Parrupu Podi (Kandi Podi)

Ever been to one of those small restaurants where you get a veggie thali on a banana leaf? If not, I would say that you have missed some really good condiment. Usually people in towns and villages serve meals on banana leaf. I absolutely love that taste. The other day I made this at home for a good friend of mine who is visiting from Florida. Hope she likes it as much as I liked to make it for her :)

Ingredients:
Moong Dal (Paasi Parrupu): 1/2 cup
Channa Dal( kadala parrupu/ Bengal gram): 1/2 cup
Toor Dal (Tuvaram parrupu/ split dal): 1 cup
Hing: 1/2 tsp
Jeera/Cumin: 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder: 2 tbsp (you can increase this to 3 tbsp also)
Pepper Powder: 2 tsp
Salt: according to taste

Method:

• Heat a pan and fry all the dals separately until they become light to golden brown. 
• Keep the dals aside and while its still hot, add cumin and hing and mix well. 
• Once the dals cool down, grind them until the desired consistency. I like mine slightly coarse.
• Now add salt, chili powder and pepper powder. 
• Store in a air-tight container.

Serving Suggestion:
1. Hot rice and ghee with this powder.
2. Mix few drops of oil or ghee in this powder and use as a condiment for idly/dosa.

Kheema Masala

One of my favorite items lately is kheema masala. These days I am craving for something spicy and something which can be done in a jiffy. Even thinking about this is making me hungry right now. I picked this up from my mom.

Ingredients:
Kheema: 500 grams from chicken or mutton (I used chicken)
Onion: 1 big, chopped
Tomato: 1 big, chopped
Green Chili: 3, chopped
Cilantro/Coriander: hanful
Ginger& garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Oil: 2 tbsp

Masala:
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Cumin powder: 1/2 tsp
Garam masala: 1 tsp
Salt: according to taste
Red chili powder: 1 tsp

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions and green chilies. Fry until translucent. 
• Now add the ginger & garlic paste and fry for a min. 
• Now add the kheema and chopped tomato and keep cooking until everything is cooked. Here, you can also add half a cup of water if you want the kheema to be a little gray type. 
• Once kheema is cooked add everything under 'Masala'. 
• Check for salt, add coriander leaves and switch off the stove. 

Notes:
1. You can also add potatoes or green peas while cooking the kheema. This will increase the quantity of the kheema if you have some unexpected guests.

Serving Suggestions:
This goes very well with naan or even rice.

Soraka Paal Kootu (Sorakaya/ Bottle Gourd)

Kootu is a south Indian dish (Tamil Nadu) which is easy to make and is not really spicy. I make this on and off at home. I dont remember my mom ever making this. I dont even remember where I picked this recipe. OK...let me leave the introduction short for now :)

Ingredients:
Bottle Gourd/Sorakaya: 1/2, pealed and chopped
Fresh coconut: 1/2 cup
Channa dal: 1/2 cup, cooked
Milk: 1/2 cup
Green Chili: 3
Turmeric powder: 1/8 tsp
Salt
Pepper powder: 1/2 tsp

For Tadka:
Oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Curry Leaves: 1 string

Method:

• Pressure cook the already cooked dal and bottle gourd together for about 20 mins. 
• Remove the lid of cooker after the pressure is gone. 
• Meanwhile, grind coconut and green chilies together and keep them aside. 
• Now, switch on the stove of the pressure cooker and add coconut mixture, salt, turmeric powder and pepper powder and bring this to boil. 
• In about 5 minutes the raw coconut smell would be gone. Switch off the stove and keep the cooker aside. 
• Now add milk and stir. 

Thats it! Yummy kootu is ready to be enjoyed!

Serving suggestion:
1. Goes well as a side dish with some spicy achar or with papad.
2. Another way of making bottle gourd is, Poriyal

Mango Parrupu (dal)- Super Yummy

Mango dal is my all time favorite dal! It just has the right amount of tangy-ness, right amount of spices and makes the best side dish for rice or roti. The best part is that, it doesnt take that long to prepare this. One trick is to get the raw, fresh green mango for this. Thankfully, we get mangos all through the year here.

Ingredients:
Raw mango: 1 big or 2 small
Toor Dal: 1 cup
Onion: 1 medium, diced
Tomato: 1, chopped
Green Chili: 3
Garlic: 3 cloves, roughly mashed
Cilantro/Coriander: handful, washed and chopped
Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp
Salt

For Tadka:
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Channa Dal: 1/2 tsp
Cumin/Jeera: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 2 strings
Asafitida: a pinch
Oil: 2 tbsp

Method:

• Pressure cook the dal/parrupu until dal with 2 cups water until completely cooked (about 20-30mins). 
• Meanwhile, in a pan, heat oil and add everything under "for tadka" in the same order. 
• Now add green chilies and garlic and fry for 30 secs. Now add the chopped onion and fry for a minute. 
• To the above, add tomatoes and diced mango. You can also put the seed in. Stir and cook until mango is cooked and tomatoes are near mashed. You can add water if you like.
• Now add turmeric powder and salt. Stir once. 
• By now, dal would have been cooked. Remove the lid of the pressure cooker (after the steam is gone) and add the mango mixture to the dal. Switch on the stove and bring the dal to boil. You can also add water should you like your dal to be a little watery. 
• Check for salt and add coriander leaves. Switch off the stove. 

Serving suggestions:
1. Parrupu with dal and ghee. You can also add some pickle.
2. Parrupu with roti.
3. You can freeze this and use it even after a week if you want.

Beerakaya Pachadi (Ridge Gourd pickle)

Having lived in Andhra Pradesh for a long time, I have grown up eating lot of pickles/chutneys. One of my favorites and easy to make chutneys is Beerakaya/Ridge Gourd. This is easy and its my mom's way of making this.

Ingredients:
Ridge Gourd: 2 medium sized
Green Chili: 3 (you can increase or decrease this)
Garlic: 3 cloves
Channa Dal: 1 tsp
Jeera: 1 tsp
Curry Leaves: 1 string
Salt: according to taste
Oil: 2 tbsp

For tempering:
Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp
Cumin: 1 tsp
Hing: a pinch

Method:

• Wash and peal the ridge gourd. You can leave a little bit of skin if you like the texture to be slightly rough. Chop the veggie in to small 1 inch pieces.
• Heat 1 1/2 tsp of oil in a pan and add Channa dal, jeera and curry leaves. 
• Stir and add garlic pods and green chilies. Fry for a minute.
• Now add the chopped ridge gourd to the above and cook without adding water. Stir once in a while.
• Once the veggie is cooked, remove from the stove and cool it. 
• In a mixer grinder, blend the veggie until it is soft. Add salt. 
• Now, in a little pan, heat oil and add everything under 'for tempering'. 

Chutney is ready!

Serving Suggestions:

1. With hot rice and a tsp of ghee. 
2. With sambar rice.

Coconut Chutney- Method 2

Like I said in my Coconut Chutney Method 1, there are numerous ways to make any chutney. Simple alterations bring out different taste while the basic recipe remains the same.
This time I have excluded the tamarind part and added cilantro and a little piece of ginger.

Ingredients:
Fresh Coconut: 1/2, removed from its shell
Coriander/cilantro: handful, washed
Green Chili: 2
Ginger: 1/2 inch piece
Curry Leaves: 1 string
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Channa dal: 1 tsp
Salt
Oil: 1 tsp

Method:

• Wash the coconut pieces after removing from shell and put them in a blender.
• Add coriander/cilantro, green chili, ginger piece and salt to the blender along with the coconut. 
• Add 1/4 cup of water and blend until the coconut is completely mashed. Transfer this to the serving bowl.
• In a small pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds, channa dal and curry leaves. Once they all start to splutter, add to the ground coconut chutney. 

Serve with Pongal, Idly, Dosa, vada, you name it!