Banana Peppers Tomato Curry

We got a bag of fresh banana peppers for very less price, when we went grocery shopping. So, I have been thinking of new ways to use banana peppers. Usually banana peppers are used to make mirchi bajji/stir fry. Today I combined banana peppers with tomato and the result was a quick tasty curry.

Ingredients:
Banana Peppers - 5, deseeded, chopped
Onion - 1, medium sized, roughly chopped
Tomato - 1 large, roughly chopped
Rasam Powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - As per taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, after they splutter, add cumin seeds and chopped onions. Fry till the onions become transparent.
2. Add the chopped banana peppers and fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, rasam powder, chilli powder, salt and mix well.
4. Cook covered till the tomato becomes soft and banana peppers are cooked, stir in between.
5. Adjust the salt and enjoy the yummy banana peppers tomato curry with steamed rice or rotis/puris.

Uggani

Uggani, is a simple, yummy dish, prepared using puffed rice, also known as marmaralu/murmure/borugulu and can be served as breakfast or evening snack. This is a popular regional dish in my native place, Ananthapur, in Andhra Pradesh, India. Usually it is served along with mirapakaya/mirchi bajji. Me and my brother love uggani. This is so simple to make and so tasty. My grandmother always makes mirchi bajji as an accompaniment for this dish. She used to send someone to the neighboring town especially to get the long chillies to make the bajjis for us.

Ingredients:(Serves 2-3)
Puffed rice - 200 gm or 1/2 lb
Roasted Chana Dal Powder - 2 tbsp
Onion - 2, sliced length wise
Tomato - 1, large (traditionally, sliced length wise)
Green Chillies - 6
Garlic - 1 clove
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
Chana Dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - few
Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt - As per taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Grind the green chillies and garlic to a paste.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seed, after they splutter, add cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal and curry leaves.
3. Fry for a minute or two and add sliced onions, turmeric powder. Mix well for a minute. Add the ground chilli garlic paste to it.
4. Mix well and fry till the raw smell disappears, then add chopped tomatoes to it and let them soften.
5. Meanwhile, add the puffed rice to a large bowl, half filled with water. Since puffed rice will float on the water, you need to push them so that all of them get soaked in water. After a minute, use both of your hands to take out a handful of the soaked puffed rice from water and squeeze them tightly to get rid of the excess water and transfer them to a dry plate/dish. Repeat the same with the remaining puffed rice.
6. After the tomato gets cooked, add salt, mix well and add the drained puffed rice to the pan.
7. On medium heat, mix well till all the puffed rice gets coated with the onion tomato mixture.
8. Sprinkle the roasted chana dal/pappula/putnala podi on the puffed rice and mix well.
9. Adjust the salt and fry for a minute.
10. Enjoy the hot uggani just like that or accompanied with mirchi bajji.

Sending this to my own event 'Celebrating Regional Cuisine'

Baked Chicken Drumsticks

Previously I had posted a recipe for spicy baked chicken drumsticks, in which I had used yogurt to marinate the chicken. This time I wanted to avoid using yogurt. So, in this recipe I used lemon juice, mustard oil and curry powder. The outcome was super delicious.

Ingredients:
Chicken Drumsticks - 6

Mustard Oil - 3 tbsp

Lime Juice - 11/2 tbsp

Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp 

Curry powder - 3/4 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - as per taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Wash the drumsticks, peel off the excess skin if you wish and make deep slits on them.
2. Add the drumsticks to a mixing bowl along with the rest of ingredients and mix well using your hand otherwise add the drumsticks and all ingredients to a ziploc bag and shake well till they get coated evenly with the marinade.
3. Marinate them in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours, best if marinated overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 F, line a baking tray with foil and spray oil on it. Place the drumsticks on the tray and pour the leftover marinade on them.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 375F and bake the drumsticks for 40 minutes.
6. Turnover the drumsticks and bake for another 30 minutes or till the drumsticks get cooked.
7. Increase the temperature to 425F and bake them until they turn crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes.
8. Enjoy the baked chicken drumsticks warm.


Sending this to 'Hearth n Soul' 

Quick Eggplant Stir Fry

Nothing fancy to write about this recipe :). Made this quick eggplant stir fry last week, when I was rushing to get things done.

Ingredients:

Eggplant - 1, large, diced

Tomato - 1, large, finely chopped

Onion - 1, medium sized, roughly chopped
Curry Powder - 1 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - As per taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. After they start spluttering, add chopped onions and fry till they become transparent.
2. Add chopped tomatoes and fry till they become soft. Add the diced eggplant, fry and cook covered for 5 minutes.
3. Add salt, curry powder, chilli powder and mix well. Cook covered till the eggplant is cooked.
4. Serve the quick eggplant stir fry with steamed rice or rotis.

Celebrating Regional Cuisine (Nov 5th to Dec 31st)

Across the world, there are a number of regions and every region is known for its local cuisine. Based on the geographical location, culture, fresh produce, religion there are a number of regional delicacies. Roughly speaking, India alone has hundreds of regional dishes which our grandmothers and mothers make.

These days, one hardly gets to spend time with grandparents and listen to stories from them, about how they used to make elaborate preparations for each and every festival. I am a Telugu girl, born in Rayalseema, a region in Andhra pradesh. Groundnut/Peanuts are the staple produce in this area and hence, most of our dishes have a hint of groundnut in them. Ragi sankati and natu kodi kura, sajja/sadda rotte are just a few of the regional delicacies of my native place, Ananthapur.

This being my first event, me and my husband thought a lot and we wanted to host an event, in which anyone could participate, irrespective of their background and at the same to provide a platform to share the regional delicacies with one and all. This event also gives an opportunity to highlight the old traditional recipes which are not known to many in the present generation.

"Celebrating Regional Cuisine" - this is the event I am starting.

To participate in the event, post a recipe which is a local/regional delicacy. Also, a small write up on the origin of the dish explaining the background and prominence is appreciated. A few points to be noted down:

1. The recipe can be veg/non veg, include a picture of the dish

2. Mail the following details to worldofsujana@gmail.com

    Name of the Dish:

    URL of the dish:

    Your name:

    Blog Name:

3. Non bloggers can directly mail the recipe along with a picture of the dish to the above mentioned id.

4. Please provide a link to this event announcement in your post and also feature the logo of the event.

Please find the round up of this event here.

My 100th Post and 1st Event Announcement !!!!

Happy Diwali to all !!!!
It gives me great pleasure to publish my 100th post on this auspicious day. I could not have done this without the constant support, encouragement and feedback from my husband and all my fellow bloggers. A thank you to all of you fellow bloggers from the bottom of my heart!!!

After much thought, we finally decided to start my first event today.
The event is named "Celebrating Regional Cuisine", the details of the event will follow up in the next post.

Rasgulla

All my fellow bloggers are posting a lot of recipes for deepavali. The first thing I do every morning is to check out all the beautiful posts of my blogger friends and find out who made which sweet or savory item today :). Today I tried to make badam/almond burfi and it turned out as badam halwa, I reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe and I guess that was one of the reasons behind burfi turning into halwa :). I do not eat many sweets, so I hardly try my hand at making them, however after looking at all the wonderful posts on sweets, I did not want to give up after the badam burfi incident. So, I tried making rasgulla. I followed the recipe posted by Raks and though my rasgullas did not turn up as good as hers, they were very yummy and we loved them. Thanks for the recipe Raks.

Ingredients:
Full Fat Milk - 1 litre/4 cups
Lime juice - 3 tbsp
Water - 31/2 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
Rose Water - 1/2 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan till it starts boiling. Simmer the heat and add the lime juice and stir it.
2. On low heat, wait till the whey water becomes clear, then turn off the heat.
3. Line a strainer with cheese cloth/muslin cloth and pour the curdled milk into it.
4. Put the strainer with the paneer under cold running water, so that the paneer gets rid of the lime smell and sourness.
5. Squeeze the excess water, by gently squeezing the paneer in the cheese cloth and hang it for 30 minutes or press it under heavy weight, so that all the moisture gets drained.
6. Add the paneer to a mixing bowl and knead it for 10 minutes, until you get a smooth dough.
7. Meanwhile add the water, rose water and sugar to a pressure cooker and let it boil.
8. Make small smooth balls out of the paneer and add them gently into the boiling sugar syrup, one by one.
9. Pressure cook the paneer balls till you get one whistle on low heat. Let it simmer for 5 more minutes on low heat after the first whistle. Then turn off the heat.
10. After the pressure is released, the rasgullas should have doubled in size.
11. Let the rasgullas reach room temperature before refrigerating them.
12. Enjoy the ragullas chilled.