Himachal Pradesh -- Auriya Kadoo (Pumpkin/ Butternut squash in Mustard sauce)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 10
State: Himachal Pradesh
Dish: Auriya Kadoo

Himachal Pradesh is a tsate in North India. It is famous for its scenic landscapes and aabundant natural beauty. The literal meaning of the state's name is In the lap of Himalayas. Himachal Pradesh is a multireligional, multicultural as well as multilingual state like other Indian states. Some of the most commonly spoken languages are Hindi, Punjabi, Pahari, Dogri etc., The state has both Hindu communities as well as tribal communities.

Cuisine: Day-to-day food of Himachal Pradesh is very similar to the rest of the North India. They have lentils, rice, vegetables and bread. Non-vegetarian food is preferred and the cuisine is dominated by red meat and wheat bread. Thick and rich gravy, with aromatic spices, is used in abundance as the base for many dishes.
Specialties: I was so happy to find thefoodfairy blog that has so many traditional dishes from Himachal Pradesh called the Pahari food. Pahari literally means mountains and since the author's family is mostly Pahari she has a wide array of little known Pahari food. This link has some very delicious looking dishes that hopefully, I can try in the near future.

Today's Dish: When I saw this recipe for pumpkin with mustard seeds, it sounded so much similar to an Andhra mustard based curry -- aava pettina kura. I wanted to give it a try to see how different or similar it would taste to what I'm used to. I have to say it tasted quite different since the spices used in both the curries are different, but I enjoyed this version as much I enjoy the Andhra version. It's spicy, tangy and very delicious. I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin since that is what I had in the pantry.

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Instant Mango Pickle with Mustard & Jaggery for ICC

This month's Indian Cooking Challenge is a quick and easy to make 'Instant Mango Pickle with Mango & Jaggery'. Varada shared her mom's pickle recipe for all of us to try.

I made it yesterday and it tasted great. I made panchadhara avakaya with sugar and roasted mustard and fenugreek seeds. But this pickle has jaggery for sweetness and the spices used are not roasted. The pickle was not overly sweet, it is subtly sweet and you can definitely taste it in the background but it is not overwhelming. My husband's been eating it for every meal since I made it :-)

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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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Aava pettina Aratikaya Kura (Mustard Flavored Raw Banana Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter A
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: A for Aava pettina Aratikaya Kura (Mustard Flavored Raw Banana Curry)

We are starting our Month long Mega Blogging Marathon today and we are doing 'A-Z' theme this month, which means all the members will be posting recipes with the same letter every day. I chose to do 'A-Z dishes from Andhra Pradesh'. I wanted to do it for quite some time now and with the inspiration of all my fellow marathoners and especially Valli, I'm finally doing it this month.

To start off, a little information about Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). A.P. is situated in the southeast of India. It is 4th largest by area and 5th largest by population. It has the longest coastline among all the states of India. Capital of A.P. is Hyderabad.

Photo Courtesy from MapsofIndia.com

The state comprises of 4 regions: Telangana, Kostha Andhra (Coastal Andhra), Rayalaseema & Uttarandhra. Food varies based on the geographical region, caste and traditions. Andhra food is probably one of the spiciest in India. Rice is our staple and A.P happens to be one of the largest producer of rice along with chilies.

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Panchadara Avakaya (Green Mango Pickle with Sugar)

I was never a big fan of mixing sweet and savory things. I wouldn’t eat a dish if I saw my mom adding sugar or jaggery to any dish. Sweet pickles, as you can imagine, were a big no-no. But now my palate appreciates the nuances of sweet and savory in a dish.

When my dear cousin served us panchadara avakaya that her MIL made couple of years ago, I fell in love with it instantly. She gave me a bottle of pachadi last year that her MIL made while in the US and this year she decided to make it herself. So I followed suit and made this sweet, spicy and tangy avakaya. My cousin, the perfectionist that she is, sent me the detailed recipe with instructions on how to cut the mangoes and when to taste and adjust the seasonings.

Choosing the right mangoes for the pickle is the biggest challenge. Pick ones that look fresh and are bright green, medium sized, and should NOT be soft when touched. The first time I bought them, they looked green and all from outside, but when I cut into them they were yellow and squishy.

So I had to wait 2 more weeks to get the right mangoes. Big thanks to you, dear P and your MIL for this fool proof avakaya recipe.

Ingredients:

Green mangoes – 2, medium sized

Sugar (panchadara) – 1 cup

Red chili powder for pickles – 1 cup (this chili powder is bright, vibrant red, but it is not very spicy hot and is available in most Indian grocery store)

Sesame seeds (nuvvulu)– 1¼ cups

Mustard seeds (aavalu) – ¼ cup

Fenugreek seeds (menthulu) – ¼ cup

Salt (uppu) – 1 cup

Peanut oil – 1 cup

Method:

• Wash the mangoes well and dry them thoroughly. I left the washed mangoes covered with a dish towel on the counter for couple of hours to completely dry them.
• Prep all the spices: Dry roast (without oil) sesame seeds until lightly browned on medium low heat. Set aside.
• Dry roast fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds separately.
• When all the spices are completely cool, grind each one separately; sesame seeds can be made into a coarse powder – too much grinding can make sesame paste, so keep checking. Mustard seeds tend to get bitter if ground too much, so be mindful of that.
• Heat oil in a small saucepan until very hot, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
• While the oil is cooling, start chopping the mangoes. Cut the mango into half lengthwise, this gets a little tricky if the seed is tough, so try to find the exact spot where the seed ends. Scoop out the seed and discard. Cube the mango into small bite size pieces. Try to make sure that each piece has the peel. Pat dry the pieces with a clean kitchen towel to make sure that there is no moisture on the pieces.
• Take all the pieces into a large non-reactive container. Add sugar, salt, pickle chili powder, all of the roasted fenugreek and mustard powders, 1 cup of sesame powder (reserve the rest for later) and the cooled oil. Mix everything together.
• At this point the pickle is a little thick, but as it sits the mangoes will ooze out their juices and will thin out over time. Cover tightly and let the pickle rest for 24 hours.
• Taste the pickle and add more salt/ sugar/ chili powder or the reserved sesame powder if needed and let it sit for another 24 hours. If it tastes perfect after the 1st 24 hours then simply put the pickle into clean glass/ porcelain jars.

I put the pickle in the fridge so it stays fresh longer, but if you are going to use it up in couple of weeks, leave it out on the shelf. Tastes amazing with steamed rice and ghee or with idlis/ dosas/ upma etc.

Pictorial of Avakaya Making:

Sending this over to Aipi & Priya's "Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday" event.

Shukto - Bengali Mixed Vegetable Curry

For Day 4 of BM# 5, I made this mixed vegetable Bengali curry which interestingly includes bittergourd along with other veggies. Again recipe courtesy Sandeepa's Bong cookbook. In Andhra bitter gourd or kakarakaya is usually used mostly by itself and as far as I know is rarely cooked with other vegetables. So when I saw this recipe I thought it was very unique (at least to me since I've never tried this combination of veggies before) and wanted to give it a try. The veggies are cooked with mustard and poppy seed paste which gives the curry a totally different dimension. The dish turned out delicious in a very interesting and different way.

I followed the recipe to the T, except that I didn't have green beans on hand, so didn't use any. Also I added 2 dry red chilies to the blender when grinding the mustard and poppy seeds to add some heat to the curry.

Ingredients:

Bitter gourd (Karela) - 1 medium, diced

Ridge gourd (Beerakaya) - 1 medium, chopped into half moons

Plantain (Raw banana) - 1 small, chopped into half moons

Potato - 1 medium, chopped into half moons

Japanese Eggplant - 1 medium, chopped into half moons

Ginger - 1" grated

Moong vadi - 1/2 cup, fried until golden brown

Milk - 1/3 cup

Salt - to taste

For tempering:

Methi seeds (Fenugreek seeds) - 1/2 tsp

Bay leaves - 2

Hing (Asafoetida) - 1/4tsp

For the paste:

Mustard seeds - 2tbsp

Poppy seeds - 1tbsp

Dry red chilies - 2

Method:

• Soak mustard seeds and poppy seeds in water for at least half an hour. Then drain the water and grind to a paste. Since the amount was so little, my blender blade didn't make a very smooth paste. I tried my best and gave up at the end.
• Sauté each veggie separately until lightly roasted about 3-4 minutes per veggie. Remove and set aside. Sauté bittergourd last.
• Add 2tbsp oil in the same pan; add methi seeds, bay leaves and hing and once the seeds turn reddish and hing starts to smell fragrant, add all the sautéed veggies. Add the ground mustard paste and grated ginger. Mix well.
• Next add milk, salt and 1/2 cup of water. Cover and cook till the veggies are tender and the water is all absorbed.

Add the fried moong vadi before serving. Serve hot with steamed rice at the beginning of the meal to cleanse the palette and get your digestive juices flowing.

Let's check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja
Summer Coolers: PJ, Vaishali
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala