Mango-coconut Burfi

Ingredients:
1. 2 Cups desiccated Coconut/ Coconut Powder*
2. 3/4 Cup sweetened Mango Pulp
3. 1/4 Cup sweetened Evaporated Milk
4. 1 tsp Butter/ Ghee
5. 1 tsp Cardamom Powder
6. 1/2 cup Sugar

*Coconut powder is the one which is of flaky variety or coarse and not completely powdered ones.. If using freshly grated ones, dry roast it till all the moisture evaporates and powder it coarsely..

Recipe:
1. Take a wide microwave safe bowl and add the desiccated coconut, mango pulp, evaporated milk,butter and cardamom powder.
2. Mix well with a spatula till everything combines together.
3. Microwave on HIGH / MAX for 3 mins.
4. Remove and give a good mix.
5. Repeat the same  2 to 3 times more till everything mixes well and you get a soft but well combined mixture..
Note: Total microwave time is 15 mins taking break and mixing every 3 mins.
6. Grease the try to pour the mixture and pour when still warm and let it cool.
7. If needed put the tray into fridge to make burfi dry.
8. Cut into required shapes and serve with garnished mango pulp and serve.

Gutti Vankaaya Kura (Stuffed Brinjal Curry)

Dry roast:

1 cup peanuts - roast them, when they are cooled, rub and remove the skins
1 cup sesame seeds - dry roast them
8 to 10 dried red chillies
One tablespoon of coriander seeds
Half teaspoon of cumin
4 cloves, one small piece of cinnamon stick
5 to 6 fenugreek seeds (menthulu)(They taste bitter so limit the number)
1 teaspoon of salt
Tamarind
Soak key-lime size tamarind in half cup of water and microwave it for about 15 to 30 seconds. Let the water cool down and squeeze the tamarind to get the paste.

Make a tight paste: Grind all of the above ingredients to a fine, smooth paste. You have to stuff this paste into brinjals so while grinding, under any circumstances, do not add water. Take this paste onto a plate and divide it into two portions. One is for stuffing and the other half is for sauce/gravy.
Thoroughly wash and dry the green brinjals. Even the freshest ones are not so fresh here, so I depart from the norm and remove the stems of brinjals. If you want, keep the stems. Take each green brinjal and on the end, opposite of stem, make a plus shape slit towards stem side but not all the way through (one vertical and one horizontal slit).
Fill up the plus shape slit (gap) with stuffing. Using your left hand fingers separate the quarters gently, push the stuffing inside with right hand fingers, again gently. Filling up all the slit green brinjals takes time, so have a seat, keep the stuffing and brinjals in front of you. Do it patiently and slowly without breaking the beautiful brinjals. If you do, you won’t get a bouquet but only the petals.:)- So have patience and treat them like a fragile art project.
Cooking:
How I cook them again is different from that of home. Here I use a pressure cooker. What? I know.. my method may be new to you but the results are way better. Pressure cooker makes it fast with less oil and the green brinjals are cooked thoroughly, you can’t find not one hard uncooked piece of brinjal, cooked in this way.
Do the popu or tadka(toasting the black mustard seeds and cumin in one teaspoon of oil). Add half of the peanut-sesame paste that was kept aside and half to one glass of water and one teaspoon of turmeric. Mix them up thoroughly without any lumps. Make the gravy/sauce more on the thin side or watery. Taste it, add salt, red chilli powder and tamarind paste if needed. I also add jaggery, very tiny amount to the gravy (making it mildly sweet). Arrange the stuffed brinjals neatly in the gravy, slit side up. Cover and cook them until the green brinjals are very tender to touch.
I pressure-cook them until one whistle on medium low heat. After the whistle sound, I immediately and slowly release the pressure from the valve by lifting the weight. Resulting in very wholesome, thoroughly cooked stuffed green brinjals.
To serve, with a big spoon gently lift the stuffed brinjals, place them on a plate and pour the sauce around. Tastes great with rice or roti.

Guttivankaaya recipe 2 (Simple version)

Ingredients:
1. 2 tbsp chana dal
2. 2 tsp urad dal
3. 3 red chillies
4. 1 tbsp jeera
5. 2 tbsp coriander seeds
6. 2 garlic pods
7. 1 tbsp ghee
8. 2 tbsp water
9. 2 tsp salt
10. 3 tbsp oil.
11. 1/2 kg brinjals.

Procedure:
1. Heat a pan and heat 1 tbsp oil and fry chanadal, urad dal, red chillies, jeera, coriander seeds, garlic pods.
2. Let the dals cool and grind into soft powder adding salt.
3. Add 1 tbsp ghee and 2 tbsp water to the powder and make smooth paste.
4. Cut the slit the brinjals and fill the paste evenly into all of them.
5. Heat a thick bottom pan or cooker and add remaining oil.
6. Add each brinjal in the pan slowly and let it fry in each side by changing sides regularly.
7. Once all the sides are fried enough put the lid and let it cook till all the brinjals cook completely approximately will take 20 mins.
Serve with hot rice.