Toordal Chutney

My mom makes this chutney during functions at our home. Toordal chutney is good with hot rice with ghee or can be used as side dish with main items like dal/sambar or even curd.

Ingredients:

1. Toordal (1 small cup)
2. Dry coconut
3. Dhania seeds (one table spoon)
4. Methi seeds (1/2 table spoon)
5. Mustard seeds (1/4 table soon)
6. Red chilly powder
7. Sugar/Jaggery
8. Salt
9. Tamarind

Procedure:

1. Fry Toordal in little Oil, till it gives nice flavour (or till 10 mins in medium flame)
2. Roast Dry coconut pieces for about 5-10 mins
3. Fry Mustard, Methi and dhania seeds in little oil fo about 5 mins.
   
4. Add all the above into a mixer along with tamarind, sugar, salt, chilly powder, water and grind it nicely. Check for the consistency and add water if needed.
   
5. Once grinding is done, transfer the content to a bowl and mix with regular tempering (with Mustard seeds,hing, red chillies, curry leaves etc)
   

I like this with hot rice with Ghee :) try it...

Groundnut Chutney

Its 7:45AM here, my taste buds are craving for Rava Dosa (check rava dosa recipe in this blog) and my favourite compliment witht rava dosa is Groundnut/peanut chutney, I borrowed this recipe from my mom :). Very very simple and perfect for all kinds of dosas/idle/vada , so lets start.

Ingredients:

1. Groundnuts (1 cup)
2. Green Chillies
3. Salt
4. Jaggery/Sugar
5. Tamarind
6. Mustard seeds/curry leaves/Hing/Red chillies (for tempering)

Procedure:

1. Roast Ground nuts on medium flame
2. Fry Green chillies in little oil.
3. Add roasted groundnuts, fried chillies, little tamarind, salt to your taste, little jaggery/Sugar into a mixer.
   
4. Add water (1/2 cup) and nicely grind the ingredients. Check regularly for the consistency and add water if necessary.
   
5. Once grinding is done, transfer the content into a bowl and add tampering with mustard seeds/Hing/red chillies etc.
   

Groundnut chutney is ready, so simple isn't it.

Onion Pakoda

One rainy day my husband for craving for the hot pakodas and a cup of tea. So I decided to make the onion pakodas. The same batter mix can be tried with other vegetables like potatos, brinjal or even with the spinach. So many options, try all at same time if feasible and you will have a platter full of different types of pakodas, great when entertaining more people.

Ingredients

Besan - 2 cups
Salt
Red chilly powder
Chopped green chillies - 6 med.
Chopped curry leaves
Onions - 4 or 5
Water
Oil

Process

1. Put the besan in a big bowl. Add salt, red chilly powder, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Mix well.
   
   
   
   
2. Start heating the oil for frying in a deep pan.
3. Thinly slice the onions and add them to the besan. Mix all the ingredients.
   
   
   
   
4. Now add water little by little and stop when the batter is thick enough to be fried. If the batter becomes too water to hold onto the onions add a little more besan to thicken it.
   
   
   
   
5. When the oil is hot enough for frying, take small quantity of the batter and put it in the oil. Fry till golden brown.
   
   
   
6. Take them out and put on a paper towel to remove the excess oil.
7. Serve hot with ketchup or green chutney if you prefer. Enjoy

Lazy day favourite - Fried Rice ( Veg., Egg or Both)

A favorite of mine,especially after coming to USA. This helps me survive the days when I don't want to do lot of chopping, cutting, cooking and cleaning. I usually have a packet of frozen mixed vegetables in my freezer which makes my life a lot easier. In India I had to make everything from scratch like peeling the carrots and then chopping all the veggies. Its quite flexible based on the ingredients you have at your disposal. The good thing about this is that it can also be made for just one person :). Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients
Cooked rice
Salt
Powdered black pepper
Eggs
Coriander leaves(optional)

Veggies:
Carrots
Green beans
Peas(optional)
Spring onions(optional)

Process

1. Cooked rice should not be mushy, the grains should be fairly separate. Can also use the leftover rice.
2. Chop all the carrots and beans into small pieces. Chop the spring onions into pieces of approx. 1 inch.
3. Heat a pan and add enough oil to fry the veggies. When the oil is hot add the veggies, little salt and pepper powder and fry till they are cooked. Take out of pan.
   
   
   
   
4. Add little oil and break the eggs into and mix to make the scramble egg add little salt and pepper. Take out of the pan. Note: In the pictures I did not the veggies and eggs as I was cooking for one person.
5. Now add the rice to the pan and fry it for some time. Now add the veggies and scrambled egg. Mix in well. Check for the salt and pepper, add more if required.
   
   
   
   
6. Garnish with coriander and serve.

As I said it is quite a flexible dish, add the veggies you like and skip on eggs and it becomes a veg. fried rice . Add the eggs and skip the veggies it becomes the egg fried rice. Try out your own variations and enjoy.

Haryali Chicken Tikka or Try Paneer

I tried this recipe mainly because I was curious as to how the broil feature of the oven works.. lucky for me that this turned out well :). For the vegetarians out there, they can try using Paneer instead of chicken.

Ingredients
Chicken breasts - 400 gm
Curd - 1/4 cup
Salt
Lemon - 1 small
Red chilly powder
Turmeric powder
Green chillies
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves
Curry leaves
Garlic
Ginger
Olive oil

Process

1. Clean the chicken and chop into cubes.
   
   
   
2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Note:Remember to keep the top most rack of oven approx. 6 inches from the top of oven.
3. Roughly chop the coriander, mint and curry leaves. Also chop the green chillies, ginger and garlic. Grind all these into a fine paste.
   
   
   
4. Add the above paste to chicken. Also add the salt, turmeric and red chilly powder and lemon juice mix it in well. Leave out lemon juice if you don't want the tangy or sour taste to your chicken.
   
   
   
5. Add the curd to the chicken and blend it well. Mix in 3-4 drops of olive oil (or any other cooking oil).
   
   
   
6. Let this sit for at least an hour in refrigerator.
7. Put the oven in broil and the place the chicken inside the oven in a baking vessel. The food cooks fast in broil option, so watch the it. This should be done in 10-15 mins. You can use the skewers if you have them. Note: Remember to line the baking dish with an aluminum foil to make cleaning easier later on ;)
8. For even charring of chicken flip after 10 mins and cook for another 5 mins or so.
9. Take out and enjoy :)
   

Chicken Curry

This is the simplest way of making chicken curry that I know of. It requires some marination time, so it would be good to have it marinated at least for an hour.

Ingredients
Chicken breasts - 400 gm
Curd - 1/2 cup
Salt
Red chilly powder
Turmeric powder
Coriander powder
Garam masala

Chopped onions
Ginger garlic paste
Green chillies (slit )
Bay leaf
Cardmom pods (slightly opened)
Cinnamon stick
Cloves
Coconut milk (optional)
Chopped coriander leaves

Process

1. Marination:After cleaning the chicken, cut it into small pieces and put it in a bowl.Add the curd, little salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and little garam masala. Let it sit for at least an hour in refrigerator.
   
   
2. When ready to cook, heat some oil in a cooker or deep pan. Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves.
   
   
3. After a minute, add the chopped onions and fry till they become translucent. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone.
   
   
4. Add the marinated chicken and the marinade to the cooker/pan.Add the coconut milk if using. Mix well.
   
   
5. If using a cooker - Add some water enough to submerge the chicken and close the lid and cook for 4 to 5 whistles.
6. If using a pan - when chicken starts turning white, add little water and cook for 10 - 15 mins. The chicken will be cooked if turns white even inside. Chicken cooks faster even in open pan, if required cut n check :).
7. Garnish with coriander leaves.
   

This goes well with both rice and roti. Enjoy !!

Palak Fry

Too bored to eat the palakura pappu (palak dal), I tried this simple recipe which goes well with both rice and roti.

Ingredients

Spinach

Onion - 1  medium

Garlic pods - 5 to 6
Salt
Red chilly powder

Process

1. Wash the spinach and chop it well.Chop the onion and the garlic pods.
   
   
   
   
2. Heat some oil in a pan, add the chopped onions and garlic and fry till the onions turn translucent.
   
   
   
   
3. Add the spinach, close the lid and cook for 10- 15 mins.
   
   
   
   
4. Add salt and red chilly powder to taste. Mix well and cook for another 1 to 2 mins.
5. All done :)
   

Capsicum curry

I was bored with regular vegetables, so I thought of preparing Capsicum fry, Capsicum is a delicate vegetable with unique flavour. So lets start..I am already hungry :)

Ingredients:

Chopped Capsicum (2-3 medium size)

Chopped Oninon (one medium size)

Coriander powder

Coconut powder

Mustard seeds

Turmeric Powder

Hing

Curry leaves

Chilly powder

Urad dal

Procedure:

1. Heat oil on a pan and add mustard seeds wait till it crackles/splits, then add hing, curry leaves, urad dal and fry little bit. 
2. Add onions, curry leaves, turmeric powder, Salt and fry till onions turn into translucent.
3. Add chopped capsicum and fry it in medium flame (don't put lid while frying). When the capsicum is half cooked, add half table spoon of coriander power, 1 table spoon of coconut powder and little chilly powder.
4. Fry for another 10-15 mins in medium flame and capsicum fry is ready to serve :)

Putnalu Pappu Guddu Kura

This a recipe that I have taken from my mother. I remember my father and me always ending up cribbing that there was not enough onions in it. We both loved the onions in this recipe. So  I add a lot of onions while making this ;).

Ingredients

Eggs - 6

Onions - 2 big

Curry leaves/Karvepaku - 4 to 5 leaves

Roasted Bengal Gram/Putnalu pappu - 1/2 cup

Chopped coriander

Salt

Red Chilly powder

Turmeric powder

Process

1. Boil the eggs. Peel the outer shell and make small cuts on the sides of each egg.
2. Thinly slice the onions.
3. Heat a pan, add some oil, Add the curry leaves and sliced onions and start frying.
4. Meanwhile, grind the roasted Bengal gram to powder.
5. When the onions are slightly brown, add the powdered Bengal gram. Stir till they are mixed well.
   
   
   
   
6. Add the salt, red chilly powder and turmeric powder and mix well. Add little oil if necessary.
7. Add the boiled eggs now and mix well. Garnish with the chopped coriander.
   
   
   

It goes well with rice.

Mokkajonna Vada (Corn vada)

I ate this for first when I was in 11th class. I was in hostel at that time and one of friends' parents sent this for her and she shared it with us. I really loved the way it tasted with the green chutney. So when I was back home I asked my mother to prepare this for me. The process is simple and it is delicious snack.Give it a try :)

Ingredients

Corn cobs - 3 medium sized

Chopped onions - 1 big

Chopped coriander leaves

Chopped curry leaves/ karvepaku

Chopped green chillies - 6 small

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Salt

Garam masala

Corn starch - optional

Oil for frying

Process

1. Prepping the corn: Shell the corn seeds from the corn and then grind them in the mixer. Ideally the corn seeds used should be harder or tough (muduru mokkajonna). But the corn cobs that we get in USA are sweet corn, which are very soft and juicy. The problem with the softer corn seeds is that after grinding the paste becomes watery and is not suitable to fry as it will not hold the shape. An easy fix for this is to add the corn starch to it.
   
   
2. Now add the chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves to add. Also add the ginger galic paste, salt and the garam masala and mix well. The batter is ready for fry.
   
   
3. Heat oil in deep frying pan. Make small lemon sized balls or patties and drop them slowly in the hot oil. You can also use a spoon to scoop the batter and drop them in oil.
4. Take the the corn vada out when they are slightly brown.
5. This can be served with coriander chutney. 

Gongura pachhadi

Gongura itself is very famous in Andhra Pradesh and especially Gongura pachadi(pickle) has a very special place. It is one of my favourite and especially my mom made gongura pachadi is one of the best of its kind. This time surprisingly Gongura leaves were available in Indian stores, the moment i saw the leaves, my mouth started watering......so lets start.

Ingredients:

Methi seeds
Dhaniya seeds
Sesame seeds
Chilly powder
Salt
Hing
Nicely chopped onions
Gongura leaves

Procedure:

1. Roast white Seseme seeds (without oil) till it turns into brown color(don't burn it :)). 
2. Fry methi seeds, hing and dhaniya seeds in little oil for 2-3 mins. 
3. Put roasted sesame seeds, fried methi/dhaniya mix into Mixer along with chilly powder and salt. Grind it nicely.
4. Fry gongura leaves with oil till all the green color turns into brown and add this to the mixer and grind it properly (don't add water and don't grind it very nicely like a paste). Keep the mix aside in a bowl.
5. Fry finely chopped onions in a pan till it turns into translucent, mix with the above mixture and we are done. 

Serve with hot rice and it is mouth watering :) Gongura thota kaada kaaapu kaasaa .... :)