C for Charu Podi | Andhra Style Rasam Powder | Andhra Recipes

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Learn how to make rasam (charu) powder at home with few easily available ingredients. There are many versions of it in South Indian cuisine and the proportions & its taste vary by household. Today's recipe is just like my mother makes and also included at the end is her famous 15 minute rasam recipe. 

How to make Andhra Style Charu Podi (Rasam Powder) recipe

[VeganMoFo 2013] Appadalapindi | Andhra Style Urad Dal Powder Recipe

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At times I feel that this blog is more than just a record of recipes I try in my kitchen. When I read some of my older posts, it shows how I have eveolved over time as a person and when I start to write about my amma's recipes, I get a feeling that am unfolding a culinary legacy for me and for many generations to come. Even to this today, I look back at this 15 mins rasam recipe when I am sick or terribly miss my mother.

[VeganMoFo 2013] Green Plantain (Raw Banana) Crumble | Vazhakkai Podi Recipe

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It is already Day 3 of VeganMoFo. (Check out Day 1 and Day 2) and am slowly warming up to the habit of writing everyday even if its just for a little while late at night. 

Mom's Spice Powder for Dry Curries

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It is divinity that shapes, not only your ends, but also your acts, your words and thoughts.

~ Swami Sivananda

...and I truly believe in that. For me, God is just one force which is out there some where acting as a beacon, guiding us through the right path.

Many women hailing from the southern states of India - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu perform a pooja called "Vara Lakshmi Vratham" for good health, wealth and prosperity. Every festival in Hindu mythology is associated with a story and here is how it goes for this Vrata -

You can see my mom's decorating skills here...

....In the kingdom of Magadha of yore, there lived a brahmin woman called Charumathi in a town named Kundina. The prosperous town was the home of Charumathi and her husband. Impressed by her devotion to her family, Goddess Mahalakshmi appeared in her dream and asked her to worship Vara-Lakshmi (Vara = boon, Lakshmi = goddess of wealth) and seek to fulfill her wishes. Varalakshmi is yet another form of Lord Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. The prayer/worship was prescribed to be offered on the Friday of Sravana month preceding the night of full moon... Source: wikipedia

My mom, dad and little sister came to Bangalore to visit us. It felt so great to have them around and celebrate my first Vratam after moving back to India.

May Goddess Lakshmi bring loads of prosperity, good health, joy and happiness to each one of us. :-)

I must have mentioned umpteen number of times, how awesome-a-cook is my mom. She is the queen of express cooking as being a working mom and two children to manage, she always had little time on hand & 4 hungry tummies to feed.

Today, I am sharing one of her podi recipes - a spice powder when sprinkled on any cooked vegetable taste so great that you would want for more.

Mom's Spice Powder for Dry Curries

This is a must-have in every kitchen and comes handy when you are feeling lazy or short-of-time. Just sprinkle this at the very end on any cooked vegetable like - eggplant/brinjal, potato, bell pepper, okra etc and it transforms into something else. and the recipe is one of the easiest them of all. Try it for yourself! 

Psst Psst - I also used this as a stuffing for eggplant and it tastes amazing!

Ingredients:

2 cups dry, shredded coconut powder (or dry coconut, cut into small pieces)
Salt - to taste
3 tsp red chilli powder
10 garlic pods, with skin
2 tsp cumin seeds

Preparation:

Put everything in a grinder and grind until everything is blended together. Adjust salt if needed.

Note: If you are using dry coconut pieces, grind in small bursts and mixing in the middle so that oil doesn't ooze out.

Sending this as an entry to Back to Basics: Spice Powders hosted by Jaya, the Desi Soccer Mom and also to Valli's Condiment Mela.

With utmost happiness and joy, I want to let you all know that this blog has started its 5th year of existence. It wouldn't have been possible without your immense love and constant support. I hope you would continue to encourage me in future as well. :-)

until next time,
Siri

A tale of two podis! - Putnala Podi with Garlic & Kandipodi

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I truly believe in the Power of the First Sentence!. I did stare many, many times at a blank blogger post thinking & re-thinking about how to start my post. I have my recipe typed et al, but I don't know how to write a prologue to make it more personal and most importantly interesting to me and my readers. As the article suggests, I think keeping an exclusive journal of only first sentences works for somebody like me. that ways, it would definitely give me an instant kick start. :). What say?

As I said, a zillion times before on my blog, to me, my Mom is world's best cook. She is absolutely amazing in whatever she does or cooks and I would wanna be like her when I hit 50!. Both of the today's recipes - Putnala Podi with Garlic and Kandipodi aremy mom's creations, which she might have made numerous times since my childhood. She is just a phone call away to ship us both a kilo of these yummy podis from India to here. :D. Probably, I will ask her to do so, once I settle in CA with S.

Putnala Podi with Garlic

Image courtesy my sweet SIL, Shri of Tasty Touch.

Dry roast 1cup Peanuts with 1 teaspoon Coriander seeds , 10-15 dry Red chillies (depending on desired spice level), until very light brownish color. Add 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds (on warm peanuts) and mix well. Cool completely.

Grind - Above peanut mixture with 1.5 cups of Roasted Bengal gram (Telugu: Putanala pappu) and Salt. Punch 1 whole Garlic, with skin and drop in the last 2 grindings.

Store in an air-tight container.

Kandipodi

Separately dry roast - 2cups of Toor Dal, 1cup of Chana dal, 1cup of Mung dal and 2 teaspoons of Cumin seeds. Cool them completely.

Grind them all together with salt into a fine, grainy texture and add 2-3 teaspoons of Red chilli powder in the last grinding.

Serve with anything - from hot rice to dosas & idlis to add that extra oomph factor! :).. store the rest in an air-tight container.

*thinking to myself*: Yeh!I am so glad, I could put an end to my endless dawdling and finally update my blog with something interesting. I just hope, I could keep up with this and blog more often. :) :)

Ciao soon,

Dosa 101 with Coconut Chutney and Dosa Podi

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"So much to do, so little done, such things to be."

- Lord Alfred Tennyson 1809-1892, British Poet

For me, cooking is a journey where you have no idea whats gonna happen next?.. Confused??. I mean, one has no idea whether the *outcome* would be good or bad..in spite of that known, we always try .. put in our best to get the dish right..

...'Making a Dosa' is one such a thingy for me since a long time. . Hey, I always had these instant dosas.. which are so cool and damn easy. Though, I started *proper cooking* (..not bachelor cooking) just a couple of months back, I never dared to venture into the *DOSA* area.

What if the batter turns out too thin ?

What if they taste bad and I end up throwing up?

What if...

What if...

Thanks to Srivalli's Dosa Mela which pushed me to actually soak some rice and grind to make my first ever dosa...

....drumroll please...

Tada Tadah...Here I present people .. 'MY FIRST DOSA'... Yey Yey!!!



I was super happy when they turned out good and my happiness had no bounds when I put the first piece (dipped in coconut chutney) into my mouth..:D

Ok guys.. enuf of my rambling, I will get to the recipe first. my mom also sent me this amazing 'Dosa podi' recipe which tasted just out of this world..

Dosa Batter:
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3 cups of rice
1 cup split urad daal
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
Salt to taste

How to make:

1. Soak rice, urad dal with fenugreek seeds overnight.
2. Next morning, drain the water and grind to a smooth-slightly grainy paste, adding little amount of water.
3. Pour the paste into a bowl and add enough water to make a batter.
Consistency test: The batter should thickly coat a spoon dipped into it..:D
4. Now add salt and keep the batter aside, covered for an hour.
5. Heat a nonstick pan and spread the batter and make our usual dosas out of it!!
6. I served with some coconut chutney and dosa podi.

Coconut chutney:
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1 cup shredded coconut
2-3 Green chillies
1/4 cup Roasted Chickpeas (dalia/putnalu)
small Ginger very finely chopped

For tampering:

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp urad daal
2 dry red chillies
5-6 curry leaves
Salt to taste
2 tbsp oil

Preparation:

1. Grind all the ingredients listed (except for 'Tampering) into a fine/coarse paste in a food processor. Add water if desired.
2. Heat oil in a small pan and add in the tampering ingredients.
3. Add to the coconut paste and stir the contents well.



Dosa Podi:
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1 cup Fried, skin removed Peanuts
1 cup Roasted Chickpeas (putnalu)
2 tbsp Fried Coriander seeds
2 tbsp Jeera/ Cumin seeds
3-4 Red Chillies
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt - to taste
2-3 Crushed dry garlic (for flavor)

How to make:

Mix all the above listed ingredients and Powder them into a coarse powder in a grinder. Store it in an air-tight container to stay fresh months.

Recipe Source: My Mom..:)



Hope you all enjoied my 'DOSA' adventure. Any suggestions/tips/tricks to make yummier dosas are always welcome. To keep safe them, I will update this post with ur tips. Being an amateur in making these, I would love to incorporate them next time around..:))



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Spicy Stuffed Baigan ka Bhartha

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"Aaha yemi ruchi, anara maimarachi
Roju tinnamare mojee teeranidi
Taaja kooralalo raaja yevarandi
Inka cheppala Vankayenandi....."
These are the lyrics of a famous telugu song which states -
"The Raaja of all vegetables is none other than our legendary " Brinjal/Egg Plant/Vankaya"...Indeed its the favorite of all..:D...



I made tons of Sarina Pudi for Ashaji Event and Suganya made me think about recipes to use up the pudi. and here it is "Spicy Stuffed Baigan ka Bhartha" which I by the way baked and steamed, so its tasty, less calories and absolutely delish..:D

Ingredients:

(small) Brinjals/Eggplants - 6
Sarina Pudi - 3 tbsp
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Salt- to taste
Turmetic - 1/4 tbsp
Tamarind Jucie - 2tbsp
Peanuts - 2 tbsp
Green Chillies - 2
Sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 2 tbsp
Sambhar powder - 1 tbsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tbsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
Chopped Onion - 4 tbsp

How to prepare:

1. Grind all the above mentioned ingredients except Brinjals into a thick paste adding very little water.
2. Slit the Brinjals into 4 parts and stuff them with the ground paste.
3. Keep aside the left over ground masala.
4. Bake the stuffed eggplants for 15 mins at 400 deg in the oven.
5. Now, In a pan, cook the left over masala for few minutes adding little water so that it becomes a gravy.
6. Add the baked eggplants to the pan and Cook for 15 minutes on low heat.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves. It tastes good with hot rice or Roti.

I served with white rice and Theplas. Here is the entire spread...:D