloring till I add them to the curry.

Ingredients:

2 Plantains/aratikaya (Peel, cut into small cubes and set aside)

2 Drumsticks/mullakada (cut into 2 inch pieces)

3 medium onions (about 2 cups finely chopped)

¼tsp mustard seeds (avalu)

½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

¼ tsp turmeric powder

3 tbsps cooking oil

10-12 curry leaves

1 tsp chilli powder (adjust)

1 ½ cup water

1 cup warm milk

1/4 tsp garam masala powder (adjust)

3 tbsps chopped fresh coriander leaves for garnish

PROCEDURE:

Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel or kadhai. On low flame add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add chopped onions, drumsticks, curry leaves and salt. Increase the flame to medium and fry till the onions are soft and light golden brown in color, stirring in between taking care not to burn them.
Add chilli powder, and plantain pieces. Mix well. Cover and cook on medium flame for 3-4 mts stirring occassionally.
Add water, bring to boil then reduce the flame to medium low. Allow to cook till the plantains turn soft and all the water is absorbed.
Now add warm milk to the curry and cook till the curry reaches desired gravy consistency.
Adjust salt and just before turning off the flame, add garam masala, chopped coriander leaves. Mix well and turn off the flame.
Serve hot with steamed rice or chapattis/rotis

Tags: Aratikaya, Curry, plantain

Beerakaya pachadi

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:09:51 +0100

“Hubby dear always pokes fun at me that half da years of my marriage were spent cooking in da kitchen. No exaggeration but may be he is true. I adore cooking. Inspite of all that boasting, lately I’ve been going thru this “Stay away from kitchen” phase. I think It might be a seasonal thing for all of us not wanting to spend hours in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. That’s what has been happening over the last few days at home. Some day its just a pizza delivered at da door step and da other day a frozen food ready to eat. Whatever it may be I’m just having my own happy time not going into da kitchen right now. But just so I do not starve hubby dear out, I decided 2 fix up something fast & made beerakaya pachadi. I love da mild sweet taste of this vegetable always. Loads of fibre, low in saturated fat & cholesterol above all a tasty and easy dish to whip up. Eat it with steamed rice & a dollop of ghee accompanied by a stir fry or papad & that’s what I call “Match made in heaven”Here’s how we cook it….

Ingredients:

2 beerakaya/ridge gourds (about 3 cups) - Wash and cut into bite sized pieces along with skin

2 tbsps cooking oil

1 tbsp minapappu (split urad dal)

1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

5 dried red chillies (adjust)

1 tsp dhaniyalu (coriander seeds)

1 tbsp nuvvulu (sesame seeds) - roasted on low flame till golden brown and set aside

Salt to taste

1 small lime sized tamarind

For tempering/tadka/popu:

1 tsp minapappu (split urad dal)

½ tsp avalu (mustard seeds)

½ tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

8 to 10 curry leaves

pinch of inguva (hing/asafoetida)

1 tsp cooking oil

PROCEDURE:

In a vessel, heat 1 tbsps of cooking oil. On low flame fry minapappu till the dal turns light gold/red in color. Add jeera, dried red chillies, dhaniyalu and fry for a few seconds (about 30 secs). Turn off the flame and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile in another vessel, heat 1 tbsp of oil and throw in the chopped beerakaya pieces and cook on medium flame for 8-10 mts or till the rawness of the vegetable goes away. Turn off the flame and allow to cool.
Once cool, grind the dals fried in step one along with roasted sesame seeds till coarsely ground. Then add the cooked ridgegourd pieces, salt and tamarind and grind.
For the tempering, heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan. Add minapappu and let it turn golden brown. Throw in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let them splutter. Add curry leaves, hing and saute a few seconds. Pour the tempering on the ground pachadi.
Serve hot with steamed rice and a stir fry of your choice or fried papads.

Note Note: For a variation, add about 3 tbsps of freshly chopped coriander leaves at the end (after the ridge gourd pieces are cooked), mix well. Turn off the flame and allow to cool before grinding. This gives a herby flavour to the pachadi and tastes as delicious as the original version.

Tags: Beerakaya pachhadi, ridge gourd,veg-recipe

ANDHRA CHICKEN FRY (KODI VEPUDU)

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:29:22 +0100

A hot hot & spicy chicken stir fry dish 4rm Andhra, that tastes amazing with sambhar, rasam or just a simple dal. Its so easy to cook. Here’s how we do it:

Ingredients:

½ kg chicken (wash and cut into bite size pieces)

2 tomatoes (Pureed)

Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1 ½ tsp

Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp

Chilli powder - 2 tsps

Salt to taste

1 tsp cooking oil

For the masala:

4 cloves (lavangalu)

4 pepper corns (miriyalu)

2 elaichi

¼ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

¼ tsp of coriander seeds (dhaniyalu)

1 inch cinnamon stich (dalchini)

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp cashew nuts (roasted with ¼ tsp of oil)

Others:

3 tbsps cooking oil

Curry leaves - 8 to 10

3 Green chilies (slit into halves)

2 medium onions (about 2 cups of chopped or sliced lengthwise)

Coriander leaves - 2 tbsps finely chopped (for garnish)

How to prepare:

In a bowl, mix the washed chicken pieces with tomato puree, ginger & garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, 1 tsp of oil. Set it aside for about 5 mts.
In a sauce pan, add the chicken mixture, 2 cups of water and cook till all the water evaporates and the chicken pieces turn soft. (about 15-20 mts). Set aside.
While the chicken cooks, heat a skillet, and on low flame roast the masala ingredients (except cashews) till the flavors come out. (about 2 - 3 mts). Turn off the flame and let it cool. Grind to a fine powder along with roasted cashews.
Heat 3 tbsps of oil in a kadhai, throw in the curry leaves and green chillies and saute for few seconds. Add chopped/sliced onions and fry till the onions turn soft golden brown.
Add the cooked chicken pieces, and fry on medium heat for about 5 to 8 mts.Reduce the flame to medium.
Add half the ground masala powder (adjust) and adjust salt, chilli powder.
Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and serve hot with steamed rice, rasam or pappu charu

UPPUDU PINNDI [Rice Ravva Upma]

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:19:06 +0100

Ingredients:

2 cups rice ravva,

5-6 T.Sp of cooking oil

½ T.Sp mustard seeds (avalu)

½ T.Sp cumin seeds (jeera)

1 cup moong dal (pesarapappu)

10-12 curry leaves

3-4 dried red chillies (tear into pieces) - adjust to your spice levels

1 medium onion (finely sliced). - If you have sometime use peeled off shallots. It tastes amazing.

6 green chillies (slit into halve lengthwise) - adjust to your spice levels

5 cups of water

Salt to taste

Others:

A Pressure cooker

How to:

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. On low flame add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add moong dal, increase the flame to medium heat and fry till light golden brown (about 2-3 mts). Take care not to burn them while frying. As you fry the moong dal a nice aroma emanates the kitchen.
Turn the flame to low again. Add curry leaves, dried red chillies, and saute for a few seconds. Then add sliced onions, green chillies, salt and saute for 2 - 3 minutes.
Add water, adjust salt. Increase the flame and bring to a good boil. (Check the taste of the water. If its salty then your upma would have the right amount of salt after cooked. If it is’nt salty then adjust. Once you add ravva the salt cannot be adjusted so make sure you do the check before adding it)
Reduce heat to low and slowly add the rava to water and mix it continuously so it combines well with the water and does’nt form lumps.
Put the pressure cooker lid on, and place the whistle. Increase heat to high and pressure cook till 3-4 whistles. Turn off the flame. Allow the pressure to go away before you attempt to open the lid.
Serve with avakaya (mango pickle) or tomato pachadi (tomato pickle) or any other pickle of your choice on the side.

CHICKEN-65

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:15:47 +0100

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken (cut into small cubes. I used boneless breast)

1 T.Sp salt

1 T.Spajinomotto

2 T.Sps corn flour

½ T.Sp black pepper powder

1 T.Sp ginger & garlic paste

1 whole egg

cooking oil for deep frying

Others

3-4 T.Sps cooking oil

½ T.Sp cumin seeds

1 T.Sp finely grated fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

8 - 10 Green chillies slit into halves lengthwise (adjust)

10 - 12 curry leaves

½ T.Sp black pepper powder (adjust)

½ T.Sp cumin powder

2 T.Sps chilli powder (adjust)

3 T.Sps chilli garlic sauce (I used the store brought one)

¼ T.Sp ajinomotto

2 T.Sps freshly chopped mint

3 - 4 tbsps freshly chopped coriander leaves

1 T.Sp garam masala

few tbsps of water (about 3-4 tbsps)

few drops of red food color (optional, but if you want that restaurant style look use it. I used the Mc cormik liquid red food color. You can also use the powdered form available in indian grocery stores but mix a pinch in little water and add it to the dish)

¼ cup of thick yoghurt (whip it and set aside)

Salt to taste

Finely chopped spring onions for garnish (optional)

How to Cook:

In a bowl mix together chicken, salt, ajinomotto, ginger - garlic paste, black pepper powder, corn flour, and egg. Set aside
Heat oil for deep frying in a wide and deep bottomed vessel. Lower the flame, and drop in the chicken pieces slowly into oil. (Do not over crowd the pan. If the vessel is small, fry them in batches). Increase the flame to high and fry for not more than 4-5 minutes. Do not fry more than that because it turns the chicken hard. Remove the fried chicken and set aside.
Take another wide vessel or a wok, add oil. When hot, on medium flame add cumin seeds and let them splutter. Throw in chopped ginger, garlic, green chillies, curry leaves and fry for 1 minute. By this time you will start feeling the flavours that come out from garlic and ginger.
Add black pepper powder, cumin powder, chilli powder, and salt to taste. Then add chilli garlic paste, ajinomotto, chopped mint, chopped coriander leaves, garam masala and fry for about 1-2 minutes on medium flame.
Add little water (a few tbsps) and cook for a minute on medium flame. Add red food color, mix well and throw in the fried chicken pieces. Toss them well so that spices coat nicely. Add yoghurt and mix well to coat the chicken. Increase the flame to high and cook till the youghurt is absorbed fully and the chicken starts looking shiny. Adjust salt and chilli powder. Turn off the flame
Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve hot. Goes well as an apetizer or as a side dish for fried rice, pappu charu etc.,

Note Note: If you are running out of chili garlic sauce or cannot find it in your local store, thats ok. It is an optional ingredient. I tried it many times and it tasted as delicious as it was when the sauce is added. Also please adjust ingredients like chilli powder, garam masala, green chillies etc., according to your spice levels.

categories

Kodi Guddu Pulusu[Egg in Tamarind Gravy

Mysore Pak

Thotakuura pappu [Amaranth leaves dal]

Aratikaaya Mulakkada Iguru [Plantain Curry]

Beerakaya pachadi

ANDHRA CHICKEN FRY (KODI VEPUDU)

UPPUDU PINNDI [Rice Ravva Upma]

CHICKEN-65