Pindi Miriyam ~ Special from Andhra

Today's special is from Andhra. Pindi Miriyam is very famous in its own way. It's a dish very similar to avial with lots of vegetables but different in the way it's made. Though I have read about this a lot, never actually came around making it until Amma did. Amma made this from a paper cutting she had and it made quite a dish for dinner. And quite a regular too. This really comes handy when you want to clean up your fridge

These curries really help out on a tough day when you are pressed to think of a dish to make. I think I finally find myself hard to come up with a story to write or a story to talk about kids. They are enjoying their holidays from morning till evening. And if left to their own, through the night also. Whereas for myself, days are flying with the BM in progress. I hardly get to think of anything else than what to make for this and what else to check on. My latest craze has been photo submission to those food porn sites. I have submitted about 7 pictures and all are rejected. If I can applaud on my consistency I have enough reasons now, I have been consistently rejected. I wonder if this is very much how a jilted love feels! Anyway I am not anything if not persistent and I know perseverance always pays off. I shall come back to report one day of a photo being accepted...:)

Till then you can enjoy this Pindi Miriyam. Now don't ask me what and why it's called that. Maybe because it has Urad dal and pepper for the base, it's called that. I am not sure. But I can vouch for the excellent taste it renders itself to you!

Translation from Telugu to English
Pindi - Flour
Miriyam - Pepper

Pindi Miriyam

Ingredients Needed:

Toor dal - 3/4 cup
Turmeric a pinch
Sorakaya / Bottle gourd- 1/2 cup
Potato - 1
Raw Banana / Plantain - 1 medium
Brinjal - 3 small
Beans - 6- 7
Tamarind paste - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Coriander leaves, finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Oil - 5 tsp
Salt to taste

For Seasoning

Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves - 5
Hing/ Asafoetida a pinch
Cumin Seeds / Jeera  - 1/4 tsp

For Masala paste:

Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Cumin Seeds / Jeera - 1/2 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Whole pepper corns - 1 tsp
Red chilies - 4
Coconut, grated - 1/2 cup

Method to prepare:

Chop all the vegetables, add turmeric powder, par boil and keep aside.

Pressure cool the toor dal to soft texture. keep it aside.

For the masala paste, fry all the ingredients one by one in oil, keep it aside to cool. Make a paste with it by adding little water.

Once done, add this masala to the vegetables and bring to boil. Next goes the tamarind paste, cooked toor dal, bring to boil. When it reaches the required consistency of thick stew, do the seasoning.

To do the seasoning/ tempering, heat a pan with oil. Add all the seasoning ingredients. When the mustard starts to splutter, pour this over the boiling dal.

Finally add the finely chopped Coriander leaves.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha  
 Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena  
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja
Summer Coolers: PJ,  Vaishali  
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala,

Karnai Kizhangu Puli Kuzhambu | Kanda Gadda Pulusu

Daddy is very fond of tamarind based gravies that are sour, tangy and gives you that tinkling sensation. Amma makes these Kara kolambu with different ingredients. We have found that though the base is practically the same, the final taste changes based on the ingredient you add. Plus the fact that you got to cook certain vegetables in certain way before adding it to the gravy.

When Amma makes these Kara Kolambu with Shallot Onions, Okra, Manatakkali etc. We have never cooked with Yam. I have this tuber being cooked in various forms and some of the most delicious looking roasts are made with it. Yet because it gets itching sometimes, Amma has never cooked it at home. I remember my colleagues bringing yam that are roasted very crispy. I always declined saying I have never tasted it.

One of the change I have noted significantly after starting blogging has been being more open to trying out new ingredients. We finally decided that we should try Yam at home and one of the first dish that came to mind is Kanda Gadda Pulusu. This is one of the famous dishes from Andhra, yet I am not sure if what we made relates to that. Amma makes it more like how we make the Kara Kolambu as in Tamil Nadu.

Translation

Yam - Karnakalangu (Tamil), Kanda Gadda (Telugu)

Karnakalangu Kolambu | Kanda Gadda Pulusu

Ingredients Needed:

For Boiling Yam

Yam / Karuna Kizhangu / Kanda Gadda - 1 cup
Salt a pinch
Turmeric powder
Tamarind extract - a marble size.

For the gravy

Oil - 2 tsp
Curry leaves 5- 6
Mustard Seeds. Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
Methi Seeds / Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp
Garlic - 2-3 cloves
Onions , chopped - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 1/2 cup
Sambar powder -1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Tamarind pulp - small lemon size.
Coconut paste - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method to prepare:

Wash and remove the outer covering of the yam. Cut into 2" size.

For boiling the Yam.

Soak the marble size tamarind piece in water. Extract the pulp after 10 mins. Add 1/2 cup to the pulp extracted from marble size tamarind. In a bowl, add the tamarind water with yam pieces, little salt and turmeric. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 5 mins. Then drain the yam pieces and discard the water.

For the gravy.

Soak the other tamarind in water and extract the pulp.

Heat oil in a kadai, temper with mustard seeds, methi, garlic, urad dal, curry leaves. Then saute onion, when it turns colour add tomato pieces. Add sambar powder, salt and simmer with lid covered. Cook for 5 mins till the tomatoes turns mushy.

Then add the cooked yam pieces. Cook on high flame. Then finally add coconut paste. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve with steaming rice.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena  
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja  
Summer Coolers: PJ,  Vaishali  
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala,

Dalcha Recipe | How To Make Dalcha

Dalcha can easily be called a silent killer. Yes famous among its peers yet not so well known outside its crowd. While everybody knows and raves about Biryani, not many may know how important a dalcha is, when you talk about Biryani. Especially when it's a non vegetarian biryani. Growing up in a non vegetarian family I have often heard about Dalcha being talked about in reference to Biryani. Yet I never seen Amma preparing this often. It mostly belonged to the Muslim families, who make this with non veg added to the gravy. So you can imagine I never got around tasting it.

Yet during one of my conversation with our family friends who are experts in making Dalcha including the Muslim biryanis, I came to know that not all of them make a dalcha with non veg included. I was really so happy knowing that. Our family friend shared two recipes, one that I have kept aside for my book. The other one happens to be what Amma got from her. This is completely different from the other one, yet equally good.

As I was talking about how my hubby dear refuses to eat just plain Veg Biryani with Raitha, this is yet another gravy that has come to our rescue. We are still enjoying a relatively relaxed holidays with kids. Konda's school reopens 1st of June and she will be getting her books by the last week. While I was dreading the fact that there will be loads of books literally that I have to cover, FIL has promised to come down to help me.

Coming to the recipe, this is very healthy as it has different vegetables added to it along with dal.

Dalcha Recipe

Ingredients Needed

Vegetables added

Bottle gourd, chopped - 1 cup
Brinjal - 3 medium
Carrot - 1 medium
Beans - 5 nos
Potatos - 1 medium  
Tomato - 1 medium

Dals

Toor dal  - 1/2 cup
Bengal gram - 1/2 cup

For the paste

Coconut paste - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1"
Poppy Seeds / Gasa Gasa powder - 3/4 tsp

For the gravy

Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2
Tamarind - 1 marble size

For seasoning
Mustard, Curry leaves

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak the dals for 10 mins.

Chop all the vegetables and keep it aside.

Make a smooth paste with coconut, cloves, cinnamon, and poppy seeds.

In a pressure cooker, take everything excluding the seasoning, add 1 cup water and pressure cook for 2 whistle, switch off.

Once pressure is all released, add the tamarind juice bring to boil.

Finally season the gravy with mustard, curry leaves.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  

Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha  
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,  
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena  
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja  
Summer Coolers: PJ,  Vaishali  
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala,

Potato Masala ~ Delightfully Simple Feast!

Poori Kelangu is a term that evokes fond memories! I never knew this term almost until few years back and when I heard this being referred it almost reflected the attachment this dish has for many. It was in the hills of Kodaikanal that I heard the potato masala served with Pooris, being referred as Kelangu. The road side shops excelled in serving hot pooris with yummy kelangu. The chill mornings did nothing but added more joy being treated with this combo for a breakfast.

Pooris on Sundays have always been the way at home for many years. I guess almost ever! Only for a while it got alternated with Appam. But we are back on track. At parents place, its always Potato Masala or Channa Masala or Pessarappu Kura. I have continued the tradition after marriage. Though I don't really like potato much, this simple dish is something that's much cherished.


The first in the series for simple quick dishes for Bachelors, is Potato Masala. Of course, this is well known to all. Still I have tasted so many different varieties. It was to my utter disbelief I found recently that I had blogged on this simple dish. I make this in different ways and I believe all of them are simple, yet this variety gets done in 10 -15 mins of time. This is almost the same way its done for Masala dosa, yet sightly different when its accompanying Pooris.

Another thing that I am very particular is, the amount of Onions added. I like more of Onions in the potato, that it could well be called an Onion dish. Plus I like it as juliennes. It gives a distinct taste to the dish when you munch on the onion chunks while you sap up the hot pooris in it. This version is not very spicy, so makes it a great Kids dish too!

Preparation Time : 10 mins
Cooking Time : 10 mins
Serves :

Ingredients Needed:

Potatoes - 250 gms
Onions - 250 gms
Green chillies - 4 long chopped in middle
Cashew Nuts - 5 whole
Curry leaves - 5-8 leaves
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Turmeric a pinch
Water - 1/2 cup

Method to prepare:

Wash and cut the potatoes to half. When you are pressure cooking Potatoes, its always best if you chop them in middle and cook. This way it gets cooked fast. Once its done, peel the skin and roughly mash them. You will have small to big chunks of pieces.

Chop onions as juliennes. Heat a pan with oil. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, then add cashew nuts. Saute well. Add onions and fry for 2 mins in high flame.

The Onions should not turn brown. When it starts turning pink, add the salt and turmeric. Mix well.

Then add the potatoes and combine all together. Simmer for 2 mins. Then add the water and bring to boil.

It should not be too thick or running. Since you mash few potato pieces to almost paste, it will give thickness to the gravy.

Serve with deep fried delights, there is no words to describe this yummy combination. Puffed Pooris served with this yummy potato masala, sure makes you giddy with delight!