Vankaaya Masala

This dish is from rayalaseema part of Andhra , they make this dish for spl occasions like festivals.The combination of Lemon rice with bengan masala its yummy. Its my all time fav food,This dish I had first time in my friends place her mom makes so good I have no words to express. The lemon rice which is served with the masala bengan is not the one we all generally make ,this is siletly diff from the original one.

TO make this lemon rice we need:

2 cups cooked plain rice.
3-4 green chillies chrushed almost to a paste.
1/2 tspn mustard seeds.
1/2 tspn bengal gram dhaal(chanaga pappu).
pinch of hing.
pinch of turmeric powder.
salt to taste.
curry leaves.
1 tbspn oil.
very light lemon juice 2tspns.

Make a seasoning of all the ingredients except rice and mix well with the rice.

Now here is the main dish vankaaya masala.

Ingredients:

1 pound brinjals sliced into 2 inch pcs.
2 small onion sliced.
2 tomatos sliced.
1 potato sliced.
1/2 cup grated fresh coconut.
1 tspn garam masala powder.
1 tspn red chilli powder.
1/4 tspn turmeric powder.
1 tspn mixed mustard/jeera/menthi
salt to taste.
2 crushed garlic.
curry leaves.
oil to cook.
fresh coriander to garnish.

Method:

Take a sauce pan and heat the oil when the oil is warm enough add the mustard/jeera/methi and wait till the crack,later add curry leaves. Now we can add the sliced onion and fry till light golden brown.Then add brinjal sliced and add salt (when ever we cook brinjal,its good to add salt as soon as we add the brinjals to the saute pan,this way we can prevent the brinjals from getting black)wait till the brinjals are half cooked later add tomato's sliced and potato sliced pcs and cook for a few mnts.Now its time to add the rest of the masala the fresh grated coconut,red chillie powder,turmeric powder,crushed garlic,garam masala,and fry well till the aroma comes out add little water to make it gravy. when its cooked remove and change to the serving container and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

This dish goes well with any kind of rice items or roti,kulcha,parathas. 

MUSHROOM MAHARAJA/MAHARANI:)

Like the name of this curry, the curry is rich in taste, I had this version of mushroom curry in a restaurant in Canada I could not stop myself from asking the cook for the recipe, And here is the result in front of u.Now in kids list this is one of their fav I don’t need to call them for dinner or lunch by the time I set my table I see them sitting like good kids. Like my kids I feel u all will enjoy this curry

INGREDEINTS:
Mushrooms 2 lb.
2 onions sliced and half fried.
1 tomato boiled.
2 tspn sea same seeds.
2-tspn kajju (cashews).
1 tspn ginger garlic paste.
½ tspn garam masala powder.
1 tspn red chilli powder.
¼ tspn turmeric powder.
Salt to taste.
Curry leaves.
½ tspn shahjeera (it looks like jeera cumin family).
Oil.
Fresh coriander for garnish.
Before u start making the curry we have to get prepared with some grinding things here are they. First cut the onion and fry them using very little oil until half cooked to avoid the raw smell from onions. And by frying the onion before making the paste the curry will have rich gravy.

Secondly boil the tomato before u make the paste. When the onions are fried and tomato boiled u ready to grind the paste for the curry.

To make the paste we need fried onion, boiled tomato, seasame seeds, kajju, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, salt to taste, blend all these ingredients together and make a paste like this.

METHOD:
Here comes the final part of how to make this dish. First take a sauce pan and add 1 tblsn oil and warm it, when the oil starts sparkling then add shahjeera and when the shahjeera starts cracking add curry leaves and fry for a second, later add the paste which we made grinding all the ingredients and fry for a minute later add ginger garlic paste and fry nicely until the gravy leaves oil in the sides. When the gravy is finely cooked add the mushrooms (In this dish they use whole mushrooms as my kids like cut mushrooms I used sliced mushrooms) and mix well with the gravy and cook, when u add the mushrooms u can see how thick the gravy is, if u want to make it more gravy type add some water to it and let it cook well until the mushrooms are cooked. Later remove in the serving dish and garnish the dish with fresh coriander.

This dish goes well with fried rice, plain rice or roti, kulcha, Nan any type.

BEANS CURRY

This curry was served in one of my friends party it was yummy so I wanted to try this recipe for sure, today I tried this same as she did it ,it has come out great , I would like
to share with all.


INGREDEINTS:

Oil for poppu/tadka/for tempering
6 cups fresh beans, chopped into bits.
1 tspn. Mustard seeds.
¼ tspn fennel seeds.
Few curry leaves.
2 bay leaves.
4 tomatoes chopped.
2 onions, chopped.
¼ tspn turmeric powder.
½ tspn red chili powder.
1 tspn garam masala powder.
1 tspn ginger/garlic paste.
1-2 tspn salt( according to taste).
Fresh coriander springs, chopped.


METHOD:

Heat oil in a sauce pan, when the oil is warm enough, add mustard and fennel seeds. When mustard seeds begin to pop, add onions and bay leaves. When onion turn light brown, add ginger/garlic paste, after few minutes add turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala powder. Wait until a spicy flavor emanates from the pot. Then stir in the cut beans, curry leaves, cut tomatoes, and salt and mix well, Later add enough water and cook over medium heat covered. When the beans are soft, remove from the heat. If you like you may add some more water to obtain the desired consistency. Adjust salt according to taste. Garnish with coriander before serving.

Serve hot with plain rice or any kind of fried rice or rotis.

Variation: Instead of tomatoes, you can use tamarind juice or you can also use dried mango powder/amchoor powder .


This receipe is for Anthony's curry mela.