"Kadapa Erra Kaaram" - Onion and red Chilli chutney

This is a chutney used as a spread for dosas in Kadapa. You can also use it as a sandwich spread. It's usually spicy but you can increase/decrease the spice level as suited to your palette.

Ingredients:
Red Onion - 1 Roughly chopped
Dried Red Chillies - 4
Fresh red Chillies - 4
Tomato - 1 small roughly chopped
Garlic - 1 clove
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1/4 tsp.
lemon Juice - 1 tsp. (freshly squeezed)
Oil - 1 Tbsp.
Butter - 1 tsp.

Procedure:
- Grind all the ingredients except oil and butter into a smooth paste. Do not add any water as you will get enough from the onion, tomato and lemon juice.
- Heat oil and butter in a pan.
- Keep the flame on low and slowly add the ground chutney to the pan.
- Stir and cook on low till the water starts evaporating form the chutney and it starts to turn into a pale red to rich red color
- Turn off and serve.

Canneloni Bean Soup with Veggies

Simple recipe. I used canned cannelloni beans. You can substitute for any type of beans and add any kind of vegetable you want. I usually use onions, carrots and celery(also known as Mire-poix) as base for my soups but this time I didn't have celery.

Ingredients:
Onions - finely diced 1/4 cup
Carrots - finely diced 1/2 cup
Zucchini - finely diced 1/2 cup
Green beans - cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1/2 cup
Canneloni beans - 15oz can
Vegetable broth - 1 cup(I prefer Swanson brand or if you make your own, more power to you)
Water - 6 cups
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Freshly ground pepper - to taste
All Purpose Flour - 2Tbsp
Butter - 1 Tbsp
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp.

Procedure:
- Drain and clean the cannelloni beans. Mash 1/4 of the beans with a potato masher.
- Mix the flour and butter and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a stock pot.
- Add onions and saute till they are translucent.
- Add carrots and zucchini and season wit salt.
- Saute the vegetables for 4 to 5 minutes on medium high heat.
- Add pepper and garlic powder and saute for few seconds.
- Add broth and water.
- Cover and bring it to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the flour and butter mixture and the mashed cannelloni beans.
- Mix and add the rest of the canneloni and green beans.
- Check for seasoning and add salt/pepper if need be.
- Simmer till the green beans are cooked.
- Serve hot with some garlic bread.

Green Bean and Potato Salad

I have started to go to farmer's market regularly and am finding myself with some good stuff. The bean and potatoes used in this recipe are from the market.

Ingredients:

Green Beans - 1/2 lb, cleaned ends trimmed and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
Potatoes - 3 medium, peeled and cubed

For dressing:
Olive oil - 1/4 cup
Lemon Juice - 1/8 cup
Ground Mustard - 2 Tbsp.
Slat and fresh pepper to taste

Procedure:
- Bring 1 quart of water to boil. Salt the water.
- Add green beans and cook for 2 to 3 minutes till the beans are cooked just enough.
- Remove from water and pat try on kitchen towels.
- Add potatoes to the hot water and cook them . DO not over cook so potatoes get all mushy.
- Mix all the ingredients for dressing and whisk them or just run it through a food processor. Adjust seasoning.
- Mix beans and potatoes in a salad bowl and add the dressing.

Rigatoni with shallots, tomatoes and red bell pepper

I wanted to make a simple pasta dish and decided to whip this up with fresh tomatoes. I am not a big fan of the canned tomatoes or the too much red sauce on my pasta. And no I don't use fresh Parsley ever. It gives a weird flavor and I do not like it. Sue me now ;).

Ingredients:
Rigatoni - 1/2lb
Roma Tomatoes - 3 chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
Shallots - 1 minced
Red Bell Pepper - 1 finely diced
Milk - 1/4 cup
Fresh Parmesan Cheese - 1/4 cup.
Salt and Fresh pepper - to taste
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp.
Butter - 1 tsp.
Dried Parsley - 1/4 tsp.

Procedure:
- Cook the pasta according to package directions with enough salt..
- In a medium pan, heat oil and butter.
- Add shallots and garlic and cook for few seconds making sure garlic is not burning.
- Add the red bell pepper. Season with salt and pepper.
- Once pepper starts to get soft, add tomatoes, cover and cook for 2 minutes till tomatoes start to wilt.
- Add cooked pasta to this and mix.
- Add milk and stir for 30 seconds. Check for seasonings.
- Take the pan off the stove, mix cheese and parsley and serve hot.

A Steamy Luscious Meal

I decided to cook a nice meal for the family yesterday (not that I don't everyday). I made Lentil Soup, Salad from Luscious Food and Noodles from Steamy Kitchen. Since our family consists of vegetarians, seafood dis-likers and Shrimp lovers, I made the dishes vegetarian and had sauted spicy shrimp on the side so the rest of us shrimp loving folks could eat it.


Recipe For the Salad

Recipe For noodles.

Aloo Parathas - For the first time

I have been cooking for almost 14 years now. Yes I started young in the kitchen because I was curious :). However, there are few dishes that probably are considered common knowledge for any Indian woman to know that I haven't made. For example, upma. Yes I am a south Indian but I made upma for the first time only 3 years ago. And now it's aloo parathas. I never made anything in the roti/chapathi/poori/paratha category from scratch.

After debating for the last 2 months about a menu for valentines day, I stumbled upon Vegan Yum Yum's amazing pictures and recipe instructions to make Aloo Parathas. Here is her version. Something about her pictures made me go, "hmmm let me try this" and I am glad I did. They were very easy to make and I think i will start doing them more often. I also made her plain parathas for dad because he is diabetic and cannot have potatoes.

Here is a picture of my parathas. I did not change anything from her recipe.

Potato and Paneer stuffed Anaheim Chilli Peppers

Mom is a big fan of mirchi bajjis. She picked the peppers from the market today not knowing they were Anaheim peppers and that their skin is as thick as a bell pepper. But we still ended up with a new and awesome snack. I asked Prabu how he liked it. His response, "Please do make it again and again and can I have the leftover for lunch tomorrow." Alrighty then :).

Also I never cook paneer at home because I don't like the big chunks of it with no taste. But I found a new way to use it. I grate it:). Mind it though, paneer when you buy from store is soft and hard to grate. Freeze it for couple of hours till it's solid and then it is very easy to grate it.

Ingredients and Procedure:

For The Stuffing:

Onions - 1/4 cup chopped fine
Russet potato - 1 cubed and boiled
Paneer - 1/2 cup grated to a fine powder
Ajwain - pinch
Quick Mint Chutney - 1 Tbsp.
Besan/chickpea Flour - As needed
Turmeric - pinch
Oil - As needed
Salt - to taste

- Heat Oil in a pan and saute onions till soft.
- Add ajwain and quick mint chutney to this.
- Add boiled potato cubes and cook for a minute.
- Add grated paneer and 1/4 cup of water and cook till everything is well mixed and comes to a creamy consistency.
- Let this mixture come to room temperature.
- Add besan to this few teaspoons at a time to get it thick enough so you can fill the chillies.

Prepping the Chillies:
Long Chilli Peppers - 9 deseeded
Besan/chickpea flour - 2.5 cups + 1/4 cup
Baking Soda - Pinch
Asafoetida - Pinch
Garlic Powder - 1 tsp.
Salt - To taste
Turmeric - Pinch
Oil - for Deep Frying

- Mix Besan, Baking Soda, Asafoetida, Garlic Powder, Salt, Turmeric.
- Add water little by little to get it into a thick consistency.
- In a wide plate spread the 1/4 cup of besan.
- Stuff the chillies with the potato and panner mixture.
- Coat them with the dry besan.
- Dip them in the batter and deep fry them till golden brown.

This is what the final outcome looks like. pardon the pictures. I got my new camera and I am still playing with the settings :).

Zucchini Pancakes or Cutlets

I am a big fan of Ina Garten. I am in the process of starting to collect her cook books and bought her "Barefoot Contessa At Home" couple of months ago. I made Zucchini pancakes from that book earlier and it came out good. It's a very simple recipe with grated zucchini, eggs, flour and stuff.

However, I made these yesterday without eggs as my mom doesn't eat eggs on Thursday's ( don't even ask;)). I added a 8OZ can of washed cannellini beans that I had on hand. I have to say it was very very good and was able to make V try one. he came back asking for more :).

Ingredients:

Zuchhini - 2 grated
Onion - 1 small chopped fine
Cannelini beans - One 8 Oz can drained and smashed (not puree)
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
All purpose Flour - 1/2 to 1 cup
Baking powder - pinch (optional)
Salt and pepper - to taste
Oil - for pan frying

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wide skillet
- Mix all the ingredients except flour.
- Add flour little bit at a time to get the Zucchini batter to a thick consistency. It should be thicker than usual pancake better.
- Make patties and pan fry them turning after 20 to 30 seconds on each side.

Serve hot with any hot and sour sauce.

The picture of these cutlets standing up has been taken with an inspiration from Jai and Bee's Sweet potato Crisps :).

Vegetable Fried Rice

Super simple fried rice :).

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice - 3 cups
carrots - 2 Finely diced
Celery - 2 finely diced
Snow peas - 12 - 14 chopped fine
Fresh water chest nuts - 6 finely diced
Onions - 1/4 cup finely diced
Garlic - 2 cloves minced
Ginger - 1 tsp. minced
Chili oil - 1 tsp.
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp.
Vegetable Oil - 3 Tsp.
Soy Sauce - 3 Tbsp. + 3 Tbsp.
Salt and pepper - to taste

Procedure:

- Mix 3 Tbsp. soy sauce to the white rice and keep it in the refrigerator.
- Heat chili, soy and vegetable oils in a wok.
- Add ginger, garlic and onions and saute till fragrant.
- Add the vegetables and stir for 3 minutes.
- Season with slat and pepper and add 3 Tbsp. soy sauce.
- Add the cooked rice to this mixture and stir till you can see the grain separate.

Turn off and serve.

Creamy Corn Soup ( From One Steamy Kitchen to the other)

I decided to do a fried rice, soup and some sort of stir fried vegetable for lunch today. Ask me why? Because I bought new set of cute soup spoons, a nice new wok (ignoring Prabu's "Don't we have one wok already?") and I had to use them ;). I also put my microplane grater to use for the first time.

I got the soup recipe from Jaden's Steamy Kitchen. Here is the recipe.

I made very few changes to the soup in my kitchen.
- Used 2 cups of vegetable broth + 2 cups of water instead of the chicken stock.
- Used frozen corn kernels instead of fresh ears of corn
- Used dried parsley instead of fresh because..well I just forgot to pick it up at the grocery store :).

I have to say it turned out very good.

Easy Peasy Spicy Toast Suji's Style

Say that title fast 10 times ;). I used whole grain white bread for this, you can even use wheat bread if you like.



Ingredients:

White bread - 6 slices edges cut off and sliced into 4 squares
Tomato - 1/4 cup deseeded and chopped fine
Onions - 1/4 cup chopped fine
Green Chillies - chopped
Cheese - American cheese slices ( optional)
Salt and pepper - to taste
Mustard Oil - 2 Tsp.

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix onions, tomatoes, green chillies, salt, pepper and oil in a bowl and keep aside.
- Spray cooking oil in a baking pan and arrange the bread pieces.
- Scoop little bit of the onion and tomato mixture onto the bread slices.
- Bake them in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes or till bread is lightly toasted.
- If you are adding cheese, add them few minutes before you take the toast out of even so you get melted cheese and not burnt cheese.

Curried Corn stuffed Yellow Chillies

I found these chillies in my super market the other day and decided to try them. They are super spicy with the seeds inside but once you deseed and take the veins out, they are very good for stuffing. I was debating between a cream cheese filling and others. Decided to go with corn. I used Mccormick's curry powder. As far as I know, none of the Indian curry powders taste that way. use very little of the curry powder as it tends to overwhelm the dish.

Ingredients:

Yellow chillies - 6 washed, deseeded and split in half
Corn Kernels - 1 to 2 cups
White onion - 1/4 cup diced fine
Curry powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil - as needed
Pam or any oil for spraying the baking sheet

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Boil the corn and just mash them lightly ( don't make it into a mushy paste)
- Heat oil in a skillet. Saute onions till soft and add corn to this.
- Add curry powder and season with slat and pepper to taste.
- Remove the mixture from heat and let it come to room temperature.
- Spray a baking pan with oil and arrange the chillies. Season them salt and pepper and brush them lightly with little bit oil.
- Add the corn and onion mixture to these chillies. It's usually 1 to 2 tablespoons of mixture per chilli.

- Bake them for 10 o 15 minutes.

Modified Steamy Kitchen Noodles

I once made Jaden's Silver noddles and wrote about it here. I started calling them Steamy Kitchen noodles.I made them for dinner tonight but (here is where I should ask Jaden to forgive for messing with her recipe) I was too lazy to look up the recipe. I remembered she added lots of veggies. So I made the noodles with veggies, soy sauce, vegetable broth and (GASP) added 1/4 cup of white wine. Who puts white wine in a rice noodle dish? In my defense, I was too tired and furthermore, the noodles came out so good that my family ate it up before I took the picture :)

Good Ol' Potato Fry

Again, super easy. For me everything is easy. If not I try to make it easy :). The key to this dish is not to mess with it too much by stirring and mixing and things;). Check the picture below to see how I cut the potatoes. I will try to come up with a better picture next time. I cut them into thin pieces.

Ingredients:

Russet potatoes - 4 cut into small pieces

Olive Oil - 1/8 cup
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp.
Red Chilli powder - as spicy as you want
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp. (optional)
Salt - to taste

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wide pan (preferably non-stick). Add potatoes.
- Season with salt, turmeric and mix well.
- Turn the flame to medium to medium low and let it do it's thing.
- stir once in between and make sure potatoes are not sticking to the pan (they won't)
- When potatoes are 3/4 cooked, add cumin seeds and garlic powder. Mix once.
- Once potatoes are completely cooked through, add chilli powder. Saute till the raw chilli smell is gone. Remove from heat and serve.

Dosakai Pappu

Give me any vegetable and I will make a pappu put of it ( basically lentils with veggies). This one is with Dasakai. Not sure what It's called in english but that's what we call it in telugu land. I was surprised t find this vegetable in my local Asian grocery store under Japanese vegetables category with the name "Dose-Kai".Hahaha funny I know.

Anywho, my cousins were visiting this weekend and I served this pappu with Goruchikkudu kaya koora, rasam and fried vodiyalu (dried lentil fritters depp fried).

Ingredients:
Kandi pappu ( Toor Dal ) - 1 cup dry cooked with 4 cups water
Dosakai - 1 medium sized cubed.
Green Chillies - 3 - 5
Onions - 1/4 cup cubed (Optional)
Garlic - 3-4 cloves chopped roughly
Curry Leaves - 4 to 6
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - Pinch
Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - As needed
Oil - As needed



- If you look at the picture above, you can see that there are seeds in the center of that vegetable. Scrape that off completely and you will get something that's next to it.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard, cumin seeds. Once they start to splutter add garlic, curry leaves, green chillies and onions.
- Saute for few minutes and add the dosakai.
- Add slat and turmeric and 1/4 cup of water. Cover and cook till the veggies are tender.
- Add chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the cooked lentils to this(you can add any extra water you have left over form cooking the lentils).
- Cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
- Uncover and cook till you get a thick stew like consistency.
- Turn off stove and serve with hot rice and some melted butter.

Goruchikkudukaya Koora (Cluster Beans Curry)

Before I start the recipe, just wanted to let you guys know that I added links to Rayalaseema and Kadapa on to the left side. Because I will keep using them a lot in my write-ups and I don't wnat you to go, "What the heck is Kadapa?" :).

Today I made this curry for lunch. Goruchikkudu is also called as mattikkayalu in Rayalaseema region. I found out that they call it cluster beans in English after I came to this country. In Hindi, It's Guvar. I used to buy them fresh but lately I realized, the frozen variety are much better and they are already pre-cut for you.

So here is a recipe that one of my neighborhood aunty use dto make in Kadapa. She used to add dried coconut powder but I did not as mom's on a diet.

Ingredients:
Cluster Beans - 1 Lb
Red Onion - 1 cup finely diced
Green Chillies - 6 (increase or decrease this per your spice level)
Garlic - 3 cloves crushed
Curry Leaves - 8
Putnala Pappu (Dhalia) - 2 Tbsp.
Senagapappu (Chana Dal) - 2 Tbsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Mustard Seeds - 1Tsp.
Turmeric - Pinch
Oil - as needed
Salt - Per taste



Procedure:
- Roast Senagapappu and putnala pappu.
- Grind it with green chillies and half the curry leaves.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard, cumin seeds,curry leaves and garlic.
- Saute for 30 seconds and add onions.
- Season with salt and turmeric and saute till onions are soft.
- Add the beans and half cup of water.
- Cover and cook on medium to low heat till the beans are fully cooked.
- Add the ground putnalapappu powder to this and mix well.
- Saute till all the water is evaporated and beans are well mixed with the masala.

Remove from heat and serve with hot rice and some sambar or pappu.

Lemon Rice

There are 3 different ways that I make lemon rice.

- Kadapa Way with putnala pappu (Dhalia) podi and ground green chillies and ginger
- Easy way with basic popu(tadka)
- Mother in law's way with roasted ground fenugreek, mustard and cumin seeds.

Yesterday I did the easy way. Here is a picture of the ingredients.



Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups (Uncooked)
Green Chillies - 5 cut into small pieces ( adjust this according to your spice level)
Curry leaves - 8 to 10
Ginger - 1 Tsp Grated
Senaga Pappu ( Chana dal) - 2 Tsp.
Minapappu (Urad Dal) - 2tsp.
Peanuts - 1/4 cup
Dried Red Chillies - 2
Cumin Seeds - 2 Tsp.
Mustard Seeds - 2Tsp.
Asafoetida - Pinch
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp.
Lemon Juice - 4 Tbsp. (Adjust according to your taste)
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed

Procedure:

- Cook rice with 4 cups of water and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a wide skillet. Add mustard, cumin seeds and asafoetida.
- Add senagapappu, minapappu, dried red chillies, curry leaves and pea nuts.
- Saute them for few minutes. Once the lentils start to turn golden brown, Add green chillies, ginger and salt.
- Cook for 30 seconds. Add lemon juice and turmeric.
- Turn the flame to low and mix the cooked rice to this mixture. Adjust seasonings.

In Kadapa, they would always serve this rice with a dryish wet potato curry. Since the family is on all sorts of diet, we rarely cook potatoes. I did serve with some dondakaya fry. Recipe for it later :).

Comfort Food - Bisibela Bhaath

My colleague asked for this recipe last weekend. Since I never made it before, I came up with a recipe of how it should be made and gave it to her. She said it turned out awesome which is always nice to hear. So I decided to make it today and changed couple of things around than the original recipe but here it is.

As I mentioned earlier, anything with rice is comfort food for me. And when you add lentils and vegetables, hmmmmm.........

Note:
1. If you do not the instant bisibela bhaath mix - here are the standard ingredients that go into making the powder.
- Coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, Chana dal (senagapappu/bengal gram), asafoetida, dried red chillies.

2. I bought bisibela bath mix which has tamarind pulp in it. So I did not use tamarind paste. If you buy the powder add a table spoon of tamarind extract to this.

3. I added edamame instead of green peas.

4. The mix I bought was very salty so I used very little salt. You can adjust this mix according to your taste.


Ingredients:

Toor dar/Kandi pappu ( lentils) - 1 cup dry
Rice - 1.5 cups dry
Ground nuts - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 3 slit length wise
Carrot - 1 cup cut into 1/2 inch strips
Green beans - 1 cup cut into small pieces
Edamame - 1/2 cup shelled
Corn kernels - 1/2 cup
Red pepper - 1 diced
Bisibela bath mix - 3 Tbsp - 5 Tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Inguva ( asafoetida) - pinch
Dried red chilli - 2
Curry leaves - 6
Salt - to taste ( the mix had salt so I used very little)
Butter - 2 tsp.
Oil - 4 tsp. +2 tsp.
Water - 1/2 to 1 cup


Procedure:
- Wash and cook lentils with 6 cups of water. If you have a pressure cooker you can use 2 cups of water and cook it for 2 whistles.
- Wash and cook rice with 4 cups of water.
- In a wide pot, heat oil and butter. Add ground nuts and fry them till they turn pale brown.
- Add green chillies and all the vegatbles.
- Season with little salt and saute for 2 minutes.
- Add 1/4 cup of water, cover and cook till vegetables are tender.
- Add the bisibela bath mix. Mix well with veggies.
- Add cooked lentils and mix well.
- Add cooked rice 1 cup of water and mix well. Make sure the heat is on medium to medium low.
- Turn the stove off and serve hot with papadams.

I served it with oven baked crinkle fries:). I will post pictures for this later tonight as the battery died while uploading them.

Edited to add: I added the picture of the veggies. I do not have any pitcures of the final product because the familia finished it off before I could take a picture of final prodcut.

Suji's Vegeterian Gumbo

I add my "Suji's" tag to any dish I create based on a traditional recipe. I have to for veggie and grocery shopping this weekend and when I checked my freezer and pantry, I had few things. After debating for 2 minutes as to what to make for dinner, here is what I came up with. I served this gumbo with brown rice. Also, I think I will add some shrimp next time ;).

Ingredients:

Cut Okra - 1lb ( I used frozen cut okra)
Ready cut diced tomatoes - One 15 OZ can
Chick Peas - One 15 oz can
White onions - 1 cup finely diced
Red bell pepper - 1 finely diced
Celery - 1/2 cup finely diced
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
Salt - to taste
Water - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tsps.
Oil - 3 Tbsp.

Seasonings:
Paprika - 1 Tbsp.
Red Chili Powder - 1.5 tsps.
Oregano - 1tsp
Rosemary - 1/2 tsp.
White pepper - pinch
Nutmeg - pinch
All spice - pinch

Procedure:

- Heat butter and oil in a skillet or wide bottomed pot.
- Add garlic, onions, celery and bell pepper. Season with slat and saute till soft.
- Add everything under seasonings and saute for one minute.
- Add the tomatoes, okra and chickpeas.
- Stir the pot or pan without using the spatula.
- Add the cup of water, adjust seasonings, cover and cook for 15 minutes on medium-low flame.
- Check in between but do not mix too much.
- Remove the lid to see okra is cooked. You will notice that okra is not sticky at all (something about canned tomatoes sourness).
- Now cook on high for a minute or two till you get a thick consistency.

Remove form heat and serve over hot brown rice.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

My grocery store carries black beans which are brown in color. Don't ask, they are just dark brown but the can says black beans. Whatever.

I made this salad for my mom as she eats only salads for lunch now a days. Dressing is very very easy too. If you do not have balsamic vinegar, just use regular lemon juice.

Ingredients:

Black Beans - 1 can ( 8 Oz)
Corn Kernels - 1 cup ( If using frozen kernels, microwave them for 1 minute)
Tomatoes - 1/2 cup seeded and diced fine
Red Bell Pepper - 1/2 cup diced fine
Yellow Bell Pepper - 1/2 cup diced fine
Red Onion - 1/2 cup diced fine
Jalapeno - 1 seeded and diced

Balsamic Vinegar - 2Tbsp.
Olive oil - 1 tsp.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve chilled :).

So easy even a caveman can do it;)