We decided that we would have a mother’s day special and would celebrate in a grand style. After K had enough popsicles, a tub of rocky road icecream , carrot milk and Chocolate pie just during Friday and Saturday, I decided to keep it simple, though our man read out a recipe list which included rasa malai . One, because of the sweets and two because of a crazy, hectic weekend. I just made 2 simple dishes , one my mother’s and the other my mother in law’s favorite with of course my favorite ,rice.

Our mother’s day special included Vankaya mudda kura, Dosakaya pappu , some nostalgia, calls back to India and some tears.

My recipes in the next post. I know I’m a little late , But Happy Mothers day to all

The flower is from our flower patch back home in India

This is a famous Coastal andhra dish and mostly a must on the menu during auspicious occasions. Its made mostly during weddings. Though , I don’t belong to coastal andhra, but this dish is a must in my family and was on my wedding menu for three meals.

The Jackfruit that is used here is young and unripe and there are special knives to scrape the fruit and and the result is “pottu” which looks like shredded cabbage. A young jackfruit is taken , the skin peeled off and then by rubbing your hands and the knife with oil and turmeric and slowly cut and shredded. This is a tedious process but the best curry is produced by following this method.

This is my entry to Nupur’s A-Z Indian vegetables, P, RCI -Andhra Cuisine for Latha’s Masala Magic and Jugalbandi’s Jihva for Ingredients- Jackfruit.

I was lucky to get the canned green jackfruit available in southeast Asian store here and so , I didnt have to go through the tedious process of shredding it.

I bought a can , drained the water and i minced it in the food processor adding a little oil and a pinch of turmeric, so that my hands don’t get sticky while I’m removing the minced jackfruit and mixing with a little more turmeric.

Ingredients:
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1 can of young green jackfruit minced in the food processor
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 red chili
1 tablespoon of tamarind extract
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
A pinch of asafoetida
3 green chillies

For the Popu:
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1 tablespoon of chana dal
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of urad dal
2 dry red chilies
A few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker, take the jackfruit and enough water to cover it and cook until just one whistle. (I use a hawkins pressure cooker). Let it cool and drain off the water and also squeeze water from the jackfruit. It should be dry. This curry tastes best when dry. Alternatively, if you don’t like the pungent smell, you can soak it in buttermilk instead of water and pressure cook it. This is will get rid of the smell.

Heat oil in a skillet and do the popu/tadka seasoning by adding the chana dal , urad dal, mustard seeds, red chilies. Once the mustard seeds pop , add the curry leaves and the green chillies and then add then add the tamarind extract. Let it simmer until the raw smell of tamarind wears off. Then add the asafoetida and then add the minced, cooked jackfruit and salt. Saute for a while until the water evaporates . Meanwhile in a mortar , grind the mustard seeds and the dry chili adding a little water making it a thick paste. Do not add too much water and make it a loose paste. Add a 2-3 drops of oil and mix well and leave the paste for 5 minutes.

Once the jackfruit blends well with the tamarind and other spices , remove from heat and let it cool for sometime. Once the curry is warm, add the mustard paste , mix and cover immediately with the lid. They say that the mustard paste if added when the curry is hot doesn’t mix well with the jackfruit . Its best to eat this curry 4-5 hours after you cook it as it gives a wonderful taste!

Manthani is a small town village karimnagar and the vegetarians there have a mix of karnataka and maharashtra traditions. Its on the banks of the godavari river and has been a great, hsitorical place to hear stories about. More about Manthani here

My Ammakayya’s(amma’s elder sister) is married into a household belonging to Manthani and lo, we get to eat wonderful dishes some learnt from the elders of her household and some her own creations. A fabulous cook who makes rasam without rasam powder and we wouldn’t simply know unless she tells us and who is always short of some seasoning in her cooking but never fails to impress to serve a hearty , delicious meal filled with love and affection.

An inspirational cook , A mother figure who would make sure one would eat at least a snack when we visit her( No one one can leave the house without eating ), A tribute to her this mother’s day from me and K by making her very special dish.We decided we should do this apart from doing it to our mother’s day special for our mothers.

Barada is very similar to Patoli , but the dals used are a little different.

Ingredients :
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3 medium sized Potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium sized onions finely chopped
2 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
A pinch of turmeric
Oil, Salt to taste.

For the Masala:
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1/2 cup of chana dal
1 teaspoon of moong dal
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

For the Popu:
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1 teaspoon Urad dal
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 dry red chillies
A pinch of asafoetida
A few curry leaves(optional)
Coriander sprigs for garnish.

Do the Popu/tadka seasoning in the order of Urad dal, mustard seeds, red chilies, asafoetida and then add the turmeric to the oil and then add the Onions. when turmeric is added to the oil and then the veggies are added, it gives a nice colour to the vegetables. Once the onions turn pink, add the cubed pototoes, some salt as required and keep covered and cook for 10 minutes.

As the pototoes are cooking, in a pan, dry roast the chana dal, moong dal, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and let them cool. Once cool, grind them into a coarse powder and add to the cooked potatoes. You might need to just sprinkle water over the curry so that the powders mix well with the potatoes . Mix well for a minute or two and then remove from heat, garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with rice and ghee.

I like this curry because it goes really well with rice and roti. As I mentioned earlier this was taught to me by my eldest cousin who is a fabulous cook. She would whip up these dishes and give them exotic names and feed us any time of the day. Cabbage is not an often made curry at home without any reason. I prefer to mix it with other vegetables for colour and a different taste. So I added a chopped carrot, 10-12 string beans, a small potato and finely chopped medium onion, along with a head of a finely chopped cabbage .

For the Popu,
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1 teaspoon of Urad dal
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
2 dry red chilies
2 green chillies slit lengthwise
A few curry leaves.
1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
Oil, Salt to taste.
For the Masala :
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1 tablespoon of poppy seeds powdered
1/4 cup of roasted Peanuts coarsely ground
1 teaspoon of dhaniya powder

Do the Popu/tadka/seasoning by heating oil in a skillet and by adding Urad dal, mustard seeds, red chili, green chili, curry leaves in that order one by one. once the curry leaves become crisp, add the onions and saute until they turn pink , add the potatoes and saute for 2 minutes. Then add the carrots, string beans and saute for another 2 minutes . Add the shredded cabbage, add 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric, salt to taste and keep covered and cook for another 12-15 minutes or until done.

While cooking the veggies, dry roast the poppy seeds until light brown and grind them separately. Note that they dont mix well and grind properly when other spices. Then grind the peanuts and sprinkle both the powders on the cooked curry. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the masala mixes well. Remove from heat and serve hot with rice or roti.

Colocasia leaves have an acquired taste, at least K wasn’t very happy with eating them , K simply adores arbi roots , assuming that he would like the leaves too, I decided to try this recipe .I love colocasia leaves, because the recipes that I have for these amazing leaves are handed over to amma by her grandmother and amma can still remember the smells and taste of her transforming these dull green leaves into delectable dishes and amma tried to do the same.

I remember amma telling me that she could never get the same taste as her grandmother could whenever she tried cooking these leaves and gave up sometime back. I assume the reason is that my great grandmother used to cook them on a kattala poyi , a couple of wood pieces thrown in to make a stove and always used brass vessels to cook.

The patoli thats made in my household has always had a mixture of toor dal and chana dal in equal quantities.

Ingredients:
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A bunch of colocasia leaves
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup chana dal
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 dry red chillies or green chillies

For the Popu:
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1 teaspoon urad dal
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 dry red chili
a pinch of asafoetida
curry leaves

Wash and pat dry the colocasia leaves, remove stems and chop finely. Cook colocasia leaves in 3-4 glasses of water, a pinch of turmeric and salt. on a stove top or microwave. If doing in a microwave, keep covered and microwave for about 6-8 minutes.

Keep 1/2 cup of water from the cooked leaves before straining. Strain the leaves and keep aside.

For the Paste:
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Place the toor dal and chana dal , cumin seeds, red/green chillies in a bowl and keep covered for atleat 20 minutes. Grind into a thick, coarse paste. In a pressure cooker, without the whistle ,cook for 10 minutes this mixture, by adding half a cup of the water remaining from cooked colocasia leaves. Once done. Remove from heat and keep aside.

In a wide skillet, add oil and do the popu/tadkaseasoning by adding urad dal, mustard seeds, 1 dry red chili , a pinch of asafoetida,curry leaves and once the mustard seeds and curry leaves pop add the colocasia leaves and saute for 2 minutes. Add the coarsely ground patoli paste , salt to taste and cook for another 3-4 minutes and remove from heat. Serve with hot rice and its yummy!