Fried Rice with small difference

For this month Lalitha puja potluck I did this recipe. Looks like it came out good. So wanted to share what I did.

Ingredients
Onions
Potatos
Green beans
Green peas
Carrots
Rice
Biryani-pulav masala
Salt to taste
Cashews
Cardamoms - 2-3 in no.
Cloves - 4-5 in no.
Bay leaves - couple
Cinnamon sticks - couple
Oil
Water
For color:
1 or 2 spoons of milk
pinch of cooking color (yellow of orange)


Pre-preparation
Partly deep fry all the veggies except peas. Vegetables should be partly fried (meaning partly cooked) after frying in the oil. Alternatively, you can just brush the oil over veggies and heat them in oven until they are half cooked.


Cook rice with the consistency of water you do to make it seperate. For example if you are using basmati rice the ratio of rice and water should not exceed 1:1and1/2. It can be 1:1 depending on which cooker you use. I added one spoon of cooking oil, Salt, and green peas to it. Cover it and cook it until the rice is totally done. After the rice is done or when it is almost done, add milk which has the color dissolved lightly. Cover it for another minute or so. This gives the hotel touch of color to some part of served rice.

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add cumin seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom to it. Add onions and cashews to it and fry until onions are translucent. Now add all the veggies. Add salt and biryani-pulav masala to it. Remember that you added salt already to the rice so make sure you are not adding much salt here. Add cooked rice from step 2 of pre-preparation to it and mix it lightly. Make sure you are not breaking the rice or over stirring. Serve it by garnishing with fried cashews, onions and coriander as you desire.

Chikkudukaya/Broad beans Cauliflower curry

This one is my favourite simple curry which is delicious and quick to make.

Ingredients
Chikkudukaya - either fresh or frozen
Cauliflower - big florets
Tomatos
Red chilli powder
Oil
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds


Method of preparation
Take oil in kadai and let it heat up. Add mustard seeds and after they splitter add cumin seeds. Add cauliflower florets as well as chikkudukaya along with red chillie powder. Now mix and cover it until it almost done. Add tomatos and salt at the end of it. After totmatos are nicely done turn off heat and trasfer to a serving bowl. Have it with rice or roti.


Terminology
Chikkudukaya - Broad beans
Cauliflower - phool gobi (hindi)

Gongura-Mint-Moong dal

I used Electric pressure cooker for it and I am going to tell you the same recipe here. You can use a regular kadai on stove and cover and cook it. People can avoid Onion and garlic if they dont like it.

Ingredients

Gongura leaves - 1/2 cup

Mint leaves - 1/4 cup or even less

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Green chillies - 3 (you can use red chilli powder also)

Salt to taste - I used 1 and 1/2 spoon

Oil - 2 table spoons

Turmeric - pinch/less than 1/2 tea spoon

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

Onions - 1 medium sized, finely chopped

Garlic - 2-3 pods peeled and chopped.

Method of preparation

1. Connect the electric pressure cooker to the socket and click the "Menu" button thrice to get to "Browning" mode. Click "Start".

2. Add oil and a minute later add cumin. Now add garlic and green chillies, stir it. Add onions to it a minute later and then let it saute for a minute. Now add washed gongura leaves, mint leaves, moong dal, turmeric, red chilli powder (if neccessary). Add 2-3 cups of water according to your desire.

3. Change the mode of the cooker to "High Pressure" by clicking "Cancel" to cancel current mode and then hitting "Menu" twice. Now click on time twice to increase it to 3 minutes and then click start. When the water starts heating up, add salt to it, mix it and then cover it up. Your dal is ready in 5 minutes or so. After the pressure is down, transfer the contents to a serving bowl.

Tindora with vellipayakaram

I had this vellipaya kaaram which my mom brought last year. But it became very hard that I cannot add it in the rice and eat it. So I remembered somebody saying to me that, hotel people generally add vellipaya kaaram to get nice spicy and tasty tindora fry curry when they offer in buffet or catering. I just tried to follow it in my own way. Since my vellipaya kaaram was hard as rock I did put it in water and microwaved it for 30 seconds then I had to   try to soften it by hand so that it becomes dissolved and form liquid. For others, I would recommend you can add the vellipaya kaaram directly or if you want can add a little water to it, after adding vellipaya kaaram to the curry. So here is how I made it:

Ingredients
Tindora - 1 packet frozen (use fresh if you have, its less time to cook and tastes better with fresh than frozen)
Vellipaya kaaram - 2 big table spoons
Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon
Oil - 3-5 table spoons (depends on quantity of tindora)
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder


Method of preparation
1. Take a kadai add oil to it.After oil is heated add cumin seeds. Add Onions and tindora at the same time one after other.

2. Now cover and cook for a minute. Now add salt to it and then cook until the tindora is almost done. Stir in between as there are chances that the onion is going to burn off, if you do not keep an eye on it.

3. At last Add the red chilli powder (if desired) and water which has vellipaya kaaram(you can add just vellipaya kaaram only). Stir it nicely so that it gets coated to all the tindora and until the water is evoparated.
Your curry is ready to serve.

Terminology
Tindora - Dondakaya (telugu)
Cumin Seeds - Jeelakarra(telugu), Jeera (hindi)
Vellipaya Kaaram - Powder made with garlic pods. will post the recipe of my mom soon. You can get it in stores also. Tastes good and spicy. People who love the taste of garlic will love this.

Capsicum Kura podi curry

Ingredients
Capsicum - Chopped in cubes
Kura podi - Upon your taste
Oil - 2 table spoons
Salt to taste - Probably 1-2 table spoons
Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and oil to it. Once the oil is heated add cumin seeds and then capsicum pieces. cover and cook for two minutes. Once the capsicum is little cooked, add the kura podi and salt to it. Mix it. Cover and cook for another minute and then remove from flame. Now the curry is ready to be served with rice or roti.

Terminology
Cumin seeds - Jeera, Jeelakarra
Salt - Uppu, namak
Kura Podi - Curry powder
Capsicum - Shimla mirchi

Palakura Peas Pappu/Spinach Peas Dal

I did this dal last week and my family loved it. So wanted to share this recipe with you all. Hope you try it and like it too. I did not have amchur powder at home so I replaced it with chat powder I had. But you can use amchur powder if you have it.

Ingredients
Spinach - washed and chopped
Peas - 1/2 cup
Tomato (optional) - 2 small
Toor dal - Cooked
Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon
Oil - 1 table spoon
Salt - 1 and 1/2 table spoon (you can add more depending on your taste buds)
Red Chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 table spoon (you can add more depending on your taste buds)
Chat masala - 1 table spoon (alternately you can use amchur/lime for sourness)
Coriander powder - 1 table spoon

Method of Preparation
1) wash and cook dal as you do regularly. Take a kadai, add oil and heat it. Add cumin seeds and then spinach and peas to it.
2) stir for a  minute or until spinach comes close, add tomatos to it. Add rest of the ingredients including salt to it. Add Dal also.
3) At this point make sure you mix in between and then cover the kadai, because it might spil on you. Once everything gets mixed properly and is at a good heat rate, then switch off the stove and take it in a serving bowl.

Your simple dal is ready to serve and eat.

Dondakaya kura podi/Tindora with curry powder

This is another simple recipe which I love doing it.As it takes less time to cook than a fry curry, less oil and tasty as fry curry. So enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients
Dondakaya - 1 frozen packet, Cleaned by running water over it.
Kura podi - add it depending on the taste you like
Oil - 3 table spoons
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - 1 table spoon (or more if you want it)
Turmeric - 2 pinches.

Method of preparation
Add oil in a pan and let it heat. Now add cumin seeds and then the cleaned frozen tindora packet. Cover it and cook for few minutes. Now open the cover, and add salt to it. Mix it. Cover and cook for few minutes until the tindora is tender and stirring in between so that tindora is not totally burnt. Lastly add curry powder to it and then mix it thoroughly. If you want more spicy you can add red chilli powder also at this point. cook for two more minutes and you should be ready to serve it with hot rice and dal.

Terminology:
Tindora - Dondakaya
Curry Powder - Kura podi
Cumin seeds - Jeera, Jeelakara

Beerakaya Sprouts Curry

This curry is an excellent healthy, quick, easy and tasty option to make at home. If you wish to follow manthena satyanarayana raju policy of avoiding oil and salt (he asks us to avoid turmeric too), please do so and add more lemon juice than mentioned. This would compensate the needness of salt.


Ingredients
Beerakaya/Ridge gourd - 2 long ones
Moong dal Sprouts - 1 -2 cups
Tomatos - 2 medium sized
Oil - 2 tablespoons
cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon
Turmeric - 2 small pinches
Red chilli powder - upto your taste ( I added 2 tea spoons)
Dhania/Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
Salt - to taste (I added 11/2 table spoon)
Lime/lemon juice - 1 table spoon


Method of preparation
1) Peel the skin and chop beerakaya into small pieces. Chop tomatos into small pieces.

2) Take a kadai and add the oil to it. After it is heated, add cumin seeds and then add beerakaya pieces, tomato pieces along with sprouts.

3) Add all the powders to it including salt and cover and cook until the beerakaya is tender. It might take 6-12 minutes depending upon how tender the beerakaya is. Your curry will be ready.

Serve it with hot rice or roti. Garnish with cilantro if desired.