Chilagada Dumpa-Mirapakaya Pulusu (Sweet potato sour stew with Jalopeno Peppers)

Here is one more dish, which I am trying it for the first time. As I am not really a fan of sweet potato, I don’t cook it often. I had leftover sweet potato, which we got for our friend’s daughter, Rishika’s baby food. In order not to waste it, I wanted to prepare something with the root. I was browsing for some of its recipes and also its nutritional values and found some really interesting stuff in the internet. Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B_6.  I used some Jalopeno peppers along with the sweet potato in the dish to make it little more spicier. After tasting it, I was totally surprised by its taste. Just loved it !!!

Ingredients:

Sweet potato – 1/2 large

Jalopenos – 6-7

Onion – 1 large

Tomato – 1 large

Green chillies – 3 to 4

Tamarind pulp – 3 tbsp

Chilli powder – 2 Tsp

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 strands

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Oil – 2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Wash and peel the sweet potato and cut it into 1 inch cubes and keep aside. Cut the jalopeno peppers into bite size pieces. Soak the tamarind and squeeze out the pulp. Now heat oil in a saucepan and once it is hot, add the cumin & mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, now add the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and fry for few seconds and now add the onions  and green chillies, cut lengthwise and let them fry till the onions are transparent. Add the sweet potato cubes and sauté for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Now add the tomato puree (I have blanched the tomatoes in water for 5 min, peeled them and pureed them so as to have a thick sauce or else the regular canned tomato puree can be used). Add the turmeric, chilli powder, Jalopeno peppers, salt and the tamarind pulp and little water and close the lid and let it cook on  a low flame till the oil oozes out of the sauce. To have an extra flavour, add some fresh curry leaves and close the lid and cook for 5 more min. so that the all the flavours are absorbed by the sweet potatoes. Add some sesame powder at this point to the pulusu to give it a very nice added flavour and thick consistency for the sauce. Serve hot with rice and some chips or rice fritters.

Aloo Matar/ Potato-Green Peas Curry

Here is one more delicious dish, which is easy to prepare.This can be prepared easily for any number of people and it goes well with Chapathi/Roti, Parathas, and also as a side dish for plain rice .

Ingredients:

Potatoes – 4 medium
Onions -1 large (Chopped finely)
Tomatoes - 2 medium( Chopped finely)

Green chillies – 4

Ginger & Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Red Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Oil -  2-3 tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – ½ tsp
Green peas – ½ cup

Chopped Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp

Preparation:

Wash, peel and cut the potatoes into one inch cubes and boil them till the y are cooked but still crunchy (not too soft) .

Remove  them from hot water and let them cool.

If you are using Fresh Green peas, then soak them for 2 hrs and cook them for atleast 1 or 2 whistles in a pressure cooker till done. If  you are using forzen or cooked peas, you can use them directly.

In a pan, add oil, then add the cumin seeds,  chopped green chillies, onions and fry till golden brown.

Add the ginger-garlic paste & turmeric powder and fry till the  raw flavor  is gone.

Then add the tomatoes and fry till they are cooked and mushy.

Add in the  chilly powder, coriander powder and salt and fry well

Then add the cooked potatoes to the pan and mix well together

Sprinkle or add very little water and mix carefully so that the potatoes are not mashed.

Cook for few mins and add the green peas. Mix well and cook for about 5 min. on low heat.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or rice. Bon Appetite!!!

Sorakaya Paalu Koora (Bottle gourd/ Doodhi in a spicy milk sauce)

This is one of the most common andhra style dish prepared with bottle gourd. Milk enhances the already mild flavour of Bottle gourd in this recipe. Bottle gourd is believed to have the natural tendency to cool the body.

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd – 1 medium

Onion – 1 large

Green chillies -4

Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Tomato – 1 medium

Curry leaves – 2 strands

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Dhania powder – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Milk – ¾  cup

Oil – 2 tsp

Preparation:

Wash, peel and cut the gourd into bite size pieces. Finely chop the onions and keep aside.

Heat oil in a skillet, add the mustard and cumin seeds, fry till they cracke and add the green chillies, curry leaves and onions and fry till the onion turns transparent.

Add the turmeric powder, stir and add the gourd pieces, mix and cook closed on a medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the diced tomato, dhania, chilli powders and salt and mix well.

Close the lid and cook till the gourd pieces are cooked completely. Add very little if required.

Now add the milk and stir and cook closed for another 5 min.

Serve hot with roti or rice.

Ridge Gourd Curry (Beerakaya Koora)

Ingredients:

Ridge gourd – 3 medium

Onion – 1 medium

Green chillies – 2

Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Red chillies – 3

Dhania powder – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Curry leaves – 2 strands

Salt to taste

Oil – 2 tsp

Ingredients:

Wash, peel and cut the ridge gourd into bite size pieces.

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard and cumin seeds till the mustard seeds start to crackle and add the diced onions and fry till transparent.

Add the red and green chillies, curry leaves and fry for a minute.

Add the turmeric powder and mix.

Add the ridge gourd pieces, mix and cook on a medium heat closed for 5 min.

Add the dhania powder, chilli powder and salt to the curry and mix till the pieces are coated by the masalas.

Add about ¼ cup of water, mix and cook closed for 5 minutes or till the ridge gourd pieces are completely cooked.

Serve hot with rice or roti.

Andhra Chicken Curry

There are some dishes which we never feel bored of cooking and enjoying, one such dish is this popular recipe, the basic chicken curry. The aromas and flavors of the added spices are a delight to the senses! I cook different varieties of chicken and this is the one I prepare most often. This is my mom’s recipe and I am very glad to share it with you…

Ingredients:

Chicken – 1 kg

Onions – 1 large

Green chillies – 4

Ginger garlic paste – 1 ½ tbsp

Tomato – 1 medium

Grated coconut – 2 tbsp

Dhania Powder – 2 tbsp

Chilli powder – 1 tbsp

Garam masala powder – ¼ tbsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tbsp

Salt to taste

Cloves – 3

Cardamom – 3

Cinnamon – 1” stick

Oil – 2 tbsp

Curry leaves – 2 strands

Juice of ½ lemon

Coriander leaves

Preparation:

Wash and cut the chicken into desired size pieces and marinade the chicken.

For marination, add ½ of the ginger garlic paste, dhania powder, chilli powder and enough salt and lemon juice and mix well and keep aside for half an hour.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the whole garam masala and fry for about 30 sec . and add finely chopped onions and slit green chillies and fry till onions turn transparent.

Add turmeric and remaining ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell of ginger goes.

Add finely chopped tomatoes and the remaining masalas, coconut and fry till the oil oozes out of the gravy.

Add the marinated chicken pieces and mix till all the chicken pieces are coveres with the masala and fry closed on a medium heat with occassional stirring.

Add curry leaves and very little water and cook the chicken closed till done.

Add the garam masala powder, stir and adjust seasoning if needed. Add the chopped coriander leaves, stir and turn off the heat.

Serve hot with rice or roti.

Stuffed Dondakaya (Kovakkai / Tindora)

For those who are all fans of stuffed Brinjal (Guthi vankaya), here is one more similar recipe which tastes equally good. Unlike the brinjals, tindora has a crunchy taste which makes it different.

Ingredients:

Tindora (Dondakaya) – ¼ kg

Onion – 1 medium roughly chopped

Green chillies – 3 slit lengthwise

Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds – ¼ tbsp

Urid dal – 1 ½ tbsp

Chana dal – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves

Garlic – 2 to 3 pods finely chopped

Red chillies – 5 to 6 (chilli flakes 1 tbsp)

Dhania powder – 1 tbsp

Tamarind – size of a small lemon (or pulp – ½ tbsp)

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Oil – 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Wash and trim the edges of tindoras and cut them cross wise along their length.
• Now dry roast the cumin seeds, urid dal, chana dal and red chillies till brown and grind them along with onion adding salt and dhania powder.
• Now stuff the tindoras with this paste and keep them aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, garlic and green chillies and fry them till garlic turns brown.
• Now add the stuffed tindora to the pan and close the lid and let them fry for  about 3 min. and turn them and cook again on the other side so that they get fried evenly all the sides. Now add the remaining paste and let it cook till the raw smell of onion is gone.
• Add the turmeric powder, curry leaves and some water and let it cooked closed for about 5 min.
• Now add the extracted tamarind pulp with enough water, adjust the salt and chilli (you can add extra chilli powder if needed) and cook closed for about 5 minutes or till the tindoras are completely cooked.
• Serve hot with rice.

Egg Masala

Ingredients

Eggs – 4

Onion – 1 medium

Ginger- garlic paste – 1tbsp

Tomato – 1 medium

Green chillies – 3

Coriander powder – 1 tbsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Salt – to taste

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Cloves & cardamom – 2 each

Oil – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves

Chopped coriander leaves.

Preparation:

• Boil the eggs, peel and keep them aside
• Now cut the onions and green chillies into small pieces.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds, cloves and cardamom and fry for about half a minute and add the green chilllies and onion and fry till the onions are transparent.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry it till the raw smell goes.
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and fry for a minute.
• Now add the diced tomato and let it cook covered till it becomes mushy.
• Add enough water, salt, stir and let it cook covered for about 2 minutes.
• Now make some cuts on the eggs, so that they absorb the spices in the sauce and add them to the sauce.
• Add curry leaves and chopped coriander leaves, close the lid and let it cook for 3 minutes. My tip at this point is to add 1/8 cup of coconut milk or milk and cook to have a rich colour and thick consistancy.
• Serve hot with rice or roti.

Chema Dumpala pulusu (Taro root/ Arbi in a spicy, tangy sauce)

Pulusu, the spicy and tangy sauce made using tamarind and chilli powder, is a very common preparation in Andhra. Taro root pulusu is something like a delicacy for me. When I was in Aachen, I didn’t prepare this so frequently as compared to now after coming here to Munich. Here we get very nice roots and so I buy them regularly and the good thing is that they stay longer than any other roots and come as a great rescue, when you have to prepare in large quantities for unexpected guests. Well... that’s my personal experience.

Ingredients:

Taro roots or Chema dumpalu – ¼ Kg

Onion – 1 large

Tomato – 1 large

Green chillies – 3 to 4

Tamarind – size of a small amla

Chilli powder – 2 Tsp

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tea spoon

Mustard seeds – 1 tea spoon

Cumin seeds – 1 tee spoon

Curry leaves – 2 strands

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Grated jaggery – 1 tea spoon (optional)

Oil – 2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Preparation:

First boil the taro roots until completely cooked and peel them and keep aside. Soak the tamarind and squeeze out the pulp. Now heat oil in a saucepan and once it is hot, add the cumin & mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, now add the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and fry for few seconds and now add the onions  and green chillies, cut lengthwise and let them fry till the onions are transparent. Now add the tomato puree (I have blanched the tomatoes in water for 5 min, peeled them and pureed them so as to have a thick sauce or else the regular canned tomato puree can be used). Add the turmeric, chilli powder, salt and the tamarind pulp and little water and close the lid and let it cook on  a low flame till the oil oozes out of the sauce. Now add the peeled taro roots and at this point, to have an extra flavour, add some fresh curry leaves and close the lid and cook for 5 more min. so that the roots absorb all the flavours. Now switch off the stove and add the grated jaggery and mix well. This elevates the flavour of the dish. Also, my friend, Lakshmi, who comes from telangana area, adds some sesame powder at this point to the pulusu and it gives a very nice added flavour and thick consistency for the sauce. But today I skipped it as I didn’t have the sesame powder ready with me.

Serve hot with rice and it goes well with Ragi sangati too.

Malai Kofta

Today, I opened the fridge and noticed that I ran out of vegetables except for carrots, a small piece of cabbage and two zuccinis. Then I got the idea to prepare Malai kofta as I already had the paneer. But I noticed that I didn't have cream and so I went to Rewe and bought the cream and started preparing Malai kofta. One more thing is that I prepared this dish for the first time in my life and it came out well for a first timer.

Ingredients:
For the koftas:

1/2 cup grated paneer
1 medium potato boiled and grated
2 medium sized carrots grated
1/2 medim sized zuccini grated (It was my own addition but it is very tasty)
6-7 green chillies cut into small pieces
Corriander leaves
2 Tsp Dhania powder
1 Tsp Jeera powder
Red chilli powder to taste
Salt to taste
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
Oil for deep frying the koftas

For the Malai Sauce:

2  Medium sized Onions
2 Tsp Ginger garlic paste
2 Medium sized Tomatoes
1 Tee spoon Turmeric
2 Tsp Dhania Powder
1 Tsp Cumin Powder
Chilli powder of taste
2 Tsp grated paneer
2 Tsp Cashew nut powder
salt to taste
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 Tsp oil
1/2 Cup fresh cream
corriander leaves

Preparation:
Steam the grated raw vegetables, and put them in a muslin cloth and squeeze the water completely.Heat oil in a pan to fry the koftas. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix grated paneer, potato, cooked vegetables, salt, dhania powder, cumin powder, green chillies, corriander leaves, chilli powder and kneed them into a soft dough. (my dough was too soft and so I added some bread crumbs so that they are not seperated when deep frying). Now roll the dough into small balls and before frying them in oil, dust the kofta balls with the all purpose flour and drop them slowly in the hot oil and fry on a medium heat till golden brown. Now remove them and place them on a paper towel.

To make the sauce, first heat 2 Tsp oil in a wide skillet and add the diced onions and fry till transparent. Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone and add the tomatoes, dhania powder, cumin powder, chilli powder and close the lid for 2 min and let it cook. Now remove the lid, add the grated paneer, salt and cook for 2 more minutes. Now remove this from the stove and let it cool for some time. Once it is cooled, take this in a blender and grind to a smooth paste. Now in another pan, Take 1 Tsp oil and add cumin seeds and then add the blended paste and let it cook for 5 min till the oil in the mixture oozes out. Now add fresh cream, cashew nut powder and let it cool for 2 more minutes. At this point, you can adjust the salt and chilli powder to taste. Now cook the sauce closed for 2 minutes and remove it from the stove. Now add the kofta balls as they are very delicate, mix them very gently and garnish with corriander leaves. serve hot with roti or rice. Today I prepared zuccine rice to have it with.

Mushroom Masala

Mushrooms are a rich source of protein, high in fiber and provide vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, cobalamins, and ascorbic acid.  Mushrooms are also a source of some minerals, including selenium, potassium and phosphorus.

Today I went to Rewe supermarket and then came across these fresh mushrooms. Without a second thought, I bought these and thought of preparing this mushroom masala for dinner before Siva came from Frankfurt after a long journey.  I always prefer fresh mushrooms to the canned ones available in the supermarkets. Usually, back home in India, we never buy cultured mushrooms but we pick them in the fields in the monsoon season. They taste really great and even if I remember now, my mouth waters. Really I miss the real taste of mushrooms!!!

Serves-2

Ingredients:

Fresh Mushrooms- 400gms

Onion- 1 Medium

Green chillies- 4

Tomato- 1 medium

Cumin- 1 Tsp

Mustard seeds- ½ Tsp

Turmeric- a pinch

Dhania Powder- 2 Tsp

Chilli Powder- to taste

Salt – to taste

Oil- 2 Tsp

Curry leaves

Coriander leaves

Preparation:

First cube the onions, slit the green chillies and slice the mushrooms (Don’t wash the mushrooms with water. To clean them, just wipe them with a paper towel). Heat oil in a wide skillet and add the cumin and mustard seeds. One they start spluttering, add the green chillies, onions and curry leaves and fry till the onion becomes transparent. Now add the sliced mushrooms, close the lid and let them simmer in their own water. We do not need to add water to the mushrooms, as they have a lot of water in it. Let them cook for about 5 min and now add the tomatoes, turmeric, dhania powder, chilli powder, mix and close the lid again and let it simmer for 5 more min. I did not add any extra water to the dish and you don’t need to when you have fresh mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are cooked, now add salt to taste, curry leaves and coriander leaves and close the lid and leave it to cook for 2 more minutes. That’s it!!! Mushroom masala is ready to be served with roti or hot rice. Today, we had it roti.