Aloo Rasedar

This is a dish that my husband has always praised. It used to be served at his college, and so has always been associated with good memories. However, I wasn’t very familiar with UP cuisine, and wasn’t able to search this recipe out. Recently though, my husband came by the name, and I was finally able to re-create this dish!

Aloo Rasedar

This is a typically UP dish, and does not use onion or garlic. It makes a great side to parathas or puris, and is easily prepared.

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes/aloo
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin/jeera
• 1 tsp coriander powder/dhania powder
• 1 tsp dry mango powder/amchur powder (optional)
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp salt

Method:

• Peel and boil the potatoes till they are very well cooked and can be easily crumbled.
• In a wok, heat some oil and add the jeera and dhania powder.
• add finely chopped ginger and saute for a half a minute on low flame.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric and braise till the tomatoes are completely cooked and mashed.
• Mash some of the potatoes and add along with salt and mix well.
• add water and braise till it reaches the consistency you want. The gravy will come from the mashed potatoes and tomato mix.
• Here you can add dry mango powder/amchur powder and garam masala. Keep braising till the gravy comes together.
• Add chopped coriander leaves for garnishing.

This gravy is best served hot. Since it doesn’t really take very long, its a perfect breakfast/dinner dish.

Pachi Tomato Pachadi

On a recent shopping sojourn, I found some raw local tomatoes on sale. I couldn’t believe my luck and proceeded to buy quite a few! I prefer local tomatoes over hybrid because of their taste. Hybrid tomatoes have a kind of flat taste, and it’s just no fun to make anything with them!

The best way to identify the local ones is the shape. Local tomatoes have a round-ish shape, with an emphasized dip at the very tip. Hybrid ones have a flat tip, and are somewhat leaner in shape. I should have thought to take pictures of what I’m talking about, but I was too enthusiastic about using up my bounty. 😉

I’m not overly fond of pachadis, but this one is one of the very few exceptions. The spicy yet tangy taste of this pachi (raw) tomato pachadi makes it special.

Pachi Tomato Pachadi

Ingredients:

• 2 raw tomatoes
• a small bit of tamarind, washed and set aside to soften
• 6 green chillies
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch of turmeric
• Tadka: aavalu, menthulu, mina pappu, dry red chilli

Method:

• In a medium-sized wok, roast the raw tomatoes in 2 tbsp of oil till done.
  • You know the tomatoes are done then the skin starts to peel of and the tomatoes themselves have become soft.
• Add the green chillies and turn them around in the hot oil for a few moments.
• Set aside to cool down.
• In a tadka pan, heat some oil and add tadka. Wait till the aavalu pop, and then set aside and add salt.
• Once everything has cooled down, grind the tadka with the tamarind, turmeric and the green chillies to a fine paste.
  • Do not grind the tomatoes.
• Peel the tomatoes and mash roughly by hand so as to leave small pieces of the tomatoes but not big chunks.
• Add the pachadi paste into the tomatoes and mix well.

This is absolutely tasty with rice or dosa.

Mukkala Pulusu

I made this particular pulusu on Vijaya Dasami, and finally got around to posting it here. 🙂

Mukkala Pulusu is normally made as a combination with utti pappu, as this particular pulusu does not use any kind of dal.It is made as part of the special lunch for most Andhra festivals.

Ingredients:
Lime-sized ball of tamarind
Choice of vegetables: sorakaya (bottle-gourd), tomatoes, bendakaya (okra/bhindi), munakkaya (drumstick), or dosakaya (yellow cucumber)
3 green chillies, split lenght-wise
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar/jaggary
Curry leaves and coriander leaves to taste
2 tsp rice flour mixed in water

Tadka:
dry red chilli, menthulu (fenugreek seeds), aavalu (mustards seeds), jeera (cumin), inguva (hing/asafoetida)

Method:

• Soak the tamarind
• Boil all the vegetable pieces
• Squeeze tamarind juice into the boiled vegetables
• Add chilli powder, salt, turmeric, sugar, curry leaves and coriander to the vegetables.
• Add more water as required
• Mix a bit of rice flour in water and add to thicken
• In a small wok, add 1 tsp oil and add the tadka. Once the mustard seend pop, add to the pulusu.
• Set to cook till the pulusu becomes a little thick.

Serve hot with rice and utti pappu.