Happy Ugadi And Kova Kajjikayalu

What you need:

For covering:
Kova or khoya-1 cup
Sugar-1/4 cup
Ghee-1 tablespoon

Heat the ghee in a pan and add the koya and sugar. Stir it on a low flame until it thickens. Turn off the stove and allow it to cool.

For filling:
Fresh coconut powder-1 cup
Sugar-1/2 cup
Cardamom powder-1 teaspoon

Boil the sugar and ½ cup of water in a pan and make one string syrup. Now add the coconut powder and stir it on a medium flame. Once the mixture is thick enough to be made into balls, turn off the stove.






How to make:

Mix the kova into a dough and divide it into small balls and pat them into small circles. Now divide the coconut filling into small balls and put each one of them in a circle and join the ends. Delicious cute kova kajjikayalu are now ready…

Vankaya Pachadi (Brinjal Chutney)

My mother in law makes yummy chutneys with fresh vegetables…One of the popular one amongst them is Vankaya Pachadi...Here goes her recipe…




What you need:

Brinjals- 3
Green chillies-5
Tamarind- a small berry sized
Curry leaves- a few
Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon
Coriander seeds-1 teaspoon
Garlic-2 cloves
Oil-2 tablespoons

For seasoning: 1 teaspoon of mustard and cumin seeds, 2-3 dry chilli pieces and a few curry leaves…


How to make:

Wash and cut the brinjals into small pieces and put them in salted water to prevent the changing of colour. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the green chillies, a few curry leaves, coriander seeds, tamarind, turmeric powder and garlic. Fry them for two minutes on a medium flame. Leave them to cool and in the same pan add the brinjal pieces. Fry them until they become soft and allow them to cool. Grind the fried ingredients except the brinjal pieces into a fine paste. Now add the brinjal pieces and salt and grind it into a coarse paste. (Add the brinjal pieces in the end because they should not be grinded into a paste). Heat the oil in the same pan. Now add the dry chillies, mustard and cumin seeds and curry leaves. Once they turn brown in colour, add the ground chutney to it. Mix every thing well and turn off the stove. Serve it with hot rice or chapathis…

Prawns Curry (Royyala Kura)

What you need:

Prawns-10-12
Tamarind pulp-3 tablespoons
Lime juice-2 tablespoons
Chopped fresh coriander leaves-a few
Oil-3 tablespoons

For grinding:

Chopped onions-2
Green chillies-2
Turmeric powder-1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder-1 teaspoon
Coriander seeds-1 teaspoon
Sesame seeds-1 tablespoon
Ginger-a small piece
Garlic-2 cloves
Salt-1 tablespoon
Cloves-2
Cinnamon-a small piece
Cardamom-1

How to make:

Remove the shells the prawns and rinse them with water three times. Later add the lime juice, a pinch of turmeric powder and salt and keep them aside. Now heat the oil in a pan and add the ground paste. Saute it until the oil comes out from it and add the prawns after sqeezing out the water from them. Fry them on a medium flame for 3-4 minutes. Now add the tamarind pulp and 1 cup of water. Lower the flame and cook it for 6-8 minutes until the gravy becomes thick and the oil separates from it. Now add the chopped coriander and turn off the stove. Serve it with bagara rice or chapathis…

Note: Lime juice helps to lessen the smell of prawns. We have to use a little bit more oil for non vegetarian dishes.

Kajjikayalu

This is my submission for the event-"Let's go nuts-March with Yummy - Almonds" hosted by JZ of http://dessertpro.blogspot.com/2009/03/lets-go-nuts-with-almonds.html

What you need:

For making dough:
Maida or plain flour-2 cups
Sugar-1 teaspoon
Salt-a pinch
Sooji-1 tablespoon
Ghee-2 tablespoons

Mix above ingredients in a big bowl and make it into a stiff dough and leave it for half an hour.

For filling:
Almonds-1/2 cup

Cashew nuts-1/2 cup
Sugar-3/4 cup
Cardamom powder-1 teaspoon

Transfer all the ingredients into a mixer jar and make into a powder.

Oil for deep fry

How to make:

Divide the dough into lemon sized balls and roll them into thin poories (circlular shapes). Take the kajjikayalu mould and apply some oil in it and put a poori inside it. Fill one side of the poori with one tablespoon of the filling and close the poori. Join the two edges inside with wet fingers. Now close the mould and press it. Open the mould and take out the kajjikaya carefully. Do the same with the rest of the poories and heat the oil in a frying pan. Deep fry them in batches on a low flame until they turn golden brown in colour. Allow them to cool and store them in an air tight container. They will keep for 4-5 days…

Vankaya Bagara (Brinjal Bagara)

I have tried this recipe from the book ‘Kantamani Vantakalu’. It was amazing…I only replaced the poppy seeds with cashew nuts because I could not get poppy seeds...

No wonder, it was the favorite curry of Tenali Ramalinga who was a famous poet during Sri Krishna Devaraya's time…


What you need:

The first thing you need to make this curry is PATIENCE…


Small tender purple coloured brinjals-7
Chopped fresh coriander-a few
Curry leaves-a few
Tamarind pulp-2 tablespoons
Oil-4 tablespoons

For grinding:
Roasted ground nuts or peanuts-3 tablespoons
Cashew nuts-5
Coriander seeds-1 tablespoon
Grated coconut-1 tablespooncinnamon-a small piece
Cloves-4
Cardamom-2
Ginger-a small piece
Garlic cloves-3
Onions-2
Green chillies-3
Red chilli powder-1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon




How to make:

Grind all the above ingredients into a fine paste. Wash and make two longitudinal slits in the brinjals. Do not cut them completely. Fill them with the ground paste and heat the oil in a pan. Add the brinjals and the remaining paste. Cook them on a low flame to make sure that they do not open. Cook until the brinjals change in colour and become soft. Now add the tamarind pulp, curry leaves and 1 cup of water. Cook them for 5-6 minutes on a low flame after covering them with a lid and stir at intervals. Once the oil separates from the gravy, add the chopped coriander leaves. Stir it well and turn off the stove after the gravy gets the desired thickness. Serve it with jeera rice or plain rice or chapathis…


Note: After slitting the brinjals, check inside to make sure that they have not gone bad...

Bobbatlu (Bhakshalu) and Awards

Our blogger friend, Nithya Praveen of http://aromasfrommykitchen.blogspot.com/ has passed me these awards...Thank you Nithya:) And I am passing these awards to all my blogger friends...

What you need:

For making dough:
Maida or plain flour-2 cups
Sugar-1 teaspoon
Salt-a pinch
Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
Ghee-2 tablespoons

Mix above ingredients in a big bowl and make it into a soft dough. Pour 1-2 tablespoons ghee on it and keep it aside for half an hour.

For sweet stuffing:
Gram dal or chana dal-1 cup
Grated jaggery-1/2 cup
Cardamom powder-1 teaspoon

Cook the gram dal until it becomes a bit soft and drain the water. Transfer it into a mixer jar after it cools down and add the grated jaggery and cardamom powder to it. Grind it into a paste without using any water.

How to make:

Divide the dough into lemon sized balls and pat them into circular shapes on a plastic sheet. Take a small ball of sweet stuffing and put it inside the circular patted dough. Carefully wrap the stuffing with the patted dough. Pat it again into a bigger circle using oil. Heat a pan and roast the circles on both sides using 1 tablespoon of oil. After removing them from the pan, spread them out separately (do not keep them on a pile when they are hot). Once they cool down, store them in a container. They will keep 2-3 days. Before eating add one teaspoon of melted ghee on them…

Capsicum And Tomato Chutney

What you need:

Large green Capsicum-1
Medium sized red tomatoes-2
Green chillies-4
Fresh chopped coriander
Gram dal or chana dal-1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Tamarind pulp-1 teaspoon
Sugar-1 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon
Oil-2 tablespoons


For seasoning: 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and 1 teaspoon black gram dal (splitted urad dal).


How to make:

Wash and slice the capsicum and tomatoes into cubes. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the capsicum, cut green chillies and sugar. Fry them for two minutes on a medium flame and add the cumin seeds and channa dal. Fry them for one more minute and transfer them into a bowl. Now in the same pan, add the tomato cubes and tamarind and cook it for two minutes. Allow it to cool and grind all the fried ingredients into a paste. Add fresh coriander and grind it for 1-2 seconds. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and black gram dal and once they start spluttering, add the ground paste to it. Lower the flame and cook it for one to two minutes. Turn off the stove and serve it with dosa or hot rice.