Alasanda Vada (Black eyed Peas croquettes)

Blogging Marathon#64: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Mega BM Bookmarked Recipes 

Dish: Alasanda Vada from Suma 

Can't believe we are starting the last week of this month's blogging marathon today. May seemed to have zoomed right past us. My theme for this week is 'Bookmarked dishes from last month's mega marathon'. It is an impossible task to pick just 3 dishes to make from more than 600 delicious dishes (24 bloggers * 26 days), but we have to start somewhere, right??

So for the first day, I made these Alasanda vada aka blackeyed peas vada from Suma. I actually made it right after she posted it on her blog. I had some oil leftover from frying these nimki and so I decided to use it wisely and make these yummy vada.

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Erra Karam Dosa

Buffet on Table: Week 2 -- Indian States

Day 7: Andhra Pradesh -- Erra Karam Dosa

I am making a dish from my home state of Andhra today. It was quite a task deciding on dishes for this week. I had big plans but things got hectic and I lost track of time. Finally I decided on making simple recipes that have been on my bookmarks for a long time.

This Erra Karam Dosa from Suma's blog is something I have been planning to make for a while now. It is a spicy and delicious variation of dosa from the Rayalaseema region in Andhra. According to Suma it is a dish that is a popular street food.

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Gongura Bobbarla Kura (Sorrel Spinach and Black eyed Peas curry)

Last weekend we visited my cousin's place and she has a lovely backyard garden filled with Indian greens and veggies. My mom and I were got very excited and brought home bags full of gongura (sorrel spinach), bachalakura (malabar spinach/ pohi) and some tomatoes.

Indian stores here sell gongura & bachalakura for lot of money. I'm never even tempted to buy these sorry looking greens -- they are almost wilted with absolutely no life left. This explains our excitement when we saw fresh, vibrant greens :-)

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Menthikura Pulusu Kura

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Methi Dishes

Dish: Methi Pulusu

For the final day of this week's blogging marathon, I had another recipe in mind. But then I saw this pulusu/ stew being made with methi (menthikura) on a Telugu cooking show and I thought it was an interesting way to cook with methi. So scrapped my previous idea and made this dish instead.

Pulusu or tangy stew is typically made with veggies like pumpkin, okra, bottlegourd, onion etc. I have made pulusu with spinach before and this methi version was equally delicious.

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Stuffed Karela/ Bittergourd Curry with Garlic (Kakarakaya Vellullikaram)

I am always looking for new ways of cooking bitter gourd, so when I saw this recipe on a Telugu cooking show I promptly noted it down. Then my sister asked me a recipe for stuffed karela and I gave her this recipe and they totally loved it. After hearing the feedback I decided to make it myself and she was right, this is a delicious stuffed karela recipe.

One thing I learnt from this recipe is we don't need baby bitter gourd to make stuffed curry. Just use regular sized ones and cut them into chunks. Remove the seeds from the middle and hollow out the centers, then stuff them with spicy ground masala.

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Spicy Eggplant Curry (Vankaya Masala kura)

Today's dish is made by my neighbor aunty and since it is an eggplant curry made in a different way, I had to click to pictures and post the recipe for future reference. One of the perks of living in India is the loving neighbors who share their homemade dishes and recipes. 

When I signed up for this month's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge', I knew I might have to bother my mom to make some of her signature dishes so that I can share them with you all. But luckily I have more than one source here and thanks to my dear aunty I have a yummy eggplant curry in my repertoire. 

This curry is partially made in the pressure cooker and then finished off in the saute pan. This method helps in cooking the curry with minimum oil and also expedites the cooking process.

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Kakarakaya Tomato Kura (Bitter gourd-Tomato Curry)

My MIL made this kakarakaya/ bitter gourd curry when she visited us last month. There are quite a few ways to take the bitterness away from bitter gourd, like boiling them with a souring agent like yogurt or tamarind and then squeezing out the bitter water. But this time my MIL salted thinly chopped bitter gourd pieces and refrigerated them overnight. In the morning, she squeezed out the water and made the curry in the pressure cooker.
Both refrigerating the salted bitter gourd and making the curry in the pressure cooker was new to me, so I promptly wrote down the recipe to post it here for future reference.

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Alugadda Vepudu (Spicy Potato Fry)

I wanted to keep the theme for this month's Cooking from Cookbook Challenge same as the theme for the on-going month long marathon, which means I will be posting some Indian dishes from cookbooks every weekend.

For the first week, I'm cooking from 'The India Cookbook' by Pushpesh Pant. This is a HUGE book with around 1000 recipes from all over India. I remember borrowing this book from the library couple of years back, but returned it without cooking anything from it because I was literally overwhelmed with the number of dishes in the book and couldn't decide what to make before I had to return the book.

This time I borrowed it again, hoping that it would help for the A-Z Indian states marathon. I couldn't find many recipes from the states I was looking for, but ended up bookmarking other dishes that I wanted to make for CCChallenge. Unfortunately I sat on the book for too long not doing anything with it that I had to return it to the library yesterday. I was able to make only 1 dish from it. I went ahead and requested it again, so at least I can make the dishes that I bookmarked.
I was inspired to make a thali after looking at the amazing thalis on Rajani's and Manjula's blogs. I have a very very simple Andhra thali and is nowhere close to comparison to either of their thalis. Here's what I made for the thali:

• Paalakura Pappu -- Spinach dal
• Vankaya Ulli kaaram -- Eggplant in Onion gravy
• Alugadda Vepudu -- Spicy Potato fry
• Pappu Chaaru 
• Avakaya
• Perugu -- Yogurt
• Pista burfi & murukkus -- storebought

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Andhra Pradesh -- Madatha Kaaja/ Thapeshwaram Khaja (Traditional dessert recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 1
State: Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Madatha Kaaja/ Thapeshwaram Khaja

Our Blogging marathon group loves challenges and this time we have decided to do a month long mega marathon exploring the dishes from 30 Indian States & Union Territories. Which means starting today, all of us are going to post authentic dishes from each of the 30 Indian states in alphabetical order.
This would have been an impossible challenge some 5~6 years back, but with so many food bloggers from various parts of the country sharing their recipes online, finding authentic recipes was not too difficult except for the North eastern states. More about that when I do those states in a few days.
Preparations for the Mega marathon started almost 5~6 months ago, but I started working on them 2 months back. In the past couple of months, I have tried ingredients and ingredient combinations that I've never tried before. I can't say I learnt a lot about all the food cultures from the different states, but I sure know at least a few dishes names from each state now.
The most interesting take away for me after cooking from the 30 states is that 'there are so many similarities in the dishes that are made in different states, but at the same time there are as many differences in them too'. Take for example, rice is used in some form or the other in ALL the states, but the dishes that are made are very different from each other. Also the type of spices used and when they are added to a dish makes a big difference in the final taste of the dish.
Acknowledgements: First of my husband who was a very kind guinea pig. He ate everything, without a word, that was served even though some of the dishes tasted quite different with unusual ingredient combinations (from what we are used to). Thanks to the BM group for the inspiration (and nonstop chatter), without which I wouldn't have been able to complete the project on time. Thanks to the internet: Google & Wikipedia in particular for providing all the information on just about everything. Thanks for the hundreds of bloggers from across India for sharing their traditional dishes.

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Sweet Corn Uggani (Borugula/ Maramarala Upma)

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Cooking with Corn
Dish: Sweet Corn Uggani

It's time to start yet another edition of Blogging Marathon. My theme for the first week is 'Cooking with Corn'. Corn was rarely used in cooking while I was growing up. We used to enjoy grilled corn on the cob during rainy season, but my mom hardly ever used it to cook anything.  Though sweet corn soup was famous in those days, but we ate it only at restaurants once in a while.
Nowadays corn, especially sweet corn, is being used very widely in Indian dishes. I use corn quite a lot in my cooking and make corn pulao, corn gravy curry for rotis. I keep a bag of frozen corn in the freezer and also buy fresh when I see some good quality ones in the grocery store.

So for the first day I made a snack that is made with sweet corn and murmure or puffed rice. Uggani is a famous snack in Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh. Typically it is lightly cooked, but today I have a no-cook version that is equally delicious. This is a quick and easy dish that is great to be served as an evening snack.

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Bell Pepper/ Capsicum Avakaya

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Cooking with Capsicum/ Peppers
Dish: Green Pepper/ Capsicum Avakaya

Day 2 of BM# 34 and today I have a spicy hot Andhra pickle made ith green bell peppers. I'm just learning that every vegetable can be used to make avakaya. I asked my mom what to make for this week's 'Cooking with Bell Peppers/  Capsicum' theme and she said let's make 'Avakaya'.
I wasn't sure how it was going to taste, but went ahead with her proposal. It was sure spicy and tasted just like hmmmm.. avakaya should taste like but with milder bell pepper instead of sour mango. I guess you can use any color pepper, but we used green pepper here.

I think any veggie can be made into 'avakaya'. I saw someone on a cooking show make 'eggplant' avakaya which by the way my mom and I tried right away. It tasted great to me (you know my love for eggplants.. don't you?? if not check my collection of eggplant recipes), but just OK to everyone else. May be one day I'll make it again to post here.

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Mamidikaya Pappu (Andhra Style Raw Mango Dal)

Bonus Dish for Week 3:

Theme: A-Z  Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: M for Mamikidikaya Pappu (Raw Mango Dal)

This pappu for my first pick for the Letter 'M', but it fell off the regular A-Z Vegetarian dishes from A.P. truck because of various reasons. One reason was that I made 'Nuvvulu-Mamidikaya pachadi' for N and I didn't want the same ingredient (mango) to be used in the dishes that I was posting on consecutive days. So for M I posted Menthikura pappu.

Mamidikaya pappu screams summer for me, even though we get good quality raw mangoes in the Indian store almost all year long. It is one of the dishes that is made on special occasions, festivals, when guests are visiting etc. If your mango is not sour enough, then feel free to add some tamarind paste.

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Pindi Miriyam (Andhra Style Vegetable Stew with Peppercorns)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter P
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: P for Pindi Miriyam

Letter P stands for veggies like Potlakaya (snake gourd), Palakoora (spinach). P also stands for Perugu (yogurt), Pachadi (chutney) etc.

Today's recipe Pindimiriyam is a very traditional dish made in Andhra Pradesh. It is basically a spicy, tangy pulusu or stew made with miriyam or peppercorns. It is a very filling and tasty dish that goes well with steamed rice. Recipe is from 'Cooking with Pedatha' cookbook.

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Iguru/ Vankaya-Senagapappu Iguru (Eggplant-Chana Dal Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter I
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: I for Iguru/ Vankaya-Senagapappu Iguru (Eggplant-Chana Dal Curry)

Finding dishes that start with vowels is hard. Letter 'I' was even harder. All I could think of was Idli, but no matter how hard I thought I couldn't think of an Andhra spin to good old idlis. After a lot of thinking (out loud), the remembered the word Iguru. One of our dear friends back home used to call some of the curries 'igurus'. I didn't know what it actually meant, so I asked my mom to research.
She came back and said that the curries that are made by evaporating the liquid (igaradam) are generally called 'igurus'. I took it as the curries that are made slightly wet, but not necessarily with a gravy, fall into this category.

Luckily after that I watched an episode on a Telugu cooking show where the chef made this Iguru which I promptly noted down and made it for today. This is a spicy and flavorful dish that is perfect when served with steamed rice and rasam.

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Erra Gummadikaya Pulusu (Andhra style Pumpkin Stew)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter E
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: E for Erra Gummadikaya Pulusu (Andhra Style Pumpkin Stew)

I thought E to be one of the hardest letters to find dishes for. I found the recipe with Erra Gummadikaya aka pumpkin aka thiyya gummadikaya in 'Cooking with Pedatha' cookbook. This is a very hearty stew with a variety of veggies and can easily feed a crowd.

I used pumpkin (erra gumamdikaya), eggplant (vankaya) and potato, but other veggies like bottle goud, drumsticks, sweet potato are also typically used in this preparation.

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Vegan Andhra Kodi Kura (Vegan Chicken Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Meatless Dishes
Dish: Vegan Andhra 'Kodi' Kura

Today we start Week 2 of BM# 31 and my theme for this week is 'Meatless Dishes'. I'm a life long vegetarian, but I've a fascination towards non-veg dishes. I worked at a deli during my Masters and I use to loves the smell of meats cooking away in the kitchen, but luckily the smell was not strong enough to make me eat it :-)  

I'm not sure how many of you agree with me but in my opinion it is difficult to cook meat than vegetables and whoever does it well means they are really good at cooking. Here's my explanation: different meats have to be cooked differently and knowing the right technique is really important (knowledge entirely based on watching waaaaaaay too many cooking reality shows.. thank you). What I'm trying to say is cooking meat needs greater understanding of the ingredients. Veggies on the other hand need little thinking and even if you mess it up, oh well, it's still edible -- think of mushy peas or green beans--you can still eat them. right?? 

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Gutti Vankaya Kura (Dry)-Stuffed Eggplants Curry

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Occasions - Andhra Feast
Dish(es): Gutti Vankaya kura, Kanda Bachalikura & Dosakaya Pappu

April 1, April fools day, the day I started the job that I recently resigned 8 years ago and today I am starting my first ever month long blogging marathon. I have done month long Vegan Mofos before this, but never blogged continuously for 30days. I'm joining my fellow marathoners on a month long non-stop blogging marathon. What's interesting is Valli gave us 4 different themes for the 4 weeks of April. So each week we will be sticking to a theme and posting different recipes that fall under that week's theme.

Theme for the first week is "Occasions". I am going to post dishes that fall under couple of different occasions. For the first day, I chose a very broad and non-specific occasion where traditional Andhra dishes are served. This can be a gruhapravesam (house warming ceremony), satyanarayana puja, baby shower or anything other occasion for that matter.

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Undrallu with Allam Pachadi (Revisiting an Old Post)

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Revisiting Old Posts with New Pictures
Dish: Undrallu & Allam Pachadi (from June 2006)

Revisiting old posts with new pictures is something that I have been planning to do for quite some time now. But time seems to be of premium these days and since I can't even catch up with the present, past keeps waiting. So this week's theme is perfect as it lets me update some of my very old posts that are in dire need of better pictures.

When I started blogging almost 8 years ago, I didn't have any props and I didn't even think of buying any props for blogging. All I used to do was cook at night and click with the flash glaring right onto the plate. Didn't realize that food needs to be presented in an appetizing way. It was only recently that I started playing around with the props, settings and the camera.

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Coconut Chutney & Eggplant Curry

Blender/ Grinder is a very important appliance in my kitchen, I'm sure it is the same in most of the Indian kitchens. I can't imagine idlis, dosas, chutneys or even ground masala for curries without a good blender/ grinder. 

My mom bought me an Indian blender when I got married almost 8 years ago, which has served us well all through these years. But it is slowly losing its power and we are thinking if it's a better deal to buy a Vitamix or Blendtec blenders here in the US or get another Indian brand from back home. I would love to hear from people who own one of these powerful blenders: are they worth the cost and do they serve our Indian grinding needs?

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Vankaya Ulli Karam Kura (Eggplant Curry with Onion Masala)

For the 3rd and last of the marathon under the theme "Cooking with Onions", I wanted to make an Indian dish. Onions are quintessential ingredient in Indian cooking, so I wanted to make a dish that utilizes onions in a very traditional way.

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