Some recipes are very down to earth simple, yet they can't be made to perfection. The flavor, taste, texture and conversation that's etched in the memory can never be achieved especially when you are trying your grandmothers' creations. Gurgutya bhaat is one such simple soft rice recipe. It needs grandmother's touch to achieve the perfection. Still, I attempted it here thinking about my loving grandmothers.

Gurgutya Bhaat

Super Soft Rice

Ingredients

1 cup rice

1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds

6 cups water

salt to taste

Suggested Accompaniments

Limbache Goad LoNche

Metkoot (Recipe coming soon)

Toop/Ghee/Clarified Butter

Papad

Yogurt

Method

1. Soak rice & fenugreek seeds in water for at least 30 minutes. Drain.

2. Bring water to boil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add salt. Lower the gas.

3. Add drained rice and seeds.

4. Let it cook on a low flame till all the water is absorbed.

5. Switch off the gas. Cover tightly with a lid.

Note -

1. Rice to water ratio is intentionally kept high. However, the consistency shouldn't be watery. It should have soft porridge like texture.

2. The suggested accompaniments are actually "must have" accompaniments to enjoy this delicacy.

Yesterday lunch was this quick Shrimp fried rice which i prepared with already cooked rice with shrimps, green peas,french beans and carrots which i finally cooked everything with mixture of chinese sauces, this easy shrimp fried rice suits prefectly for a lunch box menu and a real feast for shrimps or seafood lovers..For the vegetarian version of this fried rice, just skip the shrimp part else u can follow the same way to prepare the vegetarian or vegetable fried rice...I do fried rice often to finish if they are some leftover veggies in my fridge and everyone at home love this sort of quick,easy,filling as well as healthy fried rice with any sort of side dishes or simply with ketchup..

Ingredients:

• 2cups Cooked Basmati Rice
• 1no Carrot (chopped)
• 1/2cup Chopped french beans
• 1/2cup Green peas
• 1cup Shrimps (i used the frozen cleaned shrimps)
• 1tbsp Ginger (minced)
• 1tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1tbsp Tomato sauce
• 2tbsp Soya sauce
• 1tbsp Chilli-garlic sauce
• 1tsp Rice Vinegar
• 1/2tsp White pepper powder
• 3tbsp Sesame oil
• 5nos White onions+2tbsp chopped green onions
• Salt

Method:

Heat the sesame oil in a large pan or in a wok, add the minced ginger pieces and chopped white onions n saute for few seconds, add immediately the shrimps ,cook for few minutes and now add all the chopped veggies saute for few minutes, meanwhile combine all the sauces in a vessel and mix everything well, keep aside...once the veggies and the shrimps are bit cooked, immediately add the sauces with enough salt and stir gently for 3 minutes, add the already cooked rice and toss gently everything for few minutes..add the white pepper, chopped green onions and toss again gently...

Serve hot with any sort of hot and spicy side dish!!! Enjoy the flavourful fried rice!!!

When i was kid, my mom used to make out many dishes with raw bananas, one among those dishes is raw banana podimass, i love this podimass with anything even sometimes with chappathis, just love them..I bought this weekend those green raw bananas from Indian groceries and i want to make out some crispy pakodas with raw bananas as well as some podimas, while making out this raw banana podimas my mind went on searching to turn out this simple podimas as something more healthy and i dont want to add grated coconut which my mom used to add to this podimas, instead of adding coconuts i turned this delicious podimas as healthier by adding oats to the cooking veggies, which turned this podimass more tasty and healthy...Simple side dish but yet healthier than usual way of preparing this podimas...

Ingredients:

• 2nos Raw bananas (pressure cooked & smashed)
• 1no Onion
• 1/4cup Oats
• 1tsp Ginger (chopped finely)
• 2nos Green chillies (chopped)
• 1/4tsp Turmeric powder
• 1/2tsp Mustard seeds&urad dal
• 1/2tsp Channa dal
• 1no Dry red chillies
• Curry leaves
• Salt
• Oil

Method:
Heat enough oil and let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal and dry red chillies, add now the chopped onions, chopped green chillies and chopped ginger, saute everything well until the onions turns transculent, add immediately the turmeric powder, smashed raw banana pieces, salt and curry leaves ,springle some water and cook everything in simmer for few minutes, finally add the oats and cook everything until the veggies get well cooked..

Ragda.

Ragda is a popular Indian street food made with dried yellow peas. It is generally paired with potato patties for “ragda patties” or with samosa for “ragda samosa” etc. Yellow peas are pressure cooked till soft but not mushy. A gravy is prepared with onion and tomato and the peas are cooked in it to finish it off.
Makes: around 2 Cups of Ragda.

Ingredients:

• Dry Yellow Peas 1 Cup
• Onion 1
• Cashews 4
• Tomato 2
• Garam Masala 1/2 tsp
• Red Chile Powder 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder a big Pinch
• Cilantro for garnish
• Salt to taste
• Oil 3 tsps

Method of preparation:

Soak yellow peas in water overnight or for 6 – 8 hrs.
Refresh the soaked yellow peas with fresh water.
Pour fresh water to just submerge the yellow peas and pressure cook them with salt for 3 – 4 whistles.

Peel and slice the onion.
Wash and finely chop the tomato.
Wash and finely chop cilantro leaves.

Heat a tsp of oil in a pan, add sliced onion.
Fry till onion turns translucent, add cashews.
Fry till onion turns light brown around the edges, remove from heat.
Cool them to room temperature and grind the onion and cashews into smooth paste along with a tbsp of cooked peas using sufficient water.

Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan, add cumin seeds.
Add chopped tomato and cook till it softens.
Then stir in garam masala, red chile powder, turmeric powder and salt.
Add ground onion cashew paste, cooked yellow peas and a cup of water.
Boil till peas mixture thickens a bit.
Remove the radga onto a bowl, add lemon juice.
Garnish with chopped onion, chopped tomato and cilantro and serve ragda.
Notes: Make sure yellow peas are soft and cooked well before adding to the pan.

Suggestions: If the peas are not cooked properly, boil them separately by adding half a cup of water till they are soft.
Variations: You can add just green chiles for spice and no red color. Ginger garlic paste can also be added to the pan along with cumin seeds.
Other Names: Ragda.

Anything with eggs are our family's favourite, whenever i feel like bore to cook i usually go for simple baked version of omelette which hardly needs 15minutes to bake and its really easy to serve immediately a slice of this baked omelettes with some salads or with toasted breads, after making out this baked version of omelettes with mushrooms, potatoes and carottes, i want to make out some gravy with this delicious baked omelettes and prepared them as gravy /kuzhambu with tamarind extract..This gravy with this baked omelettes cubes tastes really fantastic and also easy to cook, when served with hot steaming rice and papads this baked egg omelette gravy tastes absolutely divine and delicious...

For Omelettes:

• 5nos Eggs
• 1/4tsp Pepper powder
• 1/2cup Chopped onions
• Salt

Whisk the eggs with pepper powder,chopped onions, salt..Preheat the oven to 350F..Pour this egg mixture to a cake mould and bake for 15minutes..once cooked and cooled, slice the baked egg omelette as small cubes..

For Gravy:

• 2cups Tamarind extract
• 15nos Shallots
• 1no Tomatoes (chopped)
• 1tsp Red chilly powder
• 2tsp Coriander powder
• 1/4tsp Mustard seeds
• 1/2tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/2tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 5nos Curry leaves
• Salt
• Oil

Method:

Heat the oil and let splutters the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds...add immediately the shallots,curry leaves and chopped potatoes, cook until the shallots turns transculent, meanwhile mix the red chilly powder,salt and coriander powder to the tamarind extract..Once the shallots turns transculent, add this spiced tamarind extract and cook until the oil get separates...

Now add the already prepared baked cubed omelettes to the cooking gravy and put off the stove..let them sit for atleast 10minutes..

Serve with hot rice and papads!!

Bajji Pappu.

Puffed rice mixture is quite famous chaat all over India. In this Andhra version of puffed rice mixture / maramarala mixture, puffed rice is tossed with a cooked spicy yellow peas gravy along with freshly chopped onion and tomato for freshness and crunch. The puffed rice chaat is spicy and mouthwatering and served instantly.
Makes: around 2 1/2 Cups of Masala Puffed Rice Mixture.

Ingredients:

• Puffed Rice 2 Cups
• Onion 1 Small
• Tomato 1 Large
• Green Chiles 1
• Cilantro a handful Leaves
• Lemon Juice 1/2 tsp
• Roasted Peanuts 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Masala:

• Cooked Yellow Peas 2 tbsps
• Cloves 1
• Cinnamon 1/2 inch Stick
• Star Anise 1/4 inch Piece
• Whole Red Chiles 1 – 2
• Onion 1/2 of Small One
• Besan / Gram Flour 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil 1/2 tsp

Method of preparation:

Peel and finely chop the onion.
Wash and finely chop the tomato.
Remove stems, wash and finely chop the green chiles.
Clean, wash and finely chop the cilantro leaves.
Add few tablespoons of water to the besan and mix well without any lumps.
Keep it aside as a thickening agent.

Heat oil in a pan, add cloves, cinnamon, star anise and red chiles.
Fry for few seconds or until aromatic, add chopped onion.
Fry till onion turns translucent.
Cool all the ingredients to room temperature and grind them into fine paste adding enough water.

Heat a sauce pot on medium flame, add cooked yellow, and ground masala paste and salt.
Add quarter cup of water and boil for 5 – 10 minutes.
Stir in the besan mixture and cook for a minute or two.
Remove from heat and cool the masala mixture to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl, add puffed rice, chopped onion, tomato, green chiles, cilantro, lemon juice, roasted peanuts and masala mixture.
Mix everything together with hands while lightly squeezing the puffed rice.
Taste and adjust the salt if necessary.
Instantly serve masala puffed rice mixture as a chaat.
Notes: Make sure to serve the masala puffed rice mixture immediately, else it turns soggy.

Suggestions: Add few pinches of red chile powder to the puffed rice for spice.
Variations: You can also crumble some plantain fritters or green chile fritters if you wish.
Other Names: Maramarala Mixture, Bajji Pappu, Spicy Mamra Chaat, Andhra Puffed Rice Chaat.

Ingredients :-

• Plantain(arati kaya) - 1/4 kg
• Onion - 1 big (finally Chopped)
• green chillies - 2 (split into four)
• ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• chana dal - 1 tsp
• urad dal - 1 tsp
• curry leaves
• salt
• oil

Preparation Method :

Wash and peel the plantain and cut into cubes.
Heat oil in a bowl ,add mustard seeds,cumin seeds,chana dal,urad dal and fry until they turn light brown.
Add Onions and green chillies and fry them till salute the onions.
Now add plantain pieces , turmeric powder , salt and ginger garlic paste and cook untill plantains pieces become soft.
Add red chillie powder and cook for another 2 minutes, turn off the stove.
Serve hot with rice or sambar rice

Ingredients :

• dal - 1 cup
• methi leaves - 1 cup
• tomato - 1 big
• red chilli powder - 1tsp
• green chillies - 2

For Seasoning

• cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• urad dal - 1/2 tsp
• garlic - 3 (curshed)
• curry leaves - 3

Preparation Method :

Cook dal in presure cooker upto 2 or 3 whistles.
Heat oil in a kadai add cumin, mustard seeds and urad dal.
When they started spluttering add crushed garlic and curry leaves and fry till golden brown color.
Add tomatoes and menthi leaves and cook untill raw smell is off.
add salt , turmeric powder and red chilli powder cook for 2 minutes.
Now add dal and cook for anther 2 minutes.

Ready to serve with roti or rice.

Ingrediants :

Coriander seeds(daniya) - 1cup
cumin seeds(jeera) - 1/4 cup
fenugreek seeds(menthulu) - 1 tsp
Urad dal(minapa pappu) - 1/4 cup
toor dal(kandi pappu) - 1/4 cup
chana dal(chanaga pappu) - 1/4 cup
Asfoetida (inguva) - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 5-10
Dry coconut powder - 1 tbsp (optional)

Preparation Method :

Dry roast the bengal gram along with Coriander seeds and red chillies.Make sure they dont burn.

Once the aroma starts wafting and follows you around the house (;-)) add the asafoetida and roast somemore until it turns reddish golden in color.
Cool a bit and in a completely dry processor grind it into a powder.

Store it in an air tight container. This stays fresh and comes for months depending upon your message. This whole process end-to end takes up maximum about 20min. So what are you waiting for? Just prepare fresh Sambar right now and enjoy

Ingredients:

• rice - 500 gm
• asafoetida(inguva) - 1 pinch
• fenugreek powder(menthi pindi) - 1 pinch

Ingredients for tamarind paste:

• tamarind - 500 gm
• green chillies - 3 - 4
• turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• salt to taste

Ingredients for Tempering:

• oil - 2 tsp
• mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• urad dal - 1 tsp
• bengal gram - 1 tsp
• ground nuts - 2 tbsp
• curry leaves - 1 spring
• red chillies - 2-3

Preparation Method:

Wash and soak rice for 15-20 min and cook the rice.
Prepare tamarind juice by soaking the tamarind in 2 cups of water.
Boil the tamarind juice along with the turmeric powder, green chillies and salt till the consistency becomes a thick paste.
Heat oil in a pan.
Add mustard seeds, urad dal, bengal gram, ground nuts, curry leaves and red chillies.
Add the above seasoning, asafoetida and fenugreek powder to the cooked rice and mix well.
Serve it