"Beans salsa" sounds healthy right? Yes!! it is a very healthy snack and also can be very light meal anytime. It is also good for those who are trying hard to reduce all that extra fat. Unlike using any of sauce in salsa, I made this giving like spice touch. Its simple to prepare any enjoy anytime. If you have less patience or no time or want to eat healthy , then you are at right destination. Lets see the preapration.......

Ingredients:

1. Black Eye Beans (Alasandalu) 1 cup
2. Tomato medium sized 1
3. Black pepper 1/4 tsp
4. Dry Red chillies 2
5. Onion 1 medium sized (or half if it is big one)
6. Tamarind Juice 1tbsp(thick juice --I used one which we use to pake pulusu pulihora) or( 2 tsp lime juice)
7. Fresh Cilantro 1 tbsp

Method:

• Soak beans over night. Wash next day in cold water and pressure cook with little salt upto two whistels.
• Drain any water and allow to cool down.
• Meanwhile, cut onions and tomatoes into small pieces and set aside separately.
• Take beans in a large bowl. Crush red chillies and mix with beans.
• Also mix tamarind juice or lime juice and refrigerate for 1/2 hr.
• Just before serving, remove and mix with tomatoes, onions, cilantro and desired pepper and salt.

Note: Beans can be substituted with any kind of other means or murmura (puffed rice). Red chillies instead of green chillies really got that spice I needed in my dish. You can always vary salt and spice according to your taste. So enjoy this simple diet.

Labels: alasandalu, black eye beans, chaat, salsa

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments

• 1.6 to 2 lbs fish ( I used King Salmon here. This taste little sweet compare to cat fish)
• 2 big tomotoes ot 3 medium tomatoes (choose those which can get much juice out of it)
• 2 medium lemon sized Tamarind
• 2 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste
• 2 tsp dry Coconut powder
• 2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 to 3 tsp Sambar powder or Pulusu Powder
• 1big Onion
• 1/4 th tsp Hing powder (Inguvaa)
• Oil for cooking (1 tbsp)
• Salt as required

Method:

1. Clean the fish with salt especially on the skin side. Cut into desired size of pieces. Drain all the water.
2. Marinate fish with salt, turmeric powder and pulusu podi. Coat the mixture to the fish pieces properly. Set aside till all other prepartions are done.
3. Soak tamarind in warm water till it becomes soft. Extract the juice and keep aside.
4. Make puree out of tomatoes. (or elase you can also put tomatoes in hot water for a while. Peel the skin and squeez the juice the juice.)
5. Cut the onions into thin long pieces.
6. Grind ginger, garlic and dry coconut into paste and set aside.
7. Mix tomato puree and tamarind juice to geather. See the taste. If you feel more tamarind juice is necessary than soak again and take juice and mix with this. It is very important step here. As this will make difference in the taste of the gravy.
8. Take a wide and depth pan, so that fishes are not broken and can be turend easily.
9. Heat oil and fry onions till light brown. Add ginger-garlic-coconut paste and fry for few seconds. Now add hing here and fry for few seconds.
10. Add the tomato and tamarind puree and allow to boil. Now add the marinated fish into it. Mix well and close the lid and cook on high heat for 10 minutes.
11. Decrease the heat to medium. Open the lid and turn the fishes very carefully or can mix whole thing by holding the handels.
12. Taste for spice and salt. If you feel you need more add salt and pulusu or sambaar podi little more here . Mix slowly and allow to cook on medium heat for 5 minutes more.
13. Once you think the taste is set, decrease the heat to low for 2 minutes and remove from heat.

Labels: fish curry, nellore chepala pulusu, nellore fish curry, nellur chepala pulusu, nellur fish curry

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is my first post on spice powders (podi) which are widely used in Indian food, especially in South India. Well, Iam glad and happy to start with this spice powder called "Sambaar Podi" since it is widely used in my kitchen. Speciality of this powder is it can be used in preparation of varoius dishes. Following are the list, in which prepartion, I use this powder(podi).

• Sambaar
• Chepala Pulusu
• Vankaaya Pulusu
• Kodi Guddu Pulusu

Apart from above mentioned dishes, you can also use this in some general curries just as an added spicy falvour by reducing the amount of use. Well my next immediate next post is "Nellore Chepala Pulusu" in which this podi is the key ingredient and results in very very tasty curry. When ever we invite our dear guest for dinner or lunch at our home, sambaar will be the one of the compulsory dish among others I prepare. Even if I want to avoid for one time, I can'nt. Beacuse that is the most enjoyed dish by my guest. Thi podi preparation I learned from my mother_in_law. If you prepare once in said amount (below) then it can be used for 3 to 4 times. So lets get into the preparation.

Ingredients:

• 1tbsp Dhaniyaalu (Coriander seeds)
• 1 tsp Menthulu (methi seeds)
• 2 tsp Pachichenaga Pappu (split chenna dal)
• 1 tsp Jilakara (cumin seeds)
• 1/2 tsp Miriyaalu (whole black pepper)
• 12 to 15 no's Endu Nirapakaayalu (dry red chillies)
  

Method:

1. Rosat each one mentioned above separetly till all the raw smell dissapears.
2. Allow to cool them.
3. Grind all togeather to fine powder.

Note: If you want to adjust spice according to your taste, just grind the red chillies separately into powder first. Keep aside. Add this to aother spice powder as much needed. Or else you can add red chilli powder directly in the dish.

Labels: egg pulusu koora, podi, pulusu podi, sambaar, sambaar podi, spice powder

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments