Coconut chutney - the Kerala way...

Ingredients:

Coconut grated - 1cup
1 medium sized onion cut into quarters
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Mint leaves - 10-12 leaves
Curry leaves- 2-3
Green chilies - 3-4
Salt to taste
Lemon - 1 small (squeeze juice)

In a hot pan, with a teaspoon of oil, saute all the ingredients except lemon for 3-5 mins. Then grind all the ingredients except lemon to a fine paste. Mix limejuice to the ground chutney and serve with dosa, idli, vada or any breakfast item.

Coconut Dosas

It's been a long time since I blogged on breakfast items so lemme start that right away.

Ingredients:

Urad dal- 1 cup
Rice - 2 cups
Puffed rice/poha - a handfull
Methi seeds - 1/2 tspn
Finely grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Soak rice, urad dal, puffed rice and methi seeds together for at least 6-7 hrs before you grind them to fine paste/batter. Now, add finely grated coconut and mix it thoroughly with the batter and set it aside for 6-8 hrs to ferment. Keep it in a warm place to allow faster fermentation process. You could add a pinch of baking soda or a 1/2 cup of curd to hasten the process too.

The consistency of the batter should be such that when you dip your finger in it and take it out, the batter should fall off your finger by the time you say aloud 7,77,777 (seven lac seventy seven thousand seven hundred and seventy seven...phew!) However, with experience you'll soon be able to judge the right consistency, don't worry.

Now on a griddle or a non-stick pan, put 3 drops of oil and spread it out evenly. Heat the pan, take a big spoonful of batter and put in the center of the pan, spreading it out evenly until you get the required size of dosa. Sprinkle a teaspoon of oil around the dosa and once it starts turning brown flip it onto the other side. After a minute take it out of pan and serve hot with sambar, tomato chutney or even peanut chutney.

Yummy dosas...ammai more dosai plz... ;)`

Meat ball curry

This curry is so simple if I buy the ready-made meat balls and just mix the curry with it. But, would I or anyone relish just the same as something made authentic with your own portion of ingredients in the warmth of your own kitchen? Debatable!!!

Ingredients:
Minced Meat- 2 lbs
Coconut-1 small
Salt to taste
Ginger- 1 " piece
Green Chillies- 4-5
Onion- 2 medium sized
Vinegar- 2 tbsp

Now, for the Masala:

Dhania/ Coriander Powder- 2 tbsp
Chilly Powder- 1 tspn
Pepper corns- 1 tspn
Clove- 4 - 5
Cinnamon- 2 one-inched pieces
Fennel seeds - just about a pinch
Cumin seeds- 1tspn
Turmeric Powder- a pinch

For meat balls:

Onions chopped finely- 1cup
Egg-1
Green Chillies - 4-5
Ginger- 1" piece
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs (Optional)- 2tbsp

Preparation time: 30 mins Cooking time: 45 mins

Grate coconut and strain its liquid into 3 cups by adding water continuously. Mix well the ingredients to prepare meat balls with the minced meat. Make small meat balls and keep them aside.
Now, grind all the ingredients for the masala finely. Sauté onion, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves. Add the masala and sauté till oil separates. Add half the coconut liquid. After it boils add vinegar and put the minced meat balls and cook well. Add the rest half of the coconut liquid before removing from fire. Serve hot.

Schezuan chicken

Quick Chicken Recipes is what I would categorize this recipe under. I love to make this dish for dinner when I can actually have time to relish and savor.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp corn oil (Mazola)
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp cornstarch
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 red bell pepper, julienned(cut into long thin strips)
1 carrot, julienned
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 bunch spring onions, cut diagonally in 1-inch pieces
Hot cooked rice

Preparation time: 15 mins

Heat the oils in a wok over high heat. Now, toss the cubed chicken breast in a bowl with the corn starch to coat. Then add the chicken and minced garlic to the wok and stir-fry until the chicken is lightly browned. Take care not to brown the garlic. Add the remaining ingredients except the spring onions. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes. Next, add the spring onions. Cover and cook for 3 more minutes. Serve with hot, cooked rice or fried rice. Doesn't that taste yum? Uhmmm! of course, it does :)

Tandoori chicken or Murg-e-Tandoori

Mughlai recipes are such mouth-watering dishes but they often are accused of being hard, time-consuming, tiring preparations. I'd like to share my process and bury that myth away but remember you prepare the chicken in advance and cook it the next day. So if you thought you'd prepare and cook the same day...then you'll be disappointed.

Ingredients:
1 medium sized chicken - cleaned and skinned - about 2 lbs
1 cup yoghurt well beaten
1 tspn of garam masala
Cumin and red chilli powder - 1 tspn each
4-6 whole red chillies made into a paste with some water
2 tbsp ginger & garlic paste
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp oil
Li'l butter for basting
Salt to taste
Finely cut onion rings, lemon wedges, and finely chopped cilantro leaves for garnishing

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Make slits on the chicken to let the ingredients soak in. Apply a mixture of red chilli powder, half of the lemon juice and salt to the chicken and keep aside for about 45 mins. Whisk the yoghurt in a bowl and combine the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and rub this marinade well into the chicken and refrigerate preferably overnight or at least for four hours. Remember you want this to turn out delicious :)

Skewer the chicken and barbeque it in a traditional hot clay oven (Tandoor) if you're lucky and have one or on an open hot grill for about 12-15 minutes or till the chicken is almost done on all the sides. Baste the chicken with butter and roast for another 3 mins. Thats it. Garnish with onion rings, lemon wedges, and finely chopped cilantro.

I'm sure this wasn't as hard or tiring as it first seemed to be. Savor it - chomp chomp :)`

Lemon Rasam

Piping hot rasams are my favorite on cold days when all that you want to do is just snuggle happily inside covers and watch your favorite movie sipping hot soup aka rasam.


Ingredients:


Cooked Toor Dal - 5 tbsp (red gram)
Cumin seeds - 1 tspn
Black pepper corns- 3/4 tspn
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Chopped coriander/cilantro and curry leaves - 1 1/2 tbsp
Lemon - 1 big sized
Water - 2 1/2 cups
Powdered asafoetida - a pinch
Salt, sugar - to taste


Cooking time: 15 mins

Cook dal to a smooth paste-like consistency. Now, slit the green chillies lengthwise. Crush coarsely and add all the ingredients (except lemon) in water and allow it to boil for a few minutes. Takes about 10-12 mins to let the taste mingle. Switch off the stove and squeeze juice from the fresh lemons. Heat a teaspoon of oil and for seasoning add a little mustard to that. When the seeds crackle, pour on top of rasam along with a pinch of asafoetida. Close the lid and keep aside for few minutes to let the aroma stay. Serve with steamed rice and ghee.


I love to serve this as a soup by straining the rasam using a strainer to remove pepper and cumin remnants. Garnish it with a stem of cilantro and sip it away to glory. Uhmmmm!

Mixed Vegetables Curry

Ingredients:

1 cup mixed vegetables sliced and boiled (carrot, cauliflower, beans, peas, potato etc.)
1 tomato sliced thin
1 cup coconut grated
1/2 tspn ginger grated
1/2 tspn garlic crushed
3-5 green chillies
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tspn each cumin and mustard seeds
1 tspn red chilli powder
salt to taste
1 tspn lemon juice
2 cloves
1" piece cinnamon
2 tbsp butter or 1 tbsp oil

Cooking time: 20 mins

Boil the vegetables and drain the water. Keep the stock aside. Now, blend together coconut, chillies, sesame seeds, cinnamon, cloves to a good paste. Heat butter , add mustard and cumin seeds, and allow them to splutter. Then add ginger, garlic and the above paste. Stir fry for about 3-4 minutes. Now, add vegetables except for tomatoes and add 1/2 cup stock. Cover, simmer for about 5 minutes. Add salt, chilli powder and tomatoes and cook till the gravy is thick. Serve hot with parathas or rotis. It's not only healthy food but also easy to prepare yummy food.

Uggani / Buggani / Puffed Rice Pulihora

My husband laughs heartily at the very mention of this word - Uggani/Buggani. But I don't somehow see anything funny in that word. Perhaps, because it brings back fondest memories of my childhood in Kurnool where in every nook and corner of the city you could hear vendors calling out this name and selling this delicacy. It's layman's biryani which even the poorest of the poor can afford to get a mouthful. Now didn't I say it a mouthful?
Ingredients:

Puffed rice 250 gms
One big sized onion - finely chopped, lengthwise
4-6 green chillies - made into paste
1 tspn salt
1 lemon
1 tbsp oil
Turmeric - a pinch
Mustard seeds 1/2 tspn
Urad dal 1/2 tspn
Curry leaves 6-8
Red chillies - 2-5
1/2 tspn each of cumin
Roasted chickpea powder(putnala pappu) - 1 tbsp
Roasted peanuts - 1/4 cup

Cooking time: 15 mins Preparation time: 10 mins

Take a big vessel with a colander inside and fill it half with water. Now add puffed rice and dissolve it for a few seconds in water, allowing them to soak in some water. Exactly after 5 minutes, remove the colander from water with rice. Take handfuls of puffed rice and firmly squeeze the water out. What must stay behind in water is dust and chaff of the puffed rice.

Now, in a large frying pan over medium heat, heat one tbsp of oil and fry the mustard and cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves in oil. Add onions, saute them until they turn pink and then add green chilli paste. Saute the contents until they turn from bright green to light green color. Take care not to let that go brown or you get a weird taste. Finally, add a pinch of turmeric and salt and stir them all once while slowly turning off the heat.

Next, add this hot onion mixture immediately to puffed rice along with roasted peanuts and roasted chickpea powder. Mix them all together and add more salt if needed. Remember you can garnish with cilantro leaves and serve it hot as a snack or breakfast item.

Just before eating don't forget to squeeze a few drops of lemon for a more tingling, tangy and yummy taste. Aha! good ole' days.

Dal Fry - the South Indian Way

I wanted to make Dal Fry the South-Indian way and wohoo! it turned out superb.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup toor dal (kandi pappu/yellow lentils)
1/4 cup moong dal (split green gram/pesara pappu)
1/8 cup masoor dal (split red lentils/erra pappu)
1/8 cup channa dal (chick peas/chanaga pappu)
3-4 green chillies
2 stalks curry leaves
1/2 tspn garlic grated
1/2 tspn ginger grated
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander/cilantro
1/2 tspn each cumin & mustard seeds
1/2 tspn red chilli powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1/4 tspn garam masala
salt - 1 tspn or to taste
3 tbsp ghee or oil.

Cooking time: 25 minutes Preparation time: 7 mins

Mix all the dals after washing thoroughly and soak for 10 minutes. Pressure cook till they're done into a soft paste (approx. 3 whistles). Cool cooker, remove dal, beat with hand beater if the consistency is not soft enough.


Next, make a thin paste of the dry masala powders with little water. Heat 2 tbsp ghee or oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onions. Fry till the onions turn pink. Now, add the masala paste and fry for a minute more. Add dal and bring to boil. Simmer for almost 5-7 minutes. Empty the contents into a serving dish.



Just before serving give the tadka (seasoning/tempering) as follows: Heat remaining ghee/oil in a small saucepan, add cumin and mustard seeds. Allow them to splutter and add green chilli, curry leaves, garlic, ginger and fry for 3-4 seconds. Take the pan off the fire. After 2-5 seconds, add lemon juice and chopped cilantro for garnishing. Pour onto hot dal and cover for 2-3 minutes to retain the aroma. Stir and serve hot with plain or even jeera rice.

Egg Curry

Just the other day I read in CNN that eggs are one of those 5 foods that should have a place in your diet. Can you believe that "eggs are high in dietary cholesterol, so they don't have a place in my heart-healthy diet" is just a myth? Read this 5 foods myth-buster to know more of a few heart-healthy diets.

Anyways, lets go ahead with our ingredients for egg curry.

Tomatoes - 2 large sized, diced
Onions - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
Green chillies - 3 slit vertically
Chilli powder - 2 tspn
Dhania/Coriander seeds powder - 1 1/2 tspn
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - 5
Garlic cloves - 3 finely chopped or mashed
Turmeric - 1/4 tspn
Salt - 1 tspn or to taste
Garam masala - 1 tspn
Eggs - 4 boiled and halved vertically with shell removed
Oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation time: 10 mins Cooking time: 25 mins

Heat oil in a pan and add green chillies, garlic and curry leaves. As the garlic begins to change its color, add onions and saute well. When the onions turn transparent add turmeric, salt, dhania and garam masala powders. Mix the ingredients well and then add well diced tomatoes and asafoetida. Before water drains out of tomatoes, add chilli powder and mix the contents in the pan well. Now its time to keep the lid on the pan to let the tomatoes cook. It may take about 12 mins.

In a seperate pan, pour 5 drops of oil and place the vertically halved boiled eggs to fry. Let the base of the eggs get fried. Remember, the more the eggs get fried, the tastier they are to eat.

Once the tomatoes are cooked and appear as sauce on the pan, remove the lid and let the extra water escape. Now, add the fried eggs and let them soak in the gravy. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot. Tastes best with Aloo paratha, methi paratha, rotis, steamed rice or fried rice. Yummy!

Kheer

Kheer, another special dessert for Diwali is one of my favorite sweets too. Tho' you get a lot of ready-to-eat kheers in retail outlets, nothing beats the taste and flavor of this homemade specialty.

Ingredients :
Long grain Rice 1/4 cup (washed and drained)
4-5 cups Milk
2-3 cardamom seeds (crushed)
2 tbsp. almonds (blanched)
A pinch of saffron strands, soaked in some hot milk
1 tbsp skinned pistachios (chopped)
1 tbsp raisins (optional)
5 tbsp sugar or as desired

Cooking time : 20 mins

Put the rice, milk and cardamom in a pan, bring to boil and simmer gently until the rice is soft and turning into a paste. Add almonds, pistachios, and saffron and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add sugar and stir continuously until it is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and serve either warm or chilled. Garnish it with raisins for a more wholesome taste. Uhmm! lip smacking taste.

Badam Phirni/ Almond pudding

Badam firni which is a highly nutritional dessert is made on special occasions in India, especially during Diwali - the festival of lights.

Ingredients:

Almonds - 15-20

4 tbsp Rice flour

2 1/2 cups Milk

6 tbsp Sugar

Saffron - 8 strands

Cardamom /Ilaichi powder -1 tspn

Cooking time: 20 mins

Blanch and grind the almonds to a fine paste with 1/2 cup milk. Mix together the ground almond paste and rice flour and keep aside. Now, bring the milk to boil and add sugar. Stir continuously till the sugar dissolves. Set aside a tablespoon of hot milk with saffron strands dissolved in it.

Add the almond-rice mixture into the boiling milk along with the saffron. Stir continuously for a few mintues till the milk thickens and attains a custard-like consistency. Sprinkle in the cardamom powder for flavor. Take off fire and cool to room temperature. Pour into individual bowls, garnish with almonds and pistachios and refrigerate.

Tastes best when served chilled. Yummy delicious phirni. Just can't stop with one bowl :)

Spinach Corn/Palak Curry

Spinach also called as 'pala-kura' in Telugu is one of my bro's favorites. While my bro' can eat up the entire curry made my way, I can't somehow understand how Popeye-the sailor man can gobble cans of raw spinach. God bless!

Ingredients:

Spinach - 1 1/2 lbs

Corn - 1 cup

Red Chillies - 3

Dhania/Coriander seeds powder - 1 1/2 tspn

Cumin powder - 1/2 tspn

Chilli powder - 2 tspn
Onions - 1 medium sized

Chana dal - 2 tspn

Curry leaves - 10 leaves crushed

Garlic - 3 cloves diced thin

Oil- 1 1/2 tbsp

Salt - 1 1/2 tspn

Preparation time : 7 mins Cooking time : 15 mins

Chop the spinach finely and keep aside. In a pan, heat oil and add garlic, red chillies and onions. Saute till the onions turn slight brown. Add curry leaves and chana dal to fortify the taste. Then add salt, dhania, and cumin powders and mix thoroughly. Now, add the finely chopped spinach and place a lid on the pan. Wait for 2-5 mins.

Let the water drain out of the leaves and cook the leaves. You may add one small cup of water if the leaves aren't yet cooked. Now add chilli powder. Remove the lid and cook allowing the extra water to vaporize. When the water vaporizes, tilt the pan to let the oil seperate from the leaves. As the oil seperates, put a cup of corn seeds into the oil and stir fry them. When the corn turns brown mix it with the spinach curry. Let the curry simmer till the leaves start sticking to the base of the pan.

Serve hot with parathas, rotis, naan or even rice and dal. Doesn't it taste yum?

Okra/Bhendi/Ladiesfinger Fry

Simple yet crunchy, this dish is something one can have daily with rasam or dal and rice. Doesn't take too much time or effort or ingredients.

Ingredients:

Okra/ ladiesfinger/ bhendi - 2 lbs , cut thin horizontally

Oil- 1 tbsp

Mustard - 1/2 tspn

Chana dal - 1 1/2 tspn

Garlic cloves - 5 mashed

Coriander seeds/ dhania powder - 1 1/2 tspn

Cumin seeds powder - 1/2 tspn

Chilli powder - 2 tspn

Garam masala - 1 tspn

Salt - 1 tspn

Cilantro and Groundnut/peanuts powder, 1 tspn, for garnishing

Preparation time : 10 mins Cooking time : 20 mins

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they begin to crackle, add mashed garlic and chana dal. Don't let chana dal turn dark. Keep saute-ing. Now, add turmeric, salt, dhania powder, and cumin powder and saute well. Add thinly cut okra pieces and let the moisture drain out. Don't put the lid on the pan. When the okras are still moist, add chilli powder and stir once or twice. Remember the more you stir, the more the okras get messy and sticky. So minimize on stirring and saute-ing. Leave the pan on medium heat till the okras lose their stickiness which will be about 12-15 mins. Now add garam masala and mix the ingredients. When okras pieces have shrunk and become quarter their original size, add cilantro and groundnut powder for garnishing and serve hot.

Boondi Raita

A raita is a simple preparation made by adding fruits, veggies or any other eatable to beaten curds. Most Indian families enjoy curds either plain or in the form of delicious raitas as an accompaniment with lunch or dinner. Raitas are unique because they having a cooling effect and are healthy food at the same time. Indians cherish a large variety of raitas which they prepare as a side dish for any special delicacy.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Curd (Yogurt)100 gms
Gram flour(Besan) 1/2 tspn
Roasted Cumin(jeera) powder
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder to taste
Garam masala - a pinch or two
Cilantro/coriander leaves very finely chopped
Oil - 2 tspn

Cooking time : 10 mins

Add water to gram flour and mix well to a spreading consistency. Then add salt and beat till it becomes light. Heat oil & pass the paste through a draining spoon. Fry till the gram flour paste turns golden and crispy boondi or dots. Stir the curd with a mixer and add water according to the consistency required. Now, add the fresh boondi to the beaten curd and mix gently.

Remember that the consistency can be changed even by adding some milk if you do not like to add water. Now, add salt, cumin powder and chili powder, mix well. Sprinkle some garam masala and garnish with chopped coriander/cilantro. Keep in refrigerator for an hour or so and serve boondi raita chilled.

Goes well with fried rice, biryani, tandoori chicken and anything Moghlai. Infact, you can just eat raita as lunch or a snack.

Brinjal Chutney/ Pachadi

Ingredients:
1lb Brinjals
1 tspn Chilli powder
½ tspn Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Seedless Tamarind as big as a grape
¼ cup Vegetable Oil for frying Brinjals
Green Chillies that turn red 6 nos
½ tspn Asafoetida powder

For Seasoning: 4 Tbspn Oil (you could use the oil from the fried brinjals, too)
1 tspn mustard Seeds
Curry Leaves
2-3 Dry chillies de-seeded & broken into two pieces

Preparation Time : 30 mins Cooking Time : 20 mins

Wash & cut the brinjals into cubes and keep them aside.
Take a Kadai (wok) add oil for frying the brinjal pieces. Fry till the Brinjals change colour and are soft. Remove from oil & keep aside to let it cool. When the brinjal pieces are cold, take a little of the fried Brinjal pieces and grind with the Green chillies that've turned red, along with the tamarind & salt to a fine paste & keep aside.

Now take another kadai, pour the oil kept for seasoning. When oil is hot add the seasoning ingredients & fry till the mustard seeds crackle. Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder & fry on low heat for a minute or two. Now, add the ground paste & fry for another 2 mins on low heat or till oil comes to the surface. Then add the fried brinjal pieces and asafoetida powder. Mix well & continue to fry for another 2-3 mins. on low heat. Check the salt & add if required. Remove from heat and cool . You may use it immediately or bottle it for later use. Tastes yum with stuffed parathas or steamed rice and ghee.

Vankaya mamsam/Eggplant mutton/ Brinjal Meat curry

This simple dish is made with one of my favorite veggies- eggplant aka brinjal aka vankaya. There's lot of myths surrounding this veggie and I thought it's important to clarify. Click here to know the calorific and nutritional value of eggplant.

Ingredients:

Brinjals - 5 medium sized

Meat/Mutton - 2 lbs

Salt- 2 tspn

Meat tenderizer - 1/2 tspn

Turmeric - 1/4 tspn

Onions - 2 medium size

Oil- 1 1/2 tbsp

Green chillies - 3-5

Coriander powder - 2 tspn

Cumin powder- 1/2 tspn

Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves all powdered in equal ratio - 2 tspn

Chilli powder - 3 tspn

Tomatoes - 2 medium sized

Cilantro - 1/4 cup

Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 1/2 tspn

Water- 1-1 1/2 cup

Preparation time: 10 mins cooking time: 40 mins

Slice the onions and fry them in oil in a pan. Saute them until they turn slightly brown and then add green chillies. Now add turmeric, salt and then ginger garlic paste. Thoroughly saute them without letting the paste stick to the base of the pan. Add the powders in the order mentioned above and saute again. Now add mutton/meat pieces and sprinkle some tenderizer powder and close the lid. Let the entire moisture come out of the mutton pieces. It might take about 10 mins for the water to drain out of the pieces. Then add diced tomatoes and diced eggplant pieces along with cilantro and then thoroughly mix. Let the tomatoes go soft and tender showing signs of the skin getting peeled off. Now, add water to the entire contents depending on how much of gravy you'd like to have in the curry. Remember, water is directly proportional to the amount of gravy you get later on. Close the lid and pressure cook the meat upto 4-5 whistles or 20 mins if you're following by the clock.

Once cooked, remove the lid as the steam settles down and serve hot with rice, paratha or rotis. Don't forget to garnish it slightly with cilantro and lemon. It definitely adds to the taste. Uhmm! lip smacking :)`

Ridge Gourd Pickle (Beerakaya Pachadi)

Ingredients:

Ridge Gourd - 2 full
Oil - 1tbsp
Fenugreek/methi seeds - 1tspn
Asafoetida/Inguva - a pinch or two
Red chillies - 4-5
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Tamarind - one tspn
Salt - 1/2 tspn

Preparation time : 0 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Wash the ridge gourd well and cut them into small pieces without peeling off the skin. Now fry the pieces in some oil in a pan till they turn slightly brown. Now, in a separate pan, fry in oil some red chillies, fenugreek and mustard seeds and asafoetida. Add this to the fried beerakayi along with tamarind and salt. When the tamarind is loses its moisture, take the entire mixture and grind well to a paste.

For tempering, heat one tspn oil in a kadai, add mustard and urad dal. When the seeds splutter, take off the burner and garnish the pacchadi. Remember this tempering process is purely optional and the paste can itself be eaten with rotis, steamed rice and ghee.

Ridge Gourd Curry/ Beerakaya curry

Ridge gourd or Beerakaya(in Telugu) is one of the most easily prepared dishes. The taste depends on what kind of gourds you've selected. So you can either get it just perfect or totally miss out on the 'yum' quotient. One tip for selecting ridge gourd is that the ridges shouldn't be too high and thick and the tips of the gourd should be fresh. Now, if you've selected good ones...lets begin our cooking

Ingredients:
Ridge Gourd/ Beerakayya - 3-4 medium sized
Onions 1 1/2 medium sized
Coriander/Dhania powder - 1 tspn
Cumin/Jeera powder - 1/2 tspn
Chilli powder - 2 tspn
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
Green Chillies - 5
Chana dal- 2 tspn
Salt - 1 tspn or to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
Cilantro/Coriander leaves and a lemon for garnishing

Preparation time: 10-15 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Peel the skin off the ridge gourds and cube them. Heat some oil in a pan and then put mustard seeds. As they begin to splutter, add sliced onions and saute them till they turn pink. Next, add chana dal, green chillies and fry them well. Do not let the chana dal turn dark brown. Add the powders in the order mentioned above and mix thoroughly. When the chilli powder begins to stick to the base, add some salt and then add the cubed gourd pieces. Mix the pieces well with the mixture in the pan. Place a lid on the pan and let the steam cook the ridge gourd pieces.

When the moisture has well cooked the pieces, remove the lid and let the left out water evaporate. For garnish use some cilantro and lemon wedges.

Hot hot Rasam/Tomato soup

I like rasam the simple way. Not too spicy or tangy or sweet or sour. Just a bit of all these tastes is what I need.

Ingredients:

250 gms tomatoes, quartered
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 green chillies, chopped
1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind
1 tbsp jaggery
1 tspn mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
1 red chilli broken into two
1 tspn coriander seeds – roasted & powdered
1 tspn cumin seeds – roasted & powdered
2 tsps peppercorns – roasted & powdered
Asafoetida powder (optional)
½ tbsp oil

Preparation time: 5 mins Cooking time: 20 mins

Extract the pulp of tamarind by soaking it in a cup of hot water. In the meantime boil the tomatoes, chillies and garlic in 4 cups of water. Then add the ground spices, jaggery and tamarind pulp and simmer for about 15 minutes. Heat the oil in another vessel and let the mustard seeds go splutter- splutter. Add the curry leaves, red chilli, asafoetida powder and onion and fry for a minute. Pour it over the tomato soup. Serve hot or serve cold. It still has its taste all preserved. Yummy rasam, this is!