Happy Ugadi

Ugadi Subhakanshalu.
Wishing you all a very Happy NewYear.

Ugadi is the New Year’s Day for the people of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. In Andhra and Karnataka it is called Ugadi, whereas in Maharashtra it’s called Gudipadava. Ugadi marks the beginning of new Hindu lunar calendar with a change in the moon’s orbit.

On Ugadi we make Ugadi Pachchadi, which has tamarind, jaggery, raw mango and neem flowers. The significance behind this preparation is that life is a mixture of good and bad, joy and sorrow and all of them have to be treated alike.

To make Ugadi Pachchadi:

Tamarind pulp
Jaggery
Small pieces of raw mango
Neem flowers (In U.S we don’t find neem flowers, so I made mine with out them)
Small pieces of banana
Little bit of red chillie powder and
A pinch of salt

Soak tamarind in water for few minutes or microwave for 20 seconds. Squeeze the pulp, the consistency should be little thick (if u feel it’s too thick, u can always add water). Now add jaggery, mango, banana, neem flowers, red chillie powder and salt.

Offer to the god and then eat as prasadam.

Previously posted on mar 19th ‘07

Atukula upma ( Poha upma)

• Atukula (poha/Avalaki) upma is very common tiffin (breakfast) item in Karnataka. The first time I tasted this was in my in-laws house. I am not sure if Andhra people do this upma or not, but my mom never made this. I loved it the very first time I tasted it. All I can say is simplicity at its best.

• Its a very simple recipe which can be whipped up in less than ten minutes. Ultra satisfying and always comes in handy for a quick fix meal.

Recipe:

Poha (Atukulu/Avalaki) - 2 cups

Medium onion- 1

Peanuts about 10

green chille- 4

few curry leaves

coriander leaves

lemon juice and salt.

• In a skillet add a tablespoon of oil followed by mustard seeds. When mustard starts to dance around add the peanuts, half teaspoon each of chana dal and urad dal. When slightly brown add the green chille and curry leaves. Then add the onions, a pinch of salt, turmeric and cook till onion becomes soft.

• While the onion is cooking take the poha under the cold water and rinse it of twice. Put the poha immediately in the collander and drain the excess water.

• Once the onions are soft add the poha, followed by salt. Reduce the heat to low and cook the poha for five to seven minutes. Once done add some lemon juice and chopped coriander.

NOTE:

Its important to use thick poha for this recipe, if not poha will become mushy.

Stuffed aloo baji in a croissant

• I have had the above picture in flick r photos for about three months now. I uploaded it thinking i will post the recipe soon.

• But i kept postponing it. Few of my readers have asked me that they could not find the recipe. I am sorry about that. Finally i am posting the recipe today.

• Life has been quite busy recently and blogging had definitely taken a back seat. I will try to post atleast a couple of recipes in a month. Fingers crossed……

• Coming to the recipe- I just used the store bought croissant dinner rolls, stuffed them with potato curry and baked them in the oven for few minutes.

Recipe:

• Pillsbury reduced fat croissant dinner rolls- 1 pack
• Potato curry (For the recipe, click here)

• The croissant dough which i bought come in a tin. When you open it, you will find dough in the form of a square shape. It has some dots on the dough, just cut the dough following the dots and you will end up with eight traingle shaped dough.

• Now fill little bit of potato curry in the center of the dough. Start rolling from one end to the other end. Now put the croissants in a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes depending upon your oven temperature.
• Can be served with hot and sweet tomato sauce, found in the Indian stores.

NOTE:

1. Croissant dinner rolls are found in any American supermarkets here in the U.S.
2. Make the potato curry little bit more spicy than usual because croissant is buttery and mild. So to compliment that you need to have the curry little spicy.
3. Put a good amount of curry inside the dough, because when it bakes the croissant puffs up.

• For a sweeter version, instead of potato curry i put few chocolate chips( about 10 ) and few walnuts pieces.

Thotakura pappu (Amaranth leaves Dal)

• Thotakura pappu is a very common dal in the Andhra house holds. I remember my mom making this dal at least twice a week. After moving to U.S Amaranth leaves have become like a childhood memory for me. I don’t see them that often in the Indian grocery stores here. But when i do find them, I don’t miss a chance in making this dal.

• Pappu (dal) with some kind of greens or veggies is very common in Andhra. Pappu with hot rice, a dollop of ghee and avakaya (mango pickle) on the side are sure to please your taste buds. Simple and clean flavors which takes me down the memory lane.

• Preparation is very simple. Take the amaranth leaves with toor dal, onion, green chille and tomato to a pressure cooker. Cook until soft and finally do the tempering. It can’t get any simpler than this.

Recipe:

• Toor dal: half cup
• amaranth leaves- a bunch
• onion- 1/2
• Red juicy tomato- 1
• Green chille- 3 to 4
• Tamarind paste- 2 tsp
• and salt.

Procedure:

Cut the onion, green chille and tomatoe into small pieces. Wash the Amarath leaves, drain the water and chop them. Now take the toor dal, amarath leaves, green chille, onion and tomato with a pinch of turmeric in a vessel. Cook it in the pressure cooker till soft.

Once cooked, mash a bit and do the tempering with a tsp of oil, few mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp chana dal, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, few curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida.

Add the tempering to the cooked dal mixture. Now add the salt and tamarind and return the dal mixture to the stove and cook for another five minutes.

Serve the pappu with hot rice.

Pizza with nan

Pizza is definitely a comfort food. Who can resist a slice of pizza with a crispy crust, sweet and tangy tomato sauce , hot Jalapeno and to mellow it down some melted mozarella. This is one of those foods which i am totally addicted to.

Being a vegetarian my toppings pretty much remain the same. Onion, peppers, mushrooms and Jalapeño. Since i am not fond of olives,I generally avoid them.

NY has some of the best pizzas i have ever tasted. Thin crust, but generously a big size is sure to please your taste buds.

I make pizza at home with the help of some store bought ingredients.

A perfect replace for pizza dough can be found in Indian nan.

One nan with your favorite veggies, may be a salad and a soft drink can be one ultimate satisfying meal.

I made pizza for Valentines Day. So, what did you guys cook up …..

Recipe :

Nan (From Indian store)- 2

Small onion -1 (cut half inch lenght wise)

Red and green bell pepper - 1/2 each (cut half inch length wise)

Jalapeno- 1 (chopped)

Red crushed pepper

Tomato sauce (any brand, ok)

Shredded mozarella cheese ( I used the low fat) and

Olive oil.

• Take a pan add a bit of olive oil and fry the onion with a pich of salt and crushed red pepper. Cook just until they become little soft . Keep them a side.

• In the same pan sautee the jalapeno, red and green peppers with a pinch of salt. Cook just for two minutes. Keep them a side.

• Now take a nan add a layer of tomato sauce. Top it with onion, red, green pepper and some red crushed peppe. Finally top it with shredded mozzarella cheese.

• Put it in the toaster oven and cook it just until cheese starts melting.

• Since its just two of us, Instead of regular oven i make my pizza in the toaster oven. I dont put any foil or a plate in the bottom of pizza while its cooking. Since the heat comes directly in contact with the surface, you get a nice crispy base.

Note:

• If you are making for more than two, I would recommend making the pizza in the regular oven.

• Don’t over cook the veggies, you still want to have a bite to it.

Stuffed Bittergourd (Kakarkaya pottalu)

I assume most of you out there are not a big fan of bitter gourd like i was. Though its extremely bitter, it has tons of nutritional values to it. It stimulates digestion and is also very good for diabetes people.

A while back i asked Ven, how come most of the things which we like (sweets, fried items) are not healthy and the things which we don’t like (like certain type of veggies, fruits, whole wheat products) are healthy. He replied by asking me: why do you like something when you know its not healthy for you. I think we all know that, but we end up leaning towards the unhealthy stuff.

As of know my priorities and my eating habits are changing for good. Now my perspective is-just give a try and try getting use to it. You may not love it, but i am sure you will eventually like it. One vegetable i have adapted this kind of strategy is bitter gourd.

when ever my mom made stuffed bitter gourd, I used to eat the stuffing and just the seeds in the bitter gourd. But now i eat all of eat. If i am running the kitchen, In addition to just cooking i need to eat them to set a good example at least for the people around me.

 

 

 

Recipe:

Bitter gourd(Karela/Kakarkayi)- Medium size 2

Medium sized onion-1 (chopped to tiny pieces)

dalia powder/chanaga pappu powder- 4 tbsps

grated dry coconut - 1 1/2 tbsps

red chille powder- 1/2 to 1 tsp

and salt as desired

Procedure:

My mom’s version of cooking the Bittergourd:

My mom used to cook the whole bitter gourd in a pot with some salt, turmeric and tamarind. Once cooked she used to pan fry(not deep fry) the bitter gourd with a teaspoon of oil till its roasted on all sides. And then cut in the center and stuff the dalia and coconut mixture.

My version of cooking Bittergourd:

Cut the bitter gourd in to thin round circles. Pop them in the microwave and cook for good three minutes. Now in a pan put a teaspoon of oil and fry the bittergourd on both sides till golden brown. Sprinkle some salt and keep a side.

In the same pan, add some more oil and add the chopped onion. Cook until soft and then add the dalia, coconut, red chillie powder and salt. At this point the mixture will be dry, sprinkle few tablespoons of water which will help you make round balls out of it. Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and turn off the stove.

When the mixture is warm enough to handle, make round balls out of it. And serve this with the pan fried bitter gourd and hot rice.

Note:

If you want to take away at least little bit of bitterness from the BG, cook them in water with some salt, tumeric and tamarind. Drain and cut into small circles and pan fry them.

This recipe requires very little oil because we cook the BG in microwave/water. 

Recipe: Amma

 

Sankranthi Greetings

 

Wishing Family, Friends and Fellow bloggers a Very Happy Sankranthi!

Sankranthi Subhakanshalu from 14th-16th

• 14th -Bhogi
• 15th -Makara Sankranthi and
• 16th -Kanuma

For more info on the festival, checkout my Sankranthi post from last year.

Happy NewYear

Wishing family, friends and fellow bloggers A Very Happy NewYear!

నూతన సంవత్సర శుభాకాంక్షలు

Panettone Trifle

• If you watch Food Network regularly, then you might have heard about Panettone. All the Italian chefs in that channel rave about this bread from time to time. According to them this bread is very popular during Christmas and involves lot of labor in making. Panettone can be eaten just like that or can be used in bread pudding, French toast and in trifle to name some.

• I heard its an expensive bread, so never even bothered or tempted to buy it. But recently in our local Walgreen’s i happend to see some tiny mini panettones selling for a buck! I was like, let me just buy and taste this so much talked about bread. The one i bought had candid fruit and raisins in it.When tasted,I felt there was nothing different or anything special about this bread.It had the sweetness of a muffin, but more dense and firm bread.This is just my opinion!

• Recently i saw Giada making a trifle out of it. She used mascarpone cheese and coffee liqueur in her trifle. I replaced those with whipping cream and coffee.

Recipe:

(for two)

Mini Panettone ( cut to small cubes)

Bittersweet/ semi sweet chocolate chips- 1/4th cup

Powderes sugar- 1 tsp

Whipping cream- about 1 cup

Black coffee- 10 tsps

chocolate shavings for garnish

• Take chocolate chips in a microwaveable bowl and cook for 30 seconds. Remove mix it with a spatula. Then add the sugar and two teaspoons of coffee and mix. Then slowly fold in the whipping cream.Taste the mixture, if you feel its very chocolaty then add more whipping cream. Same with the sugar, you can add if you want more. For me, since i used semi sweet chocolate chips even 1 tsp of sugar was little too sweet.

• Now take two glasses put few panettone pieces in the bottom, add two tsps of coffee on panettone (make sure you drizzle the coffee on most of the pieces). Now add little bit of chocolate mixture , then cover with whipping cream. Now repeat another layer with panettone, coffee, then chocolate mixture. Now cover the glasses with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Let stand overnight.
• An hour before you serve, leave it on the counter top. It helps the panettone to come to room temperature. If not panettone and chocolate mixture will be thick and hard in texture.

• Right before serving, top it of with a dollop of whipping cream and some chocolate shavings.

(For chocolate shavings: Take a vegetable peeler and peel the chocolate like you would peel a carrot)

• I really loved the trifle, it was a very good treat for a chocolate lover like me. To my surprise Ven who is not a chocolate lover, also loved it! Its a keeper.But next time i may just do the trifle with my trusted companion pound cake!

Panettone Trifle is my entry to JFI Chocolate hosted by lovely Deepz

Recipe adapted from Giada of Everyday Italian.

• Note: Its important that the trifle sits for few hours before serving. If not the ingredients wouldn’t mingle and the taste wouldn’t be the same!

Panettone - Italian Bread

Panettone

 

A slice of panettone with a cup of milk

Merry Christmas

                                     

Wishing Family, Friends and Fellow bloggers a Very Happy Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

Rava laddoo

For the past few weeks, the food blogs, magazines and not to mention the food channel is being showered with sweet aroma of baking. Its been a lot of fun to see very interesting and unique breads, cookies and cakes being baked. After moving to states, I have always loved this time of the year. People are so into shopping, cooking and having some quality time with their family.

So, with all this spirit i decided to make an healthier version of oat meal cookies. I found this recipe in the net which had no butter or oil in it. I was little skeptical, but anyway went a head with the recipe. The outcome turned out to be bad, because of no moisture the cookies burned and crumbled. Though they tasted good, I had to discard most of them as they burned.

I didnt want to give up, so started browsing again for an healthier version of the cookie. But i couldn’t find any. So, i thought let me lean on my fellow bloggers for some help. So, my dear readers, can you help me out with an healthier version of oatmeal cookie - with less:sugar, flour and butter. Thanks in advance!

To be on safe side, I decided to lean towards our own Indian sweets. An all time favourite of my husband: Rava Laddoo.

Recipe:

Rava (semolina)- 1 cup
Coconut -1/2 (grated)
Sugar - 1/2 to 3/4th cup (adjust acc to your taste)
Ghee- 1/4th cup or as desired
milk- few teaspoons
Cardamom- 3 (Powdered)
Few cashews and raisins

Procedure:

Using a mixer make fine powder of the sugar.

In a pan put some ghee and fry the rava till light brown and nice aroma comes. Keep it on the side.

In the same pan add few more teaspoons of ghee and fry the freshly grated coconut till it turns pale brown.

Remove the coconut, add a tea spoon of ghee and fry the cashews and raisins till golden brown.

Now mix the rava, coconut, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, ghee, bit of warm milk, cashews and raisins. Try forming a laddoo with your palms. If the mixture is dry, add some more milk. That will work.



NOTE: Sugar and ghee can be adjusted according to your taste. Taste the laddoo for sweetness before making balls. And add accordingly, using powdered sugar makes it easy to incorporate with rava easily.

Patties with leftover Pongal

One of the best breakfasts of a South Indian house hold is Pongal. It tastes best when eaten hot. But when it sits for few hours, pongal tends to become thick. I feel that leftover pongal can be really boring to eat at times.

My mom used the leftover pongal to make patties. We used to have the pongal patties as a snack after school.

Its a very simple recipe which takes hardly ten minutes to make.

Recipe:

About 2 cups of pongal
Rice flour- 3 tablespoons
Green chillies (chopped)- 3
Onion (chopped)- 1/2
few coriander leaves
Salt and pepper

In a plate take 2 tbsps of rice flour, little bit of salt and pepper. Mix and keep it on the side.

In a vessel mix the pongal with a tablespoon of rice flour, green chillies, onion, coriander and salt. Make medium size patties with it. It might be little sticky. Now dust both sides of the patties with the rice flour, salt and pepper mixture.

In a pan put few teaspoons of oil and fry the patties about 3 minutes on each side. It should have a nice crispy texture on the top. But it will be still soft inside.

Serve immediately with coriander chutney.



Note: While frying, you need to put a good amount of oil.