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Aloo Badam Bonda for Ugadi ~ Sri Nandana Nama Samvatsara Ugadi Subhakankshalu ~ Ringing in the Telugu New Year
12 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 11:57:00 PMWe at CurryInKadai, wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year ahead! We wish this new year brings in loads and loads of happiness for everyone.. Ugadi is so important for Andhrites and we start the day with the pooja and then taking Ugadi Pachadi made with Mangoes( new mangoes ), neem flowers, jaggery/sugar, salt, tamarind juice, khus khus( gasagasalu ), putnala pappu etc., Its actually a juice with Shadruchulu.
Ingredients:
- Potatoes
- Ginger
- Chillies
- Curry leaves
- Lime Juice / Grated Green mango
- Cilantro
- Mint
- Besan / Chick Pea Flour
- Slivered Almonds
- Cashew nuts
- Mustard seeds
- Jeera
- Ajwain
- Oil
How To:- Boil the potatoes and peel the skin off mash them and keep aside
- Chop ginger, chillies, cilantro and mint in a chopper or blender
- In a kadai, add some oil and do the tadka, cashew nuts and then add curry leaves followed by ginger chilli paste
- Let it fry for a min and then add turmeric, slivered almonds and potatoes
- Mix everything well together and add salt to taste and then chopped mint and cilantro let the mixture cool
- In the mean while, heat oil in kadai, and in a mixing bowl, add besan, chilli powder, salt, ajwain seeds, baking soda and salt and sift the flour
- Keep adding water until it gets the cinsistency of Pancake batter
- Now make balls out of potato mixture, dip the balls in the batter and drop them into hot oil and cook under medium heat until done
- You can either add more water / flour if you want thinner / thicker besan coating outside the aloo bonda.
- Relish them hot off the kadai with some onion chutney / ketchup!!
Happy Sri Rama Navami ~ Vadapappu and Panakam as Naivedyam!
6 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 12:16:00 AM
My favorite picture of Lord Sri Rama, we all have this same picture at home
Happy Sri Rama Navami Everyone. Sri Rama Navami is so special at moms place as this is kind of a big festival. At dad's shop, we will do the pooja in a grandeur with lots of prasads( naivedyams ) like Panakam, Vadapappu, Kajjayam, Vada, Pulihora, Fruits and Coconuts. All these will be served to everyone in a plantain leaf which is then placed on top of a handfan made of Palm tree leaves( Thataku Visana Karralu ). As Sri Rama Navami comes during the months of peak summer, we give out these hand fans along with the prasad to everyone. And dad still does celebrate the festival the same way even now. Here are two of the most popular Naivedyams( offerings ) for Srirama Navami, Panakam and Vadapappu. Panakam is jaggery( gur ) water with some spices. This panakam cools your body is very good during summer ( vedini thaggisthundi, chalava chesthundi )
How to Make Panakam:
- This Panakam is a must for Sri Rama Navami
- You need to soak Jaggery / Gur in water, once its melted add a tsp of ghee, crushed cardamom, and ground pepper. I usually put all the ingredients in a bowl even before starting the pooja, and by the time its time for naivedyam, panakam will be read
How to Make Vadapappu:
- Vadapappu is a very easy naivedyam, clean the yellow moong dal, wash with water and then soak in enough water for around 1-2 hours. Once you are able to cut the dal with your nails, then its ready for naivedyam.
- In this vadapappu, we usually add some fresh coconut pieces, chopped raw mango, lots of lime juice, red chilli powder and salt.. Mouth watering!
Yay! India Won the Cricket World Cup 2011...Time to celebrate!
2 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 5:05:00 PMWow...We won!! What a game.. Dhoni Sena did it again! .. My first Live World Cup 2011! Never liked cricket before, until this World Cup 2011! Thanks to dear husband! What a great feeling.. Even my 2 year old cheered, screamed and jumped along with us!! Everyone played so well, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Gambhir, YuvRaj, Sehwag, Raina, Zaheer Khan, Munaf.. etc., must say every one!! Well done Guys!! You made India so Proud again! As always!!
Here are some of my favorite Moments in World Cup 2011!!
Awww.. these kids are surely very proud of their Dad!! Master Sachin Tendulkar!
Masala Vada on MahaShivaRatri ~ Spicy Crispy Lentil Fritters with Chana Dal, Toor Dal and Urad Dal
12 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 2:40:00 PM
12 Jyothirlinga Strothram
Ujjanyinyam Mahakalam,
Omkare Malamleshwara.
Himalaye to Kedaram,
Dakinyam Bhimashankara.
Varanasyam cha Vishweshwam,
Tryambakam Gautameethate.
Paralyam Vaidyanatham cha,
Nagesham Darukavane.
Sethu bande Ramesham,
Grishnesam cha Shivalaya
- 1 cup chana dal / Bengal Gram
- 1/3 cup whole urad dal / Black Gram
- 1/3 cup toor dal / Split Reg gram
- 2 inches of peeled ginger
- green chillies to taste
- lots of cilantro and mint
- curry leaves
- salt to taste
- onions( optional )
- Soak all the lentils, chana dal, Urad dal, toor dal for at least 6-8 hours
- Wash the lentils and blend them in blender along with green chillies and ginger adding very little water at a time, it should not be a smooth paste.
- Place oil in kadai or thick bottomed pan for deep frying
- If you don't mind eating onions on this day, you could add chopped onions, otherwise you can happily omit this.
- Mix in chopped cilantro, curry leaves, mint and add salt to taste.
- Make flattened discs and drop them into oil. Fry them until golden brown and then drain them onto paper towels.
- Make sure the heat is set at medium heat!
- Walking through the Memory Lane
- Herbs And Flowers In My Garden Cilantro started by PJ
- AWED - Indian Cuisine started by DK
- My Legume Love Affair started by the Well Seasoned Cook
Ravva Kesari ~ Semolina Sweet ~ Happy Bhogi, Sankranthi and Kanuma!
4 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 11:53:00 PM
- 1 cup Semolina / Sooji / Bombay Ravva
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 stick butter or 1/4 cup butter or ghee
- <3/4>
- cardamom
- raisins
- cashewnuts
- Saffron or food color
- In a thick kadai, add ghee/ butter along with cashew nuts, once the cashews are browned add raisins and fry for few seconds, add sooji and keep stirring until it turns golden brown.
- In the meanwhile boil the water in a separate vessel
- Once the ravva/sooji is fried enough reduce the heat and add water stirring continuously just like you do for upma. Mix well and cover with lid and cook it under very low heat
- Now measure sugar and add it to the mixture and keep stirring
- Once the sugar is melted, remove from the stove and keep aside.
- If you want you can either add some saffron soaked in milk or a pinch of food color in boiling water.
- Tada, Ravva kesari is ready to be relished in minutes.
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Besan Burfi On Diwali / Deepavali ~ An offering to Lakshmi Devi
8 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 12:58:00 PM
contentment to you, to last all your life through. Have a safe and sound Diwali. We usually do Lakshmi pooja on Diwali and offer some homemade special diwali sweets as prasad to Lakshmi devi. Here's one such Besan Burfi that's loaded with almonds, kaju, ghee, milk and sugar.
Ingredients Needed:
Procedure:
Mom made these once as this is very quick and easy compared to Mysore Pak. And moreover this will be ready in minutes unlike other sweets. Anyone with a sweet tooth couldn't stand eating just one! Yes its that good! Mine are not as smooth, so you should spread them smooth once you pour it onto the greased plate!
P.S. Everyone has unique taste palette, so please adjust the ingredients according to your taste.
Happy Dussehra / Vijaya Dasami _ Paala Bellam Pongal ~ Rice Pudding ~ Sweet rice with milk, jaggery, dried fruits and nuts ~ An offering to Durga maa!
6 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 2:00:00 PMWe @ Curry In Kadai, wish you all a very happy Dasara( Vijaya Dasami ). May this Dusshera light up for you and bring in happiness for one and all! For us Dussehra means celebrating it at ammamma( grandma ) house. Wow, we used to go to Kalikamma temple everyday during dussehra, and amma(goddess) would be dressed in different avatars everyday. I remember, in my grandmas place the goddesses are 5 sisters and each sister will be in different color, like yellow, white, red, etc.,
All these 10 days the goddesses or ammas come out for Oregimpu( a procession ). A person would sit behind the goddess figure and starts dancing according to the music. And sometimes the person would be possessed by the goddess( poonakam ). We when kids used to have mixed feelings, like half scared and half interested in the whole proceedings. We miss all the happenings here in US though!
Here's is a Milk porridge, Paala payasam/sirannam, rice cooked and simmered in whole milk and cooked with raisins, badam(almonds), dried coconut, cashew nuts and elaichi that is mostly offered to god as prasadam. A must in any festival in moms house!
Here are some pictures and i will post the recipe soon!!
P.S. Everyone has unique taste palette, so please adjust the ingredients according to your taste.
Happy Navaratri ~ Seemevankaya Kobbari Kura ~ Chayote / Chow Chow with Coconut
4 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 4:49:00 PMHappy Navaratri Everyone!! I know, how every ones home is now being swamped with coconuts everyday! Here's one simple dish using coconut that you can bring to the table in minutes, its moms Seema vankaya kobbari talimpu aka Chayote squash with fresh coconut. Ah i love this curry, its not spicy, not fancy but yet bursts with lots for flavor from fresh coconut! 
Apply some lime juice before handling these squashes, and your hands would come out clean!!
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Paalakayalu On Vinayaka Chavithi ~ Spicy Crispy Rice Balls ~ No one can eat just ONE!!
13 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 5:44:00 PM
My First Handmade Ganesha made with Atta( Whole Wheat Flour )
Rice flour balls ready to get oil bath!!A fresh batch hot off the kadai - 2cups rice flour
- 4tbsp.curd
- 2tsp.butter
- salt to taste
- oil for deep frying
- green chillies
- First run green chillies and salt in blender( or use mortar and pestle ) and it need not be a smooth paste
- In a mixing bowl, add rice flour, red chilli powder, green chilli paste, yogurt, soft butter, and make a dough ( chapathi dough consistency ) adding a little water at a time
- Cover the dough and let it stand for few minutes.
- Pinch out small amount of dough and then roll them into tiny balls using your palms. Let kids help you in making these tiny balls, and i am sure they would have fun making these.
- Rub oil onto your palms that way the dough wouldn't stick to your palms while rolling them
- Heat oil in kadai( enough for deep frying ) under medium heat and once the oil is hot enough drop these dough balls slowly and fry them until they are brown in color ( see pic )
- Spicy Rice Balls are ready to be relished!!! But first offer them to Ganapathiji on his birthday( Vinakaya Chavithi )
Here are some more Vinayaka Chathurthi Pics:
Vinayaka Chavithi @ my sisters place
