Spiceroute

Heres my recipe for sweet potato pulusu ( sweet and sour gravy ) Sweet potatoes 2 Water 2 cups Tamarind pulp 1/2 cup Jaggery 2 tbsps ( both these quantities depend on the sweet/sour proportion one likes) Tumeric 1/2 tsp Green chillies 2 Rice flour 1 tbsp ( to thicken the sauce) curry leaves salt For the tadka : oil , mustard , methi seeds , dried red chillies and hing. coriander leaves for garnish Steam and slice the sweet potatoes. Add all the ingredients ( apart from the tadka ones ) to water , simmer gently. Add in the sweet potatoes. Finally add the tadka and garnish with coriander leaves. A variation would be to add other vegetables like pumpkin , okra etc. A more elaborate way is to add a spoonful of pulusu podi ( dry roasted and powdered pepper, fenugreek, coriander seeds ,red chillies and asafoetida ). This is usually served with roasted and boiled toor dal to which a dollop of ghee is added and rice.

Our family day of fasting was on Shivaratri , and it was total fasting till sunset ( not even water if possible ) followed by a very light meal of fruits and upma. This was followed by keeping awake the whole night . There were discourses at the temple , classical music and dance concerts and even mythological movies on TV all through the night. I do try and fast wherever I am , which is relatively easy considering that the food I have at the end of it is very simple but what I do miss is the atmosphere which went along with it back then.

Hi Rupen , I generally use Creme Fraiche or Greek yogurt ( depending upon the recipe) .They are widely available here in Europe , and have worked well for me as substitutes for malai.

My former roomate used to whip up a simple rice dish with dill ( from her grand mothers recipe) , and she is of kannada origin. It had a tadka of urad dal , mustard , pinch of hing , added to which was freshly crushed black pepper and chopped dill and finally stir fried for a few minutes with cooked rice.

Pesarattu ( whole moong dosa ) with upma and ginger chutney, never knew the logic behind it as I always used to ( and still do ) eat the dosa and upma seperately with the chutney .

Chutney with bottle or ridge gourd peels , by roasting them in a little oil with urad dal , channa dal , mustard , jeera , methi , hing , red chillies , tamarind and grinding them all together. I remember my mother making fritters with the cut off ends of bitter gourd by soaking them in salt and haldi water and drying them out in the sun, ( should confirm this though) Jackfruit seeds , boiled and peeled can eaten plain salted , stir fried with jeera , haldi and chilli powder , or grinded into a paste for a sweet halwa/ phirni.

gingerly , That reminds me , though there is no mention of Bhimas cooking skills in Maya Bazar , there is another movie called Nartansala , based on another episode in Mahabharata called the Virata Parvam wherein the pandavas during their exile period are to spend one year in disguise , and they decide to take up various jobs in the King Viratas kingdom and Bhima, joins the royal kitchen as Valala the cook. In fact his entire battle with Keechaka is picturised in the kitchen. one thought leads to another , theres is a phrase in telugu where you call a elaborately prepared dish Nala -Bhima pakam , beacause Nala was also a legendary cook in mythology. one of Madhavans latest movie is Nala Damayanthi where he is a Palaghat brahmin cook and Kamal hasan played a similar role in Micheal Madana Kamarajan, did you catch any one those the Quick Gun Murugan fillers were great , ooru beer aprama masala dosa yes gingerly those telugu westerns are a big hit on the video circuit , and fun to watch Mosagallaku mosagadu is the classic one with Krishna , Kodama simham is a later one with Chiranjeevi and theres Takkaridonga which just came a couple of years ago with Mahesh.

one of my favorite green beans recipes lightly steam the beans and temper with mustard seeds , hing , channa dal and curry leaves and finally add roasted and powdered sesame seeds and dried red chillies.

Not too sure if anybodys mentioned it, One of the all time classics of telugu cinema ( theres a tamil version too), the BW movie "Maya Bazar" , a mythological based on an entertaining episode from Mahabharata has a whole song about 7 minutes long called " vivaha bhojanam" (the marriage feast) . It has the half demon Ghatochkacha ( for those familiar with mythology ) literally singing out the menu of a traditional , royal wedding , mentioning all the delicacies in detail , and the visuals accompanying the song are equally great , its the royal kitchen of the kauravas and spread around are lavish amounts of all the dishes mentioned in the song

gingerly , the dosakai is uncooked and deseeded , so make sure its not bitter and is fresh , the whole idea is that it should be crunchy in the chutney. this recipe is infact served like a salad/chutney , a variation would be adding a paste of roasted jeera , coriander , green chillies and salt to the dosakai .

toor dal when sauted ( almost to a light brown color ) before being cooked has a very different flavour when compared to the non fried dal. I usually fry the pre dal when its just plain dal ( just adding salt , a lil sugar and sp of ghee after its cooked ) , its usually served so as an accompaniment to charu ( which is no dal rasam) or majjiga pulusu ( andhra version of kadhi)

Hi gingerly , i am a veggie but heres a dosakai chutney recipe , which sweet/sour , only make sure the dosakai is tender and not bitter. chop the dosakai finely. heat oil , season with urad dal , channa dal , mustard , jeera , methi,hing , red chillies , little tamarind . grind into a paste with gur and salt. mix with dosakai and garnish with coriander. you can even grind the dosakai with the paste , but the paste should be fine , while the dosakai should be coarsely ground. using sesame oil also gives a good flavour. will try ur guar recipe,it sounds good.

Hello everybody , my first post on this wonderful site which I have just discovered Gongura and dosakai are used a lot in traditional andhra cooking here are a couple of simple recipes ( but caution my measures do tend to be approx.) For traditional Andhra dal I use the same recipe the basic recipe is the same with a few substitutions depending on the vegetable you use GONGURA DAL 1. toor dal - 1 cup 2. a bunch of gongura leaves 3. haldi- 1/2 tsp 4. green chillies- 2nos. for tempering 5. mustard seeds - 1tsp 6. oil or ghee - 1tbsp 7. methi- a few seeds 8. jeera- 1tsp 9. hing a pinch 10. urad dal - 1tsp 11. curry leaves a few 12. red chillies - 2nos. Boil the dal along with gongura , haldi and green chillies ( I usually do this in a pressure cooker and it takes about 10 - 15mins ). Heat oil , add the tempering ingredients , and add to the boiled dal with salt. simmer for few minutes. Dosakai dal same as above , boil the dal with dosakai pieces . But once the dal is done , add thin tamarind water and simmer it , and then add the tempering. there are pickles and chutneys with both and I can add the recipes if anyones interested. Tondli I think is whats known as kovakai in tamil and dondekai in telugu Heres a simple recipe with jeera and red chillies Dondekai- 1/2 kg oil - 1 tbsp onion - 1 chopped jeera - 2 tsp red chillies - 2 nos or acc to taste dry roast the jeera the red chillies and powder coarsely. heat oil add onion , once they soften add the tondli ( sliced in circles ) , cover and cook , add little water if reqd. Once cooked add the powder and fry till dry.