Kitchen-Kollections

Ingredients

2 pound tindora or dondakaya (preferably boiled)
Curry leaves
Popu or tadka
Popula powder
Peanuts – half a cup
Red chilli powder – half tsp
Salt to taste

Method

Pour two tablespoon of oil in a deep pan and add popu ( chana dal, urad dal, jeera, mustard seeds – half tsp) Add curry leaves, peanuts and fry for a while. Add the sliced dondakaya pieces and mix it well so that oil is covered on all pieces. Add salt and red chilli powder. Do not cover it with lid and keep frying it for at least 15 minutes. In the end add popula powder and again fry for a while. It tastes very well with hot chapatis.

This is a delicious recipe and highly simple one to make.

Ingredients

8 small brinjals
4 green chillies
1 onion
Curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon of ginger/garlic paste
Putnalu pappu powder – 2 tablespoon
Popu or Tadka

1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
1 teaspoon Urad daal
1 teaspoon chana dal
1 teaspoon jeera
2 red chillies
Red chilli powder
Salt
Turmeric

Method

Wash the brinjals properly and cut them lengthwise. Its better to put the cut pieces in salt water as it will help in getting rid of the bitter taste. Cut onions and green chillies and keep it aside.
Take a deep pan and add some vegetable oil. Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add chana dal, urad dal, jeera and red chillies. Keep stirring and after they become a little brownish in color, add onion, green chillies and curry leaves. Add ginger garlic paste. Let the onions cook for a while. Keep stirring it until onions become soft and translucent.

Add the brinjal pieces and stir so that the pieces are covered with oil. Let them cook for a while. After they become a little bit tender, add salt, red chilli powder and a pinch of turmeric. Again for next 10 mintutes, cover it with lid and let it cook.
In the end when the pieces are properly cooked, add the putnalu powder and mix it well. You can add an extra teaspoon of oil because the powder will absorb the oil. Cook for 5 minutes and more and thats it its done! Serve hot with rice or chapati! Enjoy!

Dondakai Curry or Tindora curry

Ingredients

2 Pounds Dondakai
2 tsp Popula karam
2 tbsp Oil

Method

• Chop dondakai in long thin slices.
• Add 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot enough add all the chopped dondakai. Keep mixing and stirring the curry pieces. After the pieces begin to soften add salt to taste. Do not cover with a lid if you like a fried taste 
• After about 20-25 minutes the pieces would soften and now you can add chilli powder and popula karam.
• Add chopped coriander leaves and curryleaves.  Mix and leave it on for a while.
• This can be served with rice or chapattis.

Popula Karam 
 

Ingredients

1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp urad dal
1tbsp chana dal
1/4 tbsp mustard seeds
1/4 tbsp jeera seeds
6-8 menthulu
tamarind -size of half a lemon
3 tbsp groundnuts
4 pinches HIng (Asefotida)
10 Red chillies

Method

• Take a medium depth pan and add  1/2 tsp of vegetable oil.  Roast urad dal, chana dal, mustard seeds, jeera seeds , menthulu, hing, tamarind, and red chillies. Roast this mixture till the seeds start to turn light brown.
• While this is going on, take another pan and dry roast the peanuts [make sure that they are roasted well and are dry and are not too oily.
• Once both the above steps are complete keep them aside to cool.  Grind them into coarsee powder.
• Store the powder in airtight container.  This powder can be used for most fried version of almost all vegetables. Mostly I use it for potato , dondakai, bhindi, egg plant , cauliflower….

Carrot Coconut curry is another curry which is quite easy to make and very nutritious. This is one of the typical andhra recipe..you will find this curry being served in marriages..its quite common there in india. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups grated carrot

1 cup grated coconut

2 green chillies

salt to taste

Popu or tadka

1 tspn urad dal

1 tsp chana dal

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp jeera

2 or 3 red chillies

a bunch of curry leaves

Coriandar leaves for garnishing

Method

Pour 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pan. Heat should be on medium. Add the tadka ingredients and keep stirring. Add green chillies and carrot and saute well. Add salt to taste. Put a lid on the pan so that it is properly cooked. After almost 10 to 15 min, add the grated coconut and mix it well. Again put the lid and let it cook. It takes approximately 20 to 25 min to make this curry. In the end, add coriandar leaves on top. Serve hot with chapati aur rice.

Cauliflower is identified by its edible, rounded mass of curds. These curds are often mistakenly referred to as florets, but are actually undeveloped shoot tips. White cauliflower is the most commonly grown, but there are also cultivators with purple, green and even pink curds.

The best way to prepare your cauliflower is to simply wash it in cold preferably salted water. Cut away most of the out side leaves so that the cauliflower stands upright. If you make a cross in the base or cut out the first 2cm of the stalk this will ensure that it cooks quickly. It is recommended to soak your cauliflower for 10mins in salted water to draw out any insects hiding away inside.

Here is another simple recipe ..cauliflower fry.

Cauliflower fry

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

1 medium size onion
1 medium size cauliflower
1/2 lemon

Method:

1. Wash cauliflower in hot water [you can optionally place the whole flower in hot water with pinch of salt for about 5 mins]

2. Chop onions lengthwise and keep them aside.

3. Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan.

4. Put some jeera and dhania seeds. when they splutter , add the onions and add a pinch of turmeric. Remember to always cook at medium heat setting. High heat only dehydrates food and hence burns it faster. While the onions are frying, you can cut cauliflower into small florets. you dont really need to chop it fine. Just need to separte big florets or curds into smaller ones. so once they cook they would still retain their shape rather than become pulpy.

5. Once the onions are pinkish brown in color, add the florets. The trick to not making a pulp is this—add in 4 batches, each time mixing so all the onions and pieces mix evenly.

6. Once you are done with adding the florets, add salt to taste. Note: if you put a lid on your pan then all you would get is pulp, not fry. So if you want to see cauliflower florets retain their shape, don’t use lid until much later as I suggest in my next step.

7. Cauliflowers generally cook fast so it will take about 15 mins for the pieces to soften. If you want you can add lid for about a min or 2 [just before removing from heat] on sim heat.

9. Before removing from heat, add chilli powder and popula karam [recipe provided below] and mix well. You can even garnish it with lemon or coriander leaves.