Green Grape Juice

The grape juices that I have tried till now were dark purple in color. So just wanted to try my hand at making juice out of green grapes. Though the real reason was I was feeling a bit lazy to pick out grapes and eat them, so juice sound more appealing at that time  ;).Lucky for me it turned out well.

Ingredients

Green grapes - 2 cups

Sugar - 4 tsp

Water - 1/2 cup

Process

1. Wash the grapes well.
2. Put them in a blender, add water, sugar and blend. The sugar qunatity will depend upon sweetness or sourness of the grapes. Be careful with water, adding too much will loose the grape taste.
   
3. Filter the pulp out if your not the pulp person :)

ChanagaPappu vesina Dondakaya Vepudu

Its a tindora (dondakaya) with chana daal. Yet another recipes that I have taken from my mother's cooking. What I like in this recipe is the chana daal, so in my version I use more chana daal when compared to my mother's. Though I don't use measurements, I am trying my best to provide them as best as I can. So do feel free to make changes according to your taste and mood :)

Ingredients

Tindora/ Dondakaya - 4 cups

Chana daal - 1 1/2 cup

Salt

Red chilly powder

Turmeric powder

Karvepaku or curry leaves - 4 to 5

Process

1. Prepping tindora - cut the ends of each tindora and then length wise into 4 pieces.

2. Prepping chana daal - wash them and then boil them till become soft enough to bite through.
3. Heat a pan and put some oil in it. When oil is hot enough add the curry leaves, fry for sometime and then add the cut tindora. Fry them till they become soft.

4. When tindora are cooked or soft enough, add salt, red chilly powder and turmeric powder according to your taste. Mix well and fry for sometime.
5. Now add the chana daal and mix well so that they are coated with spices. Fry well. Since the chana daal have been pre-cooked, you don't have to worry about it being undercooked. Just make sure the tindora are cooked well.

Hope you enjoy :)

Vegetable Kurma

A easy recipe if you have the frozen mixed vegetable pack :), otherwise you need to spend a lot of time prepping the vegetables. But overall a good and versatile dish that goes well with rice dishes like veg. pulav, pudina rice as well as plain rice and roti.

Ingredients

All vegetables 1/2 cup each
ChoppedCarrots
Green Peas (shelled)
Cauliflower florets
Chopped potatoes
Chopped green beans
Chopped onions - 1 big
Chopped Tomato - 1 big
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Salt
Turmeric powder
Red chilly powder
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Garam masala
Yoghurt or curd - 1/4 cup
Tej pata or Bay leaf
Cinamon stick
Cloves - 3-4
Crushed cardamom - 3-4
Chopped coriander leaves

Process

1. Add little oil in a deep dish and heat
2. Add tej pata, cinamom stick, cloves and cardamom and fry. Then add onions and fry.
3. When the onions become translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and fry till their raw smell is gone.
4. Then add the chopped tomatos and fry till they become slightly soft
5. Add the vegetables and fry for approx. 5 mins.
6. Now add the spices - salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Fry for another 1-2 mins. Now add the coconut milk and cook for sometime.Also add the yoghurt.
7. Add water just enough to cover the vegetables and cook till the vegetables are cooked. I generally use the cooker. So I cook for 3 whistles.
8. Once done garnish with the chopped coriander. All done :)

Pudina Rice

Another special from my mother. My mother used to make this for special occasions with vegetable kurma. But I make this quite frequently :). So here goes the process..

Ingredients

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Water - 4 cups

Fresh pudina or mint leaves - 1 cup

Salt

Garam masala
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Thinly sliced onions - 1 big

Tej Pata or Bay leaf

Cloves - 3-4

Cinamon stick

Crushed cardmom - 3-4
Fried cashew nuts

Process

1. Wash the rice and soak in water for 15- 20 mins in water.
2. Take deep frying pan, and heat little oil. Add tej pata, cinamon stick, cloves and crushed cardamom. Fry for some time and add onions.
3. When the onions start to beome a bit translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell of the ginger garlic paste is gone.
4. Now its time to add pudina. I generally finely chop the mint leaves. fry for sometime.
5. Drain the water from the rice and add to pan. Stir in between but make sure not to break the rice.

6. After some time, add 4 cups of water and cook. I use the electric cooker at this point. You can use the stove top rice cooker, but maker sure not to add too much water or the rice will become mushy. if not using a cooker, use a lid to cover the pan, stirring in between.

7. Once the rice is cooked properly, add the fried cashew nuts and mix well.

The ususal accomapniments I use for this are raita or vegetable kurma. Hope you enjoy :)

Pachi Pulusu

A recipe taken from my mother and a favourite of mine. Its an easy recipe not taking more than 10 mins and requires no cooking except for the tadka or popu. It goes well with rice. Give it a try when you are in a time crunch or too lazy cook something elaborate.

Ingredients

Tamrind juice or pulp or concentrate

Water

Finely chopped onions

Salt

Sugar - 1 to 2 tsp

Red chilly powder

Cumin seeds or jeera

Coriander seeds

Dry red chillies 2-3

Black mustard seeds

Karvepaku or curry leaves

Chopped coriander leaves

Process

1. Take 3-4 cups of water and mix the tamarin pulp init. the amount of pulp depends on the sourness you want.

2. Add the chopped onions, salt, red chilly powder and sugar.
3. Make the tadka now. Heat little oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds, jeera, corriander, dry red chillies and curry leaves. Fry for sometime.

4. Add the tadka to the tamarind water and garnish with coriander leaves.
5. And enjoy :)