Curry In Kadai ~ An Indian Cooking Blog

This is my second recipe for Thotakura after Thotakura Pappu. This is my husbands favourite recipe since it has been passed down from his mom to me. This is a very nutritious and healthy recipe and it needs very little oil. You can eat the whole bowl of this Amaranth leaves Stir fry even without any rice or chapathi. Yep tastes that good!


You need:

• 4 cups of tightly packed chopped thotakura leaves/amaranth along with tender stalks
• 1 red onion or yellow onion julienned
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp chana dal( Yellow split chick peas )
• 2-3 tbsp oil
• a pinch of turmeric
• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 10 curry leaves

• Chop thotakura( amaranth leaves ) very finely. You can chop the tender stalks too but discard the tough stalks( You should remove the stalks skin like you do for beans )
• Bring 1-2cups of water to boil and add chopped amaranth leaves and channa dal
• Cook until the leaves are cooked( TIP: Add 1 tsp of sugar so the leaves retain their green color )
• Drain the leaves thoroughly( You can use the water to make chapathis )
• Heat oil in kadai and add cumin and mustard seeds
• When they start to crackle add curry leaves, turmeric and onions
• Fry onions till golden brown
• Add the boiled thotakura along with chana dal and saute until the the curry looks dry without any water.
• Add chilli powder, salt and sugar and saute 5 more min
• Adjust salt and spice to taste

Kanaka Durgamma( Goddess Durga ) in Vijayawada,
Courtesy, Kanaka durga tenple

• Jaggery/Bellam/Gur
• Whole wheat flour / Atta / Goduma pindi
• Ghee / Neyyi (Nei)/ Clarified butter for frying
• Whole Cardamom or Elaichi
• Water

• Grate gur/bellam or just shave using a knife and then add it to say a glass of water.
• Gur should completely dissolve into water, to speed up the process you can even boil the mixture until the gur is completely dissolved
• Heat ghee in kadai under medium flame
• Once dissolved add crushed cardamom/elaichi and then mix in atta/whole wheat flour. The batter should be thicker than pancake batter.
• Once the ghee is heated enough, with a spoon drop in the batter, and once they are golden brown remove from the pan, and dry them on paper towels.

My whole wheat butter and jageery fritters / appams are on its way to:

• Dussehra, Dhanteras and Deepavali by Shanti
• Festive treat event
• Cooking For Kids event started by Sharmi
• CFK:Wheat hosted by Sireesha

Methi( Menthi Aaku ) aka Fenugreek is used as a herb( fenugreek leaves ) and also the seeds used as spice. Back home, we used to get very small bunches of just sprouted fenugreek leaves and they are very milder and juicier compared to the matured leaves. But the ones i get here in US are litle bit matured and are slightly bitter.

In Indian cooking, we use Fenugreek in 3 forms,

• The seeds in spice powders and curries
• The fresh fenu greek leaves( menthi kura) in curries, dals and rotis
  
• Dried fenugreek leaves called Kasuri methi to make breads and curries

I remember back home we used to wake up early in the morning, extract juice from the leaves( using mortar and pestle ) and apply to hair as we were told it aids in healthy scalp and hair growth. Some Sundays we would even apply ground methi seeds( fenugreek seeds ) which were soaked in yogurt overnight. Doing this way, it reduces heat from the body and makes hair dandruff free, thick and lustrous. Also, Grandma asks us to take Fenugreek seeds with water to control diarrhea.



Mom usually makes sumptuous Methi Dal, Fenugreek leaves with lentils and tomatoes but my mother in law makes this delicious simple Aloo Methi( Menthapukura Alugadda) which is a dry curry with Potatoes, peas and fenugreek leaves with a touch of sambar powder. My husnband loves this dish a lot and i joined him soon after the very first taste. I know it takes time to prepare the fenugreek leaves( methi ), but believe me all that hardwork pays off when you taste the curry. I would prefer fresh bunch, if its not available you can go ahead and use frozen blocks available in any Indian grocery, but the quality and taste is not that great but acceptable.

You need:

• 1 bunch of Fenugreek leaves
• 2 red potatoes( boiling potatoes)
• fistful of petite green peas
• 2 tsp of any sambar powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder or to taste
• 2-3 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• sugar to taste
• salt to taste

Preparation:

• Pluck the methi leaves from the stems wash thoroughly add salt and keep aside. Since the methi leaves are bitter to taste, using salt removes the bitterness.
• Cook the whole potato in microwave using very less water. Do not use baking potatoes like Idaho, use boiling potatoes like red potatoes as these potatoes have to retain their shape when cooked in this curry. Let the potatoes completely cool. Once cooled, peel off the skin and cut into big chunks.
• Drain all the water from the methi leaves, wash again and drain off the water completely
• In a thick pan / kadai heat oil, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, once they start to crackle, add the drained fenugreek leaves and fry till they are completely cooked and you can notice the leaves become dark and dry
• Add green peas and cook for a couple of mins
• Now bring on those peeled and chopped cooked potatoes saute for a min and then add any sambar powder on hand( or some jeera and coriander powder together ), red chilli powder, and salt
• Let the masalas coat the potato well, fry for few more mins and then add sugar, saute for few more mins until the sugar is completely absorbed
• You can adjust spice, sugar and salt to your taste

This sweet and spicy Fenugreek leaves with potatoes and peas tastes great with rice, rotis or even tortillas ..Even better you can finish it off just as it is, yep tastes that good!!

I know how boring it is to have same old Idly and Dosa for breakfast almost everyday. My moms Pappu Upma and Allam Pachadi aka Rice Ravva( rice couscous ) cooked with moong dal(lentils ) served with Ginger and chilli chutney comes to the rescue .This pappu upma is flavored with ginger, cashew nuts, and green chillies and is packed with lots of protein from the lentils. Mom usually serves this Ravva pappu upma along with sweet and spicy ginger chutney. Ginger has been used for ages for its medicinal benefits. Its aids in digestion and suppresses cold and cough a lot. Mom tries to use ginger in her cooking a lot. In curries, chutneys, and breakfasts like upma, pongal etc. Since this tiffin ( recipe ) is loaded with protein from Moong dal and flavored with fresh ginger, pregnant women can have as much as they want. I remember, mom made this for me whenever i ask for Upma( when i was pregnant ). And the best part its very easily digested.

• 1 cup Rice Ravva / Biyyam Ravva / Rice Couscous
• 1/4 cup Moong Dal / Pesara pappu / Split green gram
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 inch grated ginger root
• 4-6 green chillies
• 4 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp chana dal
• 10-15 cashew nuts
• 10 curry leaves

• In a heavy sauce pan, add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chana dal and cashew nuts.
• As the mustard seeds start to crackle, add curry leaves, ginger green chillies, water and moong dal
  
• Once the dal is cooked, add salt and stir in the rice ravva / rice sooji making sure no lumps are formed.
• Reduce the heat and close the lid.
  
• Once the water has been absorbed completely and the ravva cooked, remove from heat and finish with cilantro( optional )

• 4-6 green chillies
• a big lemon sized soaked tamarind
• grated gur / jaggery / bellam or sugar to taste
  
• 1 inch peeled ginger
• salt
  

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 6 curry leaves

• In a blender add all the chutney ingredients and grind to a smooth paste
• For tempuring or tadka, in a kadai/pan heat oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal and once they start to crackle add curry leaves and add the popu/tempuring to the chutney
• You can store this chutney in the refrigerator for upto 3 days.

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