Chana Masala (Chole)

I am not much fond of peas or chick peas but i use them in cooking because of kanth. He loves both of them. Most of the times he wants to cook peas and alu curry by himself according to his taste. In this way i am a bit lucky to just have a meal ready to eat..:) Last weekend I made chana masala for my cousin Shilpi, as she is a vegan. Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

Chana/ Chick Peas 1 cup (Soaed over night)
Cinnamon stick 1 inch
Cloves 3
Bay leaves 2
Cardomom 1
Cumin seeds 1/2 tbsp
Oil 3 tbsp
Big Onion 1
Tomato 1
Ginger Garlic paste 1 tbsp
Red Chilli powder 1 tbsp
Turmeric 1/4 tbsp
Corriander powder 1 tbsp
Cumin Powder 1 tbsp
Half a lime (Optional)
Cilantro
Salt



PREPARATION

1. Pressure cook chana with some salt till they are soft. Dont over cook them.

2. Take oil in a pan, add cinnamon stick, cloves,cardomom,bay leaves, cumin seeds and then onions. Fry till they are slightly brown. Add tomatoes, when they are soft add ginger garlic paste. Then add turmeric, corriander powder, cumin Powder and red chilli powder. Mix well and cook for 2 mins. Add some water then add cooked chana by keeping 3 tbsp aside. Grind these 3 tbsp of chana and add it to the mixture for thick gravy. Add salt according to your taste.

3. Add lime juice for sourness. Garnish with Cilantro.

Birthday Meal

My cousin Shilpi and her hubby visited us for the weekend. Luckily Kanth's birthday was on the same weekend, that is yesterday. Shilpi and me prepared lunch and invited a couple of their friends. We made french cake and kanth had a cake cutting at 12 Am...it was fun with my cousin around. For lunch we made
Poori
Biriyani
Mutton curry
Chana masala
Raitha
Rasagulla
and the most colourful salad.
Shilpi made this salad all by herself and it looked healthy and attractive. And you know, People did'nt want to disturb the good looking salad by taking out the veggie pieces...lol. Anyway, Kanth had a great birthday.




I will post the recipes soon.

Pani Poori (Golgappa)

Pani Poori is one of the popular Indian street snack. Oh god, one can feel wonderful eating these. When i was in Hyderabad, staying away from home in a hostel, used to crave for good tasty food. Me and my friends used to go visit pani poori stalls and feel like heaven...:) After comming to Usa within the first few months i started missing chat foods. One fine day i decided to make pani poori. With the help of dear hubby i made nice crispy pooris, stuffing and pani. It came out awesome and we had a feast. I never bother about the work of making such small pooris in a lot, bacause once we sit down to eat, we can forget about the work done by seeing people enjoying it.

INGREDIENTS

For Poori
Sooji(Semolina) 1 cup
Maida(All Purpose Flour) 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Warm Water.
oil for frying

For Stuffing
Chana Dal 1/2 cup
Potatoes 3 (boiled)


For Pani
Tamarind Extract 1 cup
Corriander Powder 1 tbsp
Cumin Powder 1 tbsp
Green Chilli 4
Cilantro 1/2 cup
Mint leaves 1/4 cup
Ginger small piece
Red Chilli powder 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Blac salt 1 1/2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Poori




Mix sooji, maida, 2 tbsp of oil and salt with warm water. Keep aside for 20 mins. Then knead the dough well and cover it in a wet cloth. Make very small balls and roll them into small pooris(small enough to be eaten whole). Fry them. Pooris have to puff up to be eaten with stuffing and pani.

Stuffing


Boil chana and potatoes together with some salt. Mash them well. You can also have some chopped onions along with the stuffing.

Pani

Grind cilantro , mint, green chilli and ginger together. Add it to the water. Add tamarind extract, red chilli powder, corriander powder,cumin powder and salt. Mix well. Adjust the ingredients according to your taste.

And ofcourse i dont have to tell you how to eat it...:)

Palkova

My mom used to make this sweet at home since our childhood. She used to get thick milk to make it as a snack by the time we come back from school. After getting married i started making it on thursdays to offer it to Sri Sai Baba.When i prepared it for the first time, my hubby wondered by tasting it. He said ' I thought you just started learning to prepare dal and rice, how did u do it'. You should have seen the look on his face...:)

Sometimes my mom used to give 2 or 3 biscuits for me and my brother to eat, my brother used to eat all his biscuits fastly and will start asking for a share of mine. Me being a slow eater, used to hide my chocolates in the fridge. After 2 or 3 hrs, when i go to take out my chocolates they will be vanished, then starts an other fight. Not only biscuits, we used to get an equal share of diwali crackers too. Even with them the same continues...

INGREDIENTS

Milk 5 cups(Whole milk)
Sugar 1 cup



PREPARATION



Add milk to a heavy bottomed pan and bring it to boil on a medium flame. In 1 hr, milk reduces by quantity and thickens. It also changes its colour to creamy. Add sugar and keep stiring. In an other 30 mins,consistency becomes even thicker and sticky. You can see a thick layer of milk on the sides of the pan. At this point switch off the stove. When it cools down, shape as desired.

I didnt get to take more pictures in the process of cooking, will try to do it next time.

Beans Fry

Beans is my most favourite vegetable. Whenever my mom asks me what do i want to have for lunch or dinner, i would say 'beans curry'. I think beans is kind of addictive. I simply love it. Now a days i started making beans fry in combination with lemon rice by replacing the traditional alu curry. And my hubby beacme a fan of it...:)
INGREDIENTS

Beans 1 lb (Chopped)
Onion 1
Grated Coconut 2 tbsp
Red Chilli Powder 1/2 tbsp
Salt


PREPARATION

1. Cook beans in a steamer or in a pressure cooker. Dont over cook them.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chana dal, split red chilli, and curry leaves. Add chopped onions and cook until they are soft. Add turmeric and mix well.

3. Now add cooked beans, red chilli powder, salt and grated coconut. Cook it for 5 to 8 mins. garnish with Cilantro.

Ugadi Pachadi

Happy Ugadi to you all!!

Ugadi is the New Year of Telugu people. We used to celebrate Ugadi either at my ammamma's place or at my jeji's place(dad's mom). Where ever it is, we used to have an elaborate grand feast along with Ugadi Pachadi. My jeji's place is a place called Peapully in Kurnool disrict. We used to visit it in every summer holidays. Me, my dear brother Naveen and cousins used to go to our fields and swim in the wells. We had our first swimming classes in our well in the fields, my cousin brother as our trainer. Thats a great experience to swim in the wells. Naveen loves animals. Back then, my granny used have cows. Naveen even named few of his favourites as nalla aavu(black cow), chinna aavu(small cow) etc. To entertain us my pedanana us used to take us on bullock cart rides. Wow, its was such a fun. Even Naveen and me learned to ride bicycle in Peapully itself. Sometimes we all used to go to Mango grove/thota, to spend a whole day there. We had a sunkulamma temple in our fields, my mom and peddamma used to make food there itself and offer it to the goddess. I love that place. I visited it in my India trip too.

Comming to Ugadhi pachhadi, its a combination of shadruchulu(6 tastes),which are sweet, spice, bitter, tangy, salt and sour, Which also represents that man's life is a combination of all emotions such as happiness, sadness, sorrow etc. Which also states that we have to take good or bad equally in life.

INGREDIENTS

Tamarind juice 2 tbsp for sourness
Jaggery 2 tbsp(powdered) for sweetness
salt 1/2 tbsp for saltness
Red chilli powder 1/4 tbsp for hotness
Raw Mango Half(Grated) for Vagaru
Neem Flowers 2 tbsp for bitterness ( As we cannot get neem flowers in USA, you can use Methi powder for bitterness)



Mix all the ingredients together to make Ugadi pachhadi.

Oligalu / Bakshalu / Bobbatlu / Puran Poli

Oooh, the name Oligalu itself makes me mouth watering. This is my all time, the most favourite food. It is one of Rayalaseema's popular dish. My mom always makes them on every festival. Now a days in my native place Anantapur, we can get these ready made too. Many of my Dad's and my tastes are similar. We both have sweet tooth..:) Ofcourse i dont have to tell that this is also my dad's favourite dish. We love to eat leftover Oligalu as breakfast the next day of the festival. I am not a very gud cook in my early days of marriage. I desparetly missed many of my favourite foods. Slowly i tried and tried to cook better tasting food. Now a days, i get a lot of compliments for my food..:)My dad wonders that his little girl is soo grownup. I always send him my food photos and he teases my mom saying that 'Siri's food looks better than yours'.

Comming to Oligalu recipe, we can make poornam(Sweet stuffing) either with Toordal or Chanadal. We make it with toordal. Here is the recipe

INGREDIENTS

Toordal 1 cup
Jaggery 1 cup
Water 3 cups( for poornam)
Maida(All purpose flour) 1 cup
Poppy seeds 2 tbsp
Cardomom Powder 1 tbsp
Oil 1/2 cup
water 1/2 cup( for dough)
Turmeric 1/2 tbsp (Optional)

PREPARATION


1. Mix maida, water,turmeric and oil(3tbsp) to make a soft dough. Keep it aside for 3 hrs. It helps in making smooth Oligalu. Turmeric is used for nice colouring.


2. Take a vessel and cook toordal with water. Bring it to boil, When the dal is soft and all most cooked, drain out the excess water completly. Add powdered jaggery and simmer it for 5 mins. Add Cardomom powder and grind the whole mixture into a smooth and firm paste. Keep your poornam aside.







3. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 mins. Divide the dough into small sized balls. Take an aluminium foil and grease it with oil. Roll out the dough into a small round on the foil, place a small poornam ball on the middle of the round and cover it by bringing the edges together. Roll it into a round by using rolling pin like a chapathi. Sprinkle few poppy seeds it and gently press them.





4. Heat a pan, gently place the oliga on the pan along with the foil. Now slowly remove the foil from the oilga. Let the Oilga cook for 3 to 4 mins, flip it on the other side and let it cook for 2 more minutes. Add some oil to it and remove. Serve with ghee or warm milk