Ragi Pesarattu

Ragi Pesarattu   - Pesarattu dosa is very popular in Andhra cuisine !!!

Makes: 10 - 12 pesarattu

Ingredients

Tip : This can also be made with yellow moong dal (split yellow dal)

1 cup / 200 ml whole moog (green gram) Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity

1/4 cup raw  rice or 2 tablespoon raw rice

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1/2 - inch piece of ginger, finely chopped

3 tablespoon ragi flour

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste )

4 teaspoons cooking oil or ghee

Method

 Soak the moong  (green gram) and rice in 2 cups of water  for six hours or overnight.  

Drain out water and grind soaked moong – rice with green chilli,  ginger and salt in a mixer. Batter should be of pouring consistency and slightly thicker than normal dosa batter. Do not add more water when grinding (or 1/4 cup water). 

No need to ferment this batter. Transfer this batter into another vessel / bowl and finally mix with ragi flour. Batter should be just like normal dosa batter. So adjust water if required (may be 1 - 2 ladleful of water). Mix well until well combined / smooth batter without any lumps.

 Heat a non stick pan / flat griddle  on medium heat.

 Smear a very tiny quality of oil all over the pan. Spread ladleful of batter on the pan to form a round shape. Use the back of a ladle to spread it as thin as possible ( but slightly thicker than the normal dosa ).

Drizzle some oil  (or ghee) all round the batter as well as on the top.

Cook on medium heat till the underside become light golden.

 Flip carefully and roast the other side.

Turn over again and roast for a few seconds more. Serve hot with coconut chutney , or a dip made with a mixture of fresh yogurt and Andhra mango pickles.

Coconut chutney

Ingredients

1 cup ( 200 ml / 8 oz – Indian standard measuring cup) coconut grated

2 green chilli, small

1 teaspoon tamarind paste ( optional )

Salt to taste ( or 3/4 teaspoon )

Ginger - 1/2- inch piece 

For the  seasoning:

Ingredients

2 teaspoon oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon urad dal

1 red chilli, halved

1 spring curry leaves or 4 nos

Method

Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste with a little water. Adjust the thickness of the chutney with extra 2- 3 tablespoons water if you required.

For the seasoning:

Method

In a pan, heat 2 teaspoon oil. Add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add remaining ingredients. Saute well. Pour this over to coconut chutney.

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Aratikaya Kura

Aratikaya Kura – A tasty side dish with rice in Andhra cuisine, made of raw banana, grated coconut and seasoning!!!

Serves: 2 – 3

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, thinly chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped and crushed

3 green chillies, chopped

1 raw banana (big size), gently peel off the outer skin and cut into ¼ - inch cubes

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

¼ cup water (50 ml / 3 – 4 tablespoon)

3 tablespoon grated coconut

1 tablespoon besan (gram flour)

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Method

Mix grated coconut with besan and turmeric powder. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onion and fry until golden color. Add crushed garlic and fry on a medium to low heat until golden color and crisp.

Add chopped green chillies and fry well.

Add raw banana cubes, 1/4 cup water and salt to taste. Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a lid and cook on a medium to low heat for  10 – 12 minutes until well cooked / water dries up.

At this stage, add grated coconut – besan mixture. Mix well and cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes. Serve with rice.

Pesarattu Dosa / Green Gram Dosa

Pesarattu  Dosa / Green Gram Dosa

Pesarattu dosa is very popular in Andhra cuisine !!!

Makes: 10 - 12

Ingredients

Tip : This can also be made with yellow moong dal.

1 cup / 200 ml whole moog ( green gram ) Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity

1/4 cup raw  rice or 2 tablespoon raw rice

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1 onion , finely chopped

1/2 - inch piece of ginger, finely chopped

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste )

4 teaspoons cooking oil or ghee

Method

 Soak the moong  (green gram) and rice in 2 cups of water  for six hours or overnight.  Grind soaked moong – rice with green chilli, onion, ginger and salt in a mixer. Batter should be of pouring consistency and slightly thicker than normal dosa batter. Do not add more water when grinding (or 1/4 cup water). No need to ferment this batter.

 Heat a non stick pan / flat griddle  on medium heat.

 Smear a very tiny quality of oil all over the pan. Spread some of dal – rice batter on the pan to form a round shape. Use the back of a ladle to spread it as thin as possible ( but slightly thicker than the normal dosa ).

Drizzle some oil ( or ghee ) all round the batter as well as on the top.

Cook on medium heat till the underside become light golden.

 Flip carefully and roast the other side.

Turn over again and roast for a few seconds more. Serve hot with coconut chutney , or a dip made with a mixture of fresh yogurt and Andhra mango pickles.

Majjiga Pulusu

Majjiga Pulusu

Andhra style curd curry with ash gourd. Best with rice. Recipe from Southern Spice by Chandra Padmanabhan !!

Serves: 4 – 6

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

This is a delicious curd kuzhambu from Andra Pradesh, perfect for those who need to cut out coconut from their diet.

Ingredients

For the curd:

2 cups (500 ml) slightly sour curd, whisked

3 teaspoon gram flour (besan / kadala maav)

½ teaspoon sugar

1 ¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Combine curd, gram flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk till well blended (or in a Tupperware quick shaker). Keep aside.

For spice powder:

1 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methi / uluva)

4 dried red chillies

Heat oil for spice powder in a deep frying pan or kadai over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients for spice powder and fry for a few moments till fragrant. Remove from heat and ground to a fine powder.

Other ingredients

300 g ash gourd, peel off the outer skin and remove seeds and cut into ½ - inch cubes

2 green chillies, slit lengthwise

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ - inch piece ginger, grated

Method

Place turmeric, green chillies and ginger with 1 cup (225 ml) water in the pan used for frying spices and bring to boil. Mix in ash gourd, cover pan and simmer for 5 – 7 minutes till tender.

Lower heat, pour in blended curd mixture and simmer for uncovered for 3 – 4 minutes, stirring continuously. Or please follow double boiling method.

(Or cook over a double boiler ( double boiler -a pair of saucepans, one of which fits above and partly inside the other: food is cooked in the upper one by water boiling in the lower and it helps even cooking and curd won’t curdle ).

Sprinkle in spice powder, mix well and simmer for 1 minute longer.

For seasoning:

2 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon asafoetida powder (hing)

6 curry leaves

Heat oil for seasoning in a small pan and add remaining ingredients for seasoning. When mustard seeds start spluttering, pour seasoning over majjiga pulusu. Serve hot with plain rice.

Dibba Rotti

Dibba Rotti

Thick grainy pancakes. A popular dish in Andhra cuisine. Recipe from Essential Andhra cook book.

Makes: 6 - 8

Ingredients

1/2 cup (100 g) urad dal (black gram dal)

1 cup (200 g) raw rice

Water for grinding

1 tablespoon dry roasted cumin powder (jeera powder)

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method

Soak rice and dal separately for 4 – 6 hours. Grind dal coarsely. Separately, grind rice coarsely. Mix the rice and dal with little hot water, cumin powder and salt to the batter. Batter should be thick in consistency. No need to ferment the batter.

Heat a deep thick bottomed kadai (deep kadai will give a perfect shape). Sprinkle 1 teaspoon oil. Spread a ladle of the batte (do not spread and make circles like normal dosa. Dibba rotti is a thick pan cake). Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes (underside should be golden color). Flip over and cook the other side until done and light golden color (approximately 7 – 10 minutes). Remove carefully with flat spatula. Cut into desired shape and serve hot with coconut chutney or Spicy Andhra pickles or any vegetable gravy dishes.

Paramannam / Paravaannam (A tasty dessert in Andhra Cuisine)

Paravaannam / Paramannam

Rice dessert (kheer / paayasam) from Andhra Pradesh. Recipe from Simply South by Chandra Padmanabhan.

Serves: 4 - 6

Soaking time: 30 minutes

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 45-50 minutes

Ingredients:

Half cup rice (100 – 125 g)

7-8 cups full cream milk

2 tablespoon sago (sabudana)

One-and-a-half cups powdered jaggery (melted and sieved jaggery)

3 tablespoon ghee

3 tablespoon cashew nuts, halved (optional)

2 tablespoon seedless raisins (kishmish) (optional)

Half teaspoon powdered green cardamom

Method

1. Wash rice and drain. Soak rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Place milk in a heavy-based pan over high heat and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes till reduced by about one-third.

3. Add sago and simmer for 10 minutes

4. Mix in rice and simmer for at least 15-20 minutes till tender.

5. In another pan combine jaggery and quarter cup water. Cook and stir till jaggery dissolves. Strain jaggery through a muslin cloth into payasam.

6. Meanwhile, heat one and a half tbsp ghee in a frying pan over moderate heat and fry cashew nuts till golden. Drain and set aside.

7. Add remaining ghee to pan and fry raisins till they puff up. Drain and set aside.

8. Add cashew nuts, raisins (optional) and powdered cardamoms to payasam. Simmer for 5 minutes.

9. Serve hot or chilled.

Andhra Style Spicy Chicken Curry

Andhra Style Spicy Chicken Curry

A tasty chicken curry. Best combination with Rice varieties and Indian breads …

Serves: 3 – 4

You will need

For chicken:

500 g chicken, cut into medium size pieces

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Wash and clean chicken pieces. Drain out water thoroughly. Marinate chicken pieces with red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Keep aside for half an hour.

For cashew nut paste:

6 cashew nuts (12 cashew nut splits)

2 teaspoon khus khus (poppy seeds)

2 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons (45 g) grated coconut

Soak cashew nut splits and khus khus with 2 tablespoons water in a small mixer bowl for one hour. Finally mix with grated coconut and make a smooth paste in a mixer. Keep aside.

Other ingredients:

2 tablespoons oil

3 cardamoms

3 cloves

3 stick cinnamon (1 – inch size)

2 star anise

2 onions, finely sliced

2 tablespoons ginger – garlic paste (fresh and homemade)

2 teaspoons red chilli powder

3 teaspoons coriander powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

2 tomatoes, chopped (pick well ripe)

2 tablespoons water

¾ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

2 teaspoons chopped coriander leaves

Method

Dilute red chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder in 2 tablespoons of water and make a smooth paste (spice mix).

In a wide pan, heat oil. Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and star anise. Fry on a low heat for 2 – 3 minutes until fragrant/ color changes.

Add sliced onions and fry till golden color on a low to medium heat.

Add ginger – garlic paste and stir well on a low heat for 2 – 3 minutes until the raw smell goes.

Add diluted spice mix and stir well until the water dries up and well mixed with onion and ginger – garlic paste.

Add chopped tomatoes and mix well.

Add marinated chicken and salt to taste. Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a lid and cook on a low to medium heat for 15 minutes or until ½ done.

At this stage, add cashew nut – khus – khus – coconut paste. Adjust with 2 – 3 tablespoons water. Cover with a lid and cook again for another 15 – 20 minutes or until done / chicken pieces softens / gravy thickens / fragrant / dark orange in color.

Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Serve with Rice varieties or Rotis … Remove whole spices when serving (star anise, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom).

Gongura Chutney

Gongura Chutney

Gongura is popular among Andhraites (Telugu speaking community). Gongura (leaves) comes in two varieties, green stemmed leaf and red stemmed. The red stemmed variety is more sour than the green stemmed ones. There is medicinal properties associated with Gongura (I am not sure of the details).

Gongura pachchadi, Gongura pappu and Gongura mutton are more than quintessentially Andhra food items: they are Andhra obsessions.

This chutney is best with rice and rice preparations.

Serves: 4 – 6

You will need

1 tablespoon oil

50 gongura leaves

2 green chillies

¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Other ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

½ teaspoon methi seeds (fenugreek seeds)

½ teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon hing powder (asafoetida)

10 dried red chillies

Method

Wash gongura leaves and drain out water thoroughly. Wipe each leaves with a kitchen towel.

Heat oil in a kadai / frying pan. Fry gongura leaves till dark brown color on a low to medium heat. While frying gongura leaves it is natural that quantity will reduce.

Heat oil (1 tablespoon) in another frying pan. Add methi, jeera, mustard seeds, hing and dried red chillies. Fry on a low to medium heat for 10 minutes or until crisp and fragrant.

Transfer fried gongura leaves, salt to taste, green chilies and fried spices into a mixer bowl and make a fine paste. Serve with rice and other rice varieties.

Pesarattu (with grated cheese filling)

Pesarattu (with grated cheese filling)
( Moong dal dosa - Signature dish of Andhra Pradesh )

Makes: 8

Ingredients

1 cup ( 200 g ) yellow moong dal (split yellow dal)
1/4 cup (3 tablespoons) raw rice
1 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 - inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 onion, very finely chopped
4 cheese cubes, finely grated
Salt to taste
Cooking oil or ghee

Method

Soak the moong dal and rice for four to five hours. Grind them together to a coarse paste with chopped green chilli and ginger. Set aside.

Heat a thick, flat griddle.

Smear a very tiny quality of oil all over the pan. Spread some of dal – rice batter (1 ladleful / 120 ml) on the pan to form a round shape. Since this is thicker than the normal dosa batter, it needs to be patted out carefully and slowly. Use the back of a ladle to spread it as thin as possible ( but slightly thicker than the normal dosa ).

Drizzle some oil (or ghee) all round the batter as well as on the top.

Spread chopped onion (3 teaspoons) on the batter, (so they get well – embedded in the batter , that is why you need to chop them so fine).

Cook on medium heat till the underside become golden color.

Flip carefully ( it’s normal for a few pieces of onions or ginger to fall off during this process ) and roast the other side.

Turn over again and roast for a few seconds more. Turn the other side sprinkle grated cheese ( 1 tablespoon) evenly. Fold and serve hot with coconut chutney , or a dip made with a mixture of fresh yogurt and Andhra mango pickles.

Pesarattu (without filling)