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.