Gongura Pulihora (Spicy seasoned rice with sorrel leaves) - Summer comes to a close and a new year begins

We are literally baking here for the past few days, temperature is at its northern tip as far as PNW is concerned and us poor folks pampered year long with moderate temperatures are now whining and complaining as loudly and as often as we can. At our home, this is the time of the year we seriously think of getting an air conditioner but by the time we get off our seats and put the thoughts into action, the weather would have changed and temperature gotten normal :-), so has been the story for last 5 years and the same continues this year as well. I don't feel justified spending money on something that I would use for a minuscule percentage of the year, also we spend a big part of the day in air conditioned offices as the week starts where everything is cool and nice, so the AC has been just a passing thought until now, maybe as the glaciers start to melt and the heat becomes unbearable in a few years, we will give it some serious consideration :-). Until then, let me enjoy the abundant sunshine and the naturally available vitamin D. The plants and flowers outside seem to be in complete agreement with what I say. 

I have turned into an infrequent blogger recently and had not even checked the blog for comments or the facebook for reactions in a while. As I logged in today after a couple of weeks of inactivity, a very pleasant surprise awaited when I saw the FB likes is now up beyond the count of 1000. A small but definite milestone and surely a nudge for me to get back to active blogging :-). I promise I will do the best, thank you all for visiting, stopping by to say hello and spreading the word. The recipes I blog about are very close to heart and the stories that go with it are from personal experiences, it makes it all the more fun when strangers stop by to read it. I am in my 5th year of blogging, I do this mainly for my own selfish purposes using the blog space to chronicle the happenings of my life and to document the recipes I cook at home. The pictures are by no means top class but I hope they support the story I write around the recipe and most of all they are fruits of hard work. I feel genuinely happy when this little space gets some TLC and attention.

As I was looking at the stats on my pages, I also saw a few discussions about a recent episode of plagiarism. If you are active in the food blogging world, you probably have read/heard about it by now, I have been just slow to catch on. I don't intent to shame anyone personally but this blogger apparently became popular with hits in the scale of 100,000 on her youtube videos and the website within a span of mere months. Days of instant gratification and personal glory, right? Turns out that most of the recipes were lifted word by word from some of the well established food blogs without so much as an acknowledgement. With the modern tools and easy access to content at fingertips, all you need for a starter kit is a laptop, browser and some good search key words. What gets lost in this crazy craving for popularity is someone else's hard work and effort put into creating the original piece.

Food blogging is a strange world, if you were to take a recipe there isn't much that any of us are creating afresh but the presentations are morphing, the need to have food appealing to eyes is now a well recognized fact.  The recipes by themselves are mostly handed down from generations and enjoyed by many people. Outside of small variations,personal taste differences and the trend of fusion, the core of a recipe is generic across geographies. So if they are all the same, what is plagiarism in the food blogging world? Plagiarism is when you lift content (recipe, pictures, presentation) from another blogger's space without due permission, plagiarism is when you reproduce another blogger's content without any acknowledgement and claim it as your own. Every food blogger worth his or her salt has painstakingly spent time to document what is in the family for ages, been generous to share the recipes with everyone. You will appreciate the effort that goes into each blog piece only if you are a blogger yourself. Just to put things into perspective, it takes me about 5 hours on an average to get a blog post out from the time of cooking, picture taking, processing, thinking of a context to present the content, actually writing the blog, proof reading and publishing it. Some days, it just doesn't come together at all no matter how hard I try while on other days it flows like an easy normal delivery. I do it only because I am passionate about it. So if someone is using the content or pictures from my blog, I would expect them to have the courtesy to acknowledge it. What was heartening about this particular incident was that there was active protest from the bloggers that literally brought the plagiarizing youtube channel and the website down but what is not so good is that this youtube channel is back in business within the week claiming that all non-original content has been removed. I sincerely hope that is the case. Please help food bloggers by identifying stolen content if you see one.

Other than the high temperatures, for me personally it feels like summer is over with DD heading back to school and starting another year. Can't believe the little girl is no longer a little girl but a fine young lady we are extremely proud of. Her summer though short at home was eventful, full of new adventures, memorable with lot of life lessons. We mostly stood on the side lines as she ventured into unknown territories and faced challenges as she always does - with a smile on her face. For me, acknowledging the fact that she is growing up is easy but letting go when needed is the most difficult part and I am trying my best to overcome my urge to try and guide her every so often. I intend to keep at it and hopefully become good decent at it in a few years decades :-)

Both times when she came home from her new adventures, DD was so happy to come back to the familiar kitchen, her own old dining table and have home food. I made this gongura pulihora 2 weeks back when she came home after a 7 weeks stay away and took it to the airport as we went to receive her in the afternoon. The first thing she noticed was the aroma as she climbed into the car and as a spoon full of rice went into her mouth, all she said was, "Ummm..". I made it again a few days later since she liked it so much and even after a week of home food, she was happy to polish it off clean.

This pulihora is a Telugu version of puliyogare or tamarind rice and replaces tamarind with sour sorrel leaves. The tangy rice with the freshly roasted and powdered spices makes it a delectable home coming recipe. It is simple to make, genuine in flavors and brings that comfort feeling when you eat it. Gongura or sorrel leaves are the pride of Telugu cuisine, if you like these tangy leaves, you can get them easily in the stores (Indian or Asian groceries are the best places to find these) during summer. We make pachadi, pappu on a regular basis but the pulihora got added to the repertoire recently. If you are craving for something spicy and South Indian, if you love rice, this is a heavenly eat. It is easy to put together and tastes better as it ages (best eaten the day after or a few hours after making it). You can roast the gongura leaves and store them in refrigerator for later use.

Happy Independence day to all my fellow Indians and people of Indian origin across the globe!

What do you need to make Gongura pulihora? 
1 cup gongura leaves
1 cup cooked rice (use long grained rice such as sona masoori)
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tbsp oil
Spice powder: 
1 Tbsp chana dal
1/2 Tsp urad dal
1/2 Tsp fenugreek seeds
1 Tsp white sesame seeds
1 Tsp coriander seeds
1/2 Tsp cumin
2-3 dry red chilies

Seasoning: 
1.5 Tbsp oil
1 Tsp mustard
1 Tbsp chana dal
1 Tsp urad dal
2 Tbsp peanuts
5-7 curry leaves (optional)
1 dry red chili broken into pieces
1/8 Tsp asafoetida
1/4 Tsp turmeric powder

How do you make Gongura Pulihora?

• Pick gongura leaves from the stems and discard the stems. 
• Wash the leaves in a couple of runs of water and spread them on a dish cloth or paper towel to remove all the moisture. Or pat dry the leaves if you are in a hurry. 
• Heat a Tbsp oil in a wide pan, add the leaves and fry them until they wilt and become a single soft mass, takes about 3 minutes on medium heat. 
• Switch off and take the cooked leaves onto a plate. This can be put into a zip lock bag and stored in the fridge for upto a month. 
• Cook 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of water and a drop of oil (oil helps to keep the rice grains fluffy)
• Once cooked spread the rice in a wide plate or mixing bowl and let it cool. 
• Dry roast all the ingredients listed under 'Spice powder', start with the dals & fenugreek and once they turn light pink, add coriander, cumin, sesame seeds and red chilies. Roast them until fragrant and the chili crisps up. 

• Let the mixture cool, then grind it to a powder with a slightly coarse texture. Add this on top of the rice along with salt. 
• Add the cooked gongura leaves on top of the rice. 
• Heat oil for seasoning, add mustard, peanuts, let them roast for 30 seconds. Add the dals, asafoetida, turmeric powder and curry leaves (if using). Stir it with a spoon and roast until the peanuts start to pop and the dals turn golden. 

• Pour the hot seasoning on top of the rice. 

• Once warm enough to handle, gently bring everything together with fingers. Don't put a lot of pressure or the rice will turn mushy. 
• Taste and adjust salt, gongura as needed. 

• Let this rice sit for atleast 30mins for the flavors to mingle together before serving. 

Notes: 

• The leaves can be roasted like described above and stored in the refrigerator for weeks. You can pull out the required quantity and use it in the pulihora, pappu or pachadi. 
• Spice powder can be made ahead of time too and in larger quantities but I prefer to make it fresh. 
• Add cashew nuts in place of or in addition to the peanuts for seasoning if you like. 
• The tanginess in Gongura leaves varies with the variety, taste the rice and adjust if you need more tang, do not add all the leaves at once. 
• I like to use whole leaves in this recipe as they look pretty in the final recipe, if you don't like it, go ahead and chop them before frying in oil. 
• Letting the rice to rest for a half hour is very important for the flavor to come together, allow time for this. 

Chegodilu - Crunchy, spicy yet light. Did I say 'addictive'?

Tomorrow is Groundhog's day and it is customary belief that the groundhog will come out of its burrow to see its own shadow. If there is a shadow, apparently it goes right back to its hibernation, continues to sleep for another few weeks but if no shadow falls, it starts roaming around on the surface :-), what was all that about? Groundhog feeling, sensing the arrival of Spring. And why am I talking about the groundhog day? Something strange seems to be happening and I am not an expert on global warming. It is Feb 1 and we haven't even had a decent winter yet(I know, my friends on the east coast will jump at me for saying this after being buried in inches of snow), where I live it has been a very mild winter with hardly any rains and last week we started to notice buds in our Camallia flowers and this weekend they have already bloomed and many petals have fallen on the ground with the wind!! No matter what the groundhog sees and decides to do tomorrow but I feel the plants have already sensed an early spring. Happy Groundhog's day anyways :-) and here is a picture of how our Camillias are looking right now. Pretty, aren't they?

Today also happens to be the Superbowl Sunday when most fans are either burrowed in their homes watching the game or actually watching it from the stadium. It has been a week of superbowl fever all over the place. Seattle very proudly is backing the home team and showing the pride in all conceivable (and some very imaginative) forms of support. Downtown Seattle is dressed up with various good luck messages on the buildings, we had a party and spirit day at work last Friday. The game started an hour back with Seahawks playing the Patriots for their 2nd consecutive SuperBowl trophy, game has just entered the 2nd half and Hawks are leading. We are watching the game (I am trying to type in this post while watching the game, I know that is not very 'fan'ly but I honestly can't sit glued to the screen especially when those ads are playing) at home, rooting for the Hawks.

Update at 7:05PM, Hawks lost, wish I had posted this out earlier. The final few seconds of the game was not really good sportsmanship at all :-(

Will tell you what happened later on if I haven't published this post before the game is over :-). I made some delicious sweet potato muffins, salad and a big bowl of spicy mixture made with rice crispies. Recipes will show up one of these days on the blog, I promise.

Onto today's recipe, I have some crunchy, crispy chegodilu - a deep fried snack from Andhra. Now if you have not heard the name before, here is a breakdown. I am told 'godi' is the metal chain lock used in old homes for protection. It refers to the shape of the snack. If this is too complicated to imagine, just think of modern day ear rings or hoops. Chegodilu (plural) resembles a thick ear hoop/ring. Now, if you follow my blog on a somewhat regular basis, you know I grew up in Karnataka. You probably are wondering why I am talking about chegodilu and not the famous 'kodubale' from Karnataka. I agree when you look at the pictures, it would scream kodubale for those of us coming from Karnataka but here is the difference.. before I explain the difference, let me tell you a quick anecdote.

Kodubale (I don't have the recipe on the blog, gasp, what a shame! given that it is my favoritest of all spicy snacks in this whole world), I promise I won't make you wait for too long, it is just that I want it to be perfect when I present it :-). I make Kodubale quite often and we have shared it with many family members & friends. Everytime I made this and we gave it to someone on BH's side, amma would say "not our chegodilu, kaani chaala bavuntayi" :-)"which translates to "not our Chegodilu, but these are very tasty too" which would pique me about the undiscovered chegodilu. I had to wait quite a few years to actually taste the real deal chegodilu and first impression for someone who grew up on kodubale was that they were very good, but not as good as Kodubale :)).

When I made them at home for the first time, DD took a bite and said, "Oh, these are chakbales ('Chak' from chakli and 'bale' from kodubale)" and I think that is a very apt name because the rice flour is unadultrated in this unlike the kodubale so you taste a hint of chakli. Hence our name for this delicacy at home is chakbale.

So what exactly is the difference between the kodubale and chakbale? Chakbale is made with rice flour, red chili powder adds the heat and asafoetida gives the sharpness. But kodubale is a complex combination of tastes and textures, much more balanced and will talk about it another time. These chakbales are quick to make, stay fresh for a week if kept in an dry, airtight container and finally very addictive (there goes the plan of keeping them for a week :-)). So let us get going to make some chakbales chegodilu before the winter wraps up completely and the groundhogs start to rule the world. Shall we?

What do you need to make Chegodilu?
2 cups water
1.5 cups rice flour
1 Tbsp soaked moong dal
1 Tsp white sesame seeds
1/2 Tsp cumin
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp red chili powder
1/8 Tsp asafoetida
6-8 curry leaves - chopped finely
1 Tsp oil
2-3 cups of oil to deep fry

How do you make Chegodilu? 

• Add water in a pan on medium heat. 
• Add soaked moong dal, sesame seeds, cumin, salt, red chili powder, chopped curry leaves, 1 Tsp oil and asafoetida and let it come to a rolling boil. 

• Lower the heat, add rice flour in a continuous and slow flow to the boiling water. 
• Mix quickly with a spoon, switch off, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. 

• Heat oil to deep fry in a wide pan. 
• Take half of the cooked mixture onto a flat surface, dip your hand in cold water and knead the mixture into a smooth dough. This is important to prevent chegodilu from cracking.
• Keep the remaining mixture covered. 
• Take small key lime size balls of the smooth dough, roll them to resemble pencils, when you reach about 3 inches long, turn the two ends towards each other and press them together with a little overlap. 

• Prepare a few (as many as your pan can hold without crowding) chegodilu. 
• Once the oil is hot (my 'no thermometer' test for this is to drop a pinch of the dough and if it comes bubbling to the top immediately, then the oil has reached the right temperature), add the prepared chegodilu one by one in to the oil. 
• Let them come to the surface on their own (do not disturb at this stage or they will break), flip each one over slowly to the other side. 

• Let them cook (2-3 minutes) on medium heat until they are golden brown all around and the bubbles in the oil die down. 
• Take them onto a tissue lined plate and let cool. 

• Enjoy the crunchy Chegodilu with a cuppa. 
• Store remaining (if any) in a ziplock or air tight container up to 2 weeks. 

Notes: 

• Before kneading the dough, taste the cooked mixture for salt, spice level etc and adjust while kneading. 
• If you are making a large batch, keep the unused dough covered with a damp paper towel so it doesn't go dry. 
• You can make the chegodilu any size of your choice. 
• These stay good for a couple of weeks if left untouched :-)

Wisdom from making it multiple times :-):

• Instead of soaking the moong dal, dry roast it until light pink and add water to the pan to start cooking it. This gives you a pleasant & unexpected bite instead of the softer soaked moong dal effect. 

Kudumulu - a steamed snack full of healthy vegetables

When I got married into a Telugu family and started tasting delicious yet unfamiliar dishes, my thought was like, "Aha, I am going to conquer all of these recipes and make them my own" which I have done to a large extent. But the reality of it is, the Telugu food I have been exposed to represents just one facet of Andhra Pradesh only as is my Karnataka food familiarity. There is so much regional variances and some recipes being very local, you won't even hear about them unless you visit the place. So now I am more cautious when I say I cook Kannadiga and Telugu food, it is more like I cook the food from parts of Karnataka/Andhra. There is so much more to taste, enjoy, learn & blog about :-).

Visiting far away places has become so easy with our virtual tours now. I can search for any recipe and will find atleast a few hits on it on the internet. But then, how do you filter the good ones over the 'ok' ones? I usually let my gut feel guide (I do have a pretty decent gut feel :-))which recipes to go after. I came across this recipe in one of the Telugu food channel program, apparently it is a a popular dish in the Telengana region so amma has no idea and BH had never tasted it (until I made it at home). What attracted me to the recipe was that it seemed like one of those rustic dishes from the villages of India. I am a sucker for simplicity, and the rawness of old recipes. While it sounded promising, I have to honestly admit that I was a little hesitant  to make it as I wasn't convinced that steamed rice flour could result in something delicious. For me, idlis have a coarse & soft texture, I love them with either coarsely ground rice or rice rava. This recipe sounded and looked like idli (with no lentils) and I was not convinced about it the first time I heard of it.

But something with the addition of vegetables and the promise of no soak, no grind yummyness held me back from dismissing it totally. After a couple of weeks of actually churning it over in my head, I decided to give it a try as I was anyway looking for new BF or snack items. Didn't want the family to suffer or grumble if the experiment resulted in a disaster, so put it on my weekend brunch menu. With a safe bet of known khichdi as the main item, I was more than willing to take the risk if the kudumulu didn't make the taste test :-). But here is what happened, we ended up eating the kudumulu instead of the khichdi all the way. The spicy ridge gourd peel chutney on the side enhanced the experience and by end of the meal, I was left with a pot of khichdi and an empty bowl of kudumulu. With such a high rating of approval, I had to sit down and blog about it before I lost the recipe.

This may be a traditional recipe that some of you have grown up eating, for me it is new but will stay on the repertoire. It tastes good even when cold making it an ideal prep ahead breakfast item for a busy week day. I added the rice rava to the recipe since I wasn't convinced about the rice flour alone, the original recipe didn't have it and you can totally skip it. I may not even add it the next time I make this. It is not a soft idli but is very flavorful with the cooked broad beans. The texture is very much like the steamed modaka made on the Ganesha habba, a little soft and transparent but the taste is very different with the added vegetables and the fenugreek leaves. The original recipe on the TV show had the lady add chopped mint leaves but I replaced it with my favorite fenugreek leaves.

Indian broad beans are generally a winter vegetable and I get them regularly as we all love gojju or a simple stir fry with it. With a subtle flavor, this vegetable can make a simple recipe go a long way in the taste arena. These are called chapparada avare kaayi (since they grown on vines which are usually supported by a structure called 'chappara' in Kannada) or chikkudu kaaya in Telugu. These are not the papdi lilva I talk about here, here & here though they belong to the same general category.

What do you need to make Kudumulu? 
1.5 cups rice flour
1.5 Tbsp rice rava
3-4 green chilies (adjust to taste)
1 inch piece ginger
1.5 cup boiled broadbeans pieces
1 cup finely chopped fenugreek leaves
1 cup finely chopped spring onion
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
3/4 - 1 cup hot water

How do you make Kudumulu? 

• String the broad beans (chikudukaaya/chapparadavare), separate ripe beans and chop the skin into small pieces. 
• Steam or boil the chopped beans & a pinch of salt in 1/2 cup of water until they turn soft.
• Make a coarse paste of green chilies & ginger. 
• Take rice flour & rava in a bowl, add all the ingredients except for water and mix them well. 

• Taste and adjust salt or green chilies. 
• Add hot water slowly and using a spoon bring it together into a soft dough. 

• Grease the idli plates, take lemon sized balls, flatten them slightly and place them in the grooves of idli plates. 

• Steam for about 10 minutes or until a tooth pick pushed in the center comes out clean. 
• Switch off, let stand for 5 minutes before removing them from the plates. 
• Serve hot with a drop of ghee and a spicy chutney on the side. 

Notes: 

• Choose broad beans that are mature (but not dry or stringy) for this recipe, more plump beans make it tastier. 
• You can use chopped cilantro or fresh mint leaves in place of fenugreek leaves for a flavor change. 

• Spring onions add a crunch and subtle flavor, do not use regular onions - they don't taste as good steamed. 
• Use the water from boiling the beans as this will be rich in flavor. 

Vankaya banda pachadi (aubergine chutney) - Back to the old ways for a superlicious side dish

Sometimes she is the little baby that wants amma to hug her, at other times she is the all grown up, 'don't bother me' teenager.
Sometimes she jumps on amma's bed and cuddles up throwing her long arms and legs carelessly over me, at other times she is the independent adolescent that refuses to even come near amma's bedroom.
Sometimes she is the docile child that listens to amma, at other times she is the rebellious, spirited girl who will do just the opposite of what her mom wants her to do.
Sometimes she is running all around the house wildly screaming/singing at the top of voice, the epitome of the tomboy she can be, at other times she surprises us with her tender, responsible behavior in a completely unexpected situation.
She prefers reading suppandi comics to Shakespeare any day but works diligently on her essay for English class on topics that are too heavy even for adults.
She cooes and baby talks to her grand mothers in their respective languages but refuses to talk to me in anything other than English :-)
Sometimes she says her amma has no fashion sense, at other times she shamelessly raids her mother's closet and runs off with my newly purchased dresses :-).
I see the spirit of perseverance in her and feel proud at her independence to chart her own course in life, I also worry about the vulnerable child behind it all who thinks she knows how to navigate through this life.
I see so much of myself in her yet I see that she is her own person without a shred of doubt.
I love the fact that she seems more mature than I ever was at that age but also wonder if she is growing up too fast too soon.
I wish I could cocoon and protect her every step of the way and not let any harm touch her but I understand she has to go through her own experiences and feel through her own bruises and be responsible for them.

She is the one who calls me 'Amma', I think I am a better person because of my daughter. I don't remember the long labor or the anticipation leading upto her birth anymore, all I remember is holding that perfect little baby in my arms and gaping at the miracle with utter disbelief. I remember every little detail of her baby days though I don't have a record of many of them.

I remember leaving a bewildered, bawling baby at the day care for the first time, as I climbed in next to BH equally teary eyed on our way to work, I remember coming back in the evening and peeking into the windows of that play home to find her contentedly playing with other kids. I remember her gleeful smile when she spotted me at the window and jumped up and ran towards me with arms open wide for a hug. I remember her becoming so tuned my arrival times that she would pack her bag and tell her nannies that amma was here just as I stopped my vehicle infront of the play home. I remember the little girl who trusted her parents completely and believed every decision we made were actually wise. I pray she keeps her positive attitude in life no matter what and brings warmth and joy to people around her, I hope she continues to love her mother for eternity like I do love mine. I love her like I love no one else in the world and I think I understand how my mother loves me - unconditionally and completely and always.

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there and people with motherly hearts. 

I have a recipe today that many mothers in the family have fed me. Wondering what the long name in the title means? Hang in there, I will explain what it means in a moment. Andhra cuisine is very famous for its numerous varieties of pachadis/chutneys/dips. There are pachadis made to stay for months at a stretch called niluvu pachadis and then there are pachadis that you will need to consume the same day or may be the next day. Pickles, thokkus belong to the first variety and most other pachadis belong to the second category.

Today's pachadi is of the second variety and has got the long name because of the way it is usually prepared - using a stone grinder. Don't run off now if you don't have the equipment shown below, there are very legitimate alternatives in this age of electricity. Are you thinking I went to India and got some pictures? I wish that was the case :-) but no I am very much here and tending to my routine life which is currently anything but routine since DD is running her month long marathon of exams - not that we are doing anything special but I just like to think so :-).

Well, on a recent trip to Costco, I found this really cute (thinks me) and extremely heavy (thinks BH) mortar and pestle, infact it had a gorgeous picture of guacamole ingredients on the top of the box which lured me. I have another mortar & pestle already which is about 1/2 the size of this new one and does a good job. So after a few minutes of standing infront of the stacked boxes doing my usual 'Need Vs want' analysis, I decided to splurge and buy one for myself. In my defense, my brain likes to take moments of rest and let the heart take over on some matters which I think is a very good balance. Like I told BH, if nothing else, it makes a great prop for the blog pictures :-) and it makes such a great addition in the corner of my kitchen counter.

So we duly brought it home and as I was taking out the stuff to put them into pantry or refrigerator, my eyes fell on the bag of those ultra cute, dark purple, petite baby aubergines (eggplants or vankaya) and I decided to inaugurate my new gadget by making a vankaya pachadi. I have eaten this from many mother's in the family, one of BH's cousins who used to travel on work used to bring some home cooked food with her whenever her parents were at home. She had a project going in the same town we lived for a while and we used to meet up often and when she came home for dinner, she had brought her travel food and one of the dabbas had this pachadi, amazingly mouthwatering!

My family is made of vankaya/eggplant lovers but amma hardly makes this pachadi since stuffed vankaya or vankaya koora is always on the demand list (even when the vegetable is cooked more than twice a week :-)) and some how the pachadi gets to the back seat. Last time my in laws were here, I made sure she showed me her way of making this pachadi and we all licked the plate clean that night. Amma used coriander seeds a little more liberally in her pachadis than I do as I prefer the flavor of toasted mustard and fenugreek in my pachadis. So I have made a few changes and here is a delicious pachadi for all of you to enjoy.

I roasted all the ingredients and BH very sportingly helped mash it down into a pulp using the new gadget, it really made the pachadi taste so fresh and tasty. I soaked dal & rice in the evening for our weekly dosa batter and told BH that he could grind the batter in the new mortar & pestle, he gave me a look that said, "Don't push it" :-), so I employed my electric grinder for the job.

You can very well make this pachadi in your mixer/grinder like I did until a week or so back or you can find your own mortar & pestle that does a great job too. But try this pachadi in any case, low calorie eggplants spiced up superbly and goes well with hot rice and a drop of ghee.

What do you need to make Vankaya banda pachadi? 
2 baby aubergines or 1 medium eggplant
1 small tomato
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 Tbsp oil
handful of cilantro
To roast: 
2 Tblsp chana dal
1/2 Tsp urad dal
1 Tsp fenugreek seeds
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp coriander seeds
4-5 dry red chilies
2 green chilies
1/8 Tsp Asafoetida
small piece of tamarind

How do you make Vankaya banda pachadi? 

• Heat oil in a pan, add the chana dal and fenugreek seeds, let them roast for a minute or so.
• Add the remaining ingredients except for asafoetida and stirring frequently, roast them until mustard splutters and the dal & fenugreek turn pink and crisp. 
• Add Asafoetida, mix and take it out on to a plate, let cool.

• In the same pan, add chopped tomato and cook for a couple of minutes until the pieces turn mushy. 
• Add cilantro, roast for a minute. Switch off and remove the contents to the plate with the rest of the ingredients. 

• There are a couple of ways of cooking eggplant for this recipe, I will list them here and leave it to you to choose based on the availability of gadgets and time on hand: 
• Method 1 (Classic & gives the best roasted aroma): Wash, wipe dry the eggplant, poke a few holes with a fork or a knife all around the surface, smear 2 drops of oil on the surface and roast the egg plant on a grill turning it frequently until it is completely charred from outside and cooked through.

• Method 2(Time consuming but much cleaner and gentler than stove top): Wash, wipe dry the eggplant, poke a few holes with a fork or a knife all around the surface, smear 2 drops of oil on the surface and bake it in a 350F pre heated oven for about 1 hour, turning it once or twice for even cooking. 
• Method 3 (Good flavor but lot of clean up later on): Wash, wipe dry the eggplant, poke a few holes with a fork or a knife all around the surface, smear 2 drops of oil on the surface and roast it on direct gas flame if you have one. 

• Method 4 (Easiest and quickest): Wash, wipe dry and chop the eggplants into small bite sized pieces. Roast them in a pan with a Tsp of oil until soft and cooked. 
• If using method 1-3, once the eggplant is cooked, take it into a bowl, cover it tightly with a cling wrap and leave it aside for 10 minutes. The steam from the hot eggplant softens the skin and peels off easily. 
• Peel & discard the charred skin and remove the pulp of the eggplant. 
• Now to grinding, first grind the roasted ingredients (dal+others) to a coarse powder, now add the tomato & cilantro along with salt and grind it roughly. You will not need any water if you use the pulse mode in the mixer. 

• Finally add the cooked eggplant and give it a couple of whips so it breaks down and mixes well. 
• Take it out into a bowl and serve it with hot rice. 

Notes: 

• Roasting tamarind softens it and makes it easy to grind. 
• Whichever method of cooking you use, make sure eggplant is cooked through. A raw eggplant leaves a very bad taste in pachadi and totally spoils the pachadi experience. 
• Do not use water while grinding this pachadi and do not make a very smooth paste out of it. Coarsely ground pachadi gives that unmistakable texture

Zucchini Dal - fresh from the backyard, bursting with flavor

Gardening for me is therapeutic just like baking is. It is almost like bringing up a child with added perks, the plants never become teenagers and they don't grow up to get out of the home :-). Seeing the plants thrive, grow from seeds into a sapling to a mature plant capable of producing flowers or fruits is very fulfilling. Come Spring and we start planning a small kitchen garden every year. Since most of these plants do not survive after the frost in Oct/Nov, it is a new effort every year. Last year, we had loads of fresh Methi and other greens but not much of other veggies. Earlier in Spring, we spent a couple of weekends digging up a patch of land in the backyard, tilled and topped a couple of feet of top soil and made a raised bed and planted a few small tomato, zucchini, cucumber, green beans and peppers. I had some dry beans and okra seeds which I planted separately. I also have a couple of brinjal plants which refuse to grow at all. Any garden enthusiasts out there with tips on growing brinjal - what kind of soil, fertilizers, care etc?

With the beautiful summer we are having, the plants thrived and Tomatoes seem to have over shadowed all other plants and from a distance, the patch looks to be entirely filled with Tomato plants. There are a whole bunch of small green tomatoes, not yet ready for picking. We noticed a bunch of bright yellow and orange flowers on the squash plants and very soon they sprouted small, baby squashes which grew in length and breadth. Last weekend we harvested our first crop of the Summer, a basket full of green zucchinis and a yellow squash. I am preparing myself for some squashy rains from the backyard :-), so look out for recipes with squashes/zucchinis.

Today I decided not to blabber a lot like I usually do but let my pictures do the talking. I will take you on a tour of our yard and I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I do. I am surrounded by a burst of colors, pretty flowers, beautiful fragrances, tiny vegetables and I am content and happy :-).

A fragrant, delicate Jaji mallige (Poet's Jasmine)

A pink Lily with a heady aroma

A bouquet of cheerful white Daisies

Pretty faced Hibiscus

Mildly fragrant, abundant blooms of Roses

A bright yellow squash nestled in the bushes among the big yellow flowers

A green Zucchini shooting out from under the branches

Zucchini or Courgette is a type of summer squash and is considered a vegetable by chefs although botanically it is an immature fruit(Source:Wiki). Zucchini with its delicate flavor blends wonderfully in many dishes and is usually served cooked. I like to add them in Dals, make pachadis or serve them grilled in salads. Cooking a zucchini is very quick and it holds the shape unlike a cucumber without becoming mushy. I made some delicious South Indian Dal (a.k.a pappu) with our home grown Zucchini, very flavorful and tasty. This dal preparation is very similar to the Andhra lemon cucumber pappu (Dosakaya pappu).

What do you need to make Zucchini Dal? 
1 cup Toor dal/pigeon peas (See notes for variations)
1 medium sized zucchini
2-3 green chilies (adjust to taste)
1/8 Tsp turmeric powder
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
2 Tsp finely chopped cilantro for garnish

Seasoning: 
2 Tsp oil
1 Tsp mustard
1/2 Tsp cumin
1/4 Tsp fenugreek seeds (optional but recommended)
1/4 Tsp Asafoetida
1/4 cup thinly chopped onions
4-5 curry leaves
1 dry red chili

How do you make Zucchini Dal? 

• Soak Toor dal in 3 cups of water for about 45 minutes or until the dal softens up. 
• Wash and pat dry zucchini, remove the ends. 
• Slice the zucchini vertically in half and chop into bite sized pieces.
• Remove the stems and slice the green chilies vertically into half, keep aside one green chili for later.
• Drain the water from the soaked dal, wash it once in running water. 
• Take the dal, zucchini pieces and green chilies in a pressure cooker, add 2.5-3 cups of water and cook it for 2 whistles. The dal should get cooked completely and the zucchinis should not become mushy - See notes below for tips.

• Let the cooker cool down completely. 
• Heat oil in a big pan (that can hold your dal mixture also later on), add mustard, let it pop. Add cumin, asafoetida, dry red chilies. fenugreek (if using) and the curry leaves. Let them fry for 30 seconds. 
• Add the thinly chopped onions and let it sweat and cook to become soft stirring frequently. 
• Chop the preserved green chili into small pieces after removing the stem and add it to the pan just before adding the dal mixture. This will give a very slightly cooked but crunchy bites of chili for that added zing you find in the restaurant Dal Tadka. This is a completely optional step. 
• Add the cooked dal & zucchini mixture, salt, turmeric powder, mix well. Adjust consistency with water (this dal is slightly thick). Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Let it come to a roaring boil before switching off. Serve warm with hot rice and dollop of ghee or roti.  

Notes: 

• You can add roughly chopped tomato pieces (one medium tomato) in to the seasoning after onion turns soft. Or you can puree the tomato, add it to the Dal & zucchini and let it cook. 
• Soaking Toor dal expedites the cooking process, this is essential in this recipe since you cook both the dal and zucchini together in the pressure cooker. You want the dal to be cooked soft but zucchini should still hold its shape. If this sounds complicated, go ahead, cook the dal and zucchini separately and add them together later. 
• Variation 1: Add a Tsp of grated ginger to the seasoning before adding onion for a flavor boost, I kept it minimal to showcase the fresh zucchini in my dal. 
• Variation 2: you can use any other summer squash, cucumber, lemon cucumber, bottle gourd and such vegetables to replace zucchini in this recipe for an equally refreshing dal.