Vaangi Bhaat

Ingredients:

Rice - 2cups
Vankayalu/Brinjal - 1/2 kg or 8
Onions - 1/2 small
Chillis -2
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste

For powder:

Chana dal- 3tsp
Urad dal- 1 1/4 tsp
Ground nut - 8
Sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 10
Dhaniyalu/Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red Chillis -3
Dry Cocunut powder - 2tsp
Turmeric - Pinch
Salt pinch
Hing - pinch

Procedure:

1. Cook rice in 3 1/2 cups of water in pressure cooker and transfer it into a bowl.
2. Add 1 tsp oil, salt and let it cool.
3. Heat a small skillet and to it add chana dal, urad dal, red chillis, ground nut, coriander seeds and dry roast them on low flame. 
4. When they are lightly brown in color add all the other ingredients mentioned in powder section and switch off the flame. 
5. Let it cool and make it a powder and store it in an air tight container.
6. Cut brinjal into long thin slices and add some oil and salt to it and keep it aside.
7. Heat a big skillet to it add oil, mustard seeds, jeera and when they start spluttering add thinly sliced onions and chillis and fry till brown in color.
8. Add the brinjal pieces and let them cook til they are slightly soft. Do not overcook.
9. Now add 4tbsp of the powder to the fried brinjals and mix well.
10. Add the cooked rice the mixture and mix well. Cover it with the lid and cook for another 5 mins and serve hot with raitha.

Daddojanam (Andhra Style)/ Curd Rice

I generally have this Daddojanam or Curd rice in temples but never tried it at home. But in one of the festivals time i did not get much time to make pulihora so i made this curd rice for the first time by asking this recipe from one of my friends and frankly saying it was not that great that day. But later with some changes to the recipe it was a big hit. First time i mixed the curd in hot rice and also used little curd, and the rice consistency to what it got cooked is also not cooked to the right amount. So to avoid all these mistakes in my second attempt i made some modulations and it came out yummy. But please do remember to follow the right amount of ingredients while doing the recipe to get the perfect Daddojanam.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1cup
Curd - 5cups
Cashews - 1hand full
Chana Dal - 2tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 15
Jeera - 1tsp
Green Chillis - 2
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Red Chillis - 2
Asafoetida - pinch
Oil - 1tsp
Ghee - 2tsp
Coriander Leaves - hand full
Carrot - 1/2 cup grated
Keera/Dosakaya - 1/4 cup(optional)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

• First cook rice with 1cup rice and 2 1/2cups water in a pressure cooker and remove it out and let it cool and  keep aside.
• Now make a paste of green chillis, ginger, jeera and salt together.
• Heat ghee in a pan, fry cashews till light brown colour and keep aside.
• In the same pan add the oil(or ghee is fine), chana dal, urad dal fry for 2 mins till light color change
• Add red chillis, mustard, jeera, curry leaves added and fry for 2 mins on low flame. 
• Now in this add the green chilli paste that we made above and a pinch of hing. 
• Now we get an aroma of the hing mixed with all the ingredients.
• This mixture is now mixed into the rice and also the cashews, grated carrot(half of the quantity), grated keera, salt is also added to rice. 
• Add the whipped curd into the rice and mix well till all the ingredients are well mixed.
• Now garnish it with the carrot on top and serve it cool. 

Points to remember:

1. Make sure you mix all the ingredients only after the rice is cool. Otherwise if you add it when hot then it may become hard after it gets cool. So better to add in when cool.
2. Use only fresh curd rather than sour one. Because after sometime it may change the taste to sour, so if we use sour curd it becomes more worst. To avoid this add little more salt too.
3. To get the గుడి(temple) style daddojanam add whole pepper corns instead of green chillis. 

Undrallu/Kudumulu, Aardhi for Vinayaka Chavithi

We generally do this Kudumulu for almost many of the festivals and one main festival we do this is for Ganesh Chaturdhi. This is a very common and favourite dish for Ganesh. 

Kudumulu

Ingredients:

Rice - 1cup
Chana Dal - 1tbsp
Jeera - 1tsp (optional)
Salt to taste

Procedure: 

1. Soak the chana dal overnight in water.
2. Soak the rice in water for 1 hour and let it dry under sun or fan till half dry.
3. Now course grind the rice by just pushing the grinder button to pulse mode and repeat it again depending on the consistency (it must not be very powder or very course. need to see at least some course rice like cream of rice)
4. Now sieve it and keep the course rice aside. 
5. For one cup of rice add 2cups of water and to this add the chana dal and let it cook till done.
6. Now add some salt to taste and add the cream of rice in it and mix well.
7. Keep the lid on it and let it cook for 5-10 mins till done. You will know that it is done when it is not that sticky if you test it by hand.
8. Now make this mixture into small balls (lemon size) and pressure cook them in the idly pan for 10-15 mins and now the kudumulu is ready to serve.

Points to remember(Hints):

• You can directly use cream of rice that we get it from the store by avoiding the steps 2, 3 and 4. But the above method is and old tradition method which gives us the perfect taste of kudumulu.
• Depending on the consistency after adding rice you can add some water if necessary. If it becomes very hard as soon as we added rice.
• Do not mix while adding the cream of rice. Mix it only after adding the full rice into it. If you do mix it while adding it may become very thin consistency.
• If you do not have pressure cooker or wanted to do it in the old method just add some water to a big pot and tie a wet cloth on top of it and keep these kudumulu on it and cook them on stove for 10-15mins.
• Some people do the same procedure with rice flour which is known as undrallu.

Aardhi

Simple Prawn Biryani Authentic Andhra Style

I always have the habit of tasting prawn biryani in restaurants or in some parties but have never tried at home. But i remember that my mom use to make prawn biryani very frequently back home but unfortunately at that time i am not in a habit of eating prawns. But people use to say that it is quite yummy and i am missing something that my mom use to make. So when i came here in US i remember my mom, when i first wanted to make this rice for my dear hubby to surprise him as prawns is one of his favorite.

So at last i got the recipe that i have been missing all these days from my mom which is very quick and easy, though tasty. Undoubtedly, anyone can say that the best taste that we ever eat in our life is the one that is made by our loving mom where we wont get that taste even if we tried it for years...May be it wont be the exact taste what my mom use to make but i tried my level best to reach it as the recipe i am posting here is from my mom.

Here it goes.....

Prawn Biryani...http://gayathriraj.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

Prawns - 2lb
Biryani Rice - 2cups, soaked for half an hour
Oil - 4tsp
Tomato - 2, big
Onions - 1
Green Chillis - 6 or more (depending in you taste as we wont be adding any chilli powder to it)
Cinnamon Stick - 1 inch
Cloves - 7
Biryani Leaf - 2
Chilli powder, salt and turmeric for marination of prawns depending on your preference.
Ginger Garlic Paste(GGP) - 3tsp
Pudhina - for taste
Salt to taste

Procedure:

• Firstly marinate the prawns in chilli powder, turmeric and salt for half an hour.
• In a cooking pan, add 2tsp oil and add all the masala items followed by onions, chillis and GGP.
• Now fry them till the raw smell goes and add the tomatoes, let them cook till they are smooth.
• Add the prawns to it and keep the lid.
• Now lot of water will be coming out from the prawns and let all the water goes away.
• Add the soaked rice, mix well along with the prawns and fry for 3 to 5 mins.
• Add the water to it, salt to taste and keep the lid and cook the rice on medium flame(or you can pressure cook it for 3whistles). When it is half way add the pudhina on the top and close the lid.
• Serve it hot with raitha.

Tip:

1.If you want to prepare it faster then you can separately cook the prawns in another pan till they are dry.
This will not only quicken the process but also reduce the smell that comes out from prawns which many people won't like it.
Generally i follow this process as i am a bit allergic to the smell of prawns.
2. You can add any of your own spices and masala when the prawns are cooking for added taste.

Tamarind Rice/ Pulihora

Ingredients:

Rice - 1cup

Tamarind - 1 lemon size ball, soaked and take the pulp

Mustard Seeds - 1tsp

Urad dal - 1tsp

Chana dal - 2tsp

Groundnuts - as per taste, i took 1tbsp

Cashews - as per taste

Turmeric powder - 1tsp

Green CHillis - 4

Red Chillis - 3

Ginger - 1inch piece

Oil - 3tsp

Curry leaves - 1stem

Hing/ Asafoetida- pinch

Procedure :

- First cook rice with some turmeric and 1tsp oil in it. Now take it in a bowl and Let it cool for half an hour so that the grains are not sticked together.

- Now heat oil in a pan , add mustard seeds and when they strt spluttering add urad dal, chana dal, ground nuts, cashews ,red chillis and when ground nuts and cashews turn light brown (make sure that they are not blackened) add some hing, salt, green chillis, ginger and saute for a minute. 

- Then add the tamarind paste and let it cook for 5 mins.

- When it gets thickened and oil comes out of the sides switch of the flame and take aside.

- When it is little warmer add this to the rice and mix well. (We can prepare this paste and store in refrigerator and mix it when we need to prepare pulihora anytime with ease)

- Adjust salt if needed and serve with any veggie curry or dal.

Tip: 

1. If tamarind is a bit less then you can substitute it with some lemon juice too.

2. This rice will be good for 2 to 3 days without storing it in fridge. So this is best for packing during travel time too.

Coconut Rice/ Kobbari Annam

This is a very popular South Indian dish. I love it a lot and very tasty too.. This version of preparing is done my sweet mom and i love it a lot. I always feel that it is similar taste to Biryani and very easy one too.. Veggie lovers will love this like anything. Can be prepared very quick and no need to spare much time on it too.


Ingredients:-

Basmati Rice - 2cups
Coconut - 1/2 shell of the fresh coconut (can use readily available coconut milk tin too)
Onions - 1/2
Carrots - 1
Chillis - 8 (according to ur taste)
Potatoes - 1
Cauliflower - 1
Peas - 1/2 cup
Oil - 3 tsp
Whole Garam Masala (lavang, elachi, Chekka, Biryani Leaf)
Salt to taste
(Instead of adding all veggies separately you can use the frozen mixed vegetables that is readily available in the store. )

Procedure:-

• Heat oil in a pan and to it add all the garam masala, onions, chillis and fry for sometime.
• Then add all the Veggies and saute them till they are little soft.



• Now to this add the rice and saute it for 2 mins and to this add 2cups water and 1cup of coconut milk.
• (Note :- For coconut milk i used the white, fleshy part of the coconut which is edible and used fresh, i grinded into paste by adding little water and used this 1cup grinded in the rice as coconut milk)



• Now shift this into electric rice cooker and cook it till it is done. Serve it hot with raitha or any gravy curry.

Mutton Biryani

Mutton Biryani is a delicious rice-made dish which is most popular among the Muslims and non-Muslims in India. Dont know how they prepare it but it tastes good only when Muslims made it. I always wonder that people make chicken biryani very often at home but when it comes to mutton biryani they prefer going to some hotel and have it. So this is what we too do when we really very much tempted to eat mutton biryani.

But one day when i went to my friends place we had mutton biryani and believe me that i felt it is bought from some hotel. So i asked her the recipe and i dont know whether it is the exact proceudre where Muslims do it but the taste is somewhat nearer. And here im preparing the mutton and rice separately and then mixing them together and cook it further for the final biryani. And thanks to my friend for a wonderful recipe. So please try it at home and enjoy the relished and exquisite taste of this delicious dish.

Ingredients :-

4 to 5 cups basmati rice
1 to 2 lb Mutton
2 onions (Coarsely grind-shouldnt be a paste - u should still see the flakes)
1 1/2 tomato
10 slit green chillies
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp garam masala
2tsp Ghee
6-8 cloves
small inch Cinnamon (Dhalchina)
2-3 Biryani leaves
pudhina
coriander
Few Curry leaves
Chilly powder - 1 to 2 spoons (based on ur taste)
3 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
Salt to taste

Procedure:-

• In the pressure cooker add required oil, add half of ground onion, half of slit green chillies, fry till golden brown, then add 1tbsp of ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 mins, then add the chilly powder and 1/2 tsp garam masala and fry for sometime. Now add half of chopped tomatoes and when they are little soft add curry leaves, coriander leaves,required salt and when fried add the mutton to it(if possible add some turmeric salt and chilli powder to it and keep mutton for 15 mins for better taste) and let it cook.
  
  
  
• Water comes out from it and after sometime when the water is evaporating then add 1/2 cup water and let it cook(it takes around 15 to 30 mins to cook depending on the tenderness of the mutton pieces)





• Meanwhlie in the separate bowl (take a big pan where you want actual biryani to be prepared). I used the 10litre cooker.
• Now to this add required oil and two teaspoon ghee, add cloves, cinnamon, biryani leaf, remaining ground onion,slit green chillies and fry till golden brown.
• Then add ginger garlic paste,curry leaves fry for 2 mins, add 1/2 tsp garam masala, chopped tomatoes and saute a little and add coriander leaves and chopped pudhina,required salt.
• Add required water (calculate since u might get water from the mutton mixture) and allow it to boil. Once it comes to boil, add the rice.




• Once rice is half cooked, add the mutton mixture and close the lid of the cooker. Cook it in low flame. Dont put the whistle on(it may take around half an hour depending on how much rice you are cooking) and when you feel it is done take switch off the stove and serve it with raitha.

Instant Tomato rice

Tomato rice is very much popular in many places especially in southern part of India. Daily eating the same dish makes everyone bore. We may not have time to make special dish everyday. Preparing a meal is an hour work at the most. But this special dish takes approx 15mins time if we already have rice at home. So here is the procedure for you to prepare instant tomato rice.

Ingredients :-

Cooked Rice - 2 Cups
Tomatos - 2
Onions - 1
Oil - 2 tsp
Chillis - 3
Red Chilli - 2
Ginger - small
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Tamarind Pulp - 2 tsp (thick)
Curry Leaves - 5
Pinch of Turmeric
Salt to Taste

Procedure:
Heat oil in a pan add jeera, mustard, chana dal, red chillis, curry leaves and fry till mustard seeds starts spluttering.
Now add onions, green chilis, when onions turns brown add turmeric and let it fry for one more minute.
Add sliced tomatos to the mix, close the lid and let it cook for 2 more minutes till it becomes soft.
Then add rice, mix and serve it hot with raitha.

Mamidikaya Pulihora

A South Indian rice delicacy, prepared on the same like lemon rice (nimmakaya pulihora) and is the most simple and easiest recipe one can ever make.

A healthy rice dish unlike most others which is prepared for a generous amount of oil or ghee. The key to this rice dish is mango which lends it a tangy flavor and is counter balanced with a fragrant tempering. As this is the season for mangoes i prepare this dish regularly at home. But most popularly this dish is prepared on very special festivals like Ugadi (Telugu New Year) in every house in Southern part of India. It is very simple and can be ready in just 4 small steps.



Ingredients :-

Rice - 2cups
Raw mango(Mamidikaya) - 1 cup (grated)
Peanuts 1 tbsp
Cashewnuts 1 tsp
Few Curry leaves
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 5 to 6
Ginger - small
Red chillies - 3to4
Urad dal 1/2 tsp
Channa dal 1/2 tsp
Pinch of asafeotida
Salt as per taste
Oil - 2 to 3tsp


Procedure :-

1. Cook the rice and keep aside (dont make it mashy).

2. Heat oil then add peanuts, cashewnuts then after 1 min add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, red chillies, urad dal, channa dal, asafoetida, green chillies,ginger, curry leaves, turmeric powder and fry for 3-5mins.

3. Now add the mamidikai thurumu(grated mango) and salt to taste and switch off the flame (dont keep it more than 2 mins, it may spoil the flavor of mango).

4. The mixture is then added to the cooked rice and mixed well.