Idli Upma

This is a very common morning snack in most Andhra households. The premise is to make last night’s leftovers into a fresh dish, without too much effort.

Idli Upma

Idli is one of the most favoured breakfast and dinner dishes. Its light, and yet filling, and versatile, allowing for any kind of accompaniment – sambhar, podi or chutney.However, sometimes we are left with last night’s idli, and don’t know what to do with it. The best thing to do would be “upma“!

Ingredients:

• leftover idlis (5-6)
• 3 green chillies
• turmeric
• pinch of salt (idlis already have salt in them)
• curry leaves
• juice of 1 lemon
• tadka: aavalu(mustard seeds), senaga pappu (bengal gram) and dry red chilli

Method:

• In a large wok, heat a little oil and add the tadka.
• At the same time, crush the idlis by hand making it dry and crumbly
• once the tadka starts popping, add the chopped green chillies and let them fry in the oil for about 3-4 seconds
• add  the crushed idli and curry leaves and add turmeric. Add a pinch of salt to settle the flavours
• Mix well. You may splash a bit of water to help with the mixing.
• Keep stirring constantly to prevent if from sticking to the wok. After 1 minute take off from the flame and add the lemon juice.
• Mix well, set lid and set aside for 2 minutes before serving
• Setting it aside will allow the lemon flavour to mix well with the upma.

Serve hot, and watch your family enjoy this quick and tasty breakfast!

 

Aavadalu (Perugu Vada)

This is a much-loved Andhra tiffin item. It is served at least once during weddings and other functions, as well as made at home during festivals. And sometimes, just for the sake of it! 🙂

Perugu Vada along with normal Vada

Recently we decided to make it at home, just-for-the-sake being the reason! And that my parents were around, and we wanted to have something special for them.

The preparation for this particular needs a lot of planning, and cannot be made at the spur of the moment. There are 2 components for this dish: the vada and the curds/yoghurt.

The yoghurt needs to be sweet i.e. freshly set. Even a slight sourness would spoil the final result. So it is important to set the curds early in the morning, so that it’s ready by the time of making the vadas.

Ingredients:

• 2ltrs curds/yoghurt
• 2.5cups of urad dal (preferably whole/gola dal)
• handful of green chillies
• 1.5inch piece of ginger
• salt to taste
• turmeric to taste
• curry leaves and coriander for garnishing
• Oil for deep frying
• Tadka: aavalu (mustard seeds) and jeera (cumin)

Method:

• Preparation for Vada:
  • Soak the urad dal for 3 hours, remove all water and then grind to a thick batter.
  • Add small amounts of water to help grinding, if needed.
  • Keep the batter for the vada refrigerated for a couple of hours before using. This will prevent the vadas from soaking too much oil.
• Preparation of the yoghurt:
  • Add salt, turmeric, curry leaves, coriander, chopped ginger and green chillies and mix well
  • fry the tadka in 1tsp oil. Once the aavalu start popping, add to the yoghurt and set aside
• Making the Vadas:
  • Heat a large wok with oil enough for deep-frying. Set to medium heat, and ensure the oil is well heated.
  • Keep a sheet of plastic (an empty milk packet will do) and a basin of water at hand
  • Make the sheet slightly wet by passing your wet hand over it.
  • Then take a small amount of vada batter and spread into a circle over the wet patch
  • Be careful that your hand is wet at all times, but that you are not adding more water to the batter.
  • Gently lift the sheet and transfer the flat circle of vada batter onto your hand, and transfer to the oil.
    • This is the difficult part, and comes only with practice.
  • Fry till nicely brown-ed and removed from the oil into a basin for cooling.
  • transfer to yoghurt when cooled and turn over so that it is coated with yoghurt properly.

Set aside when done for a few hours. Once the yoghurt seeps into the vadas, the taste of the dish will get enhanced.

This can be had as a snack or dinner, or as a side dish for lunch. Very versatile indeed! 🙂

Aratikaya Pindimiriyam

This particular dish is one of those authentic Andhra dishes that has been forgotten by most people. For whatever reason, most families do not make this any more. Indeed, most people have forgotten this dish completely!

The use of pepper in this dish is very unusual in Andhra cooking. Most of our dishes are filled with chilli (green or dried red), and pepper is usually restricted to rasam, and as an added flavour to some rice dishes such as katte-pongali.

Aratikaya Pindimiriyam

Ingredients:

1 large aratikaya (plantain/ raw banana)
2 tsp Coriander seeds (dhaniyalu)
2tsp Chana dal (senaga pappu)
3tsp pepper (miriyalu)
1/2tsp urad dal
1tsp rice
1 cup grated coconut
4-5 dried red chillies
lime-sized ball of tamarind
3/4th cup of toor dal

Tadka:
mustard seeds, urad dal

Method:

• Peel, chop and boil the aratikaya, and set aside
• Cook the toor dal, add 1tsp salt & 1/4 tsp turmeric and keep aside
• lightly roast the dhaniyalu, chana dal, pepper, red chillies, urad dal & rice
• grind together with the tamarind and grated coconut
• Mix the resultant mixture with the dal and aratikaya.
• You can add in a pinch of hing, curry leaves and coriander for added flavour.
• Roast the tadka in a small wok with 1 tsp oil and add to the pindimiriyam.
• Cook till done. This isn’t very difficult to figure out. The room will fill with the rich smell of the pindimiriyam.

Serve hot, with rice.

Related Article:

• Pindimiriyam