Thursday 14 May 2015

Ginger Chutney | Allam Pachadi | Andhra Chutney Recipes

Almost all the South Indian breakfasts are incomplete without Allam pachadi or Ginger Chutney one of the most delicious companion. This Andhra chutney recipe is a great side dish chutney for dosa, idly, pesarattu, upma, wada and other dishes that tingles your senses. This chutney has a peculiar blend of different tastes like sweet , sour and hot in perfect proportions. The amalgam of taste makes it so lovable among all the age groups.

Video on How to Make Ginger Chutney:





Allam Pachadi Ingredients:

  • Chopped Ginger (Allam) - 1 Cup
  • Sesame Seeds (Til / Nuvvulu) - 1/4 Cup
  • Bengal Gram (Senaga Pappu) - 1/2 cup
  • Urad Dal (Minapa Pappu) - 1/4 cup
  • Corriander Seeds (Dhaniya) - 1 tsp
  • Cummin Seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
  • Red whole chillies - 8 - 10
  • Tamarind - the size of a gooseberry
  • Sugar or Jaggery - as per taste
  • Salt to taste

Allam Chutney or Ginger Chutney Ingredients


Cooking Directions for How To Make Allam Pachadi:

  1.  In a frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil under low flame.
  2.  Add the pulses one after the other and fry them for a couple of minutes under low flame.
  3. Add the spices (dhaniya, jeera and til) and fry for some time. 
  4. Add Red Chillies and tamarind as well. 
  5. After the ingredients are fried for a while, transfer them to a plate and let them cool. 
  6. Meanwhile add a tbsp oil in a frying pan and fry chopped ginger for a couple of minutes. (Frying them separately is necessary because the time required for ginger to be cooked is little more from that of the other ingredients).
    Allam Chutney Ingredients
  7. Transfer all the fried ingredients into a mixer and grind them to paste adding required water, sugar and salt to taste. Make sure to add sugar in the last while grinding else it will not get ground well.

    Allam Chutney

     Scintillating dish is ready. Serve it with hot and crisp dosa, idly, medu wada, pesarattu or upma. 

Variations to Prepare Allam Chutney:


Though the above mentioned are the prime ingredients of recipe for ginger chutney, optionally one can also use jaggery in spite of sugar that adds to its health quotient. 


Health Benefits of Allam Pachadi or Ginger Chutney:


      Allam or Ginger is one of the finest spices used in almost all the Indian dishes considering its medicinal values. Allam or Ginger is considered good for different types of stomach problems like motion sickness, gas, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea. 
         
      Thus, I conclude one of the most healthy ginger recipes.








Wednesday 25 March 2015

Palak Paratha or Spinach Paratha


Palak Paratha is an Indian flat bread, one among many healthy dishes of its category. Palak Paratha is made up of spinach (palak) and wheat flour. These Palak Parathas are known for their healthy nutritious values. Kids who hate to have spinach also enjoys Palak Paratha, as they taste similar to their favorite chappathis (the head of the flat bread family). 

Palak Paratha
Palak Paratha

Palak Paratha Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour or Atta -2 cups and 1/4 cup for rolling
2 cups finely chopped Spinach
3 tsp finely chopped Coriander
2 finely chopped Green chilies
1/2 a tsp Red chilli powder (Optional)
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste (Optional)
1/2 a tsp Coriander powder (Dhania Powder)
1/2 a tsp Cumin powder (Jeera Powder)
Salt as per taste
Water as required (for making dough)
Oil or Ghee for frying parathas

Cooking Directions:

1. Clean spinach and coriander leaves with water and chop them finely. 
2. Make Ginger-garlic into coarse paste.
3. Chop green chilli into very fine pieces.
4. Take a large bowl and add whole Wheat flour, salt, finely chopped spinach or palak, coriander leaves, chopped green chilli, ginger-garlic paste, dhania-jeera powder and red chilli powder. 
5. Add water as required and knead it to a smooth dough.


Palak Paratha dough

6. Add little oil to coat the dough and knead well again. 
7. Cover the dough and set it aside for 30 minutes.
8. After 30 minutes, divide the dough equally and make balls out of it. 
9. Take  the balls and press between palms slightly. Dust the flattened ball with dry wheat flour and roll out into a circle using rolling board and rolling pin.
10. Place the paratha. on the preheated tava and cook the parathas in medium flame. Cook both sides of the palak paratha with some oil or ghee till they turn crisp and brown from both sides.
11. Serve palak paratha hot with raitha and or mango/lemon/tomato pickle.

NOTE: Rolling and folding of the dough helps softening of the parathas.


Palak Paratha Recipe Video (How to Make Palak Paratha):

Easy to follow Video on 'How to make Palak Paratha'.



Variations:

Instead of adding the raw ingredients mentioned in step 4, we can grind all of them before adding to the wheat flour. This way the palak parathas get a nice deep green color. We can also use blanched palak (spinach) for the preparation of Palak Paratha.

Nutritional Values of Palak Paratha: 

As spinach has almost 0 cholesterol and 0 fat, it is good for all age groups. Spinach being the main ingredient, Palak Paratha becomes a good source of Iron and calcium apart from Vit-A, Vit-C and other vitamins and minerals. Though India is not in top-ten spinach producing countries, we consume spinach on a regular basis, on a day-today diet.

Saturday 21 March 2015

Ugadi Pachadi | Andhra Festival Recipes - Inikas Kitchen

People from Hindu community in India celebrate the festival of Ugadi also called Yugadi. Just after the festival of colors, Holi, comes the Ugadi or Yugadi festival that brings good fortune and happiness. This festival is considered to be the beginning of the New Year

Ugadi or Yugadi derived from Sanskrit is a combination of two words in Sanskrit, 'Yuga' meaning age and 'Adi' meaning new beginning. Hence, Ugadi means the beginning of a new age.

Ugadi or Yugadi being the New Year for different people from different communities, all of them prepare one special dish representing the beginning of a new year. The dishes are named differently in different regions of India, in Andhra being called as Ugadi Pachadi.

Ugadi Pachadi Significance:

The dish, ugadi pachadi, reminds every individual to enjoy all the flavors of life, all through. This dish is made up of six different ingredients each from a different category of taste. The six tastes being sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy and tangy. Ugadi Pachadi significance implies that as the dish is made up of 6 different tastes and consumed on the first day of the year, so is life full of different emotions as Happy, Sad, Surprise, Fear, Anger and Disgust.


Ugadi Pachadi Ingredients:

  
  Neem Flowers implies Disgust (bitterness)
  Raw Mango implies Fear (tanginess)
  Tamarind Juice implies Surprise (sourness)
  Green chilly or Red Chilly powder implies Anger (spicy, hotness)
  Jaggery implies Happy (sweetness)
  Salt implies Fear (saltness)


Ugadi Pachadi Ingredients


Ugadi Pachadi Recipe:

1 cup finely grated jaggery
1/2 cup peeled and finely chopped raw mango
3 tablespoons tamarind pulp
1 tablespoon raw Neem flowers
Salt as per taste
Green chilly or Red chilly powder as per taste

How to Make or Prepare Ugadi Pachadi:

Soak tamarind in water for about half an hour and extract the required pulp out of it.
Add finely grated jaggery, raw mango pieces and mix well.
Pluck out the little neem flowers avoiding the stems and add them to the mixture.
Add salt and red chilly powder or green chilly to the mixture as per your taste.
Add water as required to increase the quantity.
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly till the jaggery is dissolved.



Ugadi Pachadi


Variations to Make Ugadi Pachadi:

Though the above six are the prime ingredients for ugadi pachadi, optionally one can also add finely grated coconut, banana, sugar cane pieces, ground nuts, sesame seeds,  finely ground black pepper as add-ons.

Health Benefits of Ugadi Pachadi:

The Neem flowers detoxifies tissues and fights allergies if any. It also clears the stomach.
Jaggery helps in easy digestion and also helps building tissues.
Green chilly  improves skin health and also enhances eye-vision. It also manages metabolism and immune system.
Tamarind increases minerals absorption and cleanses the tissues.
Green mango purifies blood and helps improve blood circulation.
Salt manages sugar levels and fights dehydration.

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Minapa Sunnundalu or Urad Dal Laddu Recipe


Minapa Sunnundalu or Urad Dal Laddu is Andhra's favorite sweet dish that is enjoyed by all ages

Sunnundalu or Urad Dal Ladoo is an all time favorite sweet, made and consumed in almost all parts of India. These traditional Andhra sweets are mostly considered as the best sweets for diwali. Irrespective of the occasions and festivals, sunnundalu is made and enjoyed on any day in Andhra, India. The recipe of the delicacy given here is very simple and takes just few minutes for preparation.

Sunnundalu or Urad Dal Laddu

Urad dal, jaggery & ghee - a rare combination that acts as an instant energy booster, are used into the preparation of sunnundalu or roasted urad dal laddu. The ingredients used for the preparation are as simple as the preparation steps.
Now let us see how to make Sunnundalu or Urad dal ladoo.


Minapa Sunnundalu Recipe (with Jaggery):


Sunnundalu

Ingredients:


  • 1 cup roasted whole Urad dal flour
  • 1 cup grated Jaggery
  • 1/2 cup Ghee (in melted form)
  • Cardamom powder-------1/2 tsp
  • Cashew nuts : 50gms






     Cooking Directions:


1.     In a frying pan, heat and dry roast the whole urad dal (can used split urad dal also) on low heat till they turn very light brown in color and you get nice aroma.
2.     Leave the urad dal to cool.
3.     Grind the urad dal to very fine sand-like powder.
4.     Mix urad dal powder and  jaggery powder in a bowl.
5.     Take a little ghee and fry the cashew nuts in the ghee.
6.     Mix the fried cashew nuts and cardamom powder in the urad dal-jaggery mix.

Sunnundalu

                     
7.     Heat the remaining ghee and Pour the ghee in the above prepared urad dal-jaggery mixture and mix well.
8.     Leave the mixture to cool down to lukewarm.
9.     Make the mixture into round balls and arrange them in a plate. (laddu size can be varied)

                     Once the sunnundalu (urad dal ladoo) are cooled completely, store them in an airtight container. By the way, the laddus can be stored for over a month.


    Variations:

1.    The same sunnundalu recipe can also be made using black whole urad dal. Black whole urad dal is preferable for its extra nutrition in the skin.
2.    Jaggery can be replaced with 1 cup of sugar powder for the preparation. The quantity of jaggery (or sugar) can be adjusted as per taste.
3.    We can even add almonds and pistachios along with cashews while frying (at step 5).
4.    Adding nuts to this recipe is optional as it gives extra taste and nutritional value to the laddus.

     Sunnundalu Health Benefits:

                  Urad dal, called as black lentil in English, is considered to be a good protein and fiber source. It helps reduce cholesterol.

                  Jaggery, a healthy substitute for white sugar, is good source of iron and minerals. It helps stimulate bowel movement and prevents constipation. It detoxifies the liver as well. Thus is considered as the medicinal sugar. 

                  Ghee is rich in vitamins A & E. Helps in better digestion.


      Calories Alert:


         Check on the intake of the laddu's calories as it is slightly heavy in terms of calories. Needless to say, one will never consider the calories count against the laddus count, considering its taste and nutritious values. Above all, Sunnundalu health benefits offer a great value to kids and pregnant woman.

                  Final Words! Sunnundalu or Urad Dal Laddu made up of sugar or jaggery, make a very healthy and tasty bite for all age groups !



Wednesday 28 January 2015

Sprouted Ragi Flour (Sprouted Finger-Millet Flour)

Sprouted Ragi Flour (Sprouted Finger-Millet Flour)

Sprouted Ragi Flour



1.       Wash the desired quantity of ragi or finger-millets thoroughly until the water runs clean.
2.       Soak them in water overnight for a duration ranging from 8 - 12 hours. (if the climate is warmer, then the time required would be shorter)
3.       Rinse the ragi or finger-millets thoroughly at least 2 times a day and make sure to drain out as much water as possible from the millets every time you rinse them.
4.       Place all the ragi or finger-millets in a piece of cotton cloth and tie them tightly and let them remain for 8-9 hours. (warmer the climate, shorter is the time required)
5.       Small sprouts will start appearing on the tips of the ragi or finger millets. These sprouts grow big with time.
6.       Spread the whole quantity of ragi or finger-millets on a cloth and let it dry or you can even fry them mildly without oil (zero oil) to get millets dried.

The sprouted ragi or sprouted finger-millets are ready for use. You can grind / mixer the desired quantity of millets as and when required for your daily usage or cooking.

Thalipeeth (Multi-Grain Indian Bread)

Thalipeeth, a multi-grain Indian bread. 
Thalipeeth is a very healthy nutritional breakfast that is considered to be good for heart. It is made up of minimum three different types of grains and consumes less oil.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup bajra millet flour or corn meal
  • 1 cut rice flour
  • 2 cups wheat flour
  • 1 cup gram flour
  • 250 gm fresh leaves like methi (fenugreek) or spinach (finely chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger paste
  • 2-3 onion
  • 5-6 green chillies
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seed powder
  • A pinch of asafoetida
  • 1 table spoon coconut powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 2 tablespoon coriander leaves (chopped)
  • Oil for frying
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

Thalipeeth

Cooking Directions:

  1. Mix all the above mentioned quantities of flours in a dry pan and roast the flour mixture for about 2 to 3 minutes and then cool it.
  2. Now add 2 tablespoons of oil, dry spices, grated coconut, salt, sugar and fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves and mix well. Adding lukewarm water slowly to the mixture, knead the mixture into a dough. Cover the dough and leave it idle for 15 minutes.
  3. Take a small ball of dough and pat it into a flat-rounded chapati like shape. 
  4. Place the flat-rounded chapati like thalipeeth on a hot oil greased griddle (tawa).
  5. If interested, press some onion rings and green chillies on to the top of the thalipeeth.
  6. Add drops of oil to the edges of the thalipeeth.
  7. Cover the thalipeeth with a plate and leave it on a low flame to be cooked for a minute. 
  8. Apply drops of oil on the upper side of the thalipeeth and turn it over. 
  9. Repeat the steps 6, 7 & 8 until the thalipeeth turns golden brown on both sides.
The healthy and tasty Thalipeeth is ready. Place little butter on it before serving. It can be served hot with raitha or green chutney. Sauce is also a good option.

Monday 19 January 2015

Ragi Porridge or Finger-Millet Porridge

Ragi or Finger Millets:

The millets falls under the category of cereal crops or grains widely cultivated worldwide for food and dried hay. Finger Millet or Ragi do fall under the same category.
In India Finger Millets or Ragi are also called as ragi (in Kannada, Telugu and Hindi), Taidalu (in Telangana region), Mandia (Oriya), Kodra (Himachal Pradesh),  Ariyam(Tamil) and so on.

Ragi or Finger Millet
Finger-Millet or Ragi

Nutritional Values of Ragi / Finger Millets: 

Research on finger-millets or ragi have proven that they have excellent amounts of Iron, Calcium, complex protein,Vitamin B (B6), Phosphorus, Magnesium and Potassium.
These millets are considered to be a very good nutritious diet supplement for babies or infants from the age of 5+ months in the form of a porridge.
Pediatricians today are more towards recommending finger-millet or ragi based food for infants because of its high nutritional values, high in iron and calcium.


Ragi Porridge or Finger-Millet Porridge

Ingredients:
Cooking Directions:
  1. Boil 150ml (3/4 cup) of water
  2. Mix 2 tea spoons of sprouted ragi powder in 50ml (1/4 cup) of cold water separately. This is done to avoid formation of lumps that develops if the powder is added directly to the boiling water.
  3. Add the above prepared ragi solution to the boiling water and stir it simultaneously. (Make sure to keep the flame low through out)
  4. Keep stirring the porridge slowly until it gets closer so as to match the porridge consistency.
  5. Take the porridge into a baby bowl and feed the infant subsiding the heat.

Variations or Alterations:

If needed, we can add jaggery to the porridge as per taste. Never use sugar for Ragi Porridge, as it causes cold to the infants.
Butter or ghee can also be added as per taste, if needed.


NOTE: Never use Ragi flour or powder available in market for infants. Better prepare Ragi flour at home. It is a very simple process.