Vankayai allam koora - a koora (side dish) that brings home the freshness of earth

Just when I was losing faith in the Groundhogs' abilities to predict weather accurately, they returned with a bang on Feb 2nd and declared we were going to have winter for another 6 weeks. How would you contest such accurate prediction :-)? What would we do without these lovable creatures? Though that wasn't the greatest of news, I admire their accuracy, they are way better than most of our weathermen in TV channels. Now that they are done with their one important task of the year (is there anything else they do other than hibernating and popping up once a year?) and met expectations (don't you think the bar is pretty low here!!) and returned underground to continue whatever they were doing, I am left here to stay warm and wait patiently for the onset of warm weather. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about winter but I don't mind seeing the mercury go a little higher on the scale. Whether it is Spring yet or not, I am itching to bring Spring into my kitchen. Today's recipe is one such that brings that whiff of Spring and freshness with ginger.

Spring is somehow wired in my brain as the same as clean, fresh and crisp air and flavors. While there are many herbs and spices that make this happen in the kitchen, ginger definitely tops the list. Combined with the sharpness from green chilies, this masala really elevates fresh vegetables. No powdered spices in this koora, just some tender eggplants sauteed with freshly crushed ginger and chilies and seasoned with a few crunchy dals and mustard, simple enough? This koora works perfectly with rotis or rice.

My advice is to use fresh ginger, take them to a mortar & pestle or another device that lets you crush it. The flavors of ground ginger Vs grated ginger Vs crushed ginger is very different and this recipe definitely loves the crushed version. If you were thinking of using that store bought (or even home made a couple of weeks ago and refrigerated) ginger-green chili paste, please do not do it. There is nothing complicated about this recipe so spend a little time on using freshly crushed ginger.

I have written many posts about eggplant recipes and have also talked about my late blooming love for them. If you are in the mood for reading my eggplant musings just hit the search button and look up other eggplant recipes. My family (except for DD) is of the group where they will give anything for a well made eggplant dish and do not complain if this humble vegetable made its way to their plates every day :-). So our eggplant recipe repertoire is pretty vast as you can probably imagine.

This is a heirloom recipe that is found commonly in most East Godavari Telugu homes. Crushed ginger and green chilies make a really fresh tasting dishes. I add curry leaves because they are one of my favorite flavoring agents in the kitchen. You can replace eggplants with potatoes, and then who doesn't love the spuds?

When I prepared this koora for the first time on my own, I went and looked for the smallest green brinjals thinking that they would be the tenderest ones and hence tastiest too. BH remarked that it had to have some seeds and not be really tiny. He is the expert and I accept my mistakes generously. So the next time I brought home slightly bigger ones and the koora was definitely tastier. So here is my tip to all of you newbies. The tiny ones are picked before they can develop any flavor and they also shed jackets (or skin) as they cook which is not a great experience while eating. The medium sized ones (about a big lime) are the best suited for this koora as they give a meaty texture to it. Pick eggplants that look fresh, are green without any black spots or tiny holes on the skin.

If you noticed, I used both terms - brinjal & eggplant, in Indian cooking there is no difference between the two as they belong to the same general family :-). Local languages distinguish each variety by size and color as pedda vankaya (big eggplant), tella vankaya (the green ones with white interfaces used in this recipe), nalla vankaya or gutti vankaya (usually the small, round purple). I hope the pictures in the post help.

NOTE: Pictures are from 2 different days, the lighter colored one does not have turmeric powder (I do forget sometimes :-)) and also has a Tbsp grated coconut added to it. The original recipe does not have coconut and the dish really doesn't need coconut, but some of you regular readers here already know about my weakness with coconut :-)

What do you need to make vankaya koora? 
8-10 small green brinjal/eggplants
1.5 inch fresh ginger
3-4 green chilies (adjust to your spice tolerance)
6-8 tender curry leaves
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Seasoning: 
1 Tsp oil
1/2 Tsp mustard
1/2 Tsp chana dal
1/2 Tsp urad dal
1-2 pieces of dry red chilies (optional)
1/8 Tsp asafoetida/hing

How do you make vankaya koora? 

• Wash the eggplants, remove the stalk end and chop into cubes (really tiny ones are just made into half, medium sized ones chopped into quarters)
• Immediately immerse chopped eggplants into a fresh bowl of water. 

• Heat a wide pan and add 2Tbsp of oil. 
• Strain the water and separate the eggplant pieces. 
• Add the eggplant into the hot oil and stir once so the pieces get coated with oil. 
• Reduce the heat to medium, add salt and turmeric powder, mix once.

• Cover and cook for 5-6 mins on low heat or until the pieces become fork tender.
• Wash, peel and cut ginger into small pieces.
• Take ginger pieces, roughly torn curry leaves and green chilies to a mortar & pestle and crush them into a coarse paste. 

• Once the eggplants are tender, add the ginger-chili paste and give it a good mix. 
• Cover and continue to cook for 2 mins until the flavors mingle well. 

• Switch off and transfer to a serving bowl. 
• Heat the oil for seasoning, add mustard, dals, red chilies (if using) and asafoetida. 
• Let mustard pop and dals turn light pink. 
• Switch off and pour the seasoning over the koora. 

• I prefer to mix the seasoning just before serving as they retain the crunch. 

Notes: 

• Select tender and bright green eggplants. The ideal size is typically a big lime size. 
• Crush the ginger- chili fresh, do not use stored paste for this recipe. 
• We like the ginger flavor, play with the amount of ginger and green chilies you want to use in this recipe as spice tolerances vary.

Red chili pickle(s)/Mirapa pandu pachadi - get ready for an out of the world experience with this 'tongue on fire' pickle :-)

I am pretty sure that what I am going to post today is not a recipe that everyone would love or even make but that said there is definitely a great fan following for this recipe none the less. It is mostly regional and relished by the people during the hot summers of Andhra Pradesh especially in the chili growing region of Guntur. I was not born in Andhra, have not gone to Guntur, so this is not a recipe that is organic to me, with all that explanation what is my affiliation to this recipe, you ask? For one, I am spicy food crazy and I love pickles and pachadis of all shapes and tastes. Would I make this again? Definitely, if I get fresh, red, pickle chilies (may be next summer). Did I like it? Personally, yes though it was hot and spicy, it is at the same time a foodie delight and a ride you want to savor in the spicy world.

Many years ago, when we were new here, a young couple with a baby girl on their shoulders, family mostly spread over the continent, no one really close by (driving distance) and we were missing home hopelessly, we used to crave to meet family and friends on weekends and extended holidays. One of BH's cousin and family lived the closest, about 3 hours drive from our first home in US and had two adorable little girls, one 3 years older and the other a year and half younger than our own 2 year old girl. DD loved their company, sandwiched between two girls and turning the situation to her advantage, cooing as and along with the baby when she wanted more attention or acting all grown up when she wished to be left alone. The three cousins really loved to get together and spend time as did the adults. They were a little more settled, had many friends in their neighborhood than we did and we loved visiting them. I am just reminded as I write this how all three girls have blossomed into beautiful young ladies and spreading their wings in the world.

One summer weekend, we drove the 3.5 hours with a toddler in the back seat who went, "are we there yet?" in her never exasperating, sweet voice every 5 mins or so :-), we understood she was eager to see the cousins especially after a promise of backyard swimming pool fun. They lived in a town that sees temperatues almost akin to those of Guntur itself and cousin B being a native of Guntur felt right at home in the foreign land. We reached home just as they were getting ready for lunch and we all crowded around the dining table. Plates were set, dishes with the regular homely south Indian fare was all over the table. Cousin B passed around the rice and as I reached out for the vegetable, asked me to wait and doled out a spoonful of bright, red chili pickle from a small porcelain container(called 'jaadi'). I have shamelessly made my family aware of my unconditional love for all things spicy and they pamper me with it every chance I get. She also told me to mix it with rice, add some butter and eat it. That was my first time eating the famous Guntur kharam or Korivi kharam, a pickle unlike anything else you have ever tasted, a sensation that is both delirious and delicious at the same time. I was given the gyan that day about how people eat the kharam in the hot summer back home. The small jaadi was just a tiny holder for the daily dose of the pickle while the motherload sat in a big container inside the pantry and it had come all the way from her mom's kitchen in Guntur. I ate only the pickle for that entire lunch and brought some home for later too :-).

Years passed and I never ventured to make the pickle at home since I never saw those red chilies here in the local market. Some of my Telugu friends told me that they would use the frozen red chilies from the Indian stores when craving hit them for that home reminding pickle taste. I was ok eating it occasionally, made by a mom or a mom in law of some friend and brought lovingly across the seas as they traveled here. They shared some with me and I never felt the need to make it myself.

Earlier this summer, as every other year, BH and I regularly visited our local farmers' market which runs May-Oct every Saturday. He likes to get the fresh fruits, wipe them on the sleeve of his shirt and bite into the juiciness right there while I generally wander around between stalls and vendors, stopping wherever fancy catches me from vegetables to fruit to bread to hand made art. For someone bored of the waxy, travel weary tomatoes in the super markets, the farmers market tomatoes are like a breath of fresh air and I try to make most of those 5 months of fresh produce since I cannot stretch them over the entire year. The eggplants, greens, tomatoes, berries, apples all taste super tasty and smell good as well :-). On one of the Saturdays, I came across this store that announced they had varieties of chilies and I went in thinking of getting a few jalepenos and may be green peppers for cooking but when I entered that small tent, was totally hooked on to the bright, red chilies they had. Despite the label saying "Thai Dragon Chilies (Super hot)" in bold letters, I picked up a couple handfuls as they looked way too inviting and super cute in their tiny, red avatars. Honestly, I didn't know what I would make at that time. I sent a message with a picture of the chilies to amma who was home as well. When we reached home 40mins later, she was waiting in the kitchen to see the chilies, she is like that, all child like in her curiosity and always supportive of all my sensible and oh-not-so-sensible decisions :-)

In those 40 mins, from the time I had the chilies in my bag at the market to the time we cycled back home, I had made up my mind that I would make the Guntur red chili pickle with them. Amma doesn't make this ever, her pachadis are mostly the "fresh, eat it today, gone tomorrow" kinds with the exception of her yummy avakkaya and maagaya. Her spice tolerance is way down and she steers clear of all the spicy stuff completely. So the only problem with me making up my mind? I didn't have a recipe and nor did my spice hesitant mother in law. But what we knew was a source that we could completely depend on for an authentic recipe. This is one of the times I love the family WhatsApp group chats :-). Amma sent an SOS on my behalf to the family group explaining our predicament of having brought a bunch of chilies without knowing how to make the pickle and asked for help and just as I was hoping, the response came from one of BH's aunt's daughter. Aunty is known in the family circle for her pickles, vepudus (stir fries), pachadis, and pretty much everything she cooks and I have had the privilege of eating in her kitchen more than once and have also asked for recipes every time :-). When the WA message went around, cousin G replied immediately with not only one recipe for the Guntur chili pickle but another pachadi version which she explained was easier and quicker to make. I set out to work immediately. She also was very sweet answering all my newbie questions over messages and sharing wise tips as she consulted with her mom.

Mosaravalakki (spiced yogurt & poha) with chili pickle - another great combo

I made the pachadi right away (well right away except for the time it took to clean, dry the chilies, fry them and grind them) and mixed with a bowl full of steaming pearly white rice. I skipped the butter as the pickle had a generous amount of oil in it already. Amma ate one morsel of the rice and made a dive for the grapes on the counter top. My FIL conveniently used the excuse of a heavy lunch(yes, lunch was over by the time the pachadi was ready but we made space in the stomach for the yumminess) :-) and refrained from trying the new, fiery pickle totally. BH & I sat leisurely at our dining table and emptied the entire plate enjoying every handful that went into the mouth. The second version was ready by the end of the week and we had another family of cousins visiting us who are true blue spice loving Andhra folks and we shared it with them. Aunty said it tasted very authentic though she had stopped making it herself :-). I can't take any credit since I just verbatim followed the instructions sent to me.

Chilies Galore!!!

The red chilies used in these pickles are not dry red chilies but a variety that are born red and have a distinct taste. I used the Thai red chilies since I don't have access to the Guntur chilies here, they were hot, spicy but rolled in with the spices, flavors and oil, make for a treat altogether. You can't eat a pickle as you would a sweet, that is common sense but note that this pickle is flavorful and not just "hot". Like I mention in the notes below, the pachadi version is mellower than the korivi khaaram. 'Korivi' refers to the raw, unrestrained heat which could be hard to handle for most people so always follow the recommendations of eating it with a dollop of butter or ghee, diluted by mixing with rice if you are new to this taste.

A truly flavorsome, delicious recipe shared generously by cousin Geetha and Radhatta, thank you both for your love and a special thanks to the family WA group :-)

Type 1: Mirapa pandu pachadi (can be made quickly and eaten immediately)
What do you need to make mirapa pandu pachadi? 
20-22 red chilies
1.5 Tbsp mustard
1 Tbsp fenugreek seeds
1 lemon sized tamarind
1.5 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/4 Tsp asafoetida
1/4 cup oil

How do you make mirapa pandu pachadi? 

• Wash the chilies thoroughly in water and let them dry on a kitchen towel indoors until all the water is gone and chilies are completely devoid of water. 
• Wipe down with a cloth to make sure there is no trace of water
• Remove the stem ends and chop the chilies into 1 inch pieces. 

• Heat a big pan/kadai, add 2 Tbsp oil and let it become warm. 
• Keeping the heat on low, add the fenugreek seeds to the oil.
• Let fenugreek roast for about a minute before adding the mustard. 
• Stirring frequently roast both until mustard pops and fenugreek turns beautiful golden, add tamarind & asafoetida, roast for 30 secs. 
• Take them on to a plate leaving the oil back in the pan. 
• Return the pan to the stove, add the remaining oil, chopped chilies and fry for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat or until the chilies soften up and develop slight blisters on the skin. 

• Add salt to the pan, switch off, remove onto the plate, let it all cool completely. 
• Take all the ingredients into a blender and grind to a coarse paste without adding any water. 

• Take it into a dry, air tight container or ceramic cup and store it. 
• It tastes delicious after a few hours of settling time and keeps well in the refrigerator for a week to 10 days if handled with dry spoons. 

Type 2: Kori/Korivi Khaaram also known as Guntur khaaram (Needs 3-4 days of marination time)

What do you need to make Kori Khaaram? 
25-30 red chilies
1.5 Tbsp fenugreek
1 small orange size tamarind
1/4 Tsp turmeric powder
1.5 Tbsp salt (adjust to taste)
Seasoning: 
1 Tbsp oil
1/8 Tsp asafoetida
1/2 Tsp mustard
a few fenugreek seeds (optional)

How do you make Kori khaaram? 

• Wash the chilies thoroughly in water and let them dry on a kitchen towel indoors until all the water is gone and chilies are completely devoid of water. 
• Wipe down with a cloth to make sure there is no trace of water
• Remove the stem ends and chop the chilies into 1 inch pieces. 

• Take the chilies, salt, turmeric powder in a dry blender jar and pulse it to make a coarse paste.
• Separate the dry tamarind into small bits, remove any seeds and pith. 
• Take a flat bowl, make a bed of tamarind pieces, top it with the ground chilies paste. 

• Cover and let it marinate over night in a cool, dry place. 
• Using a completely dry spoon, mix the contents gently to help the tamarind juices to flow, cover and set aside for another day. 
• Repeat this process for 3-4 days so tamarind is soft and the chilies have marinated well in the juices. 

• On the 4th day, take the marinated ingredients in a dry blender jar and grind into a course paste. 
• Dry roast fenugreek on low heat until the seeds are golden and start to pop. 

• Set aside to cool and make a fine powder. 
• Mix this powder with the ground ingredients thoroughly. 
• This is now ready to be stored for months in a dry container. 

• When you want to use it, take a Tbsp of the pickle (remember small amount goes a looooong way :-)) in a small cup.
• Heat 1 Tbsp oil, add asafoetida, mustard and fenugreek (if using). Roasting on medium heat, let mustard pop. 

• Add this seasoning to the pickle in the cup and mix well before serving. 

Both the varieties taste delicious mixed in with steaming white rice, a serving of ghee on top, mixed in gently. BH & I relish it with a side of chopped onions and a mild sambar/huli or a cup of yogurt or the tangy Andhra pulusu. Try this combination or make your own. 

Notes: 

• Use gloves while handling the chilies or always use spoons to handle them. 
• Wash your hands in cold water and buttermilk if you feel the burning sensation in your hands.
• Use the dry grinder jar of your blender to facilitate easy grinding. DO NOT USE WATER as it spoils the pickle. 
• Separate out the tamarind layers, remove any seeds, pith and strings from it before using. 
• Always use dry cups, spoons, blender jars and keep the area water free. This is the secret to the long life of the pickles. 
• The variety of chilies determines the heat from them, you may need to adjust the tamarind, salt and oil based on that to suit your taste. 
• I loved the pachadi version better than the Kori kharam since the roasted mustard, fenugreek add a wonderful aroma and also frying the red chilies mellows the heat a notch down. I think it is also a matter of being able to handle that raw heat from the khaaram since the chilies are not roasted in this version. 
• You can adjust the amount of mustard and fenugreek in the pachadi version based on the flavor tilt you prefer. 

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. 

Gongura (Sorrel leaves) Pappu - exotic comfort made super easy

Didn't I show you my front yard beauties just a couple of weeks back as they popped up along with spring? The flowers are so many now the little tree is bent heavily towards the ground with the weight but still proudly showing off the seasonal bounty. We lost an hour last weekend as most part of US of A sprung forward making me grouchier than normal on the following Monday morning. We were playing board games with DD and a cousin well into the midnight on Saturday and by the time we turned in we had already lost the hour :-(. Oh well, never mind my whining, I do this every spring. You are all such good listeners that I don't have to worry about getting chided :-). The past week has helped catch up some sleep and also tame the body clock so it is like the time change never(almost) happened :-). And the cheery weather always makes me a chirpy, cheerful girl, so all is good!!

Last week was also spring break for the little girl, she was home and we had a great time together though both parents were incessantly coughing and sneezing on the kiddo for the entire week. Kashaya brewed non stop on the stove, cooking was lack luster on the days when the allergies and germs took over the best of me but we fought it back as well as we could. Tired that she was and happy to be home, DD slept through oblivious for most part. I am thankful the germs didn't get transferred to the little one and she went back to school safe and well. By the time she was getting ready to leave I was back to usual self and was able to cook the stuff she loves most and also get some things ready for her to take.

Now that we are back to being the twosome, BH & I threw ourselves in front of the big screen to watch a few movies. "If you don't mind, it doesn't matter" - is an old saying you repeatedly hear but somehow it seemed way more powerful coming from a 5 year old in the movie "Room". This movie made it to Oscars with Brie Larson taking home the well deserved Best Actress award recently. She makes the movie come alive and gut wrenching as does little Tremblay. If I had seen this movie some years ago when I was naive, low on worldly reality, I would have dismissed it as a movie maker's far fetched imagination running wild. Having seen multiple news coverage on similar incidences, I have sadly come to believe people do exist in this world that are capable of doing unimaginable damage to another fellow human being.

The movie is about a young adbucted girl and forced to confinement in a backyard shed for 7 years. She gives birth to a son and they live in the 'room' until the mom plots an escape with her 5 year old. Rest of the movie is about their adjustment to the 'world' as they call it and the never stopping happenings in the world. All I could think of was the unstoppable resilience in the human nature and the hope to overcome hurdles. By no means a light Saturday watch but if it makes someone take positive action to prevent such incidences in the society, it makes it for a well spent 2 hours.

I didn't mean to spoil anybody's appetite, but it is better to be safe than sorry. Let us not forget that most people are kind but be wary of the unkind ones as you send your loved ones out. Spread the love not the meanness.

Marrying into a Telugu family also meant embracing dal or pappu as my soul food. No daily meal is complete without this on the menu. Though I grew up with a protein rich side dish in the form of saaru, huli, tovve etc, eating pappu on a regular basis came only after the marriage :-). Luckily for me, I love lentils and BH is open to experimentation so our food has a much wider variety in terms of lentils used and how they are cooked. Pappu - the quintessential staple of Andhra cuisine which is essentially a concentrated dose of either toor(split pigeon peas) or moong (green gram) dal is the region's response to the dals from the North of India. Andhra kitchens boast of a variety of pappus ranging from plain, roasted dals to exotic variations.

Gongura are the green leaves that are sour/tangy by nature. Pachadi made with these leaves is a delicacy in Andhra. I generally end up making gongura pachadi (a few different ways) whenever I get these leaves home. Of late, our rice consumption during the weekdays is so low that the pachadi gets eaten happily the day I make them (usually weekends and we have rice for lunch) and the rest goes into the refrigerator and becomes that invisible container. And after a few days of ignoring, the freshness is lost, and finally I either force serve it with everything I make or it ends up in the green trash :-(. So one fine day, I decided that I would not succumb to the lure of the pachadi but will try the pappu instead. It was such a hit that I had to ask myself why I hadn't made it before. Needless to say, this pappu is a regular feature in the kitchen now and BH simply loves to eat it from a bowl, no sides (or mains) needed for him to enjoy this :-)

I make most of the pappu variations on a regular basis but some of them are better favorites than others at home. Today's Gongura pappu or dal with sorrel leaves is one such item.  Some bravehearts add additional tamarind juice to this pappu but we are happy with the tang from the leaves itself. You need to balance the salt and spices with the tangyness from the gongura in this dal for it to be really delicious, otherwise you will end up with a super tart pappu. Andhra cooking is also unique in that we use green and red (dry) chilies together in a lot of recipes, the flavors and taste they impart are different and I do this especially in pachadis and pappus. Sauteed in oil, these do not increase the spiciness a lot, so I also use a little bit of red chili powder at the end. Feel free to cut down on or eliminate any of these 3 heat sources from the recipe to suit your taste.

With today's recipe, I have also added a clove of garlic (which if you are a regular reader here will recognize as an ingredient I don't often use) as I am trying to incorporate into my cooking slowly as I keep hearing its health benefits. The fact that BH loves it makes an added incentive. As I gingerly put my feet into the world of garlic, I chose to add just a little and in a form that doesn't release too much flavor and smell. Cutting it into slices versus making a paste makes the flavor mild and I could easily pass the pieces onto BH's plate when they showed up in mine :-). I kinda liked the very slight hint of garlic, so there is still hope for me (becoming a garlic lover someday) in this world :-). If you don't like it, by all means omit it, doesn't affect the taste of the dish.

What do you need to make Gongura pappu? 
3/4 cup toor dal
1 Tbsp chana dal
2 packed cups chopped gongura leaves
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1 garlic clove sliced vertically (optional)
1 dry red chili - broken into pieces
2 green chilies
1/4 Tsp turmeric powder
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
Seasoning: 
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp chana dal
1/4 Tsp fenugreek seeds
Garnish on top:
1/2 Tsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 Tsp red chili powder (adjust to spice tolerance)
1/8 Tsp asafoetida

How do you make Gongura pappu? 

• Pick leaves from the stalks, wash thoroughly and let the water drain
• Wash the 2 dals in water, pick any dirt, add 2 drops of oil and turmeric powder. 
• Pressure cook with 1.5 cups of water until soft. 
• I start the cooking at medium high and after the first whistle, simmer down the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. If you are more familiar by the number of whistles, use that method. 

• Switch off and let the pressure subside. 
• Heat a wide wok or pan, add the oil followed by mustard, chana dal, fenugreek seeds and the chilies. Slit the green chilies before adding to avoid its popping. 

• Once the mustard pops and the dal turns golden, add garlic slices if using and the thinly sliced onion. 

• Saute for 1-2 mins until onion sweats a little and turns translucent. 
• Add chopped gongura leaves and stir it in. 
• Saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently until the leaves wilt and become mushy. 

• Add cooked dal, a cup of water and mix everything together. 
• Adjust the consistency with additional water if you like. 

• Add salt and let the dal come to a good rolling boil. Switch off. 
• Heat a small pan with ghee in it, once the ghee is hot, reduce the flame and add red chili powder and asafoetida. 
• Switch off and pour this on top of the dal, cover the vessel and let it rest for 10 minutes before stirring everything together. 

• We ate this tangy, spicy pappu with undrallu made with red matta rice. Super delicious :-)

Notes: 

• Toor dal tends to get mashed up completely and I like my dal to have a texture. Adding a spoon of chana dal gives that texture I am looking for. You can make the dish with only toor dal also.  
• Indian cooking uses pressure cooker very effectively for lentils, if you do not own one you can cook the dals in open vessel on medium heat for about an hour. Use slow cooker as another alternative. 

• If you are cooking in an open vessel, it helps to soften the lentils by soaking it in water for 30mins to an hour before cooking. 
• You can skip onion and garlic in this recipe if you prefer, I like onion in my dals and usually add them.