Pachi Tomato Pachadi

My local vendor has been learning from his jio internet and he exhibited his skills today. I went to the market to pickup a few vegetables and he questions me “Didi do you know what contains a lot anti-oxidants and Vitamin C in this season??” . I was clearly not able to answer his question and inquired what they were and he shows me these lovely looking Unripe Tomatoes. I did not know what to make of them but wanted to try something. I got a very few of them home and immediately called my mom and told her this and she mentioned half a dozen recipes and that filled me with nostalgia of my grandmother plucking these from our home garden in the village and making a very yummy tangy chutney in rokalu . Under her supervision over phone I had learnt to make this chutney and also Pachi Tomato Aava pettina Koora. Here goes the recipe of the pachadi which goes with anything , be it Rice or Dosa or Idli or Pesarattu. Please let me know your version of this Chutney.

Preparation Time : 5 Minutes

Cooking Time : 30 Minutes

Ingredients :

  • Unripe Tomatoes/Pachi Tomatoes : 1/2 Kg
  • Green Chillies : 5 to 7 (according to your taste)
  • A small piece of Tamarind
  • Methi seeds : 1/4 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds/Aavalu
  • Cumin seeds/Jeera
  • Asafoetida/Hing/Inguva
  • A handful of Coriander leaves

Preparation :

  • Wash the tomatoes thoroughly in a container and cut each of them into 4 pieces.
  • In a pan, heat oil and add these tomato pieces and 5-6 green chillies into the pan, add half tbsp of salt to the tomatoes so that they are cooked cooked and mix them well and cover with a lid.
  • In a small container, soak tamarind and make a thick paste from it.
  • Now in dry heated ladle, add one fourth tbsp of methi seeds and fry them for a minute or two.
  • Once the contents of the pan are cooked well , let them cool down.
  • In a mixer, first make a powder of the methi seeds and add the tamarind paste and the contents of the pan and make the chutney.
  • Once the chutney is ready, in a ladle add a tbsp of oil and once the oil is heated add half a tbsp of mustard seeds/aavalu. half a tbsp of Cumin seeds/Jeera and a pinch of hing for tempering and add it to the Chutney.
  • Garnish with a few coriander leaves and Chutney is ready for a serve.

Things to Remember :

  • If you would like the chutney to be spicy you could add a few dry red chillies to the methi seeds in the ladle for a dry fry(i.e. without oil) and add it in the mixer with the methi seeds, as I wanted the chutney to be green I did not add the red chillies.
  • Make sure to add the tomatoes and chillies to the mixer only after they have cooled down, which brings a different taste to the chutney.

Avakai Vegetable Dum Biriyani

Trial and error method is a fundamental method in problem solving and the same goes to cooking new dishes. This particular dish though did not take many trials …the ingredients were something that I had added not with perfection but with careful tasting in each step and it turned out finger licking good. I had watched the movie Avakai Biriyani for this recipe and trust me they are no way connected. I always thought dum style cooking is for restaurants but tried the dum style for the first time after my friend convinced me that it easier and yummy that way and I hate to agree with her but she was so true. The Avakai or the magic ingredient as I call it in this recipe is a very subtle yet dominating flavor bringing out the tanginess but not killing the spiciness of biriyani . So here goes the recipe Avakai Vegetable Dum biriyani. For your convenience i have added a step by step procedure as its somewhat a new dish to many .

Ingredients for Avakai Dum Biriyani :

  • Rice: 2 cups
  • Water: 4 cups
  • Ghee: 2 tbsp
  • Jeera
  • Green Chillies : 4-5 sliced vertically
  • Cashew nuts : 10 /Tez patta/ Bay leaf
  • Tez patta/ Bay leaf : 2
  • Ginger Garlic Paste : One tbsp
  • Salt to taste
  • Black Cardamon/Badi Elaichi : 2
  • Cinnamon/Dalchina Chekka: 2 small pieces
  • Cloves: 5
  • Onions : 3 Medium sized( Vertically sliced …Remember the OCD husband ???)
  • Potato: 2 Medium sized
  • Cauliflower Florets : 1 Cup
  • Carrot : 2 (sliced vertically)
  • Green Peas Peeled : 1/2 Cup
  • French Beans ( sliced )
  • Mint Leaves ( a handful )
  • Coriander Leaves ( a handful )
  • Curd (1 Cup)
  • Avakai/ Mango Pickle(Magic Ingredient ) : 3 Spoons

Preparation Time : 30 Minutes

Cooking Time : 30 Minutes

Recipe :

  • Wash all vegetables thoroughly and cut them accordingly as shown in the pic below or as per your wish.
  • On the other hand, in a bowl wash 2 cups of rice (basmati preferably…I had tried with normal rice) thoroughly and soak it for some time.
  • In a heated heavy bottomed pressure cooker, add 4 spoons of ghee and once the ghee is heated add Jeera/Cumin seeds, Bay leaf, Dalchini/Cinnamon sticks , Black Cardamom and let them saute for a minute till they are fragrant. Make sure you saute them properly as there wont be any Garam Masala/ Biriyani Masala added in this recipe.
  • Add Cashew nuts and wait till they turn golden brown and add sliced onions and green chillies. Keep stirring them until they turn golden. Once the Onions are done,add salt as per your taste(I had added only 1 tbsp of it as only the vegetables need salt and Avakai already contains lot of salt). Add 1 tbsp of Ginger Garlic Paste and saute till the raw smell disappears.
  • Half cook the soaked rice (4 cups of water : 2 cups of rice, and put it in a pressure cooker for 1 or 2 whistles).
  • Now on a low flame, add the vegetables one by one and saute them for a few minutes until they are almost cooked. After the vegetables are sauteed, add mint leaves and mix them well with other vegetables and cook for a minute. To these vegetables add a cup of curd and mix thoroughly.
  • Let the mixture cook for two minutes and 4 spoons of Avakai/Mango Pickle as per your taste and stir them thoroughly and cook for 2 more minutes. Now remove a few vegetables and Avakai Mixture into a bowl .
  • Add half portion of the half cooked rice above this and above that place a layer of vegetables and again above that vegetables and avakai layer add the remaining rice.
  • Cover this heavy bottomed cooker for 15 minutes with aluminium foil on all sides and place the a cooker lid on the aluminium foil so that the steam doesn’t escape and all the ingredients are well cooked.
  • Switch off the stove and let it stay without opening for 5 minutes and open the aluminium foil carefully and mix the contents of the biriyani thorougly but not as much so the rice doesnt split or become a paste.
  • Garnish with a little more pickle and corainder leaves and you are ready to enjoy Avakai Vegetable Dum Biriyani .!!

P.S: Forgive me for my mediocre photography( bad pics) skills .

Beans and Aloo Curry

Being a Food lover, my husband has been very experimental in his cooking. Last year when I was down with fever, he made this simple dish with Rasam and I literally felt blessed for this skill of his. During Fever, the taste in our mouth feels bland or bitter and you feel don’t have an appetite too. Rasam with almost piping hot but mashed rice and this curry for a change made me feel so better. Nimmakaya Pachadi/Lemon Pickle with a little ghee is another savior during this time. This recipe is a very simple one but do not add too much of Potato(Aloo/Bangaladumpa) while cooking for someone who is down with fever as it may cause indigestion.

The recipe is as follows ,try and let me know your opinions and suggestions.

Preparation time : 20 Minutes

Cooking Time : 15 Minutes

Ingredients :

  • French Beans( or just beans) : 250 gms
  • Potato : 1 medium sized potato chopped into small cubes
  • Turmeric Powder
  • Mustard seeds
  • Cumin seeds
  • Amchur Powder : 1 tbsp
  • Salt to Taste
  • Lemon : 1 medium sized lemon

Recipe :

  1. Wash the beans and potato thoroughly and chop them into small uniformly sized pieces.
  2. Add a pinch of turmeric and boil both beans and potato in a pressure cooker. This way the curry will take very less oil and is cooked properly.
  3. Once they are boiled, in a heated pan add 2 tbsp of oil and add mustard and cumin seeds and wait till they splutter.
  4. Now add Beans and potato and mix the vegetables so that oil sticks to all the chopped veggies.
  5. Add salt as required and Amchur powder or raw mango powder as per your taste.
  6. Switch off the stove and mix all the ingredients of the pan well.
  7. Add lemon juice to the curry and mix well and shift the contents of the pan into a bowl.

Things to Note :

Do not add the lemon juice when the stove is on, as this might make the curry taste a little bitter.

Aloo and Beans Curry

Dondakaya Menthi karam

Dondakaya/Ivy gourd/Tindora/Tendli/Kunduru whatever it is called is one of my favorite vegetable once i had the taste of it. Until I finished my masters, Dondakaya was forbidden vegetable at home for the food fad just like “Ladyfinger- the miracle mathematics teacher”. The old wives’ tale is that dondakaya is said to make a person thickheaded. The story goes on like this “Once upon a time the famous poet Kalidasa was sitting in a garden and wanted to write a poem but he could not get even a thought. He tried for hours but no idea had stricken his mind and after hours of trying he mentioned to his mother about his experience and his mother had told him that he was sitting under the Dondakaya creeper which gave this genius poet a writer’s block. All the stories and nostalgia aside dondakaya is said to be a good cure to type 2 diabetes .

This recipe takes very little oil as the dondakaya slices are steamed and so this curry does not feel heavy. The Menthi podi/Menthi karam is also said to soothe an upset stomach. Menthi karam/Menthi Podi can be made and stored in a container as it is used in many of our family dishes.

Recipe to make dondakaya Menthi karam:

Preparation time : 20 minutes

Cooking time : 15 minutes

For Dondakaya Menthi karam :

  • Dondakaya
  • Menthi Podi/ Menthi karam
  • Oil
  • Salt
  • Dry red chillies
  • Mustard seeds
  • Cumin seeds/Jeera

Process :

  • Wash the dondakaya/Tindora thoroughly in salt water .
  • Chop the into 4 slices vertically and steam the sliced dondakaya until they are soft but not too soft .
  • Now heat 1 and half tbsp of oil in a pan and once the oil is heated add Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds and dry red chillies and wait till they splutter.
  • Now add the steamed Dondakaya slices and mix all the slices with the tempering .
  • Add a salt as per your taste to the curry and cover it with a lid for 2 mins for further cooking .
  • Remove the lid and add Menthi karam/Menthi podi to the cooked slices and cover them with a lid for another 4 minutes.
  • Transfer the contents of the pan into a bowl and the curry is ready for serving!

The Menthi karam/ Menthi podi recipe will be posted shortly as i forgot to click pictures the last time i made this powder.

Dondakaya Menthi Karam

Pesarakattu

Grandparents have always been my “rescue board”in almost every situation during my childhood. I just loved it when my grandparents visited us and they always came bearing gifts :D. They were natural storytellers and we were so immersed in their stories that sometimes we did not even realize we had finished eating our food which we hated. During Karthika masam my Thathamma( my grandfather’s mother) came to visit us once and she usually had this light-on-the-stomach dal all the time. At the look of it, I never wanted to taste it and so she started to tell me the story of how a kind girl named Poli attained swargam (heaven) through sheer bhakti(prayer) and purity of heart. By the time the story was over, i finished a bowl of rice with this pesarakattu and Chamadumpala fry and was left with wanting more. She had prepared this in jiffy for me and I still remember that day.

Pesarakattu(Moong dal with ghee tempering) makes a good pair with rice and my favorite chamadumpala fry or potato fry. Its a dish that is fasting-friendly and its easy to digest. Its usually made in summers to cool the body.

Cooking Time : 10 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 Minutes

For Pesarakattu :

  • Pesara Pappu/Split yellow moong dal
  • A pinch of turmeric
  • Salt(as per your taste)

For Tempering/Tadka :

  • Ghee – 1 tbsp
  • Curry leaves
  • Green chillies – 3 to 4
  • Dry Red chillies- 2 to 3
  • Aavalu/Mustard Seeds
  • Jeelakarra/ Cumin Seeds

For Pesarakattu :

  • Cook Pesara pappu/ Moong dal with a pinch of turmeric powder in pressure cooker till you get 3 whistles.
  • Once the pappu/dal is boiled , add half split green chillies and small pieces of ginger in it .
  • On a medium flame, heat a ladle and add a tablespoon of ghee or a little more as per your taste, to this add aavalu/mustard seeds, jeelakarra/cumin seeds, Curry leaves and dry red chillies.
  • Once the tadka sizzles, add this to the dal .
  • Add salt as per your requirement.
Pesarakattu with not so visible curry leaves

Ullikaram

Frequent transfer and a touring work schedule meant my father-in-law had to travel for significant distances over train. During such journeys, he would always insist on taking food packed from home for taste and hygiene reasons. Invariably, the packed food would include Daddojanam (curd rice tempered with spices and curry leaf) and Chapatis. And for chapatis, their preferred accompaniment was Ullikaram (caramelized tempered finely chopped onion recipe).

The dish gets its sweetish flavour from the sugars released by onions upon caramelizing, tanginess from tamarind extract, hint of spice from the tempering and green chillies. My mother-in-law prefers to add vaamu (ajwain/carom) and miriyalu (black pepper) to temper my husband’s over-indulgence and soothe his resultant upset stomach. Having tasted it only after marriage, I am yet to develop the same passion for this dish as my husband and his family. It is a simple recipe where major prep work goes into finely chopping onions (my husband’s mild OCD crops up here when he insists all pieces be about 3 mm squared). He has recently acceded to using Pigeon Onion chopper ( https://www.amazon.in/Pigeon-Stovekraft-Plastic-Chopper-Blades/dp/B01LWYDEQ7/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1BI7XXWPPSYPL&keywords=pigeon+handy+chopper&qid=1573902591&s=kitchen&sprefix=pigeo%2Ckitchen%2C474&sr=1-3 ) much to my relief as against manually chopping onions at a glacial pace which was the norm earlier.

The ingredients and the recipe are as follows, try and do share your own variations and let me know how you like it!

Preparation time : 20 minutes

Cooking time : 30 minutes

For Ullikaram :

  • Medium sized onion – 6
  • Thick Tamarind extract ( a lemon sized tamarind )
  • Salt (as per your need)
  • Pinch of Turmeric

For tempering/tadka/popu :

  • Aavalu/Mustard seeds
  • Minapa pappu/urad dal
  • Green Chillies – 4 (According to your taste)
  • Dry red chillies-2
  • Karvepaku/Curry leaves

How to prepare Ullikaram :

  1. In a ladle, heat the oil and add mustard seeds/Aavalu.
  2. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add Minapa pappu/Urad dal , dry red chillies and curry leaves.
  3. Fry till urad dal and chillies turn golden brown .
  4. Add finely chopped green chillies(if required) and onions.
  5. Fry the onions on low flame and cover with a lid until they lose the raw flavor.
  6. Add tamarind extract, a pinch of turmeric powder and salt as per your need.
  7. Stir the mixture occasionally and let the onions cook in their own juices on low flame with a covered lid till the natural sweetness starts manifesting.
  8. You would instinctively know when the dish is ready when the onions start to state with a tinge of tanginess from the tamarind juice , sweetness from its own sugars and spiciness from the chillies giving your taste buds a high five.
  9. Serve Ullikaram with hot fluffy pooris or chapatis.
Ullikaram

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