Dhokla

I tried making dhokla many times, but it was always a disaster.never puffed up.I don’t know if I was not using sufficient Eno or what ever.
After I read Anupama’s dhokla I got inspired again and tried it last night. It turned out excellent.Thank you Anupama.

G for guttivankaya koora

1. Brinjals ( egg plants) black round    8 nos

2. Dhaniyaalu                            4 tblsp

3. senagapappu                           2 tblsp

4. Minappappu                            1 tblsp

5. Inguva                                a pinch 

6. Red chillies                          12 nos ( more /less depending upon your taste)

7 . Salt                                  as per taste

Oil                                     few tbl spoons for cooking

slightly roast red chillies in a tsp of oil and let them cool.

Dry roast 2,3,4 .Keep them aside to cool along with red chillies.

Once they are cool, grind them along with inguva ( hing) .add salt.

check to see the taste.It should be slightly salty and ofcourse spicy.

Now slit the brinjals length wise in to 4 . Do not break them.Let them be

intact at the stem and open at the other end.

fill in the grinded poweder in each and keep aside.

Heat some oil( 5 ot 6 tbl spoons)  in  a kadai ( or skillet) . slowly put in the stuffed brinjals

sprinkle little salt over the brinjals,put a drop or two oil on each brinjal .

Cover the kadai with a lid that has rim and can hold a glass of water*.

I usually cover it with another skillet ,makes it easy to takeout when there is water.

Cook on medium heat for 3 to 4 mins ( time really depends on the flame , size of kadai ,size of brinjals etc)

Take the lid carefully so as not to let water fall in the curry , turn brinjals gently and cover again.

Cook until brinjals change color and become soft.

*Lid with water helps to use less oil.

F for Fenugreek/Menthikoora pulusu

The only one that came to my mind is Fenugreek . But I am trying to think of some telugu name that starts with F..

This is what happens when you choose english alphabets to write telugu/Andhra recipes.

I will keep my thinking caps on until I talk to amma or MIL and remember something about F .. until then shall continue with rest of the letters and see what I can write.

Updated on 11/27/2006 .

Well no other vegetable came in to my mind. But this is one simple recipe I love .

Plain yogurt ( curd) —- 3 cups

Chopped Fenugreek (methi) leaves 2 cups

Green chillies 3 finely chopped

for popu , 1tsp each of cumin,jeera , mustard and a pinch of hing

Salt as per taste

oil 1 tsp

turmeric a pinch

Beat the curd with some water ( approx 2 cups)

sprinkle some water on the fenugreek leaves ,add some salt and cook it . ( I usually do in a presure cooker for 10 mins).let it cool.

add cooked methi leaves ,green chilles to the beaten curd and mix

Do the popu and add to the curd,methi mix .

( instead of adding raw green chilles to the curd, you can fry with popu and then add , your choice) .

I like to eat this with roti’s or mudda pappu annam .

E for Endu kobbari Podi

I was thinking of what recipe to write for E , and trust me I did not remember a single curry/pachadi/pulusu .All I can remember was pickles like endu aavakaya,endu maagaya and endu kobbari podi.That’s all.

I never made endu aavakaya/maagaya (yes I ate them a lot), so I don’t have a choice of recipes for E except Endu kobbari Podi.

 

Ingredients:

 

Endukobabri ( Dry coconut) pieces: 1 cup

Dhaniyaalu (Coriander seeds)   :1/2 cup

Senagapappu (Split chick peas): 1/2 cup

Minappappu (Black gram) 1/2 cup

Endu mirchi (Red chillies dried): 12

Hing: 1 pinch

Salt as per taste

Karivepaaku (curry leaves):  3 strings

Oil 1 tsp

 

Method:

 

Dry roast Dhaniyalu,Senagapappu and Minappappu ,take them in a wide plate and let them cool.

Slightly roast Kobabri also, let it cool along with pappulu in the same plate.

Roast in a tsp oil curry leaves and Red chillies.Put them in the plate along with Dhaniyalu and pappulu.

After they cool, grind them to a fine powder along with salt and hing.

 

This tastes excellent with Rice, Idly and Dosa.

 

D for Dosa Aavakaya

Aavakaya is generic name which means mustard ( main ingredient) with  unripe fruit . But for most Andhra people aavakaya is a pickle  made with Mangoes  which when prepared properly will last for years. Dosa aavakaya is made with yellow cucumber and will last only for few weeks. Also in India this vegetable is available almost all of the year.

Here is the recipe:

Dosakaya ( Yellow cucumber)   : 1  big in size ( depending on the size, use more than one )

Salt :               2 table spoons                                                                                

Red chilli powder: 2 table spoons

Mustard seed powder : 2 table spoons

(Slightly warm mustard seeds in a skillet ,cool and grind them to a fine powder)  

Turmeric : a pinch

Oil : 2 ladle full /until the pickle is covered  which ever is low .

Hing: 1 tsp

Red chilles(whole): 5

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Wash and dry cucumber.Remove the stem and cut in bite sized pieces( need not peel the skin).

Eat a price and make sure it is not bitter.Taste the seeds also.If the seeds are bitter  then discard the seeds .

If both are bitter, bad luck buy another cucumber .

Mix in salt,chili powder ,mustard powder and 1 ladle full of oil( or until all of the pickle is coated with oil).

Keep it covered  for  3 days.

On the third day ,  heat oil in a skillet ( how much is at your discretion but if pickles are not covered with oil floating on them , they tend to spoil quickly ,

I use less oil  for dosa aavakai but will usually keep it in refrigerator) ,when hot add  mustard seeds, and red chillies. When they splutter,

switch off the stove and add hing. Let it cool.

Pour it in the pickle and mix well.

Dosa aavakai is ready to eat. Enjoy with  hot rice.

For a better taste while eating  with rice, mix along few drops  of gingelly oil  .

Andhraites especially people from  East and west Godavari dists , do not eat ghee with pickles  ,instead they add few drops of oil with pickles,some chutney’s and some curries . Ghee is for  daals  and few curries.

C for challa pulusu /Majjiga pulusu

2 tblsp Besan /Senaga pindi/Chickpea flr

3 springs curry leaves

2 inch piece of ginger

4 green chillies

4 cups curd/yogurt

1tsp turmeric

1 tblsp oil

2 tsp Cumin/Jeera

Salt as per taste

a pinch of hing

few cilantro leaves chopped

Grind ginger and green chilles to a coarse paste

Add some water to curd/yogurt and churn it ( or blend in a blender for 30 secs or so) .

Consistency should be slightly thicker than orange juice with pulp

Take a big pan or kadai and put ginger+chilli paste,turmeric,salt,curry leaves,besan and cilatro.

Mix throughly with hand.Now add diluted curd/yogurt ,mix again and check taste for salt.Put it on stove and

let it boil for few mins on medium heat.When the raw smell of besan is gone,take it off the stove.

Heat a skillet and add oil ,when it is hot add cumin ,when it is slightly fried,add hing and turn off the stove.

Add this popu to the challa pulusu and keep it covered for 2 mins.

Eat with hot rice and don’t forget to fry some oorumirapakayalu to eat with it.

Tomato Ooragaya

Tomato’s : 3 ( If using Roma tomatoes use 6 )

Dry roast 3 tsp fenu greek and grind to a fine poweder

Salt as per taste

Red chilli poweder as per taste

Tamarind : lemon size ball

Turmeric : 3 tbl spoons

Oil 1 laddle.

hing 1 tsp

mustard seeds 1 tsp

Procedure:

Make sure the place, container,knife ,cutting board ,wooden spoon etc are moisture free . Or else your pickle will get spoiled in a day .

I used pyrex glass container with lid .

Cut tomatoes into medium sized pieces ( Roma tomatoes can be cut into 8 peices).

Put them in the galss container, sprinkle salt and turmeric .Mix them with wooden spoon so that all tomato peices are coated with salt and turmeric. This is very important.

Cover the container and keep it aside.

Once in day for three days use a wooden spoon and gently mix the tomato pieces.

(We dont do this in India ,but I do this here in US jsut make sure the top layer wont dry up and get fungus).

On the third day,separate tomato pieces from the juice ,sqeeze the juice out complete from tomato and place them on alluminium foil. Pour juice in oven safe dish and place tamarind in it.

Put Juice and tomato peices in oven at 250 degress for about 15 min or so until tomato becomes dry .make sure they dont turn balck( I checked after 30 mins first time I made )

Switch off oven .Let them all cool. Take out tamarind from juice and grind it along with dry tomato . Then mix the ground paste in juice.

Add fenugreek poweder and red chillipoweder mix well ( dry wooden spoon) .

Head a skilelt add oil , when hot add mustard.When they splutter add hing and switch off the stove. Let it cool Then add to the tomato pickle. Adjust salt and chilli poweder.

Transfer pickle to a dry container preferably glass jar and ENJOY .

B for Bachali koora pulusu

In the place where I live I dont get fresh Bachali koora. When I go to NJ I get some.Otherwise I use frozen Bachali( forgot the english name for it will post it later).
Chopped bachali 2 cups ( 2 blocks if using frozen)

Tamarind : size of a lemon

For podi : Dry roast and poweder 3tsp Dhaniyalu,2 tsp cumin,pinch of hing,4 red chillies, 3 peppercorns

Green chillies : 2 or 3

Sugar : 1 tsp

Turmeric: 1 tsp

Rice/Corn flour : 2 tsp

For popu: 1tsp each of urad daal,cumin,mustard seeds ,few curry leaves and a pich of hing

Procedure:

Soak tamarind in some water and extract juice out of it.

Saute bachali leaves for few mins on medium flame.Add tamarind juice to the leaves , add salt,turmeric,sugar and the spice powder.

Let it boil until the leaves get cooked. At this point the pulusu will be all watery.

Adjust salt/tamarind per your taste.

mix 2 tsp of flour in 1/4 cup water .Make sure there are no lumps and add this to pulusu and mix thorughly.

Let it simmer for couple of mins until the raw smell of flour goes.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a skillet and do popu with 1tsp each of urad daal,cumin,mustard seeds ,few curry leaves and a pich of hing.

Enjoy with muddapappu and hot rice.

A for aavada AKA Dahivada,peruguvada

Ingradients:

Urad daal 2 cups wash and soaked in water for 4 hrs

salt as per taste

curd/Yogurt 6cups

Popu/Seasoning: 1 tsp mustard,1tsp urad daal,a pinch of hing, few curry leaves

Oil for deep frying

Kothimeera/Cilantro for garnishing.

Method:

Drain water from urad daal and grind into a smooth paste adding some salt and NO water at all .If needed sprinkle few drops of water.

Heat 1tsp of oil in a skillet when hot add popu ingradients. when musratd splutters, transfer the contents into curd( dilute curd a little if it is store bought ),add salt and mix with a spoon.keep it aside.

Head oil for deep frying, when hot, take some batter in hand make it like a ball, press it slightly to make it a little flat and make a dent in the middle .. so now it should be like doughnut.Slowly drop in hot oil and fry till done.Do NOT over fry .

Take it out from oil and drop it in curd .

Complete making vada like this with rest of the batter and drop them all in curd.Turn(mix) them carefully in the curd if needed.They should be immersed completely in the curd.Garnish with cilantro.
Cover and let them soak for an hour or two.

These can be eaten hot or cold.