Aakura pulla koora / Totakoora pulla koora

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Serves: 3 adults

Ingredients:

1. Amarnath leaves (తోటకూర) : 1 big bunch (Or the cleaned leaves filling 3 litre container to brim)
2. Tomatoes                             : 5
3. Onions                                 : 4
4. Green chillies                      : 10 to 15
5. Tamarind                             : 1 big lemon sized
6. Mustered & sesame             : few for seasoning
7. Oil                                        : 1 tea spoon for seasoning.

Procedure

1. Cleanse the Amarnath leaves bunch and ensure to keep tender stems for nutritious benefits.
2. Slice tomatoes, onions, and green chillies.
3. Soak the tamarind in a tea glass of water.
4. Add the cleansed leaves; sliced onions, tomatoes, and green chillies in the pressure cooker. Pour 2 tea glasses of water to it.
5. Turn on the stove and keep it in simmer for 3 whistles. Meanwhile, prepare seasoning.
6. Whisk the content in pressure cooker, pour the tamarind juice into it in periods by tasting it.
7. Add the seasoning to the cooker and heat it for 5 minutes in simmer. You now excelled in making this curry.

Dry Fruit Cake - in pressure cooker

Serves: 7 people
Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Dry-fruit cake / plum cake without wine in pressure cooker

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour (Maida): 1 tea glass
2. Butter:                                 1 tea glass
3. Eggs                                    1 tea glass (probably 3 in quantity)
4. Sugar                                  1 tea glass
5. Dry fruits(dates, raisins etc)1 tea glass
6. Vanilla essence                   1 tea spoon
7. Baking-Powder                   1 1/2 tea spoon
8. Baking-Soda                        a pinch
9. Cardamon(Optional)           3 no.
10. Cinnamon stick(Optional)  1/2 inch 

Procedure:

1. Sieve Maida; grind Sugar,Cinnamon stick, and Cardamon; liquidate Butter by keeping it in room temperature or by exposing it to heat; de-seed and slice the dates into small pieces.
2. Mix and beat Miada,butter, sugar, eggs, Baking-powder, Baking-soda and vanilla essence with a whisk or in a mixer-grinder. Finally add dry-fruits to it and mix them thoroughly.
3. Grease the bowl with butter, which you are planning to keep in pressure cooker, and pour the content to the bowl.
4. Place the bowl in a pressure cooker and place the cooker on stove in simmer for 45 minutes. After 30 minutes, check readiness of cake by poking the sharp object such as knife to the cake. If the knife comes out clean, then you can suppose it to be ready and turn off the stove.
5. Do not try to remove the cake from the bowl for at least an hour. Once cake turned cool, pop it out of the bowl, slice, and eat them.

Note:

• The bowl that you are planning to use in pressure cooker should be wider.
• If you planning to cook in oven: place the pan in the preheated oven at 180 C for 20 minutes.

Gatti Pappu / Mudda Pappu - Andhra Style

Serves : 2 people
Preparation time : 15 minutes 

Gatti Pappu /  Mudda Pappu - Andhra Style

Ingredients: 

1. Yellow lenthils  - 1 tea glass 
2. Water               - 2 tea glass 
3. Onion                - 1 
4. Chilli powder    - 1/4 tea spoon 
5. Salt                   - to taste 
6. Oil                    - 1/2 table spoon 

Procedure: 

1. In a pressure cooker add yellow lentils,water, sliced onions, chilli powder and oil. 
2. Boil it for 4-5 whistles in simmer. 
3. Omce the pressure cooker is ready to open, open it and smash the paapu to the desired  consistancy needed by you. 
4. Now it is good to have with ghee.

* Gatti Pappu tastes very good with ample amount of Clarified butter(నెయ్యి).

Combinations:

• Rasam / Chaaru - Andhra style
• Potato fry - Andhra style

Rasam / Chaaru - Andhra Style

Rasam / Chaaru - Andhra Style

Serves         : 4 - 6 peoplePreparation time:  30 minutes

Rasam / Chaaru - Andhra Style

Ingredients:

1. Tamarind                                                               - big lemon sized 
2. Pepper seeds                                                       - 10 
3. Cumin seeds (జీలకర్ర / jira )                          - 1 table spoon 
4. Yellow lentils(కందిపప్పు  / toor daal)        - 1 table spoon
5. Garlic                                                                       - 8 cloves 
6. Coriander leaves                                                 - 2 strands 
7. Tomatoes                                                              - 3
8. Oil                                                                             - 2 table spoon
9. Dry chillies                                                              - 3
10. Salt                                                                            - to taste

for thalimpu

1. Mustered (ఆవాలు )              - 1 table spoon
2. cumin seeds (జీలకర్ర / jira ) - 1/2 table spoon
3. black gram (మినపప్పు )       - 1 table spoon
4. Curry leaves                                 -2 strands 

Procedure:

1. In a mixer grinder powder pepper seeds, cumin seeds and yellow lentils along with the 6 garlic cloves.
2. In a bowl soak tamarind for a while. Later with a blender or hand make juice out of tamarind and tomatoes.
3. Put Thalimpu / Popu (In a heated oil put 1 tbsp of mustered, 1/2 tbsp of jira, 1 tbsp of black gram and curry leaves. fry it for a while).
4. In popu / thalimpu, fry dry chillies, rasam powder, which is described in point 1, and garlic for while.
5. Now in a bowl/kadai pour 1 leatre of water, salt, the tomato tamarind juice and fired content to it. Boil it on stove till you observe the bubbles pops out of the rasam.
6. Now garnish it with coriander leaves. Rasam is read to serve now.

Combinations:

Andhra style Potato fry,

goru chikkudu kaya fry,

Chicken fry semi gravy - Andhra style,

Fish fry - Andhra style

The Rasam recipe described above is also know as  Tomato rasam 

How to know the watermelon is ripened?

How to know the watermelon is ripened?

how?

Tap on the watermelon gentry with your thumb or see finger. Which ever watermelon makes more sound (hallow) is the most ripened among the others.

Why?

In the ripened watermelon, the water content(juice) is more than flesh. In the riping process, the flesh of the water melon will be converted to water content. Where as in unriped water melon, the water content is lessor than the riped. That is why well ripped watermelon sounds much hallow than the unripened.

You can correlate this theory with a water filled bucket sounds more than sand filled bucket.