Potato in Yogurt (Potato Perugu Pachadi)

Ingredients:

Continue Reading....

Kobbari Perugu Pachadi (Coconut in Yogurt)

Ingredients:

Continue Reading....

Celery Lassi

A delicious yogurt drink with Celery

This is a great way to drink the famous lassi which is made with yogurt. Addition of celery made it healthier and yummy. Lassi said to cool down the body heat especially in summer.

Continue Reading....

Minted Buttermilk (Pudina Majjiga)

This is a very simple, refreshing and healthy way to quench your thirst on a hot summer day. This is definitely pleases everyone.

Continue Reading....

Bottle Gourd (Sorakaaya) Perugu Pachadi

This is a very simple recipe that can be done within 10 minutes. It tastes so delicious and goes very well with rice or chapathis.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Curd/Yogurt
• ½ cup Bottle Gourd Pieces (without skin)
• ½ tsp red Chili Powder
• Few Curry Leaves
• A pinch of Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• Salt

Preparation:

Boil bottle gourd pieces either in pressure cooker or microwave.

If using microwave: add these pieces to a microwave safe bowl, pour ¼ cup water, cover and microwave for 5 minutes or until the pieces appears cooked.

Whisk yogurt until smooth, add turmeric + chili powder + salt. Mix well and keep aside.

Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter add cumin seeds and curry leaves and fry well. Add this to the prepared yogurt mixture. Mix well.

Finally add the boiled bottle gourd pieces and mix well. Adjust salt. Let it stand for half an hour before eating it with rice/chapathi.

It tastes so delicious. Yummy!!

Continue Reading....

Spinach in Yogurt (Spinach Perugu Pachadi)

I always try to use yogurt/curd in different dishes due to its health benefits. It cools down the body and gives strength to our bones. And it is so good for the stomach and helps to develop good immune system. This time I added spinach to it for added benefits. As we all knew, spinach is low in calories and high in vitamins. It provides a lot of health benefits for our body such as strong bones, smart brain, energy, good eye sight etc….

I tried this combination for the first time, though I heard about spinach raita many times. This goes very well with rice and chapathis. I made this when we had some guests over for the weekend and everyone liked it so much. But I couldn’t click good pictures of the dish as everything was almost out!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped Spinach (fresh or frozen)
• 2 cups plain Yogurt
• 1 Tomato, chopped
• 2 or 3 green Chilies, chopped
• ½ tsp Rasam Powder
• ½ tsp Coconut Powder, dry
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• A pinch of Asafetida (Inguva, Hing)
• Some Curry Leaves
• Some Cilantro Leaves
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp Oil

Preparation:

Heat oil in a bowl/pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter add cumin seeds and stir well.

Then add curry leaves + cilantro and stir well. Later add chopped spinach + tomato + green chilies + rasam powder + coconut powder + turmeric + asafetida and mix well with a spatula.

Pour some water (approx. 1 cup) just enough to soak the added items and cover. Let the spinach mixture cook well for some time.

Later when you feel spinach is cooked well, add yogurt and mix very well. Add salt and turn off the flame quickly as yogurt tends to break apart.

Enjoy this yummy spinach yogurt pachadi with rice/chapathis.

Continue Reading....

Cabbage in Yogurt (Cabbage Perugu Pachadi)

This is the first time I tried this combination and it turned out so delicious. I usually add yogurt to certain vegetables like Snake Gourd and Eggplant to make perugu pachadi. I wanted to see how it will taste with cabbage, but came out so good. We enjoyed the taste to the full.

Ingredients:

• 2 or 3 cups of grated/chopped Cabbage
• 1 cup of Yogurt/Curd
• 1 small Onion, chopped fine
• ¼ cup of Green Peas, frozen or fresh (If using fresh peas, make sure to soak them for some time)
• 1 medium Tomato, chopped
• 3 or 4 Green Chilies, chopped fine
• A handful of Cilantro Leaves, chopped
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt

For Seasoning/Tempering:

• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ¼ tsp Bengal Gram (Pachi Senagapappu, Chana Dal)
• ¼ tsp Black Gram (Minappappu, Urad Dal)
• 1 broken dry red Chili
• 1 tsp Oil
  

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add cumin seeds + Bengal Gram + Black Gram + red chili and fry for some time until the dals turn golden brown in color.

To this, add onion + tomato + green chilies + cabbage + green peas + turmeric and stir well. Pour little water (approx. ¼ cup) into the pan, cover and let all the veggies cook for some time.

When all the water gets absorbed and cabbage becomes tender and lost its raw smell, remove the cover and add yogurt and mix well. Keep the flame on low at this time and leave the pan for some time until the vegetables absorb the yogurt well. Add salt to taste.

Finally add cilantro, stir well and turn off the flame. Transfer the gravy to a serving bowl and enjoy with rice or chapathis.

Continue Reading....

Tomato-Yogurt Gravy

If you’re a sour lover, you would love this gravy. This is very aromatic and tasty with a tinge of sourness. This is the easiest gravy to make and enjoy! I usually add milk at the end, but this time I wanted to see how it would taste if I add yogurt and it turned out so yummy.

I know, the pictures didn’t come out that good as it was so cloudy that day when I took the pictures.

Ingredients:

• 4 Tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small Onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp plain Yogurt
• 2 or 3 Green Chilies, chopped fine
• Some Curry Leaves
• A handful of Cilantro
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• A pinch of Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp Oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds along with all the chopped veggies and sauté for some time until the onions and tomatoes become soft and cooked. Add turmeric, curry leaves and cilantro to the above mixture and stir well.

Keep the flame on low setting. When all the water from the tomatoes is gone and the mixture becomes thick, add salt and stir in yogurt. Mix the contents well and switch off the flame.

This tomato gravy goes very well with rotis and also rice.

This is my contribution to “Fall in Love – Tomato”, hosted by Sanghi.

Continue Reading....

Fruity Curdy Shake

Usually every Sunday is our fruit/vegetable shake day! You might have seen different kinds of shakes I posted before. This is one such shake my hubby and daughter have prepared on one Sunday. They presented it in a pretty way.

Continue Reading....

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.

Continue Reading....

Ghatte Ka Saag

While searching for Rajasthani dishes for “RCI – Rajasthan” event, I came across this interesting recipe at this site. As I love yogurt based dishes so much I immediately decided to try this one for the event and so I did it. I am glad I did it, ‘cause it tasted so good that I will be doing this frequently.

Ingredients:

For ghatta:

• 1 cup Chickpea Flour (Besan)
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
• 2 pinches Asafoetida
• 2 cups Water
• Salt to taste

For gravy:

• 1 cup Plain Yogurt (Sour)
• 1 tsp Oil
• 1 tsp Coriander-Cumin Powder
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 cup Water
• Some Curry Leaves
• Some Cilantro chopped fine
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

For ghatta:

In a bowl pour the water and place it on the flame to boil.

Meanwhile, mix besan with chili powder, asafetida, oil and salt. Make smooth dough with sufficient water. Make small balls and roll on a plate or flat surface to make a thin long cylinder (ghattas).

When the water starts bubbling, gently immerse the ghattas, and allow boiling. Cover the bowl with a plate and pour some water on the lid. Allow to simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring once or twice in between. Add more water if required. Remove from heat and take out the ghattas with a spoon. Keep aside to cool. Don’t throw away the water. Later slice the cooled ghattas into 1/4 " pieces.

For gravy:

Mix together coriander-cumin powder, chili powder and turmeric powder in ½ cup water.

In a bowl, heat oil and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the coriander-chili powder mixture prepared above and stir for 2-3 minutes.
Then add yogurt and stir continuously so that no lumps will be formed. Add remaining water drained from boiled ghattas and bring back to boil. When boiling, add ghattas and simmer on low heat for 5-7 minutes or till gravy is a little thick. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve hot with rice or chapathis.

This Ghatte Ka Saag goes to “RCI – Rajasthan” event being hosted by Padmaja of Spicy Andhra. RCI event is originally started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine.

Continue Reading....

Yogurt Chutney with Snake gourd

As we all knew, yogurt possesses so many health benefits. It is a great source of calcium, riboflavin, Vitamin B12 and proteins. When compared to milk, yogurt was proved to contain more calcium due to the added live cultures in the yogurt. And the best thing is it helps in good digestion. Snake gourd is said to have a cooling effect on the body.

Here is chutney with the good old yogurt which is not chutney actually but called as chutney. We may add any vegetables of our choice to make this delicious chutney.

Ingredients:

• 1-cup Snake Gourd, cut into small pieces
• 1 tomato
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 2 cups yogurt, beaten lightly
• Salt as required

For Seasoning:

• ¼ tsp Mustard seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ½ tsp Bengal gram (Senagapappu, Chana dal)
• ½ tsp Black gram (Minappappu, Urad dal)
• 2 or 3 small broken red chilies
• Some Curry Leaves
  

Preparation:

In a deep bowl boil the snake gourd pieces along with tomato, turmeric and red chili powder. Chili powder can be replaced with some green chilies.

When the snake gourd pieces appear to be cooked add the yogurt, salt and stir well. Keep the flame in low setting. Don’t over boil the yogurt as it tends to break apart.

Switch off the flame and keep the bowl aside. In a small pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cumin seeds along with the Bengal and Black grams and fry well until the dals turn golden brown. Finally add the broken red chilies and curry leaves and fry well. Add this seasoning to the yogurt chutney and mix well.

Serve with rice/chapathi.

Continue Reading....

Mango Lassi for MBP Mixed Drinks

I made this mango lassi for the MBP - Mixed Drinks as a part of the Monthly Blog Patrol started by Coffee of The Spice Cafe and now being hosted by Sig of Live to Eat.

According to Sig, a mixed drink is a type of beverage in which two or more different ingredients are mixed together to create a different drink and it can be cocktails, mocktails, punches, smoothies anything your heart desires, only criteria is that the recipe must be from another food blog.

I have chosen “Mango Lassi” posted by Meera of Enjoy Indian Food as my entry to the above event.

I have made minor changes to the original recipe. As I don’t have the mango pulp as suggested in the original recipe, I replaced it with mango juice. I didn’t use the saffron threads too. I followed everything else mentioned in the original recipe of Meera. So here is the outcome. It tasted so delicious, refreshing and cool.

Continue Reading....