Cilantro Pickle (Kottimeera Pachadi)

కొత్తిమీర పచ్చడి

This is the most delicious pickle I ever had. Cilantro pickle not only tastes great but also smells great. Hubby dear made this on Saturday for lunch. Just look at the color! I am a great fan of the green color.

Ingredients:

A bunch of Cilantro ¼ cup Coriander Seeds (ధనియాలు) 3 or 4 Green Chilies ¼ tsp Turmeric 1 tsp Black Gram (Urad Dal) (మినప్పప్పు) ½ tsp Tamarind Paste

2 tsp Oil 1 tsp Cumin Seeds (జీలకర్ర) 2 Red Chilies ½ tsp Fenugreek Seeds (మెంతులు) A pinch of Asafetida (ఇంగువ) Salt

Method:

• Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds + coriander seeds + fenugreek seeds + black gram dal and fry until those turn golden brown. Then transfer those to a plate and keep aside.

• In the same pan heat the rest of the oil and add the cilantro leaves. Fry until the leaves loose the shape and texture. At the final stage, add the green and red chilies along with the turmeric and asafetida and stir well. Then transfer the contents to a different plate and leave aside to cool.

• When all the contents are cool, grind those into a fine paste by adding the tamarind paste and the salt. Add little water if required. The pickle should be thick in consistency. Adjust salt and spice level according to your taste.

• Enjoy this yummy cilantro pickle with hot rice and ghee.

I am sending this pickle to two events:

• Herb Mania: Coriander/Cilantro at Siri’s Corner. 'Herb Mania' is the brainchild of Dee of Ammalu's kitchen.

• Food In Colors – Green at Tongue Ticklers.

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Baked Onion Pakoda

Onion Pakoda baked for goodness

I’ve been thinking about baking pakodas instead of deep frying for several months now. But I couldn’t dare enough to try it. Finally I made these by crossing my fingers, but am surprised to see that these taste almost the same as deep-fried pakodas. I would definitely say these make a perfect snack for fat-conscious people. Try making these and let me know if you liked it or not! And the good thing is that it took only 20 minutes for me to bake these pakodas. The quantity I have given is good for two servings.

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Bread Rolls for MBP

I saw these bread rolls in Medhaa’s blog long back and bookmarked to try. Now I found a reason to make them today. Yeah, you guessed right! For “MBP: September – Say Cheese” event taking part at Siri’s corner, we have to cook something from other bloggers! So I made these delicious bread rolls for that cheesiest event.

I didn’t make any changes to the original recipe. For the filling I used Filling 1 (Mixed Vegetables) as suggested in the recipe. I just omitted cilantro (actually I forgot, he he). I tried the baking version at first, but couldn’t get the rolls perfect. So tried the deep-fried version again and voila! The bread rolls turned out perfect and delicious and irresistible. Thank you for the yummy recipe dear Medhaa! We all enjoyed the rolls so much, so will be making these often. Do visit Medhaa’s blog for many delicious and easy Sindhi recipes.

Updated to add the recipe on friends' request:

Here are the ingredients and procedure I followed to make these delicious Bread Rolls:

Ingredients:

• 4 loaves of Bread
• 1/2 cup of mixed Vegetables for filling (I used the mixture of grated carrot, finely diced onions and green chillies and some red bell pepper pieces)
• 1/4 cup of grated cheese (any kind) (I used 4 cheeses used for pizzas)
• A handful of Cilantro
• Oil to deep fry
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Mix together all the ingredients except oil and bread and keep aside.
2. Remove edges of the bread slices and keep aside.
3. In a plate pour some water or milk, dip each bread slice and gently squeeze out the excess water or milk by pressing the slice with your both palms.
4. Place some portion of the prepared mixed vegetable mixture in the center of each slice and bring the sides together to seal the edges completely and try to make an oval shape.
5. Do the same with rest of the slices.
6. Heat the oil in a deep-bottomed pan and add these prepared bread rolls one by one carefully.
7. Fry the rolls until those turn golden brown in color. Then take the rolls out of the oil and spread on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
8. These rolls are at their best when eaten hot. Enjoy with ketchup or any chutney.

These delicious bread rolls are my contribution for two events:

1. “MBP: September – Say Cheese” event being hosted by dear Siri. MBP (Monthly Blog Patrol) is the brainchild of Coffee of The Spice Café.

2. ½ cup of cheese was used in this recipe which is very rich in calcium and many other nutrients. So the rolls are entering dear Sangeeth’s “Eat Healthy – Calcium Rich” event too.
   
   
   

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Harmony of Eggplant and Yogurt (Vankaya Perugu Pachadi)

I feel like eggplant (brinjal) and yogurt go so well together. Take baingan bharta, dahi baingan, how delicious those are! Most importantly, eggplant is my favorite vegetable; especially I like the stuffed curry with eggplant. I think whatever you make with eggplant, say curry, gravy, chutney, raita, it just tastes divine. Alright, that’s enough praising the king! Let’s dig into the recipe.

Eggplant – Yogurt Pachadi (వంకాయ పెరుగు పచ్చడి)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Eggplant pieces, cut into thin strips or cubes
• 1 cupYogurt
• 2 or 3 green Chilies cut into small pieces
• A small piece of Ginger cut into tiny pieces (Optional)
• 1 small Tomato cut into small pieces
• A handful of Cilantro
• ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt as required

For Seasoning:

• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 2 broken dry red Chilies
• Some Curry Leaves (I didn’t add these as I don’t have them at hand)
• ½ tsp Bengal Gram (Pachi Senagapappu, Chana Dal)
• ½ tsp Black Gram (Minappappu, Urad Dal)
• ½ tsp Oil

Method:

Add the eggplant pieces + green chilies + tomato + ginger + cilantro in a microwave safe bowl. Add a little amount of water (½ cup approx.) to the eggplant mixture, cover and microwave for 10 minutes. Let it stand for one minute. Then open the lid carefully as it will be so hot and check if the vegetables are cooked. If not, increase time as required and microwave again, covered. Then mix the contents well. Keep aside.

Meanwhile, add turmeric and salt to yogurt and mix well. Add this yogurt to the eggplant mixture and microwave again for 3 minutes. Take out the bowl from the microwave, mix well and adjust salt.

Now, it’s time to season the yogurt pachadi. In a small pan pour the oil and add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add the cumin seeds + Bengal gram + black gram and finally red chilies and don’t forget curry leaves, if using. Fry well until the dals change color. Add this seasoning to the yogurt pachadi. Mix well and enjoy hot or cold with rice or chapathis.

This is my contribution to dear Sangeeth’s “Eat Healthy – Calcium Rich” event.

I used a cup of low-fat yogurt in this recipe, which is rich in so many nutrients, especially calcium. It has been proved that yogurt plays an important role in burning fat too! So a cup of yogurt a day is so good for keeping good health.

Check out Karuna's post on "Regional Cooking of India" to learn about different cuisines of south India.

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A Long Queue, but finally…..

Yes, it was a long queue, but not for any movie tickets! I have a long queue of tags/memes which I have been postponing. But no more delays, I have to finish up all these before more such tags get added to the queue. Sorry friends for taking so long in acknowledging your tags!

Tags

7 facts about myself tagged by: Kitchen Flavors, Ramyabala, Sireesha, Sripriya Vidhyashankar and Archy.

Friends, thanks for tagging me! I have done a similar tag before too. Please check it out here:
http://teluguruchi.blogspot.com/2008/02/ive-been-tagged-again.html

Next in the line is a Poem on Friendship sent by Nidhi of Sizzling Bites. Here it is:

We need friends for many reasons, all throughout the season.

We need friends to comfort us when we are sad, and to have fun with us when we are glad.

We need friends to give us good advice,We need someone we can count on, and treat us nice.

We need friends to remember us once we have passed; sharing memories that will always last.

(Wow, how true!)

Spread the poem of friendship 1.Everyday Life 2.Words of Love 3.Sheng's Simple Thoughts . . . 4.My Wonderful Life .... 5.Can of Thoughts 6.Designs By Vhiel 7.Vhiel's Corner 8.Anything and Everything in Between 9.A Mother's Stuff 10.Housewife at work 11.My Receipes 12.Vblogger 13.thefootloosechef 14.sizzling bites 15.Essence of Andhra 16. You Next

Next one is the Book Tag by Divya of …and a little bit more and Karuna of Foodie by Nature.

The rules of the tag are as follows:

• Pick up the nearest book
• Open to page 123
• Find the 5th sentence
• Post the next three sentences
• Tag 5 people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

So I looked around and found the book “Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallow”, on my computer desk left by my daughter who has been reading it for a while. So picked it up and opened the page 123 and here is what the 5th sentence and the next three sentences say:

“Very well then, together,” he said, shrugging. He cleared his throat. “I am here, as I’m sure you know, because of Albus Dumbledore’s will.”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another.

I should say this is an interesting tag. Thanks Divya and Karuna for the tag!

G. Pavani of Food Lovers has tagged me to share 6 unspectacular quirks about me. I haven’t done this meme before, so Pavani are you ready to read my blabber? But wait, don’t I have to talk about the rules of this tag? So be patient!

• Link back to the person who tagged you
• Mention the rules on your blog.
• Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
• Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
• Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

OK. Now the 6 quirks:

1. I don’t like the smell of eggs while cooking (especially omelets).
2. I remain mum even if I know that the other person was wrong. (I think it’s polite, but hubby dear says it’s not a good habit!)
3. If I am on a specific work, I lose track of the time until it’s done. (Is it odd or what? Oh fine!)
4. I go to sleep so late in the night, so don’t want to wake up early. (Not a good habit, ha!)
5. I lose interest in a job if I postpone it. (Even though it is something important!)
6. I don’t like to go shopping when it is night or raining.

So that’s all friends! Thanks for the tag Pavani! I had fun doing it.

Awards

Last but not the least, presenting two beautiful awards:

Sireesha and Archy passed me the “Good Job Award” Thanks friends!

Rosie of Rosie Bakes A ‘Peace’ of Cake has passed the “Brilliante Weblog Award”. Thanks for thinking about me Rosie!

Phew, finally reached the end of line. Now I am a free bird, la la la! Oh, wait a minute! I forgot the most important thing, PASSING THE TAGS & AWARDS.

I am passing all the above tags and the two awards to these friends listed below. I would like to say two things here: for the tags, it’s up to you; if you are not interested you may let it go or forget about the tags if you have already done these before! But I advise you to do it, it was fun!

• Aparna Inguva
• Indranee
• Priti
• Raaji
• Rekha
• Sunshinemom
• Vegetable Platter
• Vij

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Potato Bonda | Aloo Bonda | Alu Bonda

Mouth-watering Aloo Bondas

These are the yummiest snacks ever, as far as I am concerned! Easy to prepare and tastes great. I remember my mom making these during festivals too! And ever since I have seen so many versions of these delicious bondas in many blogs, I’ve been thinking to make these. So I tried and they turned out so good and yummy! 

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Guar (Cluster) Beans Patoli

The Patoli or Paruppu Usli or Sandi Podi (as we call at home) with Guar Beans is a very yummy and filling curry. These beans are called as ‘Goru Chikkudu’ in Telugu. These beans are very famous in Andhra.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Guar Beans
• 1 cup Bengal Gram (Pacchi Senaga Pappu, Chana Dal)
• 5 or 6 dry Red Chilies (or according to individual taste)
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 tbsp Oil to fry
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Wash and soak the chana dal in enough water for 2 or 3 hours. Then wet grind the dal along with the red chilies, cumin seeds and the salt into a fine or coarse paste. The paste should be of thick consistency just like we make for the vadas. Keep it aside.

Wash and cut the beans into tiny pieces after removing the ends and strings. If the fresh cluster beans are not available, the frozen variety also can be used. With a little water boil the beans either in the microwave or pressure cooker.

In a non-stick pan, heat the oil and add the chana dal paste. Fry well and leave it for some time on a medium flame with a lid on top. Keep stirring it now and then.

When the chana dal paste looses its raw taste, add the cooked cluster beans and mix well. Leave it for some time covered. The aroma of this curry when being cooked is so good. Keep stirring the curry now and then so that no lumps will be formed.

After some time switch off the flame when the curry appears cooked. Enjoy with hot rice. This curry is the best combination when eaten with Pachi Pulusu.

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Corn Chat

Here is a quick snack which is healthy and filling, during those lazy weekends. I used two cans of cooked corn kernels (by discarding the liquid inside) for my chat recipe as it requires less work and will be ready in a jiffy. If you are using fresh corn on cob, make sure to boil those before removing the kernels.

Some useful tips in choosing good corn and various methods of cooking it can be found at this website – Learn about Corn. I found this by accident, and thought it is so useful to learn about corn.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Corn Kernels, cooked
• 1 small Onion, cut into fine pieces
• 1 small Tomato, cut into fine pieces
• A handful of Cilantro, chopped fine
• ½ tsp Chat Masala (Optional)
• ½ tsp red Chili Powder
• ½ tsp Lemon Juice
• Salt as required

Method:

In a bowl, mix all the above ingredients, leave it for 5 minutes and enjoy as an evening snack or any time of the day whenever you feel like having a quick healthy snack.

If you wish to refrigerate the chat and eat it cold, mix all the above ingredients excluding cilantro and lemon juice and toss those in just before eating.

An Update:

As corn is a low fat food with loads of vitamins (C and A mainly) and fiber, it does serve as a diet food for health-conscious people. I just realized dear Divya Vikram of Dil Se... has annouced an event called "Diet Foods". I asked her if I can send this corn chat to her healthy event and she said yes. So CORN CHAT is making its way to the above event.

I am also sending this to “Sunday Snacks - Fix It” event hosted by Pallavi.

This is also my contribution to "Eat Healthy - During Pregnancy” event hosted by Sangeeth.

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Gongura Pachadi (Red Sorrel Leaves Pickle)

Gongura pachadi is an authentic Andhra recipe. The leaves of Gongura are cooked in various forms, like in Pappu (Dal), Pulusu (Soup), Vepudu (Stir Fry) and of course Gongura Pachadi.

Hibiscus Cannabinus is Gongura’s botanical name. It’s also well known as Red Sorrel Leaves or the Roselle plant. These leaves have a sour taste, so when making dal or pickle with these leaves tamarind is not used. Coming to the nutrition facts, Gongura is rich in iron which is an essential mineral. Iron is necessary for maintaining perfect levels of hemoglobin by transporting the required oxygen. Deficiency of iron is a common cause of anemia.

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Dal Curry

This is a simple curry made out of cooked dal. Whenever we ran out of vegetables, we prefer this delicious curry.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked Dal (Toor Dal, Kandi Pappu)
• 1 small Onion, cut into tiny pieces
• 1 medium Tomato, cut into tiny pieces
• 2 or 3 green Chilies cut into tiny pieces (Optional)
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• ½ tsp Lemon Juice (Optional)
• Salt as required

For Seasoning:

• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 2 or 3 broken dry red Chilies
• Some Curry Leaves or Cilantro Leaves
• 1 tsp Oil

Preparation:

In a non-stick pan, add oil. When the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the cumin seeds + red chilies + curry or cilantro leaves and fry well.

Then add the onions + tomato + green chilies and stir well. Let those cook for a while. Then add the cooked dal along with turmeric + salt and stir well. Fry really well till the dal becomes dry and flaky.

At the final stage add the lemon juice, mix well and remove from the stove. Transfer the contents into a serving bowl and enjoy with hot rice and ghee.

Thank you dear Usha for passing me the "Good Job Award". So nice of you!

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Rasam Powder - Version1

Aromatic Rasam Powder

Want to try my version of easy rasam powder? I usually make rasam powder and sambar powder at home. Sometimes when I feel lazy to make these from scratch, I just buy these from store. But home-made powders give utter satisfaction, don’t you agree?

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Coconut Patties (Kobbari Vadalu)

Hope you all had a wonderful Vinayaka Chavithi! Mine was great too! Here is a snap of our pooja and the naivedyam (Savories) that we offered.

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Happy Vinayaka Chavithi!

May Lord Ganesha bless you all to achieve best things in life!

HAPPY GANESH CHATURTHI TO YOU ALL!

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Sambar Powder

Here is a very simple recipe (my version) to prepare Sambar Powder that can be used while making sambars (I sometimes use this while making pickles too) to enhance the taste. I have learned this from my mom, who is a great cook (I guess every mom is a great cook for her kids!). I made little changes to my mom’s recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Coriander Seeds (Dhaniya)
• 1 cup Fenugreek Seeds (Methi, Menthulu)
• ¼ cup desiccated Coconut (Optional)
• 3 or 4 dry red Chilies (Optional)
• ¼ tsp Asafetida (Inguva, Hing)

Method:

Dry roast the desiccated coconut in a hot pan and keep aside. In the same pan, add the coriander seeds + fenugreek seeds and dry roast again till the seeds start to turn light brownish. Finally add the red chilies and roast well.

Transfer the contents into a plate and put aside to cool down. When the contents are cool, grind those into a fine powder along with the hing.

Store the powder in an airtight container and use as needed while making dals or sambars. This sambar powder can be stored for a month in a cool, dry place. No need to refrigerate it.

This is my contribution for two events:

“Long Live the Shelf” event being hosted by Romaspace.

“Herb Mania – Fenugreek” event being hosted by Red Chillies. This event was started by Dee of Ammalu’s Kitchen.

On a different note, I want to thank dear Sireesha, who has passed me the “Good Job” award. So nice of you for thinking about me Sireesha!

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