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.