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

 

 

Chilli Cheese Toast

The hunt for a quick and tasty dinner is always on. We are usually ok with the usual dosas, pesarattus and idli as dinner options everyday. Today, however, we wanted something different. The criterion was important: light, tasty, and not Dosa!!!

Chilli Cheese Toast

Since we’d just bought bread, and there was cheese available at home, the latest option became Chilli Cheese Toast! This was, however, made on the tava.

Ingredients:

• 8 slices of Bread
• 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese
• 1tbsp butter
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• capsicum (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Herbs (oregano spice mix) (optional)

Method:

• Apply butter lightly on one side of the bread slices
• Mix the grated cheese, green chillies, salt, pepper and onion
• Spread the mix lightly on the non-buttered side of the bread.
• Top with a light smattering of spice mix if desired.
• Heat a tava on the lowest possible flame, and put the slice with the buttered side facing down
• Cover the slice with a domed lid and cook till the buttered side is done AND the cheese on top has melted.

The only problem I faced here was that the onion really doesn’t get cooked in this short period. For people who don’t mind raw onion (such as your truly), this option is fine. But others can probably roast the onions a bit before putting it on the bread.

Serve hot!