Monday

Aloo Kurma






Ingredients:
6 Small white baby potato- 6 (you can use any kind of potato)
1 Medium onion
3 slit Green chilies
2 Medium tomatoes
½ tbsp Ginger garlic paste
2 Cloves
2 Cardamom- 2
 ½ inch cinnamon stick
2 Small bay leaves
1 cup Yogurt
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
2 pinches of turmeric
Salt to taste
¼ bunch coriander leaves (chopped finely)

Method:
Chop potatoes into medium size and steam cook in microwave or on stove till they are soft.  
Then peel them and keep aside
Now take a pot, add 2 spoons of oil. Once the oil is heated, add bay leaves,cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom. Fry for few seconds and then add green chilli, onion and fry till onion is translucent.
Add ginger garlic paste and turmeric and fry till the raw smell is gone.
Now add chopped tomato and cook till the tomato is soft. Add red chilli powder, cumin powder and potatoes pieces and fry for 2min.
Now add yogurt and chopped coriander and cook for 3-4 more min. Hot and tasty aloo kurma is ready! It goes well with Veg Biryani, coconut rice and Mushroom rice!

Onion Pakora


Ingredients:
2 cups of chana (Besan)  flour
1 thinly sliced onion
10-11 slides green chillies
3 tbspns of Ginger thinly sliced
10-11 curry leaves
1 cup of cashew nuts
1 tbsp jeera
2 pinches baking soda
oil for frying
4 tbsp of rice flour/Jowar flour
1/4 spoon of  Coriandar seeds
salt to taste

Method:
Take a bowl,  add very thin sliced onions, green chillies,ginger sliced,curry leaves and mix well
In a bowl soak cashew nuts for 10min in water and add them to the above mixture
In another bowl, add chana flour, 4 spoons of rice flour, salt, baking soda, jeera, coriander seeds, 2 tbspns of oil and mix well. To it add the onion mixture and again mix well. If needed, sprinkle a little bit of water and mix again.
Heat oil and deep fry till it is golden brown.

Now very crispy and tasty pakora is ready! It stays fresh for more than 10 days if stored in a air-tight container



Squash/Zucchini Pacchadi



Ingredients:
1 Squash/Zucchini– peel the skin and cut into medium size pieces and wash it
15-20 green chillis (as per your spice levels)
½-1 bunch of coriander (Adjust to the size of squash)
2 tbsps cooking oil
2 garlic pods
1 tbsp split urad dal
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

1 tsp dhaniyalu (coriander seeds)
¼ spoon fenugreek seeds
Salt to taste
1 small lime sized tamarind
1 tsp cooking oil
¼ onion – Finely chopped

Method

Heat 1 tbsps of cooking oil in a pan.  
On low flame fry urad dall till the dal turns light gold/red in color.
Add jeera, coriander, fenugreek seeds and fry for a few seconds (about 30 secs).
Add Squash/Zucchini pieces and green chillies and fry for about 10min.
Now add coriander and tamarind and fry for 2 more min. Now Turn off the flame and set aside to cool.


In the mixie jar, grind 2 garlic pods and salt coarsely. And add the mixture and grind it coarsely.
Transfer the chutney from the mixie jar into a dish and add chopped onions and serve with hot rice and ghee. Believe me it tastes heavenly! 




Curd Rice: Daddojanam

Ingredients:

Rice --- ½ Cup (125 ml)
Water --- 1 cup (250 ml)
Curd --- 1 cup (adjust it )
Oil --- 1  tbsp
½ tbsp Channa Dal
½ tbsp Urad Dal
¼ tbsp Mustard Seeds
Curry Leaves --- a few
2 tbsp finely chopped Ginger
4 Green Chillies slit
Coriander Leaves --- a few (chopped)

Method:

Clean the rice with water and Add twice the water to the rice.Cook in a cooker till done.
 Let it cool.
Add curd and enough salt to the rice and mix well.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan (it takes less oil for this recipe), add slit green chillies and chopped ginger and fry for a min. Now add channadal, urad dal, mustard seeds and curry leaves and fry till chana dall turns brown. Add this seasoning to the the rice mixture. Simple yet very tasty curd rice is ready!



Sunday

Sambhar Andhra Style





Ingredients:
1 cup tur dal(split red gram,kandi pappu)-washed and boiled till soft or pressure cooked
1 chopped big tomato
5-6 baby onions (peeled)
15 Drum Stick pieces ( boiled for 10min)
3-4 slit green chillis
2 tsp sambhar pwd(MTR is a good brand)
2 tbsp tamarind paste (or big lemon sized tamarind pulp soaked in warm water to remove the extract)
1 tbsp salt
1/4 bunch Coriander

Seasoning:
2-3 Red chillies
1/4 tbsp mustard seeds, cumin seeds
10 fenugreek seeds
3-4 Garlic pods
Curry Leaves

Method:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep vessel. Add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, dry red chilli and Garlic pods and fry till fenugreek seeds turn brown.
Add all the veggies along with slit green chillies and fry for 2min
Now add Turmeric powder, Sambhar powder and salk and mix well.
Add the pressure-cooked tur dal along with 2 cups of water and cook for 4 more minutes.
Once the mixture begins to boil, add tamarind pulp, add two crushed garlic pods and ¼ bunch of coriander leaves and let it boil till the rawness of tamarind disappears. Now the hot piping and very tasty sambhar is ready to be served.. you can have it with Rice, idli or Dosa.