Kachumber Salad

Kachumbar literally means cut in to small pieces. This simple and delicious salad is made from small chunks of cucumber, onion and tomato with cilantro leaves.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber peeled and chopped finely
• 1 medium onion chopped finely
• 2 tomato chopped finely
• 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro ( Green Coriander Leaves)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• salt to taste
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 green chili finely chopped

Method:

• Mix all ingredients well in a bowl

Do You Know?

A salad is a food item generally served either prior to or after the main dish as a separate course, as a main course in itself, or as a side dish accompanying the main dish. The word “salad” comes from the French salade of the same meaning, from the Latin salata, “salty.”

Gosht Ka Khichra (Goat Khichra)

Dalia (wheat), Goat meat, lentils and spices are cooked together to make khichra, in which the taste of the spices and Goat blend with the wheat.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds mutton (Goat)
• 1 cup dalia (cracked wheat)
• ¼ cup masoor dal (split red lentil)
• ¼ cup chana dal (split Bengal gram)
• ¼ cup moong dal (split skinned green gram)
• 4-5 green cardamoms
• 1” stick of cinnamon stick
• 5-6 cloves
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp garam masala powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 large onion sliced
• 2 lemon slices
• 7-8 green chilies
• ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
• ¼ cup chopped mint leaves
• 1 tbsp ginger juliennes
• ½ cup crispy fried onions
• ¼ cup ghee

Method:

• Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker on medium heat.
• Add cinnamon, green cardamoms and cloves and sauté till fragrant.
• Add sliced onion and sauté till soft. Add green chilies, ginger paste and garlic paste and sauté for two minutes.
• Add mutton and continue to sauté for about 5-6 minutes.
• Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, half the garam masala powder and half the fried onions to the mutton.
• Now add all the dals and broken wheat and mix well. Add six cups of water and let it come to a boil.
• Mix in half of the coriander leaves, half of the mint leaves, and salt. Mix well. Cover the cooker with the lid and cook under pressure for four to five whistles. Open the lid when the pressure has reduced. Using a hand blender mash the mixture. Adjust the consistency by adding more warm water if required.
• Remove it in a serving bowl.
• Garnish with the remaining fried onion, garam masala powder, ginger juliennes, mint leaves and coriander leaves.
• Pour some hot sizzling ghee over the serving bowl and serve with lemon slices.

Do You Know?

Hyderabad cuisine is heavily influenced by North Indian cuisines like Awath, Mughlai and Tandoori, with considerable influence of the spices and herbs of the native Telugu and Marathwada cuisine, bringing in a unique taste to the dishes.

Hyderabadi Cuisine has different recipes for different events, and hence categorized accordingly, like banquet food, for weddings and parties, festival foods and travel foods. The category to which the recipe belongs itself speaks of different things like the time required to prepare the food, the shelf life of the prepared item, etc

Sookha Achari Aloo

Potatoes cooked in mustard oil and Achari spices.

Ingredients:

• 10 potatoes, equal sized, each cut into half
• 1 medium size onion chopped
• 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• 2-3 green chilies sliced in half vertically
• 1 tsp saunf (fennel seeds)
• 1 tsp methi dana (fenugreek seeds)
• ½ tsp kalonji (black onion Seeds)
• 1 tsp Chili powder
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp amchoor powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 lemon /lime
• 4 tbsp mustard oil

Method:

• Heat mustard oil in a heavy bottom pan till it starts to smoke. Shut off heat till smoke settles down. Now turn the heat back on.
• Add chopped onions. Sauté till edges start to turn brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and potato pieces. Fry until potato is seared.
• Add remaining ingredients (except lime juice). Mix it well. Sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of water. Cover and reduce the heat.
• Cook covered for about 5-6 minutes or till potato is fork tender, dry and pickle fragrant.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Squeeze lemon and serve with Dal and Roti

Do You Know?

Searing (or pan searing) is a technique used in which the surface of the food is cooked at high temperature so a caramelized crust forms. Similar techniques, browning and blackening, are typically used to sear all sides of a particular piece of meat, fish, poultry, etc. before finishing it in the oven.

Saib Ka Halva (Apple Halva)

Grated golden apples cooked with sugar and ghee, garnished with nuts and raisins.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 golden apples
• ½ cup ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 cup sugar (modify according to taste)
• Almonds slivered
• Cashew nuts chopped
• 2 green cardamoms
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• ½ tsp Kewra essence or Rose water

Method:

• Peel off and grate the apples.
• Heat ghee in heavy based pan and add seeds of green cardamoms. Fry for a few seconds.
• Add grated apples and fry on medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring all the time, until almost tender and ghee leaves the side of the pan.
• Add sugar and cardamom powder. You should stir the mixture frequently to prevent any sticking. Fry for 10-15 minutes until nearly all the water has evaporated.
• Heat 2-3 tbsp ghee in a small pan and fry nuts in it. Add this to apple halva. This gives glazing and flavor to halva.
• Remove from fire and mix in the Kewra essence or rose water.
• Garnish with almonds and cashew nuts. Serve hot.

Do You Know:
Apples contain strong antioxidants making the blood less sticky and less likely to clot helping to reduce blood pressure.
They are also believed to be a great source of flavonoids. They contain high amounts of Vitamin C, which is reported to help strengthen the immune system.Their pectin content may help lower cholesterol levels and treat diarrhea.
They feature chlorogenic acid, which may help fight against cancer.
Eating apples is said to be useful for people on weight loss programmes, as they have a lower glycemic index than other fruits.

Vermicelli Vada

Vermicelli vada is a crunchy tea time snack. Noodles can also be substituted for Bambino.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vermicelli ( Bambino)
• 2 potatoes
• 2 or 3 green chilies finely chopped
• 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 1/2 cup coriander leave
• 5 curry leaves(finely chopped)
• 1/4 cup mint leaves (as required)
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp chat masala
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp black pepper powder
• oil for frying

Method:

• Take a deep saucepan and boil about 8-10 cups of water. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of oil to water. When water starts boiling, add vermicelli and stir continuously. Boil for 2-3 minutes till it is just done ( soft vermicelli becomes very soggy and sticky). Strain in a colander. Keep colander under free flowing water till vermicelli is cooled, then keep it aside for some time so that extra water is drained off.
• Boil potatoes separately till they are cooked. Peel and mash the potatoes.
• In a bowl take boiled vermicelli, mashed potatoes, chopped coriander leaves, mint leaves, curry leaves, green chilies, ginger and mix them well.
• Add black pepper powder, chat masala and salt.
• Add vermicelli and mix them all well. Add lemon juice.
• Shape the mix into round flat vadas.
• Deep fry them until they are golden brown.
• Pat out excess oil with a paper towel.
• Serve them hot with tomato ketchup or chutney.

Tips:

Fresh coriander is often used in Indian cooking as an ingredient during the preparation of a dish or as a garnish after the dish is ready. It is however, not always easily available. It also perishes quickly. The next time you buy fresh coriander, keep it fresh for longer by chopping off the roots and then wrapping the leaves in a sheet of newspaper. Store in the crisper section of your refrigerator.

Pulihora ( Lemon Rice)

Pulihora tastes sour, spicy, hot and salty at the same time. It is considered to be a good stimulant for a dull appetite. It is easy to cook, inexpensive and is filling.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of white rice
• 2 tbsp lemon juice ( adjust according to your taste)
• 1 small finely chopped onion
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 2 green chilies
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 4 whole dry red chillies
• 1 tsp chana dal
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp urad dal (skinned split black beans)
• ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
• a pinch of asafetida powder
• 5-6 cashew nuts or 1 tbsp groundnuts
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Method:

• Soak rice for ½ an hour. Boil about 8 cups of water in a big pan. Add uncooked soaked rice and little salt when water starts boiling. Cook till rice is just done. Strain the rice and keep aside to cool. Make sure it does not turn mushy.
• Roast the fenugreek seeds and 2-3 dry chillies in a small pan. Grind them to a powder and keep aside for later use ( You can use ready made pulihora powder available in the market if you don’t have time to prepare, but you will be compromising with the freshness of the flavour).
• Heat oil in a wok . Splutter mustard seeds, add urad dal and chana dal and fry for a few seconds.
• Add 2 dry red chillies, turmeric powder, chopped onions, curry leaves, green chilies and cashew nuts. Continue frying for a minute.
• Add asafetida and immediately add cooked rice.
• Mix in fenugreek-chili powder and fry on low flame for another minute. Remove from fire.
• Stir in lemon juice.
• Serve with pickle or chutney or curry. I Love garlic pickle with it.

Do You Know?

'Puli' means 'sour' taste, thus Pulihora roughly translates as 'sour rice'. It is a common preparation of rice in South Indian Cuisine . It is also known as tamarind rice or lemon rice

In Andhra Pradesh it is called as Pulihora or Chitrannam, in Tamil Nadu it is called as "puliyodharai" and in Karnataka it is called as "puliyogare".

This dish is cooked as a holiday dish and during festivals. It is also distributed in temples as Prasad.

Pulihora is a common travel diet for Andhra people because it can be stored for a couple of days without getting spoiled.

Fried Dalmoth

Dal Moth is a popular 'anytime snack'. It is liked because of its crispiness and spiciness. Sometimes it so happens that you get ‘not so fresh’ type of Dalmoth from stores. Here is a recipe to convert this bland Dalmoth to a delicious snack ready to be served with tea.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Dalmoth
• 1 small onion chopped fine
• 1 green chili chopped fine
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped fine
• Chaat masala according to taste
• Black pepper powder according to taste
• ½ tsp cooking oil

Method:

• Heat about ½ tsp oil in a frying pan on low flame.
• Add chopped onion and chopped green chili; fry until onion is transparent.
• Now add Dalmoth to the pan and stir slowly and continuously to prevent Dalmoth from getting overheated as it is already deep fried.
• When Dalmoth is crisp, turn off the flame.
• Add Chaat masala, pepper powder and chopped coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with tea.