Instant Tomato Pudina Pachadi/Chutney

This chutney is very easy and quick to make. It can stay for 3 to 4 days if refrigerated. It can be had with rice, idli, dosa, upma etc.

INGREDIENTS
Big Tomatoes - 4
Chilli green or red (not the dried ones)  - 3 to 4
Pudina - one small cup
mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds - 1 spoon each
tamarind - a small pinch
Salt, Oil

PROCEDURE:
1. Dry roast the mustard and fenugreek seeds for around 3mins. Constantly stir so that they don't burn.
2. Grind them into fine powder once the seeds have cooled down.
3. Put 2 spoons of oil in a tava and after it is hot, add chillies and tomatoes (cut the tomatoes into 4 portions)
3. Add a pinch of salt and close the lid for the tomatoes and chillies to cook well.
4. Once the tomatoes are soft and well cooked, keep them aside to cool down.
5. Add these to the grinder, add the mustard-fenugreek powder, tamarind and salt to taste
6. Grind them well to get the tasty chutney/pachadi :)

Sorakaya Pulsukura (Bottle guard gravy curry)

 Bottle gourd is extremely popular for reducing high blood pressure and keeping heart healthy. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals and extremely popular for weight loss as well.

This is very simple and easy dish to make especially when very tired . It tastes delicious with both roti and rice.

 This type of puluskura is very popular in Andhra and can be made with other leafy vegetables like gongura &Thotakura (Amaranthus)



Recipe:

Ingredients:

 Bottle gourd (size: medium )
 Tomato            - 1
 Onion              - 1 (Big)
 Green chillies - 3 big

 Seasoning:
 Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
 Cumin seeds  - 1/2 tspn
 fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tspn
 Split urud dal - 1/2 tspn
 Channa dal  - 1/2 tspn
 Hing (Asafoetida)

 Turmeric - a pinch 
 Oil     - 2 tspn
 Tamarind juice - 2 tspn
 whole wheat flour - 1 tspn

Procedure :

• Chop green chillies.

• Cut Bottle gourd and tomato into small pieces

• Chop onions fine and long , so they are visible in the bottle gourd pieces.

• In a small pressure cooker , add 2 tspn oil. Once heated, add the seasoning ingredients

• Once the mustard seeds splutter , add the chopped onion , a pinch of salt and fry them till transparent.

• Add the tomato pieces and stir 

• Once cooked, Add bottle gourd pieces and add water till the pieces are slightly visible.

• Either put the cooker lid on and wait for one whistle or put a normal plate as a lid and check till it cooks.

• By the time the pieces cook , take a small bowl, add one tspn of whole wheat flour and water , mix till its a thick liquid.Keep it aside. This liquid is used to thicken the gravy, once the pieces are cooked in the water.

• By the time the pieces cook ,soak tamarind in water and make a thick juice by pressing tamarind in water.

• Once the pieces are cooked, add tamarind juice ,salt  and a pinch of turmeric.

• Mix the gravy and add a tspn of whole wheat flour water to let the gravy thicken.

• Add coriander leaves or kasuri methi for garnishing 

• Can be had with roti or rice .

Baigan ka Bharta

Ingredients:

Aubergine - 1 large
onions- 1
tomato -1
coriander leaves finely chopped - 1tbspn
green chillies - 2 finely chopped

for seasoning
bengal gram - 1 tbspn
mustard seeds - 1tspn
cumin seeds - 1 tspn
salt
oil - 2 tbspn

Procedure::

Clean the aubergine and heat it directly over stove/fire or you can smoke it.Change the positions to cook all sides. The skin might be slightly burnt but this is hows its supposed to be.Keep it aside for 5 mins before peeling the skin.
After peeling the sin slightly mash it with some pieces visible.

Add oil in a wok and add bengal gram,mustard,cumin seeds and green chillies. after the mustard seeds start to splutter add onions and fry till transluscent. add tomatoes and salt and cook with closed lid for 5 mins. add the mashed aubergine and coriander leaves and mix it well and cook for 2 mins.

This can be had as side dish either with chapati/roti/rice.

Chemagadda (Colocasia) pulusu

Ingredients:

colocasia -1/2 kg
tomato -2
onions - 2
tamarind jus - 1/2 cup
salt
chilli powder - 2 tbspn
curry leaves - 4-5
mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

sugar/jaggery - 1 tbspn

Procedure:

Clean the colocasia well and boil them till almost done and keep aside. It should not be completely boiled else it will get smashed easily as it will boil along with pulusu.

in a handi pour some oil for seasoning and add mustard and cumin seeds, curry leaves.
once it splutters add onions and fry till tansluscent.
add chopped tomatoes and fry till tomatoes goes soft.
add the tamarind jus, salt and chilli powder . add some water so that its not thick.
boil it for 15 mins till its not too thin.

add some sugar/jaggery to get slight sweetness.

Peel the skin of colocasia and add them to pulusu.
boil for 15 mins on medium flame till colocasia absorbs the pulusu.

Tomato Dosa

Tomato pappu ( dal with tomato)

Cherry tomato and roasted garlic spaghetti

We love pastas and have tried to prepare a variety of them from many years. Though I favourite being a simple aglio olio. In India you get good vegetarian options of pasta but you cannot say the same in other countries. Most of them will be seafood or meat. 

But at home atleast we can prepare a sumptuous vegetarian pasta. You can except lot more pasta recipes from VegCookHouse .

Cherry tomatoes are ignored in Indian cooking. The sweet yet sour taste of cherry tomatoes makes it a good candidate to use in other cuisines. Guess we should experiment with cherry tomatoes in South indian cuisine. 

We use garlic a lot in our food but never roasted it much. The roasted flavour of garlic is mouth watering.

A unique pasta with these two ingredients. We used spaghetti but can also use fusilli, penne  , angel hair pasta

Ingredients:

spaghetti pasta - 200 gms
cherry tomatoes - 100 gms
garlic pods - 15
butter - 2 tbspn
olive oil - 3 tbspn
green chillies - 2
salt - 1 tspn to taste

Procedure:

Take a pot and add water to it. add 1/2 tspn of salt to it and bring it to boil. Add the spaghetti to it. cook it for 3 mins until the pasta is almost cooked (dont cook it completely).

Drain the water ,rinse it with cold water along with a few drops of oil. once completely drained add a drop of oil to the pasta and spread it across. This will avoid stickiness.

Take a pan and add butter and 1 tbspn of olive oil. Chop green chillies to fine. add green chillies and garlic to the pan and fry it till brown.it should be roasted well almost like burnt garlic.

Cut the cherry tomatoes to half. add the tomatoes to the pan and fry it. add salt and cook with closed lid for 1 minute. cherry tomatoes cook very quickly.

once cooked add the spaghetti and mix well. add 2 tbspn of olive oil and mix it well till the pasta is blended.

If you dont want to use butter can replace it with olive oil only.

Stuffed Capsicum

Ingredients:

Capsicums - 4
Potato -1
Onion -2
Tomato -1
green chilli -2
Rice - 1 cup
soy sauce - 1 tbspn
vinegar - 1 tspn
garam masala - 2 tspn
coriander powder - 2 tspn
turmeric powder - 1 tspn
cumin seeds - 1tbspn
ghee - 1tbspn
oil - for frying

Procedure::

Wash the rice and boil rice with 2 cups of water. Boil potatoes.

Take a tawa add 2 tbspn of oil. once the oil is heated add cumin seeds.
add chopped green chilli and fry it for a minute. add finely sliced onions and fry for 2 minutes until translucent.
Add finely diced tomatoes , 1 tspn of salt and cover it with lid for 2 mins.
Add the garam masala, coriander ,turmeric powder, soy sauce and vinegar and mix it well.
Peel of the boiled potatoes and mash it.
Add the mashed potatoes to the curry mixture.
Mix the boiled rice to it. fry it for 2 mins. add salt as required.

Cut the bottom of capsicum so that it can stand on its own. try slicing very minimum to avoid hole at the bottom. slice the head of the capsicum. apply oil to the capsicum inside and outside. fill it with the rice mixture.add some ghee on the filling.

Take a flat bottomed tawa and sprinkle some oil in it. put the filled capsicums in it. cover with lid and fry for 10 mins. make sure all the sides of capsicum are cooked well by moving it.

Hot stuffed capsicum can be served with tomato sauce or any chutney.

Aloo chips curry

Ingredients:
aloo – 4
tomato – 2
onions- 2
red chilli powder
turmeric powder
mustard seeds
cumin seeds
channa dal
.coriander leaves – optional

procedure:
wash and peel the potatoes and cut into medium slices as sliced for bajji/chips
cut the onions into thin slices and finely chop tomatoes.
add oil in a wok and add the seasonings channa dal, mustard and cumin seeds.
after they splutter add the onions and fry till transluscent.
add the chopped tomatoes and add some salt and cook with closed lid for 3 mins.
once the tomatoes become soft add the aloo chips.mix well and cook with closed lid for 10 mins till aloo is cooked.
add the chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix well and cook for 2 mins without lid.
this can be had with roti or rice.

Tomato Uthappam

This beautiful looking item is Tomato Uthappam – the south-Indian Pizza. It’s quick and easy to make and yummy to eat. Here’s the recipe

INGREDIENTS:

Tomatoes – 2

Onions – 1/2

Coriander Leaves

Dosa/Idli Batter :

• 4 cups Idli Rava
• 1 3/4 cup Urad dal

PROCEDURE:

To make the batter:

1. Soak Rava in medium hot water for 4 hrs.
2. Soak dal in plain water for 4 hrs.
3. Make a fine paste of Urad dal & keep aside.
4. Drain hot water from the rava & wash with cold/plain water.
5. Take a handful of rava & tightly squeeze the water out of it & add it to the urad dal paste. Continue untill all the rava is done.
6. Add Salt to it & mix well.
7. Leave OVERNIGHT in a warm place for fermentation.

To make Utappam :

1. Add salt to the batter prepared already.

2. Cut the onions and coriander leaves finely. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces

3. Heat a Tava, and spread oil on it. Take some batter and spread it evenly (and thickly) on the Tava.

4. Add the sliced onions, tomatoes and coriander on the spread batter and cover it with a lid.

5. Let it cook on low flame for 2-3 mins  (till properly cooked- until its not liquidy)

6. Remove the lid and take the Utappam off the pan for serving.