Tomato Avvakai with sundried tomatos

Ingredients:

1. Sun-dried tomatoes: 100gms
2. tamarind: 25gms
3. salt: 4 tbsp.
4. waragal bamboo mirch powder: 3 tbsp
5. roasted mustard seeds powder: 3 tbsp
6. roasted fenugreek seeds powder: 2tbsp
7. oil: 5 tbsp
8. Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
9. Red chillies: 4
10. Hing: 1/2 tsp

Procedure:
1. Soak the tamarind, remove the fibre and seeds.
2. Grind tomatoes with tamarind and salt.
3. Add the mirch powder, mustard powder, fenugreek powder.
4. Mix well till all the powders are completely blemd.
5. Heat oil and season with mustard seeds, red chillies and Hing.
 Serve with hot rice and generous amount of ghee.

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.

Pav Bhaji

INGREDIENTS
Potatoes, boiled and mashed 4 medium
Tomatoes, chopped 4 medium
Onions, chopped 2 medium
Green capsicum, chopped 1 medium
Carrot, grated 1 small
Green peas, shelled 1/4 cup
Ginger, chopped 1 inch piece
Garlic 3 cloves
Oil 3 tablespoons
Green chillies, chopped 4
Pav bhaji masala 1 1/2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Butter 3 tablespoons
Pav 12
Lemons, cut into wedges 2

METHOD
1. Boil green peas in salted water till soft, drain, mash lightly and set aside. Grind ginger and garlic to a fine paste.
2.Heat oil in a pan and add three fourth quantity of onions. Sauté till light brown. Add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste. Stir-fry for half a minute.
3. Add half the quantity of tomatoes and cook on medium heat for three to four minutes, stirring continuously or till oil separates from the masala. Add capsicum, mashed peas, cauliflower, potatoes and one and half cups of water.
4. Bring it to a boil and simmer for ten minutes, pressing with back of the spoon a few times, till all the vegetables are completely mashed.
5.Add Pavbhaji Masala, salt and remaining tomatoes. Cook on medium heat for two minutes, stirring continuously.
6. Heat half of the butter in a thick-bottomed pan or a tawa. Slice pav horizontally into two and pan fry in butter for half a minute, pressing two or three times or till pav is crisp and light brown.
7. Garnish the bhaji with chopped coriander leaves, remaining butter and serve hot with pav accompanied with remaining chopped onion and lemon wedges.

Burger with Vegetable patty

Ingredients:

Burgers --- 8 pieces
Potatoes --- 3 big
Carrots --- 4 big
Salt --- to taste
Green Chilies --- 3 medium
Pepper (Black or White) --- ¾ tsp
Grated Cheese --- 2 tblsn
Rusks --- 1 piece (when powdered 2 ½ tblsn)
Ghee --- ½ tsp
Oil --- to fry patties
Cucumber --- 1
Tomatoes --- 2
Onion --- ¼ (optional)

Process:

Peel the skin of 3 potatoes and 4 carrots. Boil them (don’t chop them) in pressure cooker by adding water and enough salt to it. Keep it for 5 whistles. Wait till the pressure goes off. Drain the water. Pat dry with a paper towel. Chop them to small pieces and mash them coarsely. Keep them aside.
In the meanwhile, slit 3 green chilies vertically and chop them to tiny pieces. Make a fine powder from rusks.

Now, mix all of them mashed potatoes & carrots, green chilies, ¾ tsp of pepper, 3 tblsn of cheese, powdered rusks and adjust salt to it.

Pre-heat oven at bake & 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take a aluminum foil. Grease the foil with ghee. Divide mashed one into 8 portions. Make a ball with each portion. Place it on the foil. Make a patty. Do the same for all the rest. When the light of oven off’s keep the foil carefully on the grill of the oven. Keep for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven. Let them cool. (This step is optional. If you can fry the patties directly on the griddle … you can skip this step.)
Make a thin slices of cucumber, onion & tomatoes.

Heat griddle. Grease the griddle with butter. Shallow fry the inner side of the burgers. Do for all the rest of the burgers.
Now fry the patties with oil on both the sides. If you are comfortable with frying the patties directly on the griddle you can avoid the oven step.

Place the fried patty on the bottom slice of the burger. Place the onion, cucumber & tomato slices on the patty. Cover it with the upper slice of the burger.

Rhuhbab Dal

Ingredients:
1. Rhubarb stalks: 4.
2. Toor Dal/ Red gram dal: 1 cup.
3. Urad dal/ blackgram dal: 2 tsp.
4. Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.
5. Jeera: 1 tsp.
6. Hing: 1 pinch.
7. Salt: as per taste.
8. Turmeric: 1/2 tsp.
9. Chilli powder: 1 tsp.
10. Green chillies: 1.
11. Ginger: 1 ".
12. Oil: 2 tsp

Procedure:
1. Cook dal in pressure cooker for 3 whistles or till its cooked completely.
2. Chop green chillies, ginger very fine.
3. Chop Rhubarb  1/2 inch peices.
4. Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok and add Urad dal, mustard seeds, Jeera.
5. After they sputter add hing, turmeric and green chillies and ginger.
6. Add Rhubard peices let they cook for 5 mins with lid closed.
7. Add the cooked dal and salt and close the lid for 5 mins.
8. Garnish with coriander or mint.