Tindora Coconut curry/ Dondakaya Kobbari Kura

Sometimes we feel like eating the food, which we make at home and we won't generally find it at hotels. Well this is one of the perfect dish for those times.
One more favourite curry of my whole family. Although it is simiar to Dondakaya/Tindora Fry curry, but it consumes less oil and a touch of coconut sweetens the high spice of fry curry. So have it along with rice and sambar or rasam, I bet you won't be disappointed. It feels like a plain, simple, yummy homemade food.

Ingredients
Tindora/Dondakaya - Cut into desired shapes (I prefer small round for this curry)
Coconut shredded - 1/2 cup or even less is also fine
Oil
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder
Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1/2 table spoon
Chana dal - 1 table spoon (Adds crunchiness to the curry. Can avoid it if you have any dietery restrictions)
Fresh Coriander leaves - chopped - 1-2 table spoons
Turmeric - 1/2 table spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add Jeera and chana dal to it. Now add the chopped tindora pieces, turmeric  and salt to it. let it tindora pieces cook properly. Mix it in between so that the tindora pieces are not burnt. Once the tindora is more than half cooked, add red chilli powder (kaaram) to it. Finally add the scraped coconut to it. let it stand for a minute or two and then remove it off the heat after adding the fresh chopped coriander (kothimeeru). Your curry is ready.

Bellam pongali /Gudd ka kheer /Jaggery pudding

This is my favourite now-a-days. After a couple of trials which were not successful, then came this yummy, easy, jhatpat pongal recipe. I have checked several sites for the recipe and tried to attempt to do it from whatever I remember is easiest and out came this one. Hope you enjoy it too. oh by the way, it is healthy too because Gudd/Bellam/Jaggery is rich in Iron.

This rice pudding is ammavaru's favourite. So another reason for me to do it friday's so that Goddess is happy at home :).
Ingredients
Cooked Rice  - 2 cups
Cooked Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1-2 cups (depends on your sweet level). I used almost 1 and 1/2 cup
Ghee  - 2-3 table spoons (for frying dry fruits and mixing in pudding)
Cashews/ Golden Raisins - a fistful of both or as you like

Method of preparation

Take a kadai and add cooked rice, moong dal and milk. Keep it on medium heat and let it stay for 5 minutes or until the milk is nicely mixed up with rice. The rice might become a little mushy but it tastes yummy that way. Make sure you keep mixing the rice in between as the milk have tendency to stick to bottom and sides. Add jaggery at this point and mix properly. If you have large pieces of jaggery it might take long time to melt. So I would suggest, either grate it or mash it to small ones, so that you do not need to spend much time in front of stove.

Take a small bowl and add ghee (clarified butter) to it. Fry the cashews and golden raisins. Once the raisins take the ball shape and cashews change the color slightly, add them including the ghee to the rice mixture above. Mix it thoroughly and serve hot.

 

This is a very nice recipe for naivedyam/Prasad for Goddess Laxmi/Lalitha. As you hear in the stotras "Gudanna preetha maanasa". Hope the goddess likes it too.



Beerakaya Besan Curry

This is a simple recipe made my me many times at home. Its taste yummy. If you like besan/pitlai, you will also like this recipe. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients

Onion - 1 small
Beerakaya (Ridge gourd, Turai) - 1 - 2 peeled and chopped. (make sure you taste them to check if they are not bitter
Oil - 3-4 spoons (or less also is ok)
Cumin seeds - Jeera - 1/2 tea spoon
Chickpea flour (Besan) - 1-2 tablespoons
Green chillies/Red chilli powder - use which ever taste you like
Salt to taste
Tomato - small (optional)

Method of preparation

Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once kadai is heated add cumin seeds to it. Add onions to it and fry till translucent. This may take a minute. Add Beerakaya and tomato (optional) to it. Add red chilli powder and salt at this point and cover and cook for couple of minutes. The curry will have some water formed because of beerakaya and tomato. Now add Besan to it. If needed add more besan to remove all the extra water. your curry is ready and garnish with coriander and serve.