Merry Christmas to you all!

Our Christmas tree this year!

Happy Christmas from my family to yours! See you all in a day or so with delicious treats!

You Will always be in our hearts Dev Anand ji!

Rest In peace Dev saab! As my favorite artists pass away one by one every few months I can only bid them a tearful adieu, and listen, watch their performances one more time. But born are such great artists to be there in our hearts for ever and only to leave never. As a child I remember him as the most handsome hero of all the Rangoli songs that used to be played on Sundays. Be it Black and white movies, Eastman color and the rest no one could compete with him in the grace he showed. Even now the song " Abhi na jao chodkar ki Dil abhi bhara nahi" rings in my ears once every few days, whether I play it or not from the list.  My tribute to the unique and wonderful artist!

Today's Lunch Methi Rice with Cucumber, Onion raita

Hello all my dear readers! Although a little late to greet you all on the week's start, I thought just posting a new recipe would make my boredom and laziness flee, and I could take control of my usual routine sooner. Well it did do the magic, but not for long. But it is okay to be bored, and lazy, I say to myself, since for one  this being a Monday coming after a long weekend, another big enough reason being winter, short days and long nights and should I go on, the list can be endless. Bottom line, I just want to spend some days lazily he he he...
So an aromatic main course with a a very pleasant side dish was the result of today's laziness. If my husband were to read this line, he would definitely say "long live your laziness my dear". He is a food lover and a very lovely husband who rarely disapproves of anything I make. Good friends, and an understanding family is a seemingly simple, yet fortuitous boon to oneself, which I am lucky to have. Today's dish is from one such friend who has a good heart to share not just delicious dishes she makes but her recipes too!
                                                                                 And here is the recipe for the simple, but fragrant rice dish!                                                                        
Ingredients:
methi leaves a bunch
2 Tomatoes
8-9 Green chillies
Peas
Ginger garlic Paste - 1 tbspn
OOh and Basmati or Sonamasoori rice about 3 cups washed and soaked in about 5 cups water.
Seasoning:
Curryleaves
Jeera

In a deep vessel, add about 2 tbspoons oil wait till hot and add the curryleaves, then add jeera followed by ginger+garlic paste. saute the paste for about a minute. Then add the methi leaves, and peas, saute them ( I used frozen peas for the time being, you can use fresh peas if available ) for about 2-3 minutes. Add the roughly diced tomatoes and saute for another 2 minutes.Add a pinch of turmeric and enough salt to the mixture.  Add the fried ingredients to the soaked rice and cook in a rice cooker ( since it is a lazy day for me ). But if you have the time, you can add 5 cups water to the sauteed methi and other ingredients and cook in the same vessel. Meanwhile prepare raitha of your choice ( my choice for today was  onion and cucumber ) and wait for the rice to be done.  I bet your home will be filled with the flavorful fragrance of methi by then. I donot have words to describe the joy my heart was filled with while savouring the Rice with the Raitha.  There is one more dish that I love cooking and eating to my heart's content, Khichdi. But for today 2 thumbsup for my friend's Methi Rice with Raitha. I was halfway through my lunch when I remembered that I had forgotten to take a picture for my dear blog. So dont mind the not so aesthetically taken picture!! Bye now

Udikinchina Beans Karam

For those of you who still remember my post " Fresh Produce from farmers Market", I made an interesting dish with the Purple colored Beans bought from the Farmer's Market.  I am here with one more recipe from my region which is a Protein packed Curry. I will tell you why it is so. There are beans which are high in protein content, and Peanuts which need no introduction to their nutrition content. And added bonus are dried coconut, and garlic which has high medicinal value, and last but not least  everyone's favorite Potatoes ( this is optional although adding them just ups the flavor twice).

So would it be an exaggeration to say this is what I say it is? And, you can cook the same curry with spring beans, clustered beans(Mattikayalu/Gorchikkudu), the purple beans that are in the pictures. This is a regular back home that goes perfectly with Ragi Mudda  for the lunch and with chapathi for dinner. Okay so the precious ingredients for the curry are

1.  Beans about 1/2 lb broken into halves
2. 1 medium sized potato cubed
3. 2 medium sized tomatoes cut into big chunks
4. 13-14 green chillies ( Thai ones are good to use )
5. 1/2 cup fried peanuts
6. dried coconut 2tb spoons
7.  4 garlic cloves big ones
8. dhania powder 1 tbspn
9. 1/2 medium sized onion chopped roughly
10.Bunch of  Cilantro
salt to taste

Now  make a paste of the green chillies and salt. Keep it aside. Now grind peanuts, coconut, garlic, dhania powder into a not so fine powder. Take a deep bottomed vessel and add 1 tb spn of vegetable oil or any oil of your choice and wait until hot to add curryleaves, mustard. Once they start spluttering add onions, potatoes and beans and salt fry for a minute. Now add the green chilli paste and mix thoroughly into the veggies. Wait for a couple of minutes and then add a cup of water and let the mixture boil. This is the reason why the curry is called "Udikinchina Karam/Boiled karam". After about 5 minutes of boiling, add the powdered peanut+coconut mixture onto the boiling mixture. Donot stir immediately, after about a minute stir the peanut powder into the Karam, and then add the diced tomatoes along with the cilantro. Taste to see if salt is enough. Cook for about 10 more minutes until beans and potatoes are cooked but not over cooked. Take it off the heat and eat it with chapathi or hot rice or even better Ragi sangati.
The key to the success of this recipe is behind the green chilli paste well cooked into the vegetables, and just enough amount of the peanut powder. Too much of peanuts will make the curry milder and subdue its authenticity. Well there was one interesting recipe for you all.

Let us celebrate this auspicious day of Karthika Pournami by cleansing our innerselves and ridding ourselves of   questionable  but all pervasive thoughts of greed, anger, prejudice and resentment and welcome thoughts of love, compassion, contentment and good will.

Spicy Pandu Mirapayakaya karam for the cold season

Spicy but yummy!!

Albeit for a short period, this year's Indian festival season is almost coming to an end .  With all the sugary foods in sight I usually love to eat something spicy with my rice. This makes my appetite for sweets even more. Hmm very sinful but its okay to indulge once in a year or is it just all year long..As my dear hubby says eat eat and eat but burn it off the same way. That should balance the equation right. Well here is one very spicy chutney for the coming cold days. We call it " Pandumirapakaya Karam"/ripe red chilli karam. This can be stored for atleast a year, just like a pickle. But there will not be much left for storage anyway. Here is the recipe

Ingredients:
Plush ripe red chillies 1lb(  bought them fresh from the Farmer's market)
Tamarind about the size of 2 lemons
1 teaspn mustard
1/2 teaspoon methi seeds
Salt to taste

For the seasoning
1/2 cup of Oil ( Gingelly/Olive)
a bunch of curryleaves
Mustard seeds

Boil the red chillies in  water just enough to soak in a kadai/Bandli. Add about 2 teaspoons salt (Enough salt is the key a tasty pickle or chutney) to the chillies. When the skins of the  red chillies are soft add washed tamarind ( Donot add any water to soak the tamarind..just wash) and let both the ingredients cook for another 5 minutes. Keep aside and let it cool. Meanwhile fry the mustard and methi in a little bit of oil and powder them in a grinder. Now add the redchilli+tamarind and make it into a chunky paste in the grinder/mixer. Heat oil in a small kadai, add the mustard and curryleaves and wait till they splutter. Take it off the heat and let it cool. Add the seasoning oil to the redchilli chutney. Presto there is our spicy dish for our cold day. Fry some Vadiyams/Papads and the perfect lunch is there to drive the cold away from your body!
Hope you would try the recipe and feel the same as I do!
Will be back with another "Karam" next time it will be a curry karam which can be eaten with chapathi/Ragi Mudda.
Adios Amigos!! (nowadays my son's favorite phrase)

Fresh Produce from Farmer's Market

Raw Pumpkin for Pachhi Gummadikaya Pullakoora
Purple Beans for Beans talimpu
Fresh Peanuts for Peanuts and thotakoora Pappu.

Wow got some very tasty menu for tomorrow and the day after..!

Celebrating the Festival of LIghts!

I wish you all a colorful, flavorful Deepavali/Diwali that will fill your homes and lives with an abundance of happiness, and health! For myself, this year has been a mix of all sorts of emotions,  Some very special moments, special entries and some not so special incidents. Or would you say well who doesnot have all these. I believe the latter is right, and that is what life is supposed to be made of.  Well without delving too deep into realms of life's  philosophy let me wish you all once again a very joyful Diwali !! Will be back with my Diwali dishes shortly!. Here is the menu for today! Planning something very South Indian
Coconut Rice
Aviyal
Munakkaya Rasam
Dondakaya Fry
Curd/yogurt Rice
Badam Payasam/kheer


Love you all my friends for the constant support!

What makes a very simple dish special?

Bottle Gourd/Sorakaya pullakoora

So what makes a rather simple dish taste so special? Would you say it is the ingredients, or the hands that make the dish, the mood that we are in or something else? I personally feel it would be the passion that we cook the dish with, the love we cook the dish with....and last but not the least "SEASONING". Yes you read it right, seasoning with the right  ingredients, for the right amount of time on the right flame makes a ton of difference. I have always loved my mother's pappu/dal, be it the usual tomato pappu or very special thotakoora (amaranthus) Pappu. For so many years I wondered what was the big difference between both our ways. everything was the same except that Amma always seasoned dal on a high flame. She would wait until the oil is hot, then added mustard followed byred chilli and then curry leaves, and lastly not so finely diced onions and stirred only when they were about to be brown, and then finally poured the dal into the seasoning vessel not vice versa. Cut short the main story is of the Sorakaya Pullagoora recipe..and given a chance I will never have any end to talk about my mom's cooking. Its never anything other than "perfect".
Here is the ingredient list

1. Sorakaya/ bottle gourd
2.  One larg tomato
3. green chillies ( thai would be good for people like us living outside India) about 12-13
4. small lime sized tamarind
5. Roughly diced onions
6. Hand ful of coriander chopped

Seasoning
mustard seeds, curry leaves, Roughly diced onions (1/2 onion medium sized), dried red chillies.

Speaking about this particular recipe, growing up I never tasted Sorakaya at all believe it or not. Only after I met my dear husband I started loving many vegetables that I never got to taste. But Bottle gourd, hmm I never knew what I could make out of it other than using it in sambar until I ate something of Pullakoora sorts at one of my good friend A's home. It was a very mild version of pullakoora, cooked in a pressure cooker and fed to Kids.And kids loved  eating it with rice.  Later I thought this could be an absolutely fantastic idea to make a pullakoora out of Bottle gourd. And then there I was making it more often and liking it to the fullest extent. So here it is

The recipe
I particularly donot want to use pressure cooker for most dishes including dals, cooking it in a vessel other than pressure cooker gives it an authentic taste I feel. But people who are in short of time can use the cooker. So with a spoon of vegetable oil in a deep pan, add the green chillies and sorakaya pieces followed by tomato cut into rough chunks. Donot add water, instead add salt which lets out the water from the gourd, when almost done add the tamarind soaked in water cover with a lid and wait for 5 minutes. Take it off the heat, mash it with a Pappu gitta (special dal masher made of wood) and then mash it once again after coriander is added. Now in the same pan ( wipe off the water in the pan) add 2 tea spoons oil wait till hot add mustard seeds. When you hear the spluttering sounds add red chillies followed by curryleaves. Then add the entire mashed pulp into the seasoning vessel and turn off the heat.

There you go you have the most wonderful yet simple dish that gets its flavor because of seasoning. You can also do the same Pullakoora with the following other main ingredients
1. Thotakoora Pullakoora (Amaranthus)
2. Gongura/ Sorrel leaves
3. Fresh peanuts and Thotakoora/chukkakoora
4.Vankaya/Brinjal and any green leaves like thotakoora/chukkakoora/gongura

Follow the other steps of the procedure and you can make the most delicious dish on earth which goes well with ragi mudda/plain rice.

Bye now folks. OOh I am so happy today because I am back after a long time, it gives me a sort of fulfillment.

A hearty Welcome to you Fall!!

I took this picture a few minutes ago while I was just zoning out cuddled up in my favorite wicker couch. Sometimes it is so comforting to just stare into nothing and do nothing especially when there is unbelievable peace at home. But today there is more to the day, lovely drizzle, beautiful skies and ofcourse last but not the least peacefully sleeping kids. This is just when I realized it is already Fall even though the official date is yet to come.  A cup of tea is all I need now to complete the view and the aura of Fall! Happy Tea Time! Be back for sure with some interesting dishes for the festive season.

Chinta Charu/ Veru Senagginjala charu/ Peanut charu

This posting is for one of my friends who is a soon to be mom. Not being able to make her one of Ananthapur district's soul foods as and when she longed for it, I am trying to atleast make it easy for her to prepare it. A very special dish it is, easy to make, and above all you will love it to have it time and again. As the name suggests the main ingredient that gives the charu/soup its taste is Peanut/verusenagginjalu. Hmmm did I not tell you that people from this area donot waste an opportunity to add peanuts in every possible dish. And believe me, funny as it may sound, it is true to every word I said. So here is the recipe for the mouth watering dish.

Ingredients: 
Peanuts - fried handful
Green Chillies- 5-6
tamarind- medium lime size
One half medium size onion diced roughly into big chunks
Salt to taste
Jaggery about a tea spoon

Seasoning
Mustard seeds
Curryleaves

Grind the peanuts into fine powder, and keep it separately. Grind the green chillies into fine paste. Now soak the tamarind in 2 cups water, and extract the juice. Now add the peanut powder into the tamarind water, and also add the jaggery and salt according to taste (after adding the chilli paste you can add more salt if needed).
In a deep pan add 2 tea spoons of oil, when the oil heats up add the mustard seeds and curryleaves for seasoning. Now add the chilli paste and saute it for a minute or two to get rid of the raw taste. Later add the peanut, tamarind water and keep stirring so that the chili paste doesnot form lumps with the peanut powder. Let the charu boil, and then add the onions into it (remember the onions are not sauteed). Add salt if needed. Wait for 5 more minutes and garnish with cilantro before taking it off the heat.
That is all Chinta charu is ready to eat with rice.
Beware this could easily become your soul food too. In telugu " Inkenduku alasyam, lottalesukuntoo vedi vedi anam tho patu tinandi Chinta charuni"

Sree Rama Navami

"Sree Rama Ramethi Rame Rame Mano Rame
Sahasra Nama Tattulyam Rama Nama Varanane"

This Sri Rama Navami, I am here in my home town Madanapalle. It might have been a decade since I saw Rama Navami celebrations here. The Ramulavari Gudi (temple) was always a must visit for us before starting something new.
This year I tasted mother's Vadapappu also known as Panneram over here, and Panakam both the essential for the festival.
Will comeup with the pictures of Panakam soon.

Bangle Sellers- their lives still the same

"Colorful Bangles"

"Not so Colorful Life

First of all My Srikara nama samvatsara greetings to all of you and apologies for my late wishes.
My Sudden trip to India this time is giving me all kinds of experiences, some jerky, some sad and some sweet. Here is one of my sad experiences I encountered during my visit to my Ammamma's (Grandmother) village.  Life in India has stark contrasts. Just when we boast of a developing nation, life below the poverty line mocks back at us. This Bangle seller who walks bare foot  with his stacks of bangles all through the dusty villages around my village is one such glaring example of the growing difference between the Haves and Havenots. You might ask, did you visit India for the first time?  No, but every time I visit I notice that people in small towns and big cities spend lavishly, and I hear that Living Standards are much better in India now. But then nothing has changed with people like this Bangle Seller. His daily wages are meagre, about the price of a "Latte" or even lesser than that at a StarBucks or Coffee Day. But he says he is happy with his profession since he considers it auspicious. The simpleton wishes for a bus service that would make his life more easy. The little conversation that I had with him suddenly made me feel so petty. It was sad to hear his story but at the same time stoic. I learnt that contentment is something that needs constant reminding. Most of us might remember Indian nightingale Sarojini Naidu's " Bangle Sellers". Here is a stanza from the poem

Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.

Majjiga pulusu

Majjigapulusu/buttermilk stew, dont know if I got the name right in English is usually not taken that serious a dish back home. For reasons known only to its despisers, this humble dish has gotten a not so grandiose reputation compared to its competitors. My mom used to say that her dad would simply loathe at dishes like Majjigapulusu, not that he liked any vegetarian dishes. "Majjigapulusu mohana kotta"  is the most hilarious yet sad usage for things not so nice. But for people who say "where did this come from? hmm I love Majjiagapulusu" I am with you. History aside, you can eat this with rice or the all healthy ragi mudda, and no surprise there I do love the second combination.  So here is the recipe for the delectful dish.
Ingredients
1. Buttermilk 1/2 a litre
2. salt to taste
3. coarsely diced 1/2 medium sized onion

For the paste:
7 green chillies if spicy ones more if not
3tbspns of rice soaked
1tspn of mustard seeds
4tbspns of fresh coconut shredded

For the seasoning
Curry leaves use generously
Mustard seeds
1-2 Dried red chillies
Oil ofcourse


Procedure
Now make a fine paste of the ingredients . Follow this order so that you can get a fine paste since all the ingredients are in small quantities it might be a bit hard to get a fine paste with the blender. First the mustard seeds go followed by rice, then chillies and finally coconut. You could add some water if needed to make a paste. For the buttermilk, you can either take 1 cup of yogurt beat it really well and then add the rest of water or just use plain store bought buttermilk. Now take 1-2 tbspn oil in a deep vessel, and then add the mustard seeds curryleaves folowed by red chillies to season. Saute the rice+mustard paste for a minute or two, add some water to make sure the rice hasn't formed any lumps, and then add the buttermilk. Add salt to your taste, and let it boil while covering with a lid. After about 10 minutes add the onions, you donot want the onions to over cook. The crunchiness adds to the taste.  wait another 5minutes and turn the heat off. There is your simple, home made fast food ready!
I know many of my friends who make this dish with besan/senagapindi, but try this one and tell me. Also for those who might get this question if it is okay to boil buttermilk it is perfectly okay as long as you make the mustard+rice paste fine. You will know why the fine paste when you make it.
I can say that majjigapulusu, can become your comfort food provided well made. May be sometime in the future I will give you another Seema favorite Chintacharu made from groundnuts. Hmm my mouth is watering already with the mention of that charu!
Bon appetite everybody!

p.s The number of adjectives used in this post will tell you how tasty this one can be (LOL)

The word is Mmmmmm Majjiga Pulusu

My Pretty Weekend buy

Just wanted to share my weekend shopping excitement! Kohls had some great sale going on and look what I found a beautiful Paisley designed Dinner ware. Inaugurated the new dinner ware the week end itself and I am so looking forward to make some gorgeous looking dishes and display them for you in the new bowls. Hmm life looks interesting when there is a change, and buying new things is no different than visiting new places to get a change in my life!! You agree? Take care you all.

Guess Ragi Halwa would look beautiful in this Paisley salad Plate

You can expect a delicious Biryani in this Bowl pretty soon

One more delicacy from Ananthapuram's cuisine

Ye all might have known about different pullagoora (Pulla+koora= pullagoora, gasadadavadesa sandhi.. hahaha LOL) from different regions.  Not to belittle any other dish from this region but this one definitely stands out among all other pullagooras. And to cut the story short it is Bendakaya Pullagoora. If made with tender okra/bendakaya this one can make one's day  slipperily happy. Slippery because thats how the final outcome will be. And combine it with sangati it will be all the more slippery. So slippery that you dont have to chew on.
True to its name, pullagoora is sour, but it doesnot stop there it is sour/spicy. So here is the simple procedure for the tasty dish.
Ingredients
bendakaya/okra   1/2kilo
Green chillies  (Thai variety will be good)
Lime sized tamarind
2 medium sized tomatoes
Salt

For the seasoning
Mustard seeds
Curry Leaves
1Onion medium diced
Dried red chillies


Wash the Okra, wipe them off with a dry cloth. Then cut them into medium sized pieces. Dice the tomatoes too medium sized. Soak the tamarind in just a little bit of water. Add a tea spoon of oil into a deep vessel, and when the oil is hot enough add the bendakaya/okra pieces and saute for about 1 minute just to get the slipperyness off a bit. Follow with Green chillies. Then add tomatoes add some salt and cook on slow heat covered with a lid.  After about 10 minutes add the soaked tamarind and let it cook until everything is soft and mashable. Once everything in the vessel is cooked all the way, mash the ingredients in it  with a pappu gitta.
Then season with the mustard seeds, curryleaves, dried red chillies and then finally onions.
Top it with  chopped cilantro and voila my yummy bendakaya pullakoora will be ready.
Eat it with hot rice or mudda/sangati for lunch you could just take a long afternoon nap right at the table. No I am not kidding especially when you eat it with Ragi mudda, there is no way you could just be active after having this heavy lunch. And yes I had this oh so yummy lunch when my dear friend Sa visited me last weekend. And she had a bonus too that afternoon, peanut chutney urf Oorimindi which is the staple as well as comfort food for us.  And last but not least we had perugu/curd with the sangati which is just the best way to feel drowsy after lunch.

Apart from other important things that I realized the importance of, living in the US made me realize how precious was my mom's cooking, especially dishes that we as kids took granted for. Cooking dishes like pullagoora just bring back all those fond memories of childhood.
Here are some pictures taken last week end before lunch!

 

Sweet Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day, though not something I had knowledge of until the year 2000, it has become something special in my life through the decade. The first valentine's day I ever celebrated, I gave my colleagues each one a rose, and all of them so happy decided to pool all the flowers together in a vase  and swap them everyday to each one's cube! And the flowers lasted almost a month to my surprise. A decade later, February 14th 2010 was and will be the most memorable Valentine's day in my life. All these years I made myself happy by giving gifts to people I felt were nice, good hearted  and ofcourse to my near and dear ones on that day. But something really special happened that day and now I have something most precious as a lifetime gift with me, my lovely googly second kid!! what else could I have asked for on that day? Not that he wouldnot be any less special if born on any other day, but for me that was definitely  an unexpected sweet surprise. Happy Valentine's day to you all and let the spirit of Love win over all the hate, and let us give our best of our hearts to those who are in need of Love!!
And here is one Sweet treat to all my readers " The one and only Oliga AKA Bobbattu/Holige/Bakshalu"

Seema Vankaya Talimpu

An easy, tasty, and healthy main/side dish it is. My mom being a great cook and all has one small but potential flaw with her school of thought, that "she knows it all". So there were very few things that she wanted to try by knowing from others' cooking. If only she would be willing..we would have tasted all cuisines at home. But nevertheless she is always the best cook and the best mom as is everyone's mom to them. One such tasty "talimpu" that we missed all those years, is this week's entry " Seema vankaya tamlimpu". One of those days when I usually called her up and asked her what can be done with "Chayote", she gave me a recipe which she learnt from her big sis-inlaw. Hmm now this thing must have tasted heaven if she did learn it from her and not just that if she was sharing it then I thought this was special . Above all the recipe was just plain simple that it could be cooked in 15 minutes.
what you need
3 medium size seema vankaya/chayote

1 small onion diced
Seasoning                                                                              
mustard
curryleaves

Special powder                              
Dry coconut 2 tbspn
6-7 dried red chillies

Fry the dried chillies in just a bit of oil. Powder the coconut and red chillies and keep aside. Peel,wash and cut the chayote into 1/2 inch trapeziums ( just to give you the exact shape). Now add oil to a frying pan and season with mustard seeds and curryleaves. Add the seema vankaya pieces fry them for about 5 minutes and add enough salt. Add diced onions now and stir. Now cover the pan with a lid and wait till the vanakya piecs become a bit soft. Finally add the powder to the pieces and give it a stir. that is it, our talimpu is done. You can eat it with hot steaming rice as a main dish or a side dish if you wish.
Now tell me was that not easy??

Bhogi Dosa and Pitikipappu koora

Hope you all had lots of fun along with lots of special Sankranthi dishes. I know most of you must have started off the day with Sweet Pongal. Back home where I am from we start eating dosas with a special curry called "PitikiPappu koora" since almost a month before Sankranthi. Hmm the thought of dosas and pitikipappu makes me run towards the kitchen and make some. Well there is enough dosa batter for 2 more days so there is always time. So for those of you who are wondering what this "weird sounding" dish is I will give a brief description of what it is made of, and how it is made. The curry mainly is made by using beans for which I still have to look up the botanical name. The beans are called Anapakayalu ( not the AAnapakaya/sorakaya), and look just like chikkudu. Usually in the winter season when the anapakayalu become available they are boiled just like " Ground nuts"/Senakkayalu and eaten by removing the outer layers. But the more tender pods are pressed off their sheaths and sundried so that they can be used for later. The fresh ones are for the current season, and the dried ones for the later. Anyways that is how I got the dried pods here in the US. Here is the recipe for the curry.
Ingredients:
1. 2 cups of dried beans (pitikipappu)
2. 4 medium sized potatoes peeled and diced
3. half onion diced
4. 2 medium tomatoes
For the Masala
2inch ginger, 6-7 garlic cloves
1 clove, 1/2 inch cinnamon, 5-6 pudina (Mint) leaves
dried coconut2 tbspn, 1spn chillipowder (2 if mild)
3tbspn peanuts (fried and skin peeled off)

Now for the making, just grind the masala ingredients into a fine paste.
In a pressure cooker add 2 spns oil, and season with mustard, curryleaves. Follow with Onions, and then the dried pappu. later add the potatoes fry them for a bit, and then add the masala fry a bit, and finally add tomatoes diced followed by 3 cups of water. Put the lid over the pressure cooker, and let it cook until one whistle. Take it off the heat let the pressure reduce, and then once the lid is taken off garnish with cilantro. Eat it with dosa or chapathi and you will find the road to heaven!! Here are some pics with the ingredients and the finale! You can see Suhaas's hand digging into the dosa without any further delay!!

Sankranthi Subhakankshalu!

Makara Sankranthi Subhakankshalu !! to all my dear readers! Here is a pretty picture of Lilies from my garden for the colorful festival! Will be back tomorrow with today's Sankranthi Special at my home!

Palak Paratha

This one I got from my dear Bro out of the blue yesterday night. I know he is a good cook too but yesterday's paratha turned out surprisingly tasty. It was green which is why scored so well. Simple, quick and healthy too! Without wasting any more time here I am giving you the recipe for the paratha.
Ingredients
1. whole wheat flour - 2 cups
2. 1tbsp oil
3. pinch salt
4. 2tbsp yogurt
5. 2 handfuls of spinach chopped
6. half of an onion/medium size diced very fine
7. 1tsp chilli powder

Making the Paratha
Mix all the ingredients and try to make dough ( it will be a bit soft with the onion and spinach but dont worry). You donot have to let it sit for a while. So make a big lime sized balls from the dough, and start pressing them just like usual chapathi. Just make sure you use lot of flour while pressing so that it wont stick. You can try to make it thin or thick as other parathas, but I would go with thin since it can be well made easily. Fry it on a thick pan just like usual chapathi ( Me I would add lots of oil to fry it but the choice is all yours). There your Green Paratha is ready to be devoured..is it a strong word to use??? No not at all once you see the result. Try it with any curry or just eat it plain.
Ciao for now.
Sunitha

Ha's Pepper Chicken

Dearest Ha (Harini) is a wonderful cook apart from being a wonderful human being that I would one day want to be. Although we share memories of 2 decades, our culinary sharing started a few years back. Here is one of those recipes she shared generously with me. As the name might suggest "Pepper Chicken" is definitely spicy, but so tasty that I ended up eating one and half cups of rice. So my diet conscious friends beware of the carbs you might suck in !
Here are the ingredients that Ha wanted me to add and nothing else (usually I try to customize, so this time I strictly followed her rules).
1) 1lb Chicken
2) 1 whole garlic clove
3) 20 Pepper corns
4) 3 Cloves, 2 inches cinnamon stick,
5) 1 tspn Jeera
6) 2 tb spn Dhaniya seeds
7) 6-7 Dried red chillies
8) 3 tb spn dried shredded coconut
9) Half onion medium sized
10) Curry leaves 10

Here is the process
Fry the pepper corns, Jeera, Dhaniya, Red chillies in a bit of ghee/clarified butter. First grind them into fine powder, add cloves, cinnamon, coconut, and then finally garlic and Onion. Now in a pan or pot add 2tbspn oil, add curry leaves, and the washed and cut chicken. Add a bit of turmeric, salt and wait till the water evaporates off the chicken. And now is the time to add the magic masala we grinded a while ago to the chicken. Stir the masala into the chicken, and leave it on medium heat uncovered for a while, say about 10 minutes. later add a cup of water, and cover with a lid. wait till the masala and chicken is all cooked and then take the lid off. Let the water evaporate, and then finally add some cilantro leaves if you like. Believe me this one needs nothing else to make it good! And once you are done eat it with rice or chapathi and let me know how you liked it.

Am back

Happy and Prosperous New Year 2011 to all my friends! Albeit a little late in entering a new post, I am here with some thing right. let me see if I can stick to my new year's resolution..hmm I am trying to tie myself up with my statements so that atleast this will make me stick to the resolution which is posting a new recipe every week at the least ( Wondering what my other resolutions are Never mind). So here I am with the new Year wishes as my first post for the Year and here is a lovely picture of one of my favorite corners of my home ( had been into home improvement last year, which included our fireplace. So The Buddha sits there giving insights into my day to day life.) If you are wondering what else I was into in the past year, here is a briefing. Into my cute kiddos, into home improvements ( improvements were actually done mostly by dear Hubby, but who did the planning, myself ofcourse), and into a pet project that had its lid closed for almost two years ( will let you know more in my future scribblings). so the gone year had its share of happiness and sorrow, had a new entry into the family, but then lost a family member, lost some friends. Hopefully I never have to lose anyone, ever. To a bright, cheerful year with no natural and man made disasters!!! Check for two mouth watering recipes " Palak Paratha" and oooh so spicy " Pepper Chicken".