Methi Dal

Ingredients:

1 cup packed menthu akkulu/menthu kura
1 cup toor dal (kandi pappu)
1 medium sized onion chopped finely
1 tomato, finely chopped (optional)
4-5 green chillis 
1/3 tsp turmeric 
2 whole dry red chillis(deseed and tear into pieces)
5 garlic flakes slightly crushed
1 tsp chopped ginger
10 curry leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds 
1 tsp salt
oil
chopped coriander leaves for garnish
2 cups water

Method:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauce pan and add the mustard seeds and let them splutter.
2. Now add the cumin seeds, slightly crushed garlic, whole red chilli pieces and curry leaves and fry for a minute. 
3. Now add the chopped onions, chopped ginger and green chillis and fry for 2 minutes on medium heat. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute for 3 mts. Remove from heat.
4. Add this tempering mixture and turmeric to tur dal and add 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker.Now add the washed and picked fenugreek leaves on top and pressure cook upto till three to four whistles or until tur dal is soft.
5. Wait until the pressure is released and remove the lid.
6. Add salt to this cooked mixture and mash with ladle till well combined.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice and ghee, 

Pachi Pulusu

INGREDIENTS:

Tamarind - 1/2 lemon sized
Jaggery - 1/2 lemon size piece
Onion - 1 small onion finely chopped
Brinjal(big) - 1
Red Chillis - 2
Jeera - 1tsp
Green Chilli-2
Coriander leaves - a fist full
Oil-2tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Jeera - 1tsp
Curry Leaves- 1 sprig
Water - 3 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/4th tsp
Salt acc to taste

METHOD:

1. Soak the tamarind in the water and squeeze out the pulp.
2. Strain the water and add the jaggery and let the jaggery dissolve.
3. Take a morter and pestel and pound the red chillis and jeera to a coarse powder.
4. Heat the vankaya on the stove and after it is fried remove the peel and mix the pulp to the tamarind water.
5. Add the onion and and mix well. Now add the finely chopped coriander leaves , mix well and keep aside.
6. Once the jaggery has melted add the onion mixture and salt and mix well.
7. Heat oil once hot add the mustard seeds , jeera and fry , now add curry leaves and turmeric powder and immediately add to the pulusu.
8. Serve with rice.

MUDDA PAPPU

Mudda Pappu is the comfort food of Andhras. Pressure cooked tur dal, mashed and salted is served as a first course in the Andhra traditional meal, and is eaten mixed with hot steamed white rice, a dollop of ghee and the famous Andhra avakai (mango pickle). No words can describe the down to earth flavor of the dal and comfort of this delicious combination. Its sure manna from heaven!!
Preparation of ‘mudda pappu’ is very simple. When cooked right, these lentils which are chewy yet tender, are very flavorful and comforting. Traditionally, Indian toddlers and children are fed a nutritious diet of lentil and rice with a dollop of ghee during their growing up years.

Ingredients:
1 cup kandi pappu (toor dal)
salt to taste
approx 1 1/2 cups water (enough water for the dal to immerse)

Method:

1. Roast toor dal lightly in a heavy bottomed vessel on medium heat till light brown, The dal can be pressure cooked even without dry roasting. Its your choice.
2. Add just enough water to the dal till it is immersed. Pressure cook it. Once cooked, add salt to taste and mash it well.
3. Serve with hot steamed rice, clarified butter (ghee) and avakai (mango pickle) or any pickle of you choice. Other than this combination, most Andhra homes, eat mudda pappu normally in combination with a tangy-sweet flavored gravy called “theepi pulusu” or chaaru.

Beetroot Curry

Beetroot is one of the veggies that my parents and brother is not too fond of 'coz of its sweetness. I personally dig it a lot, so had to find a way to make them change their strong opinion. This curry did the trick - my vadinas's recipe.... The tough part was convincing that they will not be disappointed with the dish.....But my vadinas recipe was a magic it worked successfully.... by adding mango to it...it got a marvelous taste.

INGREDIENTS: -

Beetroot - 2 (grated)
Raw mango - 1/2 (grated)
Green chillies - 2-3
Salt - as required
Garlic - 5-6 pods
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

METHOD: -

1. Heat oil add jeera , mustard seeds and garlic clove and fry
2. Add the slot green chillies.
3. Add the grated betroot and cook for 10- 15 min till it is completly cooked.
4. Now add the salt
5. Add 1/2 grated raw mango and mix well and cook for 2 min
6. Garnish with chillies and serve with roti's and rice.

MAKING OF GINGER GARLIC PASTE

Ingredients:-

Ginger root - 150 grams
Garlic - 150 grams
Turmeric - a pinch

Method:-

1. Scrape the skin from the Ginger root. Wash it and cut it into chunks. Keep it aside. Peel Garlic.
2. Put the ingredients in a blender. Add a little water, just enough to help in the grinding.
3. Store in a clean airtight jar.
4. To increase shelf life of the paste, use a little oil instead of water in step 2.

Idly batter

Ingredients

2 cups Idli Rava
1 cup Urad dal
Salt to taste

Method:

1)  Soak Rava in plain water for 4 hrs.
2)  Soak dal in plain water for 4 hrs.
3)  Make a fine paste of Urad dal & keep aside.
4)  Take a handful of rava & tightly squeeze the water out of it & add it to the urad dal paste.
5)  Continue untill all the rava is done.
6)  Add Salt to it & mix well.
7)  Leave OVERNIGHT in a warm place for fermentation.

Idly

Method:

Steam the  idly batter in Idli stand for 8-10 mins and serve hot with coconut chutney 

EGG BHURJI

Egg Bhurji is one of my favoraite dish.....This is the dish i prepared for first time in cooking at the age of 16 yrs and the curry was burnt and didnt come out well as i cooked it in high flame.....and i first made my brother to taste it......he joined his hands and told "ninu evadu chesukuntado kani..vadi pani anthe".........sounds funny rit.........but now iam expert in this dish..and all my family members loves this dish....
now after a short story...here is the recipe

INGREDIENTS:-

Eggs - 3
Onions - 2 medium sized finely chopped
Oil- 2 tbsp
Green chillies - 1 or 2 coarsly chopped
Salt as required
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Red chilly powder- 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds-1tbsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp

METHOD:-

1. Heat oil and add mustard seeds and jeera and let them splutter.
2. Now add the finely chopped onions and green chillies salt and turmeric and fry till onions becomes translucent.
3. Add red chilli powder and garam masala ,ginger garlic paste and fry for another 2-3 min till a nice aroma is released.
4. Add the eggs and keep stirring till the whole onions mixture is coated by the eggs and fry till done

DONDAKAYA FRY

Dondakaya Vepudu, a popular Andhra style preparation, where the finely sliced gherkins are infused with a tempering of fresh curry leaves and mustard seeds and stir fried in a coarse powder of roasted dry red chillis, cumin seeds and peanuts.
This stir-fry recipe is simple, though the preparation part of slicing the gherkins is time-consuming, but worth the effort. The dondakaya stir-fry has a nice crunchy texture with a mild spice-sweet nutty flavor due to the red chillis and peanuts and goes well with steamed white rice.

Ingredients:-

Dondakayalu / Ivy Gourds - 1/4 kg
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
fresh curry leaves - 10-12
turmeric pwd - pinch
salt to taste
oil - 1 1/2 tsp
roasted peanuts (garnish) - 1-2 tbsp

To be roasted in oil and ground to a coarse pwd:

few drops of oil
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
2 dry red chillis – remove stalk, tear into two and de-seed (adjust according to your spice level)
1 1/2 tbsp roasted peanuts

METHOD:-

- Wash the dondakayalu and nip the tip and tail ends. Slit each gherkin into two, length wise, as shown in the picture and slice them into thin long strips.

- Heat a few drops of oil in a cooking vessel. Once the oil is hot, reduce heat to medium flame, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter and turn brown. Add the red chillis and fry for a few seconds stirring continuosly. Turn off heat and cool. Once cool, add roasted peanuts to this roasted spice mix and grind to make a coarse powder.

- Add oil in the same pan and heat it till hot. Reduce to medium flame and add the mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add the curry leaves ,stir them till the aroma come out.

- Immediately add the sliced dondakayalu and combine. Add salt and turmeric pwd and mix well. Saute on medium heat for 3-4 minutes , keep sauteing them so that it doesn’t burn. Now reduce to low flame and let it cook covered till soft, approx 12-15 minutes. Keep checking inbetween, sauteing them so that they dont burn. The sauteed dondakayalu lose moisture and begin to have a wrinkled appearance and turns to a deeper color.

- Don’t overcook the dondakayalu, they should retain that, slight crunchy texture. Add the ground coarse pwd at this stage and combine well and let it cook, uncovered for another 2 minutes on medium heat. Turn off heat.

- Finally adjust the salt and garnish with roasted peanuts. Serve hot with steamed rice, dal or sambar

SENAGAPAPU CURRY

Senagapapu curry .......this sounded me some thing new when i had seen this curry in my cozin sabitha s blog......read the whole story i.e recipe ....and without the next thought went to kitchen and had tried out the curry and it turned out the awesome , delicious and mouth watering........thanks sabitha akii for ur gr8 reciepe...hope i could get some more reciepes from ur blog...

INGREDIENTS: -

Senaga pappu (chana dal) -2 cups
Onion- 1 big
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Dhania seeds - 1tbsp
Jeera - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Green chillies - 4-5
Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp
Red chillies- 2-3
Red chillie powder - 1tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt as required
Oil - 3tbspMETHOD: -

- Soak the senaga pappu for abt 1 hr before u start cooking.
- Make a paste of onions, dhania seeds and 1 tsp of jeera.
- Add the above paste , garam masala powder , ginger garlic paste , red chillie powder , turmeric and salt to the soaked senagappu and leave for 10min.
- Heat oil add the mustard seeds ,1/2 tsp jeera, curry leaves and red chillies and fry for a min.
- Now add the senagapappu mixture and green chillies and cook for abt 10min.
- Add a cup of water and close the cooker and cook until 2 whistles.
- Garnish with coriander.

Long Beans Stir Fry

Ingredients :-

Cluster Beans - Snip of the ends, wash and chop fine - 250 gms
Medium sized Onion - Chopped fine - 1
green chillies - Slit lengthwise - 2
Grated Fresh coconut for Garnishing
Oil - 2
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
a few curry leaves

Method :-

1. In a pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.Then add the urad dal, onions, green chillies, curry leaves and hing. Saute for a minute.
2. Add the chopped cluster beans, a pinch of Turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix well.
3. Close with a lid and cook until the cluster beans are cooked and tender. When the curry is dry, add the grated coconut and mix well.
4. Serve hot with Rice and Sambar, Dal or Rasam!

Omlett

This may sound silly..seeing omelet in a blog...this is my heart favorate ...when i was a kid this is my favorate breakfast and my snack after the school. I learned it when i was in high school and got excellently .
I think each person has his/her own recipe for omelet. This is the very basic one. Some people add tomatoes, coriander leaves to it

Ingredients:-

Egg - 1

Onion (cut into small pieces) - 1 tbl spn
Green chillies(cut into small rounds) - 2 or chilli powder - ½ tea spn
Tomato(cut into small pieces)(optional) - 1 tbl spn
Oil/ghee - ½ tea spn
Salt - as required

Method: -

1. Mix onion , tomato, chillies (or chilli powder), chopped coriander and salt and mix well.
2. Now add the egg to it and mix well with spoon.
3. Heat tava. Apply oil or ghee to it.
4. Pour the egg mixture on tava. Lift the tava and tilt it sideways to spread the mixture on tava.
5. Reduce the flame and fry it from both sides.

ON THE ENGUAGEMENT DAY

Enguagement day :April 12 2008

One Of The Best day in my life.

The House was completly decorated with flowers and fruits........

here's the pics

Sambar

sambar is universal dish in south india ....itsmy families all time favorite dish which is almost served daily as side dish in dinner with the hot rice or in chapathis or in hot steamed idlies.....
my mother is a specialist in preparing this sambar
I advice everyone to taste this atleast once, I can bet you will love it.

Ingredients: -

tur dal (red gram,kandi pappu) - 1 cup
chopped carrots into 1” pieces - 1/4 cup
green chillis - 3
baby onions whole - 4-5
tomato cut into 4 pieces - 2
chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
curry leaves - 10
thick tamarind paste - 1 tsp
water - 4-5 cups
salt to taste
asafoetida(hing,inguva) - 1/4 tsp
METHOD:-

1. Soak the dal for 15 minutes and drain. Add 2 cups of water and pressure cook it and once it is cooked cool it and grind it or smash it thoroughly.
2. Now cool all the vegetables in 2 cups of water for about 7- 8 minutes after the pressure is reached.
3. Once its cooked add dal paste, tamarind paste turmeric pwd, green chillis, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt and let it cook for 12-15 minutes on medium heat.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add 2 whole red chillis and 1/4 tsp asafoetida and remove from fire and add to the boiling sambar. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Remove from fire and serve with hot rice or idlies

ABOUT ME

Hi....Iam Preethi varma This is my first blog which marks my entry into the beautiful world of bloggers. off late i've been reading a lot of blogs on indian food but was'nt sure as to how to start my own blog but one day i found in google the procedure to start a blog of my own. so after reading many indian food blogs even i decided to start my own food blog and today finally i succedded in starting one...am not a great cook but i njoy food...especially north indian and non veg food...i learnt cooking very recently as iam getting married to a wonderful person varma from a beautiful family on dec 7 and going to singapore after marriage and i've decided to start cooking tasty stuff and not trouble my husband.

I enjoy cooking and grew up watching and eating my grandmothers mothers and my darling vadinas receipes ....they all helped me in leaning cooking and special thanks to my sis sabitha who has given me an idea to start a blog and i was much inspired by her and thanks to all fellow bloggers who have given sum wonderful recipes in their blogs...have njoyed a lot reading them and will b tryin them out soon...

ganapathi