KANDA KURA // YAM CURRY

KANDA KURA // YAM CURRY INGREDIENTS

Kanda pieces - 2 cups
Ginger - full finger length piece
Lemon - 2 nos
Salt - 11/2 tbsp
Greenchillies - 6 nos
Oil - 2 tbsp
Coriander - 1 /2 bunch
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 5 - 10 nos
Redchillies - 3 nos
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

PREPARATION

Microwave cook yam or kanda pieces for 10 min with some water . Then grind ginger , green chillies , along with salt and coriander and keep aside. Juice the lemon and set the juice aside.


Heat oil in a pan and put tadka / popu add redchillies and curry leaves.

Add microwave cooked yam pieces and mix well add little turmeric.

Now add the ginger paste to the yam . Mix well cook for about 5 min on medium flame . Put off the flame. Pour lemon juice over the curry and mix well.
Serve hot with rice..

VERMICELLI UPMA

VERMICELLI UPMAINGREDIENTS

Vermicelli - 11/2 cups
Water - 3 cups
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Ginger - half finger length piece
Curry leaves - 5 - 10 nos
Green chillies - 5 nos
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tbsp
Chana Dal - 1 tbsp
Urad Dal -1 tbsp
Lemon - 1
Salt - 2 1/ tsp

PREPARATION

Chop onion and tomato to fine pieces and green chillies too along with the ginger .
Heat oil in a pan put tadka , add ginger pieces , greenchilly pieces and fry for awhile the add onion and tomato pieces and fry to golden. Then add the vermicelli and fry for 5 min on medium flame. Then add water and salt mix well and allow it to cook .

Once the water is absorbed completely , put off the flame and leave it for 5 min .

Then serve hot with any chutney ...

KIDNEY BEANS CURRY

KIDNEY BEANS CURRY


INGREDIENTS

Kidney beans- 2 cups
Tomatoes - 2 nos
Onion - 2 nos
Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Redchilli powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Cumin -1 tsp

PREPARATION

Microwave cook beans for about 10 min.

Chop onions and tomatoes to fine pieces and heat oil in a pan . Then add cumin seeds and garlic paste to it.

Fry to golden brown add onions and tomatoes fry them to golden and once they soften add the beans to them .

Add salt , redchillipowder , turmeric , garam masala . Mix well and mix well cook fro 5 min put off the flame . Serve with rice or chapathi .....

MIRCHI BAJJI

MIRCHI BAJJI

INGREDIENTS

Mirchi - 10 - 15 nos
Besan - 3 cups
Cooking soda - 1/4 tsp
Oil - for deep frying
Salt - 2 tbsp
Roasted chana - 1/2 cup
Tamarind puree- 1 tsp
Ajwain - 1 tsp
Redchillipowder - 1 tbsp
Green chillies - 5 nos

PREPARATION

Wash chillies and cut the center of it along the length inorder to be able to stuff the roasted chana paste.Grind the roasted chana adding 1/2 tsp of ajwain or vamu and 1/2 tsp of salt and greenchillies . Then add tamarind puree and make a fine paste by grinding again.
Set this paste aside and prepare dough semi solid state by adding besan , cooking soda ,11/2 tbsp of salt , redchilli powder and 1/2 tsp of vamu or ajwain . Check for consistency of the dough . You should be able to dip the mirchi in it and leave it in oil.Heat oil parallely , stuff the mirchi's with the roasted chana dal paste .

Once the oil is hot , dip the mirchi in the besan dough and leave it carefully in the hot oil. The flame should be on medium. Be away from the oil . Fry the mirchis to golden brown and repeat the process to be done with all the mirchis .

Serve with tomato chutney or sliced onions.

CAPSICUM CURRY

CAPSICUM CURRY


INGREDIENTS

Capsicum - 4 nos
Onions - 2 nos
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - 11/2 tbsp
Redchillipowder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric - a pinch of it
Garlic pods - 2 nos
Garam Masala - 1 tbsp


PREPARATION

Cut capsicum into medium sized pieces and onions also of the same size.


Heat oil and fry garlic pods to golden brown. Then add onion pieces and fry to golden brown .Then add the capsicum pieces and add salt , turmeric , chillipowder and mix well.Cook till the capsicum pieces become tender and then add garam masala and mix well. Cook for 5 min put off the flame .

Serve hot with rice or Chapathi or Poori it tastes really good.

ALOO PARATHA

ALOO PARATHA
INGREDIENTS

Wheat flour - 2 cups
Besan - 1 /2 cup
Aloo - 4 nos
Onions - 2 nos
Ginger - 1 piece
Green chillies - 4- 5 nos
Cumin - 1 tbsp
GaramMasala - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Redchillipowder - 2 tbsp
Salt - 2 tbsp
Oil - 4 tbsp

PREPARATION


Peel off potatoes and cut them into medium sized pieces . Chop onions and greenchillies and microwave cook them for 10 min.
Once cooked smash them well and add garam masala , turmeric, salt and powdered cumin and chopped ginger .


Then mix the wheat flour , besan to the smashed potato mix and prepare a dough of it. Make small balls and roll them into rotis.
Now heat a pan and fry on both sides applying oil on both sides.

Once the paratha becomes red remove from flame. Repeat the process and finish off the dough completely. Serve with boondi raitha .

BOONDI RAITHA

BOONDI RAITHA
INGREDIENTS

Boondi - 2 cups
Curds - 4 -5 cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Honey - 2 tbsp
Redchillipowder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chanadal - 1 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tbsp
Redchillies - 4 nos
Curry leaves - 5 nos


PREPARATION


Beat curds adding water and add boondi to it .

Also add salt , redchilli powder and leave it to become soft for half an hour.Then put tadka and mix well. Add honey and mix for a while . Serve chilled or normally with Aloo paratha .

POTLAKAYA PERUGUPACCHADI / SNAKE GOURD CURD CHUTNEY

POTLAKAYA PERUGUPACCHADI


INGREDIENTS

Snake Gourd - 1 no
Curds - 2 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Chanadal - 1tsp
Redchillies -3-4 nos
Curry leaves - 5 - 6 nos
Coconut powder - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - a pinch of it

PREPARATION
Wash and cut snake gourd into circular pieces of medium consistency .Microwave cook for 6 min. Parallely beat the curds fine adding water and 1 tsp salt.



Heat oiland put tadka and add the cooked snake gourd pieces squeezing water out. Add a pinch of turmeric and 1 tsp of salt and mix well. Now add coconut powder and mix the curry well. Allow it to cool completely.Then transfer into the beaten thinned curds and mix well.
Serve with hot rice or chapathi ...

DONDAKAI CURRY

DONDAKAI CURRY



INGREDIENTS


Dondakai - 20 nos
Dry grated Coconut powder - 1 cup
Garlic pods - 4 nos
Cumin - 1 tbsp
Salt - 2 tbsp
Redchillipowder - 1 tbsp
Oil - 3 tbsp


PREPARATION

Wash dondakai and microwave cook for about 10 min.

Heat oil in a pan and fry cumin and 2 chopped garlic pods to golden. Add the dondakai and 1 tbsp salt and fry them to golden brown.

Add redchillipowder , 1tbsp salt and 1 garlic pod as a whole to the dry grated coconut powder and grind it once in a grinder. Add the powder to the dondakai and mix well. Cook for 5 min on low flame and remove from the flame.


Serve with hot rice.

VANGI BATH

VANGI BATH

INGREDIENTS

Brinjal - 5 nos
Rice - 4 cups
GreenChillies - 6 - 8 nos
VangibathMasala - 100 gms
Salt - 2 tbsp
Cashews - 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tbsp
Chanadal - 1 tbsp
Oil - 4 tbsp
Turmeric - a pinch of it
Tamarind puree - 1 tsp

PREPARATION

Wash and cut brinjal length wise into slices. Heat oil and add mustard seeds once they sizzle , add cashews, chana dal and greenchillies fry to golden red and set aside.

Fry the brinjal slices to golden red in the remaining oil. Now add salt , turmeric and rice to it. Mix well and add the tadka and vangibathmasala mix well.Add tamarind juice (add 1/2 cup of water to the tamarind puree ).Cook for 10 min.

Remove from flame and serve hot with curd raitha....

MASALA PUFFED RICE

MASALA PUFFED RICE



INGREDIENTS

Puffed rice - 1 pack
Roasted chana dal - 1/2 cup
Ground nuts - 1/2 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Oil - 3 -4 tbsp
Redchillipowder - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - a pinch of it



PREPARATION

Heat the puffed rice to make it crispy . And in a pan heat oil and fry roasted chana dal and ground nuts to red and add ginger garlic paste , redchilli powder, salt and turmeric .Mix well and add it to the puffed rice. Mix well and heat on low flame for 5 min.
Put off flame and serve hot with chopped onions and a little lime juice on it . Surely you would find it very tasty ...

BRINJAL CURRY

BRINJAL CURRY




INGREDIENTS

Brinjal - 3 -4nos long one
Green chillies - 10 nos
Coriander - 1/2 bunch
Ginger - 1 big piece
Oil - 2 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chanadal - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tbsp
Redchillies - 3 nos
Curry leaves - 10 nos
Turmeric - pinch of it
Salt - 11/2 tbsp



PREPARATION

Wash and cut brinjal into finger length pieces and leave them in water . Heat oil in a pan and put tadka for curry . ie , add mustard and cumin once they sizzle add urad dal , chana dal and fry till golden and ad redchillies and curry leaves. Now add the brinjal pieces and add turmeric and mix well.

Place a lid and allow them to soften. Now cut the ginger into small pieces and add salt and coriander and grind into paste. Add the paste to the brinjal pieces once they are cooked fine and cook for 5 min.


Remove from flame and serve hot with rice .

VANKAI PULUSU PACHADI / BRINJAL CHUTNEY

VANKAI PULUSU PACCHADI / BRINJAL CHUTNEY


INGREDIENTS

Big brinjal - 1 no
Tamarind puree - 1 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Onions - 1 no
Green chillies - 3 nos
Jaggery - 1 small cube
Oil for tadka
Water - 2 cups
Redchillies - 3 nos
Corinader - 1/4 bunch chopped

Preparation

Wash the brinjal , apply oil to it and heat it directly on the stove turning it on all sides. See that the whole brinjal is exposed to the flame and it is cooked by the heat. Set it aside to cool.


Parallely , chop the onion and greenchillies into fine pieces . Heat oil , put tadka. For tadka heat oil , add mustard seeds once they sizzle , add fenugreek seeds and cumin. Allow them to fry to red and add redchillies, green chillies and onions and fry to golden. Now dilute the tamarind puree adding water and add it to the onions . Mix well add turmeric , salt and powdered jaggery.

Bring it to boil, simmer the flame . Now peel off the brinjal and smash it properly .

Add it to the pulusu , and mix well . Cook for about 10 min and add coriander .

Serve with hot rice and kandi pacchadi ...

KANDI PACCHADI / TOOR DAL CHUTNEY

TOOR DAL CHUTNEY


INGREDIENTS

Toor dal - 1 cup
Cumin - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 10 nos
Salt - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Garlic pods - 2 - 3 nos
Water - 11/2 cups

PREPARATION

Heat a pan and roast toor dal along with cumin , redchillies and garlic pods. Then add salt and turmeric . Allow it to cool . Now grind it into fine powder and then add water and make it into a fine paste.


Serve with hot rice . Actually its a combination with Vankai pulusu pacchadi ...
It tastes very good too.

GONGURA PAPPU / DAL

GONGURA PAPPU
INGREDIENTS

Gongura - 2 bunches
Chana dal - 4 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Reachillipowder - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Redchillies- 3 - 4nos
Garlic pods - 3 nos
Water - 4 - 5 cups
Turmeric - a pinch of it
Curry leaves - 5 nos

PREPARATION

Remove the leaves from gongura bunches and wash them well and leave in a strainer to strain water away . Wash chana dal and then add gongura to it and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Dalshould be half cooked . Heat oil in pan and put
tadka or popu .. then add sliced garlic pods .Add salt , turmeric ,redchilli powder and curry leaves to the cooked dal . Transfer the dal into the tadka and cook for about 5 min mixing well.






Serve with hot rice ... tastes really good...

STUFFED TOMATO CURRY

STUFFED TOMATO CURRY


INGREDIENTS

Tomatoes - 9 nos
Potatoes - 2 nos
Peas - 1cup
Onions - 2 nos
Oil - 2 tbsp
Gingergarlic paste - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 4-5 nos
Cumin - 1 tsp
Salt - 2 tbsp
RedChilli powder - 2 tbsp
Turmeric - pinch of it
Amchur / dry mango powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp

PREPARATION

Microwave cook onions, potatoes, and peas for 10 min. Cut one end of the tomatoes and squeeze out the center of the tomato in order that you can fill in the tomato.Heat oil and fry ginger garlic paste to golden brown. Add cooked and mashed potatoes , onions and peas and mix well. Add curry leaves ,1 tsp garam masala,1 tsp salt , turmeric, 1 tsp amchur powder and 1 tsp redchilli powder . Mix well and put off the flame.





Now fill in the tomatoes with this curry. Microwave cook for about 5-6 min. Check that the tomatoes do not become too soft and if required stop when you feel they are cooked. The microwaves may vary in their intensity.
Now heat oil in a pan and add cumin and once it sizzles add redchilli powder , salt and add the cooked tomatoes slowly to the oil. Mix slowly and cook for 5 min.




Put off the flame and serve hot with rice ...

PUDINA CHUTNEY

PUDINA CHUTNEY


INGREDIENTS

Mint - 2 bunches
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Garlic pods - 3 nos
Green chillies - 2 nos
Red Chillies - 10 nos
Oil - 3 tbsp
Tamarind puree -1/2 tsp

PREPARATION

Remove the pudina leaves from the twigs and wash them well and leave in a strainer to drain water away.Heat oil in a pan and make popu ready for the chutney .
Popu or Tadka
In 1 tbsp hot oil , put mustard seeds and once they sizzle add fenugreek seeds and fry to golden brown , then add urad dal , chana dal fry till golden red and add redchillies , green chillies and garlic pods . Remove off flame and allow them to cool completely.


Now in the same pan heat the remaining oil and fry the pudina till the leaves turn their colour to a darker green colour.
Put off flame and allow it to cool completely.
Now grind the tadka or popu into fine powder add salt , and then add fried pudina leaves along with tamarind puree. Grind well into a fine paste.

Ready to serve with hot rice or as a side dish to any other main dish.

RADDISH PULUSU

RADDISH PULUSU
INGREDIENTS

Radish - 3 nos
Tamarind puree - 2 tsp
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Redchillies - 3 - 4 nos
Salt - 2 tsp
Redchilly powder - 1 tsp
Garlic pods - 3 nos
Oil - 1 tbsp
Water - 4 cups
Turmeric - a pinch of it
Corn powder - 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cut raddish in circular shape and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Heat oil in a pan and put tadka . Then add the cooked raddish and cook for a while. Now add the tamarind puree to the water and add the water to the raddish . Add salt , turmeric , redchilly powder and cook for 5 min. Take 1/2 cup of water and add corn powder to it and mix well . Transfer the mix into the pulusu and bring to boil. Mix well and cook for 5 min.





Heat oil in a pan and add chopped garlic pods and add t0 the pulusu . Now it is ready to be served with hot rice .

BHENDI CURRY

BHENDI CURRY
INGREDIENTS

Bhendi - 1/2 kg
Onions - 2 nos
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tbsp
RedChilli powder - 1/2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 3 - 4 nos
Oil - 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

Microwave cook bhendi for about 15 min . Heat oil in a pan and fry ginger garlic paste to golden red.Add curry leaves. Fry onions also to golden red . Then add bhendi to the onions and fry for 10 min till golden red. Add salt , redchillipowder and simmer cook for 5 min.




Serve hot with rice or chapathi ...

BOTTLE GOURD DAL / SORAKAYA PAPPU

SORAKAYA PAPPU

INGREDIENTS

Tuvar dal - 3 cups
Sorakaya pieces - 11/2 cups
Salt - 11/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 2 - 3 nos
Curry leaves - 10 nos
Oil - for tadka - 1 tbsp
Water - 4cups
Asfoetida - 1/4 tsp

PREPARATION

Pressure cook dal along with the sorakaya pieces with 4 cups of water. Then heat pan and put tadka and add curry leaves , asfoetida to it along with green chillies and redchillies. Transfer cooked dal and mix well . Add turmeric , salt , red chillipowder, mix well.





Serve hot with rice or chapathi ..

CORN MUFFINS

CORN MUFFINS


INGREDIENTS

Cornmuffin mix - 1 pack
Milk - 1/3 cup of the mix
Muffinmould - 1
Little butter for greasing the mould

PREPARATION

Preheat oven for about 10 min at 450 degrees. Parallely mix corn muffin mix with 1/3 cup of milk and mix well . Grease the muffin mould with butter .Transfer the mix into the moulds with a spatula equally . Do not adjust with spatula and fill only half of the mould.




Bake for 25 min and Muffins are ready to serve ....

GOBI MANCHURIAN

GOBI MANCHURIAN



INGREDIENTS

Gobi flower - 1 no
Corn Flour - 1 cup
Besan - 11/2 cup
Onions- 3 nos
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Ginger - 1 piece
Garlic - 3 pods
Oil - 1 tbsp
Oil for deep frying
Vinegar - 1 cup
Tomato Ketchup - 3 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 2 tbsp
Food Colour - Red - 1/4 tsp
PREPARATION

Cut gobi into florets with the stem needs to be little long . Heat them with water and 1/2 tsp of salt for 10 min . Check that the florest are half cooked. Parallely make dough of the corn and besan flour adding limited water along with salt and red chilli powder . The dough basically to adhere to the florets needs to be thick enough. Heat oil and then dip the florets in the dough and make gobi
bajji's out of the florets and the dough and fry them to red.Set them aside .




Heat oil in a pan and fry onions , garlic slices and ginger slices along with green chillies and add , vinegar and tomato ketchup add 1 tsp of salt too.
Cook well and transfer all the gobi bajji's into this and allow to cook mixing well . The bajji's absorb vinegar and ketchup . Cook for 10 min and remove from flame .





Serve hot ..

KHATTA PONGAL

KHATTA PONGAL / PONGALI

My dad and me loved it so much that when ever we went to Tirupathi we used to search for this recipe and definitely eat before we returned . That was the liking for it . Its a real good tasty recipe.


INGREDIENTS

Moong dal - 11/2 cups
Rice - 2 1/2 cups
Redchillies - 2- 3 nos
Pepper - 10 - 15 nos
Salt - 2 tbsp
Coconut powder - 2 tbsp
Green chillies - 4 - 5 nos
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Water - 7 cups
Cumin - 1 tbsp
Ginger - a small piece chopped


PREPARATION

Heat ghee in a pan and fry cumin seeds once the ghee is hot. After they sizzle , add pepper , red chillies , green chillies ,ginger pieces , curry leaves fry for a while. Then add washed and drained dal and rice and fry for about 5 min, then add salt and coconut powder , mix well. Now transfer the contents into a cooker adding water and cook for 3 whistles.







Remove from stove and serve hot with sambar or any chutney .

BHENDI FRY

BHENDI FRY


INGREDIENTS

Bhendi / Ladies finger - 300gms
Salt - 1 tsp
Redchilli powder - 1 tsp
Besan - 1 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Microwave cook bhendi for about 10 min. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds
to it. Once they splutter , add cooked bhendi and fry . Fry till the bhendi become red and add salt , besan , red chilli powder and mix well .






Once fried , serve hot with rice. Saves lot of time and is tasty too !!

KAKARAKAYA PULUSU KURA

KAKARAKAYA PULUSU KURA


INGREDIENTS

Kakarakaya - 4- 5 nos
Onions - 2 nos
Oil - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 10 nos
Salt - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind puree - 2 tsp
Jaggery - 2 pieces

PREPARATION

Cut kakarakaya into circular shape and chop onions . Microwave cook kakarakaya for 10 mins. Put tadka in oil and fry onions to golden red. Then add the cooked kakarakaya and mix well . Add salt , turmeric , redchilli powder , and add tamarind puree to water and add it to the kakarakaya. Mix well and cook for 10 min. Add jaggery and mix well.






Serve with hot rice.

BUDIDAGUMMADIKAYA BAJJI

BUDIDAGUMMADI OR ASH GOURD BAJJI


INGREDIENTS

Urad dal - 2 cups
Ash gourd - 250 gms
Salt - 1tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Oil - deep frying

PREPARATION

Soak urad dal for 8 hrs and grind it into fine batter . Parallely , heat oil and in the mean while cut the ash gourd and add the batter , salt , turmeric , red chilli powder ,cumin seeds and mix well . Now make small bajji's of the batter and deep fry them in the oil simmering the flame to medium.Fry them to golden brown .






Once you are done serve with rice and sambar combo or with chutney . They are really tasty .

CAPSICUM MASALA

CAPSICUM MASALA



INGREDIENTS

Capsicum - 6 nos
Onions - 1 no
Poppy seeds - 1/2 cup
Sesame seeds - 1/2 cup
Coconut powder - 1 cup
Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
Garlic pods - 4 -5 nos
Red Chillies - 10 nos
Cumin - 1 tsp
Ginger - same quantity as garlic
Salt - 2 tsp
Food colour - Red
Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Wash and cut capsicum lengthwise to the center and microwave cook for 10 min. Parallely , heat a pan and roast sesame seeds , poppy seeds
, cumin ,with red chillies . Now take 1/2 tbsp of oil and fry onions and ginger garlic pieces. Now allow it to cool completely .





Heat oil in a pan and fry the capsicum . Parallely grind the stuff which we kept for cooling adding into fine powder then add water and make a fine paste out of it and add to the capsicum . Cook for about 10 min and serve with pulav or chapathi or poori..

PEAS PULAV

PEAS PULAV
INGREDIENTS

Bay leaves - 3 nos
Peas - 1 cup
Basmathi Rice - 4 cups
Javithri - 3 and make them into pieces
Cinnamon sticls - 3 pieces
Cardamom - 10 nos
Cloves - 10 nos
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Pudina / Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Salt - 3 tbsp
Oil - 3 -4 tbsp
Water - 6 cups

PREPARATION

Wash and soak basmathi rice for half an hour before cooking . Heat oil in a pan andadd bay leaves and then fry all the spices and then fry mint for about 5 min. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till golden brown . Add peas and allo
w them to become soft .. cook for 5 min.





Now add rice and salt to the peas fry for a while. Add water mix well . Transfer the contents and cook in a rice cooker for about 45 min. Serve hot with Bagara Baingan or Capsicum masala...

PUTNA CHUTNEY OR ROASTED CHANA CHUTNEY

PUTNA CHUTNEY OR ROASTED CHANA CHUTNEY

This chutney we used to make it a dish to Idli or Dosa . A very common day to day made chutney and most sought after too....


INGREDIENTS

Putna dal - 2 cups
Tamarind puree - 1/2 tsp
Coconut powder - 2 -3 cups
Green chillies - 3 nos
Oil - for tadka
Curry leaves - 10 nos
Coriander bunch -1/2 bunch
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - about 1 cup
Garlic pods - 2 nos

PREPARATION

Grind putna with salt and garlic pods once it becomes a fine powder , add cocnut powder and grind for a min.Then add water and tamarind puree along with chopped coriander and grind once again and transfer it into a container.



For tadka :
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds once they sizzle add cumin seeds , urad dal and fry to red and then add red chillies and curry leaves and transfer on to the chutney ..
Serve with Dosa or Idli . You can make it more soft if you want or leave it in semi soft form ...

PESARA PACCHADI / MOONG DAL CHUTNEY

PESARA PACCHADI

INGREDIENTS


Pesara pappu - 150 gms
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Red chillies - 10 - 15 nos
Mango pieces - 2 - 3 nos
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch of it
Oil - 1/2 tbsp
Asfoetida - 1/2 tsp

PREPARATION

Soak moong dal for 2 hrs in hot water . Prepare tadka or popu ... Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it . Once they sizzle , add fenugreek seeds and let them fry to golden red. Then add urad dal and chana dal fry them to red and add red chillies and fry them too to red . Then add asfoetida to it and leave it to cool down completely ...



Once the tadka cools down , grind it into soft powder and add dal and mango slices to it along with salt and grind it to soft fine paste adding water little by little.



The chutney is now ready to be served with hot rice it tastes really good...

SOJJAPPALU

SOJJAPPALU

INGREDIENTS

Bombay Rawa - 250 gms
Sugar - 500 gms
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 2 tsp
Maida - 500 gms
Oil - 4 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Water - 1/2 l
PREPARATION


Heat ghee and fry rawa adding 1tsp ofcardamom powder . Once fried to golden brown , transfer the contents into another pan . Now take about 500ml of water and heat in a pan and once it boils , add sugar and 1tsp of cardamom powder .



Once the sugar melts completely , bring it to boil and add rawa to it mixing well in order that no lumps form in the kesari. Once the grains are cooked , leave it on put out flame for 5 min , kesari becomes hard . Allow it to cool and make small balls out of the kesari .





Take maida and make a dough adding salt and water little by little. Make a hard dough and make a small ball of it . Take little oil and apply to the ball and roll it into a small poori and place the kesari ball in the center. Fold the poori's edges to the center on to the ball blend it well into a ball.



Make a poori out of the ball and on a hot pan , shappow fry it applying little oil on the poori . Reverse and heat it the same way applying little oil on the top of it.Fry till it becomes golden brown .



Ready to serve hot .It is tasty , gives taste of sweet with a little touch of salt too....

ALOO CURRY SPECIALLY FOR DOSA

ALOO CURRY
INGREDIENTS

Aloo - 4 nos
Onions - 2 nos
Green chillies - 3 nos
Curry Leaves - 10 nos
Coriander - 1/4 bunch chopped
Oil - for popu or tadka

PREPARATION

Peel off and cut potatoes and onions into small pieces and microwave cook them along with green chillies for about 10 min . They need to become soft enough .



Heat oil in a pan and put mustard seeds and once they sizzle add zeera to it along with urad dal and chana dal .. Once they are fried well ,add the mashed onions and potatoes along with green chillies and fry for a 5 min add turmeric and salt and coriander mix well and put off the flame .



Aloo curry is now ready to be served.

PLAIN DOSA

Dosa is another staple breakfast in the south India .

DOSA / PLAIN DOSA
INGREDIENTS

Urad Dal - 2 cups
Rice - 4 cups
Ratio = 1 :2 (1 cup of dal , 2 cups of rice )
Salt - 3/4 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Soak urad dal and rice together or separately as desired over night and grind them into a very fine paste adding water little by little . It should be ground to a consistency that you should be able to mix water the next day before you start making dosas. If you tend to pour more water the dosa will get stuck on the pan and come close so watch for the grinding consistency .



Mix the batter well and leave it to set over night .When you are ready to make dosa add salt to the batter and mix well . Now take little batter and add water to it mix it well . Parallely heat the Dosa pan and put the batter on it once it is hot . Make a fine circle to form a dosa .



Take 1/2 tsp of oil and put it drop by drop along the edges of the dosa after few minutes the dosa automatically leaves the pan and its easy for u to remove it from pan. Turn it on the other side and heat for a while. Dosa is now ready to be served with aloo curry or any chutney ...If you want the dosa to be crispy leave it on the pan for a min or two and it will become crispy .
Always keep the pan on a medium flame once the pan is hot . Other wise the dosa gets burnt ..

VADA

VADA

One of the staple breakfast of south India taken along with Idli and Sambar.


INGREDIENTS

Urad dal - 3 cups
Ginger - 1 piece
Green Chillies - 3 nos
Oil - for deep frying
Salt - 1 tsp


PREPARATION

Soak urad dal over night for about 8 hrs before preparation . Grind it into a fine paste should be hard so grind adding water little by little. Then add salt and chopped green chillies and ginger pieces . Parallely heat oil in apan for deep frying .


Make small ball of the batter wetting your hand with water and in another wet palm place the ball and press it round and make a hole in the center in the form of a vada and put it in the hot oil along the corners . Carefully leave the vada in oil slowly and be away from the pan .In order to avoid oil spilling on you.



Let them fry till golden brown repeat the process and serve the hot vada with sambar and onion chutney ...

ONION CHUTNEY / ULLIPAYI PACCHADI

ONION CHUTNEY

My favourite again ..It s very tasty ...

INGREDIENTS

Onions - 4 nos
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 2tsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Garlic pods - 3 nos
Red Chillies - 10 nos
Salt - 1/2 tbsp
Tamarind puree - 1/2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cut onions into medium sized pieces and heat oil in a pan and prepare popu for the pacchadi .
Put mustard seeds in the hot oil once they sizzle add fenugreek seeds and once they turn red , add urad dal and chana dal and fry till golden brown . Add red chillies and garlic pods and fry them to golden red and set aside to cool down completely.



Once the tadka cools down grind into powder and add the tamarind puree and salt to it and also the cooled onions . Grind to a fine paste . It goes well with rice, dosa , chapathi ...

BAGARA BAINGAN

BAGARA BAINGAN
INGREDIENTS

Sesame seeds - 3 tbsp
Coconut powder - 4 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 3 tbsp
Ginger garlic pieces - 1 tbsp
Onions - 2 nos
Redchillipowder - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tbsp
Tamarind puree - 1/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1tbsp
Cloves - 2 nos
Cinnamon sticks - 2 nos
Ground nut - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and fry poppy seeds , cumin seeds , cloves, cinnamon sticks, sesame seeds , ground nuts , and coconut powder . Once they are fried to red add salt , redchilli powder,
and ginger and garlic pieces or pods and leave it to cool putting off the flame.

Chop onions into fine pieces and wash and cut brinjals along lengthwise in the center . Heat 1tbsp of oil and fry onions till they become golden brown and parallely microwave cook brinjals for 10 min.Then add the cooked brinjals to the onions and cook for 5 mins with a lid.



Once the masala cools grind it into a fine paste adding 1/2 tbsp of tamarind puree to it . Add the masala gravy to the brinjals and cook for 5 mins . Bagara Baingan is now ready to serve ...

CHANA MASALA

CHANA MASALA

INGREDIENTS

Whole Chana - 3 cups
Onions - 2 nos
Tomatoes - 6 nos
Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
Chana Masala - 1 tbsp
Coriander - 1/4 bunch
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Amchur powder - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 3 nos
Cinnamon sticks - 2 nos
Gingergarlic paste - 1 tsp
Bay leaves - 2 nos


PREPARATION

Cook Chana in a cooker and strain away extra water . Grind onions into fine paste . Grind tomatoes into fine paste ...



Heat oil in a pan and add ginger garlic paste and fry till golden brown . Then add bay leaves cloves and cinnamon sticks onion puree and fry till it is cooked and then add tomato puree . Cook till it becomes a thick paste and add amchur powder , turmeric powder ,cardamom powder , garam masala , and chana masala and mix well and then add cooked chana to it along with coriander..



Mix all the ingredients and cook well for about 5 minutes . Chana masala is now ready to be served ...

COCONUT RICE / KOBBARI ANNAM

Kobbari Annam


INGREDIENTS

Basmathi Rice - 3 cups
Coconut grated - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 cups
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1bsp
GreenChillies - 4 - 5 nos
RedChillies - 3 nos
Salt - 1 tbsp
Curry Leaves - 1/2 bunch
Water - 5 cups
Cashew nuts - 10 nos

PREPARATION

Cook rice in a rice cooker addding 5 cups of water . Parallely heat ghee in a pan and put tadka . ie,.. in hot ghee put mustard seeds and once they pop up add jeera , urad dal , and chana dal fry till they become red and add red chillies fry for a while and add green chillies and curry leaves ..and set aside...
Add grated coconut to the rice and salt and add this tadka .



Mix well and serve with chana masala .......

SAMOSA

SAMOSAS

INGREDIENTS

Chick peas - 1 cup

Peas and carrots - 1 cup

Onions - 2 nos

Garam Masala - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Turmeric - a pinch

Gingergarlic pasre - 1 tsp

Oil - for deep frying

Maida - 3 cups

Water - 1 - 1/2 cups

PREPARATION

Make dough of maida adding little salt and baking soda . Parallely microwave cook chick peas carrrots , peas and onions for about 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan and add gingergarlic paste and fry till golden brown and the add the vegetables and chick peas and make curry to stuff in the samosa .

Make small balls of maida and roll it in the form a poori and fold it across the center and and again fold it across to its center and press one side with the roller to close the open end . Now make way for the curry and stuff little curry in the center and fold the edge . Make samosas ready this way for frying .

Now heat oil in a pan and fry these samosas to golden brown ...

Once fried serve hot with sauce ...

DOSAKAI PACCHADI / CUCUMBER CHUTNEY

Dosakai pacchadi is my all time favourite one...








INGREDIENTS


Dosakai - 1 no
Tomatoes - 2 nos
Onion - 1 small
Garlic pod - 2 nos
Green Chillies - 3 nos
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Coriander - 1/2 bunch
Salt - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - a pinch of it
Asfoetida - 1/4 tsp

PREPARATION


Cut dosakai and tomato into pieces . Heat oil and put tadka or popu ie ,, add mustard seeds and once they popup add fenugreek seeds uraddal , chana dal and redchillies , green chillies and fry till golden red . Then add the onion pieces and garlic pod and asfoetida and allow it to cool. Also add salt to it and set adie.








In the same pan saute tomatoes for a while till they become soft and allow to cool .





Grind the popu into soft powder and add tomato pieces and grind to a paste . Now add Dosakai pieces and coriander and turmeric and grind for a minute see that the dosakai pieces do not become a paste . Serve with hot rice ...

IDLI ( for a change )

Idli with sambar became routine and wanted to try something different which my mother in law suggested ... Check out !!

INGREDIENTS

Idli batter - 4cups

Chana dal - 3/4 cup

Carrots and Peas - 1 cup

Salt - 1tsp

Oil - for popu

Popu ingredients

Redchillies - 2 nos

Coriander - 1/4 bunch

PREPARATION

Soak chana dal over night and in the morning drain off water and set aside.

Take the Idli batter in a vessel and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and jeera once they pop up add urad dal fry for a while and add chana dal and vegetables and coriander .
Once it is cooked transfer it and mix well with the batter . And then put the batter on the Idli moulds.


Steam cook for about 20 min and serve hot with sambar or chutney ...

MIXED VEGETABLE CURRY

MIXED VEGETABLE CURRY

INGREDIENTS

Vegetables - 2 cups

Tomatoes - 5 nos

Paneer - 10 pieces

Salt - 2 tsp

Turmeric - a pinch of it

Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp

Garam Masala - 2 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Onions - 2 nos

Coriander - 1/4 bunch

Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp

PREPARATION

Microwave cook vegetables for 10 minutes.Cut tomatoes and make puree of them or u can use tomato puree instead.

Chop onions into small pieces . Heat oil and fry paneer to golden brown and set aside.

Now fry ginger garlic paste to golden red and add onions and fry till golden brown.Then add tomato puree to make gravy ..

Now add garam masala , salt , turmeric , amchur powder , coriander and let it thicken for a while ...Then add the vegetables and paneer .

Serve hot with Chapathi or Roti !!

MAJJIGA PULUSU // BUTTERMILK STEW

Majjiga pulusu made of buttermilk and bottle gourd and tomato goes very well as a side dish .
I strongly feel it bring very good taste to Khichdi .

MAJJIGA PULUSU
INGREDIENTS

Buttermilk - 1/2 l

Chana dal / besan - 1 cup

Bottle Gourd pieces - 1 cup

Tomato pieces - 1/2 cup

Curry leaves - 1/2 bunch

Coriander leaves - 1/2 bunch

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Redchilly powder - 1 tsp

Asfoetida - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - a pinch of it

Ginger pieces - 1/2 tsp

Water - 1 cup

PREPARATION

In a container take butter milk and add 1 cup of well mixed chanadal in water paste and beat well to form a nice mixture of besan and buttermilk also add a pinch of turmeric to this.

Now heat oil in a pan and put tadka or popu along with asfoetida and ginger pieces.

Microwave cook vegetables for 5 min. Add these vegetables to the popu and mix well .

Now add the buttermilk little and let it come to a boil. Meanwhile add salt , curry leaves , and red chilly powder .

Keep adding the buttermilk and bring it to boil , add coriander . Serve hot with Khichdi ....

KHICHDI

Khichdi made with moong dal is very tasty and nutritious as well . I learnt this recipe from my mother in law. Usually served with Majjiga pulusu .


INGREDIENTS

Moong Dal - 1 cup

Basmathi Rice - 2 cups

Water - 4 cups

Curry leaves - 1/2 bunch

Vegetables - 2 cups

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp

Garam masala powder - 2 tbsp

Cloves - 5 nos

Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp

Raisins - 2 tbsp

Redchillies - 5 nos

Greenchillies - 3 nos

Onions - 2 nos

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Bay leaves - 2 nos

Cinnamon sticks - 2 nos

Salt - 3 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cut vegetables and slice onions and green chillies length wise. Wash and soak rice for about half an hour before cooking .

Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaves , cloves , cinnamon sticks and ginger garlic paste and fry till they turn red .Then add onions and green chillies and red chillies and fry till golden brown .

Add moong dal and fry for 5 minutes . Then add vegetables and fry for 5 minutes. Then add rice and also add salt, garam masala , turmeric , cashews and raisins , curry leaves and mix well and fry for 5 minutes.
Add water and cook in a rice cooker for about 40 min. Once cooked , serve with majjiga pulusu .

TOMATO DAL

TOMATO DAL

A very tasty and my favourite dal . Not too spicy but brings taste to the food what ever taken along with .. be it rice or chapathi ....

INGREDIENTS

Tomatoes - 4 nos

Toor dal - 2 cups

Onion - 1 no

Turmeric - a pinch

Redchillies - 2 nos

Greenchillies - 2 nos

Garlic pod - 2 nos

Curry leaves - 10 nos

Coriander - 1/4 bunch

Tamarind puree - 1tsp

Salt - 2 tsp

Water - 3 cups

Mustard seeds- 1tsp

Urad dal - 1tsp

Chana dal - 1tsp

Oil - 1/2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cook toor dal and cut tomatoes along with green chillies in a cooker.Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds once they pop up add urad dal , chana dal and fry till red and then add redchillies and garlic pods once they are fried red , add onions and fry till golden red.

Add dal cooked to it and add salt , turmeric, red chilly powder , curry leaves , coriander leaves , tamarind puree and mix well . Serve hot with rice or chapathi ...

DOSAKAI PAPPU / CUCUMBER DAL

DOSAKAI PAPPU







INGREDIENTS


Toor dal - 2 cups
Cucumber - 1 no
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Redchillies - 2 nos
Greenchillies - 2 nos
Salt - 2 tsp
Tamarind puree - 1 /2 tbsp
Redchilli powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch of it
Water - 3-4 cups
Asfoetida - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1/2 tbsp


PREPARATION


Peel off cucumber and cut it into pieces as per desire. Wash the dal and add cucumber pieces and add 3 - 4 cups of water along with greenchillies and cook in a cooker .



Heat oil in a pan and put popu or tadka . ie .. Add mustard seeds to hot oil and once they pop up add urad dal and chana dal and fry to golden red and then add red chillies and asfoetida fry till they are well fried .

Then add the cooked dal to it and add salt , turmeric , red chilly powder , tamarind puree .

Mix well in order that the tadka fully mixes with the dal and serve hot with rice or chapathi.

PULAV WITH CORIANDER AND MINT

Pulav made with coriander and pudina is very tasty with less spice and my kids love it !!!

I remember my childhood when I used to cook this on my father and sisters demand ...

PULAV WITH CORINADER AND MINT

INGREDIENTS

Vegetables - 2 cups

Onions - 2 nos

Mint - 1 bunch

Coriander - 1 bunch

Cardamom - 5 nos

Cloves - 5 nos

Bay leaves - 2 nos

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp each

Cinnamon sticks - 2 nos

Shahzeera - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 2 tbsp

Basmathi rice - 3 cups

Oil - 2 tbsp

Water - 7 - 8 cups

PREPARATION

Cut vegetables and wash and soak rice for half an hour . Make mint and coriander paste . Heat oil in a pan and fry cloves , cardamom , cinnamon sticks and bay leaves to red. Then add ginger garlic paste and fry till golden red and also fry coriander and mint paste till it changes clolour .

Add salt and rice and fry for about 5 min . Then cook in a rice cooker for about 40 min .

Once cooked serve with curd raitha ...

STUFFED VANKAI CURRY

STUFFED VANKAI CURRY

INGREDIENTS

Vankai - 4 nos

Urad dal - 1 cup

Chana dal - 1 cup

Coriander seeds - 1/2 cup

Red Chillies - 1 hand full

Salt - 1 tbsp

Coconut powder - 2 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Wash and cut brinjals into two and cut length wise in the center .

In a tbsp of oil , fry urad dal , chana dal , coriander seeds red chillies till golden red. Allow it to cool and grind it into fine powder.

Add little oil to the powder.Stuff the brinjal pieces with the powder .

Microwave cook for about 10 min .

Heat oil in a pan and fry the stuffed brinjal for 10 min. Serve hot with rice .

BREAD ROLLS

BREAD ROLLS

INGREDIENTS

ALoaf of bread

Potatoes - 3 nos

Peas - 1 cup

Carrots - 1 cup

Salt - 1 tsp

Garam Masala- 1 tbsp

Oil - for frying and making curry

Onions - 2 nos

Corriander - 1/4 bunch

PREPARATION

Cut bread slices along edges and remove the hard part of it. Parallely microwave cook potatoes , carrot and peas for about 10 min and mash them well. Heat a tbsp of oil and fry chopped onions to red and add the mashed vegetables and add garam masala , salt , turmeric and coriander .

Make small balls of the curry and roll it in the bread slice and fold the edges to the center . Wet the bread for a second if needed and roll it in the shape of a ball .

Roll all the slices with potato mix and set aside .

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry them to golden brown .

Repeat till all the rolls are finished and serve hot with sauce . It tastes good .

KOBBARI PACCHADI / COCONUT CHUTNEY

Kobbari Pacchadi is an all time favourite for most of us. Easy to prepare and also very tasty.Goes along well with rice , poori and also chapathi .




KOBBARI PACCHADI

INGREDIENTS

Coconut - 1 / 1/2

Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tbsp

Asfoetida - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Tamarind paste - 1tsp

Red Chillies - 10 nos

Green Chillies - nos

Coriander - 1/2 bunch

Salt - 2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cut coconut into small pieces . Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds , fenugreek seeds and once they pop , add urad dal and chana dal and fry till golden red. Add red chillies and green chillies and fry till golden red.

Allow the popu / tadka to cool and grind it and add salt to it . Mix well and add coconut pieces and grind well adding little water if necessary. Also add turmeric . Add coriander and tamarind paste and grind once again. Serve with hot rice...

STUFFED CAPSICUM

I had learnt a lot of cooking from my mother in law . Both my in laws loved Capsicum stuffed curry . We used to make it very frequently. It tastes really great and goes well with rice or chapathi.



STUFFED CAPSICUM

Capsicum - 4 nos
Besan - 2 cups
Onions - 2 nos
Salt - 2 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Oil - 4 tbsp

PREPARATION

Grate onion . Cut capsicum length wise in the center and make sure you can fill it with stuff. Roast chanda dal in a pan and add lillte oil to it once it roasted . Add grated onion , salt , jeera ,chilli powder and turmeric and heat for 10 min .

Heat in order to blend the mix well . Now fill in the capsicum with this stuff and microwave for 10 min.


Heat oil in a pan and transfer the capsicum into the oil. Cook for about 10 minutes .

Once cooked serve hot with rice . It tastes really good.

PAV BHAJI

Pav Bhaji is a very famous tiffin which we used to have at Gokul chat Bhandar in Hyderabad.

Those days we always used to stop there after finishing our shopping and eat something before going home . We were lucky enough for not being targetted...

PAV BHAJI

INGREDIENTS

Potatoes - 3 nos

Carrots - 1 cup

Peas - 1 cup

Onions - 2 nos

Pav Bhaji masala - 2 tbsp

Salt - 2 tsp

Coriander - 1/2 bunch

Oil - 2 tbsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

PREPARATION

Cut potaotes into pieces and along with carrots and peas microwave cook for about 10 min.

Parallely heat oil in a pan and fry chopped onions till golden red.

Once the vegetables are cooked mash them properly and add them to the fried onions . Add pav bhaji masala , salt and turmeric and mix well. Pour little water to make it soft .

Bhaji is now ready to be served . For the Pav, cut pav into two in the center and heat little ghee on a pan and heat it .

Heat on both sides and serve hot with bhaji its delicious ....

CURD RAITHA

CURD RAITHA

INGREDIENTS

Onions - 2 nos

Green chillies - nos

Curds - 3 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

PREPARATION

Chop onions into small pieces and also green chillies . Break curds into soft .

Add onions and green chilly pieces to curds along with salt . Also add coriander if desired.

Serve with Pulav..

PULAV WITH SOYA BALLS

Pulav made with soya is rich in protein and also very tasty . My aunt used to make it especially for me when ever I visited her with lots of affection. Something which brings lots of taste with lots of spice . Especially suited to be made in cool conditions.

SOYA BALLS PULAV

INGREDIENTS

Basmathi rice - 3 cups

Vegetables - 2 cups

Soya balls - 2 cups

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp each

Pulav masala - 2 tbsp

Salt - 2 tbsp

Curry Leaves - 10 nos

Red Chillies - 4 - nos

Onions - 2 nos

Green chillies - 6 nos

Turmeric - 1 /2 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp

Bay leaves - 2 nos

Water - 10 cups

PREPARATION

Boil water with a little salt and add soya balls to it and cook them for 10 min till they become soft.

Cut vegetables and onions and green chillies and set aside .

For Pulav Masala



INGREDIENTS

Cinnamon sticks - 2 sticks
Cardamom - 4 nos
Cloves - 6 nos
Shahjeera - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp


Grind all the ingredients and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaves and fry for a minute . Add ginger garlic paste and fry till golden brown . Then add sliced onions and red chillies as well as green chillies and fry till golden red. Add vegetables and soya balls ( drain extra water from them ). And fry till they absorb oil and add pulav masala and fry for 10 minutes.


Soak rice in water for half an hour and drain water . Add the rice to the vegatables and curry leaves . Now add salt and turmeric to it and mix well. Add enough water and cook in a rice cooker. Serve hot with raitha ...

PUNUKULU

Pesara Punukulu by the very name I remember good olden days when my mother used to prepare them and offer as naivedyam to Goddess in the Navaratri days . She used to do pooja in the morning and evening and offer different naivedyam and give us the prsadam . She had such a lot of patience fasting the whole day and having only prasadam. Its because of her pooja and blessings that we all her children are happily enjoying with our families.

PESARA PUNUKULU




INGREDIENTS


Moong dal - 2 cups
Salt - 1 tbsp
Coriander - 1/2 bunch
Green chillies - 5 nos
Oil - deep frying


PREPARATION

Soak moong dal / pesara pappu for about 3 to 4 hrs. Grind it into a fine batter .

Grind coriander , green chillies and salt and mix it up to the batter.

Now heat oil in a pan and make small balls of the batter and fry them in the oil.

Repeat the process and serve with any pickle.

LEMON RICE // NIMMAKAI PULIHORA

Lemon rice is an all time favourite of mine . My mother used to make it for me when I wanted to have it.

LEMON RICE

INGREDIENTS

Rice - 2 cups

Lemon - 4 nos

Salt - 2 tbsp

Green chillies - 10 nos

Red chillies - 10 nos

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp

Asfoetida - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp

Cashew nuts / Ground nuts - a hand full

Curry leaves - 10 leaves

PREPARATION

Cook rice in a rice cooker. Cut lemon into two and squeezed out the juice from them into a cup with two tbsp salt and sliced green chillies . Soak the green chillies in the salt and lemon juice mix till the rice is cooked .

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it . Once they splutter , add chana dal , urad dal , cashew nuts , red chillies and fry till golden red. Now add asfoetida and curry leaves to it.

Transfer the rice into a container and allow it to cool once it is cooked. Spread it across uniformly in the container and add 1 tbsp oil to it . Now mix the rice well adding 1/2 tsp of turmeric .

Add the lemon jucie along with the green chillies and mix uniformly. Then transfer the popu / tadka which we kept aside into the rice and mix well . Lemon rice is ready to serve..

KUDUMULU

KUDUMULU

INGREDIENTS

Rice - 2 cups

Water - 4 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

Jaggery - 2 cups

Coconut powder - 2 cups

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1 tsp

PREPARATION

Grind rice into fine rawa. Parallely boil water in a pan. Add salt to it , mix well and add rawa stirring with a spatula.

Cover the pan with a lid in order to make the rawa cook faster and soft. Once cooked set it a side to cool.

Parallely heat a tsp of ghee in a pan and add jaggery to it . Once the jaggery melts add coconut powder and cardamom powder and keep mixing till it forms a thick mass.

Allow it to cool and make balls of the kobbari louju .

Now take the cooked rawa in one palm and spread it across . Keep the kobbari louju in it and cover it with little more cooked rawa over it and blend it properly in such a way that it covers the kobbari louju . Repeat the process till the cooked rawa is done .

Once you finish rolling them , pressure cook them for about 5 min . Its only to make the juice of the jaggery to blend into the cooked rawa. In case you want to microwave them , its enough for a minute .

ALLAM / GINGER CHUTNEY

Allamchutney is an all time favourite chutney which brings lots of taste be it upma with pesarettu or undrallu or dosa .



INGREDIENTS


Ginger - 100 gms
Mustard seeds - 2tbsp
Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Chana dal - 2 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds - 2 tbsp
Asfoetida - 1/2tsp
Jaggery - 2 pieces
Oil - 2 tbsp
Red Chillied - a hand of them
Tamarind paste - 2 tsp
Salt - 2tsp



PREPARATION



Heat oil in a pan and fry mustard seeds , fenugreek seeds , urad dal , chana dal , pieces of
ginger , asfoetida and red chillies .

Allow it to cool and grind it into fine powder adding salt and jaggery pieces. Now add tamarind paste to water and grind the powder into a fine paste. Allam chutney is now ready to serve..

UNDRALLU / RICE BALLS

The most important and favourite food of Lord Ganesha is supposed to be Undrallu or Rice Balls .


UNDRALLU

Rice - 1kg
Chana dal - 1 cup
Jeera - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Salt - 2 tbsp
Water - 11/2 lit

PREPARATION

Grind rice in a mixer into coarse rawa. Heat ghee in a pan and fryjeera till brown and add chana dal and fry till golden ..

Add rawa to that and fry for a while and add salt to it.

Add enough water to it around 11/2 l of water . Add pressure cook it for about 30 minutes.

Once the rawa is cooked , make balls round in shape.They can be served as offering and also can be served with Allam chutney .

RAVVA KESARI / SEERA

Ravva Kesari or Seera is a sweet made as a naivedyam on Satyanarayanaswamy Vratham .

Very easy to make and tasty too.

RAVA KESARI

INGREDIENTS

Bombay Rawa - 3 cups

Sugar - 5cups

Water - 7 cups

Cardamom - 6 - 7 nos

Food colour - Yellow a pinch

Ghee - 3 tbsp

Milk - 2 tsp

PREPARATION

Heat ghee in a pan and fry rawa till golden brown.

Remove the roasted rawa and fry dry fruits and keep aside. Now boil water . Once it boils add sugar and blend well till all the sugar melts.

Add food colour to 2 tsp of milk. Add this milk to the sugar water also add cardamom powder . Bring water to boil and add rawa stirring the water .

Lower the flame and leave it for a few minutes and tarnsfer into a container and decorate with nuts.

EGGLESS SPONGE CAKE

From my childhood I always had a wish to bake a cake on my own . Today it fulfilled by BABA's grace. Actually my son too had wanted to eat a cake made by me. It took some time for me to initialise my self but it was successfull... at last and lots of happiness at the end....

EGGLESS SPONGE CAKE

INGREDIENTS

All purpose floor - 280 gms

Icing sugar - 2 tsp

Vanilla Essence - 11/2 tsp

Baking Powder - 1tsp

Baking soda- 1/2 tsp

Butter - 60 gms

Condensed Milk - 240ml

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 300degrees C.

Seive maida and add baking powder , baking soda and icing sugar mix it well and keep it aside.

In a container take condensed milk , add melted butter , vanilla essence to it .

Beat the contents with a beater till soft in a single direction for about 7 min.

Now start adding floor mix spoon by spoon to the milk mix. Keep mixing till the floor mix is complete. In between if you feel the cake mix is getting hard add little milk about a spoon or two at a time inorder to ease the process of mixing ...

Grease the cake pan with butter and transfer the cake mix into it. It falls in folds and sets itself into the pan.

Keep the tray in the oven . Initially the cake should be baked at high temperature about 250 degrees for 10 min. Then lower the temperature to 200 degrees and cook till baked for about 30 - 40 min. Check for the baked cake with a tooth prick. Once u confirm it is cooked , transfer it into a container.

KARAPPODI

My husband had very severe cold and wanted to eat some thing really spicy . I was reminded of karappodi my favourite what my mother used to make on demand . It seems like all of us now away from her miss it lots. But then I had no other option on hand except to make it myself .
Though we are apart she is always there in our hearts....



KARAPPODI

INGREDIENTS

Mustard seeds - 3 tbsp

Fenugreek seeds - 2 tbsp

Urad dal - 2 tbsp

Chana dal - 2 tbsp

Red chillies - a handfull and little more

Salt - 1 tbsp

Tamarind - 1 tbsp

Garlic pods - 3 nos

Oil - 2 tbsp

Turmeric - pinch of it

PREPARATION

Heat oil in apan . Add mustard seeds once they start popping add fenugreek seeds . Once you confirm that fenugreek seeds are fried too , add urad dal , chana dal , garlic pods , red chillies and fry them well . Put off the flame and add tamarind paste along with turmeric.Cool it and add salt to it and grind it to a fine course powder . It goes well with rice in case of cold and also with idli ...

CAULIFLOWER

Cauliflower cooked with carrot and peas is awesome !!!

INGREDIENTS

Cauliflower - 1 no

Peas and Carrot - 2 cups

Onions - 2 nos

Green chillies - 5 - 6 nos

Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tbsp

Curd - 1 cup

Coconut powder - 1/2 cup

Poppy seeds - 1/2 cup

Salt - 2 tsp

Turmeric - pinch of it

Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Microwave cauliflower along with carrots and peas and cook for 6 - 10 min.

Chop onions into small pieces along with green chillies . Grind poppy seeds and set aside.

Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan and add ginger garlic paste once the oil is hot . Fry the paste till red and add onions chopped finely along with green chillies to it . Fry the onions till red.

Now add cooked vegetables to onions fry them for a while.

Add garam masala powder , coriander powder and fry for a while . Now add coconut powder , poppy powder , salt and turmeric mix them well . Add the curd softening it with some water . Cook for five minutes in a low flame . It can be served with rice or chapathi or poori which ever is feasible.

DUM ALOO

Aloo can be cooked in many forms and I challenge no other vegetable brings so much taste how ever cooked . Dum Aloo is very tasty and its not too spicy either.

DUM ALOO

INGREDIENTS

Aloo - 2 - 3 nos

Coconut powder - 2 cups

Curd - 2 cups

Greenchillies - 10 nos

Poppy seeds - 1/2 cup

Onions - 2 nos

Turmeric - pinch of it

Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp each

Salt - 2 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Peel off potatoes and make big pieces and microwave them for about 10 min.Parallely chop onions into small pieces. Keep the green chillies as it is along with the stem. Grind poppy seeds into soft powder .

In 2 tbsp of oil fry the potatoes to golden red . Add little salt and set aside.

Remove the potato pices with out oil and in the same oil add ginger garlic paste and fry till red. Now add chopped onions and green chillies . Fry them till red .

Add coconut powder , poppy seeds powder and fry for a while. Now beat the curds into fine paste adding water . Add the softend curds to the onions to make a fine gravy . Add salt , turmeric powder and cook till the green chillies are cooked properly . Use a lid to cook fast .

Once the gravy is all cooked well , add the fried potatoes and cook for about 10 min on a low flame . Its must now be ready to serve with rice , chapathi or poori ....

VERMICELLI PAYASAM

VERMICELLI PAYASAM

Ingredients : milk 2 l
cardamom 8 nos
sugar 7 - 8 cups
vermicelli 1/2 kg
ghee 2 tbsp cashews and raisins for topping




PREPARATION :

Fry the cashews and raisins and set aside. Now fry the vermicelli into golden brown with limited ghee if required it can be added slowly . Set aside. Boil milk and slowly add sugar till it dissolves u can also chose low fat milk if u wish. then add cardamom powder to it and slowly add the vermicelli fried . Simmer and Cook till it is soft. If not fried properly vermicelli may be sticky so check it properly when u fry . It may take 10 minutes to cook . Now add the toppings which we set aside and our payasam is ready..... My kids love it ..... My daughter says mom it is yummy !!! And i feel i have acheived some thing .. Lots of happiness hidden in the small things we do which really matter a lot....

CURD RAITHA

INGREDIENTS

Kheera - 1
Tomato - 1
Onion - 1
Curd - 3 cups
salt - 1 tsp
Oil to season, 1/2tsp mustard seeds , cumin seeds and urad dal each along with curry leaves and red chillies.

PREPARATION

Take kheera , tomato and onion and chop into small pieces into a big bowl.. Add curds and salt well mixed and made into a smooth paste with water . Now season with mustard seeds , cumin seeds and urad dal , curry leaves and red chillies . It can be a side dish to pulav and u may like it with rice and chapathi too...

PULAV

INGREDIENTS :

Cinnamon sticks - 2-3
Cardamom- 5 - 6
Cloves 7 - 8
Shahjeera - 1/2 tsp
All other pulav masale - 1 tsp
Pulav masala powder 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp each
Vegetables - peas , beans , carrot - 3 cups
Basmathi rice - 7 cups
Salt - 3 tbsp
Oil for cooking - 4 tbsp



PREPARATION:

Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, shahjeera and other pulav masale which u get and then add ginger garlic paste and fry till golden . Now add vegetables and fry for a while. Add salt and washed basmathi rice to it along with pulav masala powder and fry for 5 min. Then transfer the contents into rice cooker and add water stir and cook. It takes around 40 min to cook . Transfer the cooked pulav into a container and decorate with coriander....

VADA WITH SPROUTED CHANA

VADA

Vada made with chana dal is very tasty . I tried to make the same with sprouted chana .

INGREDIENTS

Sprouted chana - 1/2 kg

Onions - 3 nos

Green Chillies - 7- 8 nos

Salt - 1 tbsp

Mirchi powder - 1 tbsp

Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tbsp each

Garam masala - 1 tbsp

Rice Flour - 1 cup

PREPARATION

Grind the sprouts and add chillipowder , salt , turmeric powder , garam masala powder , chopped onions, chopped green chillies , ginger garlic paste , rice flour and mix well.

Mix all the ingredients . Add coriander and curry leaves .

Heat oil in a pan . Make small bajji's and leave them in hot oil .

Repeat the process and serve the vada hot with any chutney ...

TOMATO RICE

TOMATO RICE

INGREDIENTS

Tomatoes - 6 nos

Onions - 2 nos

Chillies - 6 - 7 nos

Cloves - 4 nos

Bay leaves - 2 nos

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp each

Salt - 2 tbsp

Curry leaves - 1/2 bunch

Cardamom - 2 nos

Garam masala - 1 tbsp

Basmathi rice - 3 cups

Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cut tomatoes , onions and greenchillies length wise . Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan . Add bay leaves , cloves , cardmom , fry them and add ginger garlic paste fry till golden brown .

Then add sliced onions and green chillies and fry till golden brown . Add tomatoes and fry them adding salt , chilli powder , garam masala , curry leaves . Simmer and leave for a while . Wash the rice and add it to the tomatoes .

Cook in a rice cooker . Serve hot with curds...

PALLI PODI

PALLI PODI

INGREDIENTS

Groundnuts - 3 cups

Garlic pods - 3 -4

Mirchi powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - 2 tsp

Turmeric - a pinch

PREPARATION

Roast groundnuts till reddish brown . Add garlic pods and roast for a while . Now add mirchi powder , salt , turmeric and put off the flame . Once they cool down grind it into soft powder .

MYSORE BAJJI

Mysore Bajji is my favourite food. My dad used to get it for me from Sudha Hotel which was famous for those every time he used to visit my place. Dont know why but I craved for it ... When I was in Banglore I had no other option but to prepare it . So one fine day I tried and they came out very well in my first attempt itself.

INGREDIENTS

Maida - 4 cups

Sour Curd - 2 cups

Coconut pieces - 10 - 15 nos

Oil - for frying

Salt - 2 tsp

Baking Soda - a pinch

Pepper - 10 nos

Green chillies - 4 - 5 nos

PREPARATION

Mix Maida to Sour curd adding salt , baking soda and make a fine batter and leave it to set over night.

The next day when you want to prepare the bajji's add coconut pieces , pepper and green chillies to the batter . Heat oil in a pan . Wet hand and take batter roll into a ball . Once the oil is hot leave the balls in the oil . Fry them well till golden brown in a low flame .

Remove from flame and serve hot with any chutney .

FRIED RICE WITH PUDINA

Fried rice made with pudina tastes really good and is easy to digest too. My sis loves it a lot and so do my kids. It is not very spicy and can be enjoyed by one and all.





INGREDIENTS


Vegetable - 2 cups
Oil - 3 tbsp
Onions - 2 nos
Chillies - 4 nos
Ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Pudina - 1 bunch
Cardmom - 6 nos
Cinnamon - 2 sticks
Cloves - 8 nos
Bay leaves - 2 nos
Basmathi Rice - 4 cups
Water - 7 - 8 cups
Salt - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION


Cut the vegetables and wash them and keep aside.

Cut pudina leaves and grind them into a smooth paste. Cut onions and chillies length wise .In a pan heat oil and add bay leaves , cloves , cardmom , cinnamon , ginger garlic paste. Add pudina paste and fry till it leaves water . Add onions and chillies fry till golden and add vegetables and fry for a while ..

Add salt and rice and saute for a while.Transfer the contents into a rice cooker and add water . Once cooked serve with raitha .

GULAB JAMUN

A very simple and most sought after dessert .

INGREDIENTS

MTR Gulab Jamun Mix - 1 pack

Cardamom - 6- 7

Sugar - 750 gms

Water - 750 ml

Ghee - for frying Jamuns

PREPARATION

Sugar Syrup

Take a pan and heat it then add 750 ml water and after heating it add sugar and cardamom powder and mix well till all the sugar melts.

Add little food colour make a nice syrup simmer and put off the flame.

Parallely mix the MTR Gulab Jamun mix with 1/4 of the water beat it well and leave it for 10 min. Its easy to make the jamun balls now. Roll them into small circular balls..

Heat ghee in a pan and fry the balls till golden brown. Transfer the fried balls into the sugar syrup . The Jamuns absorb the syrup and tend to become large . It takes atleast two hrs for them to set . So once they are prepared leave them to set and refrigerate and serve.

ALOO AND TOMATO CURRY

Aloo is most sought after curry in any form made brings lots of taste and gets along as a good combination no matter what the food is ?? Rice or Chapathi or Poori anything it is simply the best vegetable rich in cardohydrate.

INGREDIENTS

Aloo - 1/2 kg

Onions - 3- 4 nos medium sized

Tomato Puree - 1 tin full of it

Salt - 2 tsp

Redchilli powder - 2 tbsp

Green chillies - 5 nos

Coriander - 1/2 bunch

Curry leaves - as desired

Mustard - 1 tbsp

Jeera - 1 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Turmeric - a pinch of it

PREPARATION

Cut aloo and onions into pieces . Microwave them for about 12 min . Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and jeera seeds once they pop up add green chillies , curry leaves and fry for a second.Add Tomato puree and fry for 2min . Now add aloo and onions cooked in the microwave to it. Add turmeric powder , salt , red chilli powder and cook mixing well for about 5 min simmer the flame and in the end add coriander leaves and put off the flame.

POORI

Poori a most sought after food by every one at any time .


INGREDIENTS

Wheat Atta - 4 cups

Soya powder - 2 cups

Salt - 2 tsp

Water - to mix the dough

Oil - for deep frying

PREPARATION

Mix wheat atta , soya powder , salt adding enough quantity of water .

Make small ball of atta roll into a small rounds and roll them into small circular rolls as shown below.

Heat oil in a pan and leave the circular rolls into the hot oil and fry the poori's till red as per desire.

Repeat the process and serve them hot with Aloo and Tomato Curry ...

NIMMAKAI KARAM // LEMON CHUTNEY

Nimmakai Karam would definitely bring loads of taste to tongue. Especially when we are fed up of our regular food . It is definitely spicy but brings lot of taste .

INGREDIENTS

Lemon - 10 nos any size.

Mustard - 2 tbsp

Fenugreek - 1 1/2 tbsp

Redchillies - hand full of them

Asfoetida - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tbsp

Turmeric - a pinch

Oil - 2 tbsp

Ginger - 1 tsp

Garlic - 3 pods

Salt - 3 tbsp

Red Chilli powder - as required in the end

PREPARATION

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds once they pop up add fenugreek seeds once they are fried into red add urad dal and chana dal . Fry them to red and add red chillies add asfoetida and ginger pieces and garlic pods . Put off the flame and allow it to cool . Cut the lemon into two pieces and remove juice from it . Repeat the process and cut all the lemon in the same way and take only the juice . Add salt to it and set aside. Grind all the ingredients fried into fine powder. Add this powder to the juice and mix it properly . If you feel the juice is more and it is sour add a red chilli powder and salt in equal ratio so as to supress the sourness. It depends on the juice so the recipe is base . Using this base you need to taste and add the required red chilli powder and salt depending on the need.

PERUGANNAM OR DADDOJANAM

Daddojanam and Pulihora are like sisters if they are made together and the combination is awesome . It is believed that Goddess Saraswathi loves Daddojanam .




INGREDIENTS

Rice- 4 cups
Curd - 8 cups
Milk - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chana dal - 1tbsp
Pepper - 1 tbsp
Ginger - 2 tbsp Salt - 2 tbsp
Green chillies - 10 nos
Red chillies - 4 nos
Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp
Water - 8 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - hand full of them
Salt - 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cook rice in a rice cooker . Parallely heat 2tbsp of oil and add mustard seeds once they pop up add ural dal , chana dal , pepper green chilli pieces , red chillies , pepper balls , sliced ginger pieces and fry till all the ingredients are well fried and the add cashews and fry till they are red.
Add curry leaves and set a side. Transfer the cooked rice into a container andsmash it to make it soft while cooling it . Rice tends to absorb curds so curd must be added in excess . Milk will not allow it tirn sour so do not forget to add milk .Add curds to the rice and mix well then add milk and salt and mix thoroughly . Transfer the contents fried in oil into the rice and mix well . It can be served along with pulihora or any pickle . Milk and Curd can be added more in quantity if desired ....

PULIHORA

A very common rice item made for almost every festival of the people of Andhra. Easy to prepare and also tasty of course.

INGREDIENTS

Rice - 4 - 6 cups

Turmeric - 1tsp

Tamarind Puree - 2 tbsp

Oil - 6 tbsp

Salt - 3 tbsp

Asfoetida (hing ) - 1/2 tbsp

Redchillies - a hand full of them

Urad dal - 2 tbsp

Chana dal - 2 tbsp

Mustard - 1 tbsp

Ground nuts - 1 cup

Greenchillies - 25 nos

Curry leaves - 1 small bunch

Water - 10 - 12 cups

PREPARATION

Cook rice in a rice cooker with sufficient quantity of water .Parallely heat 3tbsp oil in a pan and add mustard seeds once they pop add urad dal , chana dal and fry them till red and add asfoetida to it and saute for a while. Then add groundnuts and fry till red . Add red chillies and curry leaves and green chillies let the flame be on medium once the chillies are all fried well simmer and put off the flame.

Once the rice is cooked transfer into a vessel which you can mix the rice freely and allow rice to cool. Then add 1 tsp of turmeric to it and 3tbsp of oil and mix well till rice turns yellow and there are no pellets of rice anywhere. Now add tamarind puree and mix properly in such a way that it adheres to all the rice . Add salt and mix well . Transfer the contents in the pan and mix so as to distribute the ingredients all over the rice. It tastes good served hot or cold whatever. It is believed that it tastes really good on the next day too and doesnt get spolied if stored in hygenic condition.

PERU GARELU OR DAHI VADA

We had seen how to prepare garelu . We jus need to dip them in curd and allow it to set and absorn curd .

INGREDIENTS

Urad dal - 3 cups

Curd - 6 - 8 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

Mustard - 1 /2 tsp

Jeera - 1/2 tbsp

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 4 - 5 nos

Oil for deep frying and seasoning

Curry leaves - 4 -5 nos

Red chillies - 3 nos

PREPARATION

Make garelu as told in the earlier post . Now take curd beat it properly into fine liquid with salt added to it. Add water to break the thickness. Season it with mustard , jeera , urad dal and green chillies , red chillies as well as curry leaves.In a vessel of water dip the gare / vada for a second and put it in the curds. After repeating the process leave it to set. It takes an hour to set . The hot gare taken out of oil must be dipped in water to get a soft dahi vada or perugu gare . It should be delicious..

BENDAKAI PULUSU

Pulusu is a famous item which can be made with ease with some vegetables . For bendakai pulusu we require bendakai and onions.

INGREDIENTS

Bendakai / bhendi - 1/4 kg

Onions - 2 nos

Besan - 1 tbsp

Water - 5 cups

Tamarind paste - 1tbsp

Salt - 2 tsp

Redchilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric - pinch of it

Asfoetida - pinch of it

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 6 leaves

PREPARATION

Cut bhendi into small pieces also the onions.

Take a pan and heat oil and add mustard , jeera and fenugreek seeds with asfoetida ( hing )till they sizzle and add curry leaves , bhendi pieces and onion slices and fry for some time.Keep a lid and let the vegetables get soft .Then add salt , turmeric and red chilli powder and fry for a minute .

Now take 5 cups of water and add tamarind puree to it mix it well and add to the bhendi and onion fried in the pan.

Boil the pulusu for some time in a high flame . Once u test the bhendi pieces and onions are cooked , simmer and add 1 tbsp of besan in a 4 tbsp of water making it into fine paste stirring well. Add a small piece of jaggery if desired . And decorate with coriander. Ready to serve hot with rice.

GARELU

GARELU as some one great said vinte bharatam vinali tinte neti garelu tinali . That meant if one has to listen to an epic it should be Mahabharata and if one has to eat garelu made of ghee. Now adays we rarely find people crave for food to that extent but since we have certain traditions which make us cook all the traditional food . We make some varities of food during festivals and garelu is definitely one of them .






INGREDIENTS


Urad dal - 4 cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Oil - frying

PREPARATION

Soak four cups of urad dal in enough quantity of water for about 6 - 7 hours . Prefarably soak it early in the morning so that it can be made in the last after cooking all the items. Drain it .

Grind the urad dal into fine batter adding water little by little in small quantities.

Take small quantity of water in a vessel . Heat oil for frying , once it is hot enough , dip ur hand in water and take a small amount of batter and roll it as a ball spread it on your fingers in the form of a gare and leave it in hot oil . Let it fry till red . Repeat the process till the batter is all done. Can be served with allam chutney .

PURNAM BOORELU

POORNAM BOORELU / Boorelu is one of the main sweet which is offered to God in any pooja performed . Though it is a bit difficult to make them it is worth it as the result would be great.

INGREDIENTS

Urad dal - 3 cups

Chana dal - 3 cups

Jaggery - 3 cups

Rice - 1 cup

Cardamom - 6 nos

Oil - for frying

PREPARATION

Soak urad dal and rice together the previous night if we were to prepare them today . Early the next day morning grind it into fine batter addding water and add little salt and set a side. Parallely in a cooker cook chana dal with water . Once it is cooked strain away extra water . Cool it . Take a pan and transfer the chanadal and add powdered jaggery to it along with cardamom powder and keep mixing it till it comes closer as a thick mass.Allow it to cool once you confirm the jaggery is completly mixed with the dal and is seen as a thick mass. Now make small balls with the jaggery chana dal mix which we call poornam . Heat oil in a fry pan so as to deep fry the poornam dipped in the urad dal and rice batter . Now take one small ball of poornam approximately of the size of a small lemon and dip it in the batter . Note that the batter is hard enough to adhere to the poornam . If it is watery the poornam will come out of the batter and spoil the oil . For the proportions mentioned here poornam adheres to batter so keep a close note of it . Carefully leave the poornam properly dipped in the batter into the hot oil. Fry till the balls are well fried into red colour . Poornam boorelu now all set to be served as offering . Generally a small hole is made in the center of the pooram boore and little melted ghee is poured in it which makes it more delicious...

ANNAM PARAVANNAM

Annam paravannam as I hear the very name I remember the good olden days when my mother used to prepare it every friday as naivedyam for her favourite Goddess. But eventually I began preparing it for every auspicious day. As we know Radhasaptami a very auspicious day on which we boil milk and prepare paravannam and eat it in chikkudu leaves a traditional custom after offering it to SUN GOD.

Beyond all this we have a custom of making it on GURNADHA PONGALI which is performed on the day after the marriage .

RECIPE

Rice - 2 cups

Milk - 1/2 lit

Jaggery - 2 cups

Cardamom - 6 nos

Ghee - 1 tsp

Water - 2 cups

Nuts - decorate

PREPARATION

Boil the milk in a vessel at medium heat and add rice and cook till rice is soft . Cook till the rice is cooked well adding water when ever the milk boils more . Add powdered cardamom and once finally rice is cooked put off the flame . Add ghee and jaggery mix well and leave it till the jaggery melts and decorate with fried cashews and dry grapes. Ready to offer as naivedyam .

STUFFED KARELA

Karela or kakarkai or bitter gourd is my favourite vegetable. I love it in which ever form it is cooked . I generally make stuffed karela . My mom used to fry it for me every other day when I was in India whenever I was in my mothers place . In my mother in laws place we used to make it on our disposal ....

STUFFED KARELA // STUFFED BITTER GOURD

Karela - 6 - 8 nos

Onion - 2 nos medium sized

Salt- 1 tbsp

Mirchi - 2 tbsp

Turmeric- a pinch

Jeera - 1 tsp

Tamarind puree - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cut karela or bitter gourd into two pieces and cut in the center length wise.

Take onions and cut them into small pieces and add salt , mirchi powder ,tamarind puree , jeera and turmeric powder .

Grind it fine paste or coarse as desired.

Stuff the karela with the onion puree .

Now cook them in microwave for about 18 minutes. Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a pan add jeera and fry the stuffed karela for 10 minutes. Stuffed karela is now ready to serve. Best with rice..

Serving size

4 persons

SUNNUNDALU

SUNNUNDALU

INGREDIENTS

Urad dal - 4 cups

Sugar - 4 cups

Ghee - 6 - 8 tbsp

PREPARATION

Roast the four cups of urad dal in a medium flame and cool it and grind it into fine powder it can be course need not be too soft .

Heat 6 - 8 tbsp of ghee and keep aside. Take the powdered urad dal add sugar and mix well .

Now pour ghee all over the powder sparingly and slowly make round balls mixing the ghee and the powder . Do not apply too much pressure on the balls . Just take enough powder with ghee and make a ball and then roll it in perfect shape . As you do it you will find it easy in making the round balls.

ONION PAKORA

It was raining very heavily which reminded me of the good olden days when my mother used to prepare onion pakora . That very thought made me work towards it.

INGREDIENTS

Onions - 4 -5 medium sized

Besan - 6 - 8 tbsp

Green chillies - 3- 4 nos

salt - 1 tsp

Mirchi powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric - a pinch

oil - 1/2 l

Spices - grounded dalchini , cloves

water - 1 cup

ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp each

PREPARATION

Chop onions into fine slices . Cut green chillies into small pieces. In a vessel take these chopped onions , green chillies, and add besan, salt , turmeric, chilli powder, grounded spices, ginger garlic paste and mix well with a cup of water .Besan should be minimum to be able to bind the sliced onions . The besan mix should be not be too hard nor too soft. Heat the oil in a pan . Once it is hot put the besan mix in small quantities spreading it properly . It should not be rolled into a ball . Once they are a little fried simmer and fry till they are red and remove.Repeat the process till all the besan mix is done.

Serve hot with ketchup . It should be de ..li ...ci ...ou... so...

GONGURA CHUTNEY

Gongura Chutney






INGREDIENTS
Gongura - separated leaves from steps equal to 500gms
Redchillies - a hand full big sized
Mustard seeds - 11/2 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Chanadal - 1 tbsp
Garlic pods - 5 /6 nos
Oil - 4 tbsp



PREPARATION

Heat 1tbsp oil in apan and add mustard seeds , fenugreek seeds , urad dal , and chana dal till red and add redchillies and garlic pods and fry till the chillies are fried properly . Fry gongura in 2 tbsp oil till it changes colour . Indication is that the leaves turn colour.

Grind the fried mustard seeds , fenugreek seeds , urad dal , chanadal along with red chillies into fine powder . Add garlic pods and grind once again . Now add fried gongura little by little and grind till the leaves become a fine paste. Transfer the contents into a storage and now heat one tbsp oil and add mustard seeds , red chillies and sliced garlic pieces fry them and season the chutney .

AND AGAIN WE REMEMBER SWEET CHAPATHI'S ( BOBBATLU)

Ever since his childhood my son has been fond of these so called sweet chapathi's or bobbatlu.His granny used to buy him those whenever he asked for as they were always available at Swagruha foods in hyderabad. Now this time when he asked me he wanted to eat I had no other option but to prepare them. This was the first time i ever attempted to prepare the tough ones.



BOBBATLU

INGREDIENTS

Chana Dal - 4 cups

Jaggery - 4 cups

Cardamom - 6 nos

Maida - 400 gms

Salt - 1 tsp

Oil - for roasting the bobbatlu

Water - for making maida dough

Coconut powder - 1/2 cup

PREPARATION

Cook chana dal in a cooker . Strain away extra water if any and grind it along with jaggery powder. Now add powdered cardamom to it . The paste must be semi solid kind . Note that it is not made too soft so be cautious. Mix coconut powder and make small balls of the size of a lemon and set them aside. Take maida add the salt and knead it into dough pouring water sparingly . Just as we make chapathi dough. Apply little oil if you have difficulty in kneading it . Now make small balls roughly about the size of a small lemon and set aside. Take one ball and apply maida and roll it into a small chapathi and put the sweet ball into it and fold the corners of the dough onto the ball apply oil and start making it in the form of a chapathi with your hand see that the sweet is uniformly distributed all around the sides . The dough will break off so be careful while making the chapathi . You need to apply enough oil so as to avoid the splitting . Heat the tawa or pan and heat the chapathi . Add oil inorder to make it red . Heat it on both the sides and make sure it is cooked red . Its ready to serve along with ghee applied on it with milk . Best tasted that way ... If not you can have it with out milk too.

At last they came out well and my son had relished it ... Now he has a wish again and I need a break .........

ZEERA RICE

ZEERA RICE






This is my sisi 's favorite item . Eversince I started cooking as it is not that spicy and is tolerant without much mirchi in it. I am sure people who dont eat much of mirchi and spicy food are sure to love it ....
Here it goes.....

INGREDIENTS
Shahjeera or black jeera - 4 tbsp
Onions - 4 - 5 big in size
Ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Oil / ghee - 2tbsp
Basmathi rice / plain rice - 4 - 6 cups (cup size - 160 g )
Salt - 2 tbsp
Water - 8-10 cups


SERVING SIZE
FOR 8 People

RECIPE

Take about 2 tbsp of shah jeera and roast it and grind it to powder and set aside . Now wash basmathi rice and soak it in water and leave it aside. Finely chop onions lengthwise. Take a pan and add 2 tbsp of ghee / oil to it on a medium flame heat it for a while and add ginger and garlic paste to it and fry till golden and now add the left over shah jeera (2 tbsp) and allow it to fry well . Add onions and as usual fry them till red. Now add Basmathi rice strained of water and mix for a while adding 2 tbsp of salt to it. Simmer the flame and leave for 5 min.Now transfer the contents into the microwave and add water about 8 - 10cups . It takes 20 minutes to cook . Transfer the cooked Zeera rice into a serving dish and add the grounded shahjeera powder to it .

If desired decorate with fried nuts ....

TOMATO CHUTNEY

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients :

Plum Tomatoes - 15 nos

Coriander - 1/2 bunch

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 4 pods

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chana dal -1 tbsp

Red chillies - 4 - 5 nos

Green chillies - 4 - 5 nos

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Fenu greek seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Green chillies - 4 - 5 nos

Salt - 1 1/2 tbsp

Heat 1 tbsp oil and add mustard seeds , fenugreek seeds fry till golden then add urad dal , chana dal ,coriander seeds , red chillies , garlic pods and salt and fry till golden brown . And set a side to cool. Once they are cool , grind them into soft powder.Cut the tomatoes in to pieces .Now take the left over oil and heat it in a pan for a while . Add the tomatoes and grren chillies and cook till they are soft. Cool it and add it to the grounded powder and grind for a min . Transfer into container and decorate with coriander . Season it if you wish . It is other wise ready to be served. Desired serving with rice or idli or dosa...

SOUTH INDIAN SAMBAR

Sambar is a very important food item with out which the feast is not complete.....


Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 3 - 4 cups
Bottle gourd - 1 cup
Tomato - 1
Onion - 1
Curry leaves - as per wish
Coconut powder - 2 tbsp
Sambar Powder - 3 tbsp
Coriander Powder - 1tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
asfoetida - 1 tsp
Tamarind paste - 2 tbsp
Garlic - 2 pods
Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Mustard seeds, cumin seeds , methi seeds- 1tsp each
Red chillies - 4-5 no
Water- 1/2 l
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Salt- 3 tbsp
Coriander - 1/2 bunch

Preparation

Cook toor dal pouring enough water in a pressure cooker along with the vegetables.
In a pan put oil and heat it. Add mustard seeds , cumin seeds and methi till they are burst and add asfoetida to it . Then add garlic paste and fry for some time along with garlic pieces. Once they are red add red chillies too .Here the flame should be moderate not too low nor too high. Then add the cooked vegetables and cook for a while. Now take the tamarind paste and mix it in about 1/2 l water . Add this to the vegetables. and increase the flame and bring it to boil. Simmer the flame.Now add sambar powder and coriander powder and bring it 2 boil increasing the flame. Add salt , turmeric powder , curry leaves and dry coconut powder. Now lower the flame and add dal well mashed made into a nice paste .
Mix well leave it in high flame for a few seconds. Now lower the flame and leave it for about 10 to 15 min. Now add coriander and curry leaves to serve with rice or idli as desired...
Serving size is for 20 people . So reduce the ingredients as per the requirement.

MASALA BAINGAN

Baingan / Brinjal / Vankai as we all know supposed to be a special vegetable which is used my most of the Indians . U rarely find some one doesnt like it either....

Baingan masala

Ingredients :
Brinjal - 20 in number
Chana dal - 3 tbsp
Urad dal - 3 tbsp
gingelly seeds - 3 tbsp
coriander seeds - 4 tbsp
ginger garlic paste -2tbsp each
ginger - 6 pieces must be same as garlic
garlic - 6 cloves
dry coconut powder - 1/2 cup
garam masala - 2 tbsp
corriander - to decorate
onions - 3 big
chillies - 10
red chilli powder - 3 tbsp
oil - 5tbsp
cumin seeds - 2 tbsp
salt - 2tbsp

Roast chana dal,urad dal ,gingelly seeds, coriander seeds,ginger garlic pieces,coconut powder,garam masala ,cumin seeds and salt in little oil.grind it into powder and then add water and grind it in to paste .Make sure that it is soft .Set aside.

Take a pan add little oil heat it and add jeera till it is fried golden brown.Add the ginger garlic patse and fry till golden.Add onions sliced into small pieces and green chillies and fry them till golden . Add brinjal cut in the center along with the stem to the oil and add salt . Keep a lid on the pan and keep checking till they are soft. Now add the paste to the brinjals and cook for 10 minutes. Now decorate with coriander . Serve with pulav or plain rice or chapathi or puri .... It should be tasty...

AND THE COUNT DOWN BEGAN....

We wanted to invite a couple of his friends for dinner and it has been two months that it was jus postponing and finally the day had come and i had to be all set for the perfect dinner which i had been looking for..... It being thursday it looked as if BABA had given me a chance to serve ...So keeping him in heart i planned up .. a menu which included Pulav , Vankai masala , dondakai fry ,sambar, tomato chutney ,payasam ,rice n last but not the least double ka meetha...
I started off at 9.30 in the morning as a chef ...My first item was DOUBLE KA MEETHA


Ingredients :

Aloaf of bread
cardamom 6 pieces
sugar 6 - 7 cups
water 8-9 cups
Ghee
food colour a pinch of it
milk about 3/4 cup
raisins and cashews for topping .


Take water and put it on the stove. Add sugar stirring continuosly till all the sugar is dissolved. Add the powder of the grounded cardamom simmer it .


Parallely , take the bread slices and cut the brown part of it on the four sides into a square and make two triangular pieces of it. In this way make sure u cut all the loaf and keep it a side.

Since many of us r calorie specific its upto our choice as to whether we want to fry the bread slices or just apply ghee and roast them. So keeping that in mind i took a pan and applied ghee on both the sides of the slice and roasted them. Now set them aside and by now the sugar syrup wud have thickened as required , if u dont like it to be thick dilute it but it gives the same taste.Take a little milk and add food colour to it . mind that the milk needs 2 be fresh no need 2 boil it , 3table spoons of it shud be fine to mix it up.Take 3/4 cup of milk and add the coloured milk to it and then mix it to the syrup and pour it sparingly all over the slices .see that the syrup is not in excess . Now finely chop cashews and along with raisins using little ghee fry them and use as topping .. Can be served hot or cold depending on the choice.