Palakura/Palak/Spinach papu/dal

Ingredients:

1.)Palak - 250gm

2.)onion - 1 small chopped(not very finely)

3.)toor dal - 1 and 1/2 cups

4.)green chillies - 5 to 6

5.)curry leave - 6-7

6.)mustard seeds - 2 tsps

7.)cumin seeds - 1 tsp

8.)astefodia - pinch

9.)sambar powder - 1 tsp

10.)turmeric - 1/2 tsp

11.)ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Procedure:

Wash the toor dal well and soak it in water for about 15 mins to half an hour.Take oil in a pressure cooker.When it is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds,when they start spluttering add onions curry leaves and green chillies. Saute till the onions get transparent. Add turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw flavor goes away. then add astefodia and stir for a min. Then add the spinach and saute for 2 to 3 mins. Now add the toor dal and stir for 2 to 3 mins and add approximately4 to 5 cups of water. Ans pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.

After4-5 whistles, turn off the stove and let it rest till the steam is completely gone. (Test for this is, try to lift the weight of the pressure cooker.If no steam comes out,or, u do not get a whoosh sound, the steam is gone.Otherwise let it stand for some more time.)

Once the steam is gone completely, open the lid and mash the dal into a semi-smooth paste.Add salt and sambar powder and stir well. If the dal is too thick(dal is generally thick so do not add too much of water), add a little water and let it boil for 15-20mins. Finally take oil in another pan add 2 tsps of oil.When th oil is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and dried red chilli. When mustard seeds start spluttering, pour this over the spinach dal and mix.Spinach dal is ready to be served. This goes well with white rice.

Note:
Add water to toor dal in 1:2 proportion(for 1 cup toor dal, add 2 cups water). Here we add a little more, because of the spinach that we added. The extra water is for the spinach to cook. As a rule of thumb, add water until the ingredients and completely immersed. This rule works pretty well most of the time :).

Arbi/Chammgada fry

Ingredients:

1.)Arbi - 5

2.)mustard seeds - 1tsp

3.)cumin seeds - 1tsp

4.)urad dal - 1tbsp

5.)curry leaves - 6

6.)ginger gralic paste - 1/2 tsp

7.)turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

8.)salt - to taste

9.)chilli powder 1/2 tsp

10.)oil-4tbsp

Procedure:

Boil the arbi(for 3 whistles), peel its skin off and chop into 1/2 inch peices. Take oil in a pan, when it is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal ,curry leaves and turmeric paste. When they start spluttering add arbi, ginger garlic paste and fry. Next add salt and mix well. Fry till they get golden brown. When it starts getting brown add chilli powder and mix well.Keep stirring frequently to avoid burning of the vegetable.Once the vegetable gets golden brown the vegetable is ready to serve.This goes wel with curd rice,sambar rice or roti

Sakara/Sweet Pongal

Ingredients:
1.)Rice - 1 cup
2.)pesara pappu - 1/4 the cup
3.)cardamon powder - 1tsp
4.)jaggery 3/4 cup(depending on how sweet u want the dish to be vary the amount of jaggery)
5.)Ghee - 1tbsp
6.)raisins - 8
7.)cashews - 8(or any nut that u like)
8.)milk - 2 cups

Procedure:
Wash rice and pesara papu. In a pan add rice and pesara papu and add 2 cups of water and tow cups of milk and let it boil. Ina presuure cooker cook it for about 6-7 whistles.
In the meanwhile take the jaggery and dissolve it it hotwater (to disolve jagerry faster, take jagerry ina bowl add a little water and put it in the microwave for a couple of mins until u find the jaggery dissolved.).Then once the steam is gone add the dissolved jaggery and mash the rice and dal mixture to a coarse paste.Now again put the mixture back on to the stove.To it add cardamon powder and mixwell. Keep mixing occasionally other wise the misture stick to the bottom of the pan. Leave it on the stove for about 5 mins.
In another pan, add ghee/oil. When it is hot add Cashews and raisins. When the raisins and puffed and cashews are brown add this to the rice and dal mixture and mix well. Pongal is ready to serve.

Zucchini snack

This is one of the quick recipes which goes extremely well as an party snack or appetizer. Or it is good even for an evening snack on a rainy day.

Ingredients:
1.)Zucchini - 2
2.)Salt-to taste
3.)oil - to deep fry

Procedure:
Wash the zucchini well and pat dry. Now using a peeler keep peeling the zucchini until u start to hit the seeds(do not peel the seeds part of zucchini, leave the core and use it in sambar.Follow the kheera/cucumber sambar recipe.)
Now heat the oil and fry the zucchini strips till golden brown. Do not brown it much, because it will start tasting bitter. The main thing to get zucchini to right color is to make sure that oil is really hot.
Now remove the golden brown zucchini skins and sprinkle salt. Make sure u sprinkle salt when the zucchini skins are hot. This ensures it sticks to the snack.

Bagara Baingan

Bagara Baingan
Ingredients:
1.)brinjal/eggplant - 6 samll round(slit into four with its stem intact.After slitting put them into salt water.)
2.)onion - 1 medium (pureed)
3.)seasme seeds/til/nuvulu - 3/4tbsp(roasted and ground to powder)
4.)groundut - 2tsps(roasted and made to paste. Can use peanut butter too.)
5.)coconut powder - 1tbsp
6.)tamarind - juice from lime size ball
7.)chilli powder - 2tsps
8.)turmeric - pinch
9.)oil - 2tbsps
10.)salt - to taste
11.)cumin seeds - 1tsp
12.)curry leaves - 5
13.)coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
14.)ginger garlic paste - 1tsp

Procedure:
Take oil ina pan.When it is hot add cumin seeds and curry leaves. When they start spluttering add onions(ideally would require onion paste, but can be subtituted with very finely chopped onions).Once the onions get transparent,add turmeic,ginger garlic paste and salt. Saute till they get golden brown.At this point add the add the brinjals and saute till their skin gets discolored and the brinjals get a little soft.keep stiring often to avaoid the onions from getting burnt. To this add peanut,seasmea and coconut mixture and mix well. Now add tamrind juice and mix well. To this add chilli powder,coriander powder and salt. Mix well and close the lid. Keep stiring occasionally.Once the birnjal is cooked, bagara baingan is ready to be served.This goes extremely well with birani ,pulav ,plain rice or roti.

Aloo paratha

Aloo paratha


Ingredients:
1.)Potatoes - 3 large(boiled)
2.)green chillies - 2(finely chopped)
3.)chili powder - 1/4 tsp
4.)garam masala - 1/2 tsp
5.)onion - 1/2 small(finely chopped)
6.)Wheat flour - 2cups
7.)salt to taste
8.) oil

Procedure:
Boil the potatoes and grates them(grating the boiled potatoes helps to simplify the mashing process and ensures that the potatoes are evenly mashed with no lumps). Take 1 tsp oil in a pan and fry onion and green chillies. Fry till the onion turn golden brown. To this add chili powder and gram masala and fry for a min and add this mixture to the grated potatoes. Add salt and mix all the ingredients to a smooth dough consistency.Now divide the potato mixture into six equal parts and roll into balls.

Take wheat flour and add 1 and 1/4 cup of water and knead the dough(quantity of water depends on the wheat flour u use, so add water little by little.). Make six balls of the dough. Roll each of the dough ball into a circle of 3 inch diameter.Now place the potato ball in the centre of it and make a dumpling. Make sure that the potato stuffing does not ooze out of the dumpling. Now roll out the dumpling carefully into a circle of 6 inch by making sure that the potato mixture does not come out.
Fry the rolled out roti's on a pan with little ghee or oil. Aloo paratha is ready to be served. This goes well with curd, raitha,tomato ketchup, or any curry.

Hyderabadi Chicken Haleem

Ingredients:
1)ground chicken - 1lb

2.)Cracked wheat- 1 and 1/2 cup

3.)Ginger-Garlic paste - 2tbsp

4.)Mixed lentils [urad daal,chana daal]- 1/2 cup

5.)Red Chilli powder -1/2 tbsp

6.)Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

7.)Yougurt-3/4 cup
8.)cinnamon - 1 inch stick
9.)cloves - 2
10.)cardamon -2
11.)garam masla powder - 1 tsp
12.)peper corns -1/4 tsp
13.)green chillies - 5 small
14.)salt - to taste
15.)oil - 1/4 cup
16.)fried onions - 1 cup(ready made or made at home)

Procedure:
First wash and soak the cracked wheat for atleast 1/2 hour.Boil the cracked wheat with mixed lentils,1tbsp ginger-garlic paste,1/4 tsp turmeric powder,3-4 green chillies,1/4 tsp pepper corns in 4-6cups of water until its cooked and mashed completely
Now in another pan add oil and add whole spices and remaining green chillies. To it add ginger garlic paste and and ground chicken and mix well. To this add 1/2 tsp of salt,Red chilli powder,Garam masala powder and mix well.While the chicken it getting cooked try to keep it in shredded state.Add the Yoghurt and saute for another 10- 15 min or until a lil oil starts to float on top. Now at this point add the wheat and lentils mixture to the chicken and mix well. You may add some water if needed. Check for salt and let it simmer for atleast 1/2 hr(the longer it simmers the better it tastes). Keep stirring regularly. Finally top it off with fried onions and let it simmer for another 10 mins.
Haleem is ready to be served. Just berfore serving garninsh with fried onions, coriander leaves and ad rizzle of lime juice.
This is a meal in itself. It can also be served with roti or nan.