Ugadi Pachadi

Ugadi Pachadi is a pachadi/chutney with unique taste and consists of 6 different tasting ingredients (shadruchulu) like...

neem (for bitterness)
tamarind (for sourness)
Jaggery (for sweetness)
Chillies (for spice)
Mango (for raw smell)
Salt

You can make it thick or thin by adjusting the amount of bananas for thickness and tamarind juice+water to make it thin. So, below is the recipe...

Makes about 4 Cups of pachadi

Ingredients:

Bananas - 5 long
Neem flowers - fresh/dry
Tamarind - big marble size
Jaggery - 1/4 cup - grounded/grated
Pepper pwd & Green Chillies - 2 pinches & 2 small
Raw mango - 1/4 cup - peel the skin off & cut into small pieces
Salt - 2 tsp

Method:

• Soak tamarind and extract the juice.
• In a big bowl, take the bananas and tamarind juice and mash well with hand.
• Add jaggery, pepper powder/green chillies, mango pieces and salt. Mix well until jaggery melts.
• Now add neem flowers and gently mix again.

That's it! Easy, delicious & unique tasting Ugadi Pachadi is ready to offer to God and then to eat. Enjoyyyy!! Happy Ugadi!!!

Read More

Kobbari Mamidikaya Pachadi / Green Mango Coconut Chutney

Serves: 4
Ingredients:

Green Mango - 1/4 Cup (very sour, chopped)
Coconut - 1/2 Cup
Chana dal - 1/4 Cup
Green Chillies (poke once with a fork or knife to avoid bursting) - 4

Seasoning:
Mustard, Zeera, Red Chilli, Curry leaves
Oil - 1/2 Tbsp



Method:

1. Fry Chana dal and green chillies together in a tsp of oil. Fry this under medium low flame until chana dal gets little color and looks all fried - takes about 5 mins. Gets nice aroma.
2. In a blender, take fried chana dal mixture from above and mango pieces and grind to a fine paste. adding enough water.
3. Finally add coconut and salt and grind for another minute.
4. Season with the above mentioned seasoning ingredients.

That's it! Simple & mouth watering Coconut mango chutney is ready to serve with Idli, Dosa, White rice or Curd rice.

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

Vankaya Pulusu Pachadi / Roasted Eggplant Raw Chutney

Vankaya Pulusu Pachadi is popular in Andhra. Here the Vankaya / Brinjal is roasted over the fire and mixed with different ingredients to give a sour, sweet & smokey flavored chutney which goes very well with steamed white rice along with a dash of ghee.

In India, we get brinjals called as pachadi vankayalu which suits best for making pachadi/chutney. Since I'm in US, I used American Eggplant which comes in big size.

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 1 Big (I used American Eggplant)
Onion - 1 small - thinly chopped
Green chillies - 6
Coriander leaves - 1 fistful
Jaggery / Sugar - 2 Tbsp
Tamarind - 1 big marble size - soak in hot water and extract thick pulp
Salt

For tempering:
Mustard - 1 tsp
Zeera - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 2
Urad dal - 1/2 Tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Turmeric - a pinch
Hing - a pinch
Oil - 1 Tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and poke the brinjal / eggplant with a fork couple of times.
2. Put it directly on the medium flame of gas stove.
3. Let the skin gets charred. Approximately for about every 1 min, turn it and roast evenly.
4. When it is charred completely, put it in the Ziploc bag and keep it aside for about 10 - 15 mins. The bag will be filled with steam and makes it easy to peel off the charred skin.
5. Now remove the brinjal from the bag and remove the skin. 
6. Place it in a large bowl and mash it completely with hand, so that it forms a thick paste.
7. Add tamarind juice, jaggery, salt, onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and mix it well. Adjust the consistency with little water.
8. Now temper it with the above mentioned tempering ingredients.
9. Check the seasoning and adjust tamarind juice, salt or sugar if needed.

That's it! Smokey flavored, sweet and tangy chutney is ready to serve with hot rice along with a dash of ghee.

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

Cake For Your Valentine!!!

I guess almost every Newly Wed or Lovely couple try to prepare a soft and fluffy CAKE for their Valentine, right? So, here is a fast and easy recipe for a tasty, light and delicious yet simple cake... Try this and surprise your valentine! If you follow the below recipe, I bet you will not go wrong even if it is the first time to make one..! So, go ahead ...

Ingredients:



All purpose flour / Maida - 1 1/2 C
Sugar - 1 C
Butter - 1/2 C (or vegetable Oil can also be used)
Milk - 1/2 C
Eggs - 2
vanilla extract - 2 tsp (optional)
Baking powder - 1 3/4 tsp
Cashews - 12
9" Round Cake Pan or 9" Heart shape pan or 9x9 inch Square pan

Method:

• Put the butter stick out of the fridge and let it become soft or just melt it on the stove.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C. 
• In a big bowl, cream together the sugar and butter/oil with a whisk. 
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
• Now stir in the vanilla extract if you are using. 
• In another bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add this to the creamed mixture and mix well. 
• Finally stir in the milk until the batter is smooth. 
• Grease the cake pan by spraying or applying little oil evenly on all the sides of the pan. Flour/dust it with some flour. (Do this whether you are using a non-stick pan or glass bakeware. This makes removing the cake from the pan easy.)
• Pour batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the cashews over the batter just before baking it.
• Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Cake is done when the inserted toothpick or spaghetti stick or knife comes out clean.

We like to eat the cake as it is without icing. This way we can enjoy the taste of the butter, eggs and the baked flour. We feel Icing makes it overwhelming and can't enjoy the pure taste of the cake. Use it this way or apply your favorite icing and enjoy

That's it! Simple yet delicious cake is ready. Time to Cut & Enjoy with your Valentine!!! :)

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

Malai Mushroom

Ingredients:

Mushrooms - 15 (button mushrooms)
Onions - 1 big
Tomatoes - 2 big
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Green chillies - 2
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Malai (cream) / Milk - 1 Cup
Rice flour - 1 Tbsp (if using milk)
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Zeera - 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Wash mushrooms under running water. Dry them with paper towel and thinly slice them.
2. In a sauce pan, add oil and start doing seasoning with mustard & zeera.
3. Add finely chopped onions and some salt and fry them until light brown. Add turmeric.
4. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute.
5. Mean while prepare tomato and green chilli puree by grinding them together into a fine paste.
6. Add this puree, red chilli powder to the fried onions and cook for 8 mins under med flame, covering with lid.
7. When you get good onion tomato sauce, add the mushrooms and let it cook for 8-10 mins under medium flame, covering with lid. Mushroom oozes lot of water while cooking. So, let it cook in its own juices and make gravy.
8. Meanwhile take the milk and add the rice flour and mix very well. If using cream, ignore this step.
9. Pour this malai/milk into the mushroom gravy and let it cook uncovered, constantly stirring. Otherwise, milk gets curdled.
10. When it starts boiling and getting thick, let it boil for a min and switch off the stove. Garnish with chopped coriander.

That's it! Creamy Malai Mushroom is ready to serve with Rotis.

Tips:

• To avoid fatty cream / malai, or half & half milk in the gravy, I use normal milk and rice flour.
• Adding rice flour to the milk gives gravy, that creamy/malai texture.
• Adjust the consistency of the gravy curry by adding little water/milk if needed.

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

Vegetable Pulao

Ingredients:

Rice - Basmati - 2 Cups
Onion - 1 medium - chop coarsely
Potatoes - 3 small - cut into chunks
Carrots - 2 small - cut into thick circles
Peas - 1/8 Cup
Beetroot - 1/2 small - Cut into thin strips
Soy Chunks (meal maker) - 1/4 cup
Cashews - 12
Curd - 1/6 Cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Mint leaves - fresh  - fistful or dry - 1 tsp
Oil - 4 Tbsp
Ghee - 1 Tbsp (optional)
Water - 4 Cups

Spices:

Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
Cardamom - 1
Javantri - 1
Star Anise - 1
Bay leaves - 2
MTR Pulao mix powder - 1/4 Tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 Tbsp
Green Chillies - 3



Method:

1. Wash and soak rice with 1:2 ratio of water. Keep it aside.
2. Cut the onion, veggies and green chillies. 
3. Take a wok and pour oil and ghee.
4. Fry cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, javantri, star anise, bay leaves, cashews & green chillies.
5. Add onions and saute until they turn light brown. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 1 min until the raw smell goes away.
6. Add potatoes and fry for 2 mins.
7. Now add carrots, peas, soy chunks & salt enough for veggies. Fry for 1 min. 
8. Now add curd, chilli powder, pulao powder, mint and fry for 1 more min.
9. Add rice along with soaked water & salt.
10. Check the salt (should be slightly salty) and let it cook in the wok under lowest flame for about 15-20 mins. 
11. If using rice cooker, transfer this mixture into rice cooker. When the rice is half way cooked, insert the beetroot pieces carefully and close the lid again. 
12. If using pressure cooker, transfer this mixture into the cooker and cook for 1 whistle, simmer for 10 mins. Use half of the beetroot mentioned above and add it before closing cooker with lid.

That's it! Aromatic and Shiny Vegetable Pulao is ready to serve with any gravy curry or Raitha.



Note: Beetroot acts as coloring agent instead of adding artificial colors like saffron. Do not add beetroot while frying veggies because it gives all the pulao red color.

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

White Pumpkin Majjiga Chaaru / Buttermilk Rasam

Well...what do you do with the fresh juicy White Pumpkin got from the Indian store? Hmm.. I know very few of the varieties but I bet this would be one of the best & easy way to eat this fresh pumpkin without loosing its texture and nutrients. Good... right???


Ingredients:

White Pumpkin - 1 Palm size - 2 cups cut - cut into thin pieces as shown in pic
Buttermilk - 4 Cups
Garlic pods - 2
Green chillies - 4
Red chillies - 2
Ajwain - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
Zeera - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt




Method:

1. Wash pumpkin and cut into thin pieces as shown in pic.
2. In a pan, pour 1 Tbsp oil. Add the cut pumpkin and some salt. Saute on high flame covering with lid for about 1 min and then without lid for 1 more min or until tender & crunchy. 
3. Meanwhile, prepare buttermilk by whisking yogurt/curd and water together.
4. Prepare chilli-garlic paste by grinding garlic and green chillies together.
5. Do the seasoning with ajwain, mustard, zeera, methi, red chillies, turmeric and curry leaves.
6. Add the sauteed pumpkin, chilli-garlic paste, seasoning and salt to the buttermilk. Stir well. 

That's it! Flavorful and crunchy White Pumpkin Majjiga Chaaru is ready to serve with white rice.

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

Instant Tomato Pickle

Pickle means lot of  chilli powder and oil. And also pickles need some marination time. But this is an instant pickle made with very less chilli powder and can be used right away without any wait time. Also, this tastes like the dried tomato pickle made by our moms with great effort. Wow, then it is even good... isn't it?

This suits people who doesn't want to/like to eat spicy pickles every day or for the people with acidity and who can't take marinated pickles.  This is excellent to use as side dish for curd rice or dal rice or with any breakfast items daily without any guilty feeling of eating pickles.

This contains very less chilli powder. You can increase or decrease accordingly to your taste.




Quantity yield: 1 bottle as shown in the pic


Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 12
Red Chilli powder - 1-2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 Tbsp
Methi seeds - 1/6 Tbsp
Garlic - 10 pods
Oil - 3 Tbsp
Salt

Method:

1. Cut tomatoes into small pieces. Chop Garlic into chunks if they are too big
2. Heat the oil in a pan. Season with mustard, methi & garlic.
3. When the garlic is little fried, add chilli powder and fry for few seconds.
4. Add tomato pieces and salt.
5. Let it cook under high flame for about 8-10 mins with the lid.
6. Remove the lid and  let it cook for another 15-20 mins, under med-hi flame, until all the water evaporates and the oil oozes out. Stir in between.
7. Switch off the stove and let it cool down.
8. Transfer into an air tight dry container. 
9. Refrigerate for more shelf time like about 1 month.

That's it! Yummy, tasty, mouth watering and colorful pickle is ready to enjoy with idli, dosa, curd rice, dal rice etc.

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

Easy Eggless Cookies - Nan Khatai

Makes - 25 cookies


Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - 1 Stick (1/2 Cup) at room temperature
All Purpose Flour - 1 Cup
Powdered Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 Tsp
Baking Powder - 1/4 Tsp

Method :

1. Take butter in a big bowl.
2. Add powdered sugar,baking powder,cardamom powder and mix them into a soft dough.
3. Now add all purpose flour little by little into the above butter mixture and make soft dough.
4. Now put it in a zip lock bag for 20 min.
5. Preheat oven for 300 degrees F.
6. Take a baking tray and grease it lightly.
7. Take the dough out of zip lock and knead it well.
8. Separate the dough into equal parts of small lemon size each.
9. Make each part into a soft ball. Ball should be without cracks.
10. Place all balls on the greased baking tray.
11. Leave at least a 2 inch space between each ball.
12. Place a small piece of cashew/almond on each ball and press it lightly.
13. Put the baking tray in the middle rack of the oven and bake it for 20 to 25 min.
14. Take the tray out of the oven and let it cool for at least 2hrs.

That's it! Time for Fun - Cookies are ready to eat...!!! :)

Storage: If any remaining - Place Cookies in a dry air tight container. Will be fresh for 10 days. For more shelf life, refrigerate them.

If you like this recipe, please LIKE AndhraChef.com on Facebook.

Read More

Thai Green Curry - Desi style

Ingredients:

Bell pepper (green, also add other colors if you have)
Carrot - 1/4 cup
Bamboo shoots - 1 tin
Basil - few leaves(dry or fresh)
Green chillies - 4
Red chillies - 1
Mustard
Zeera
Green Curry Paste - 1/2 Tbsp
Coconut milk - 1 can
Water - 1/2 can (measure with the coconut milk can)
Salt & Oil
Mint (optional) - for garnishing

Method:

1. Cut bell pepper & carrots into 1 inch long and 1/4 inch width pieces.
2. Take sauce pan and do the seasoning with oil, mustard, zeera, red and green chillies, turmeric.
3. Now add carrot and saute for 1 min.
4. Now add bell peppers and saute for 1 more min.
5. Add bamboo shoots and saute for another min.
6. Add green curry paste and salt. Fry once.
7. Pour coconut milk, water, basil.
8. Let it boil for couple of mins until it gets little thickened.
9. Garnish with mint.

That's it! Super tasty, flavorful, and creamy Thai Green curry in Desi style is ready to serve with hot rice.
For more fusion recipes like this and authentic Andhra recipes, please keep visiting www.AndhraChef.com.

Note: FYI... I got -
Coconut milk in Indian stores in USA.
Bamboo shoots and Basil in American stores like walmart etc.

Read More