There is nothing more satisfying than cooking with vegetables grown in one’s own backyard. Today I used a few not so ripe orange tinge tomatoes from our vegetable garden to make a perfectly simple pachadi. To make this deliciously tangy pachadi all you need are simple everyday ingredients like fresh firm tomatoes, coriander, green chillis, [...]

All South Indian regional cuisines are famous for their innumerable pachadis, exploding with myriad flavors – sweet, sour, tangy and spicy and a combination of these flavors which each home having some of their own signature styles in terms of preparation and use of spices. An all time favorite at our home, carrot kothimira pachadi [...]

Our Ugadi festive meal was simple and not elaborate. I prepared mamidikaya pulihora, carrot kothimira pachadi, mokka jonna garelu (corn vadas), pesarappu payasam, white rice, rasam, vadiyalu, fried dried green chillis and curd. On Ugadi we celebrate the season’s fresh produce of mangoes by preparing Mamidikaya Annam (green mango rice), a South Indian rice delicacy, [...]

I love coriander. Each of my visits to the rythu bazaar is incomplete without buying a bunch of farm fresh coriander. I have to buy it in spite of having some already lying in my fridge. So how do I use up the bunch lying in the fridge? Prepare allam kothimira pachadi! This coriander based [...]

Speak of some specialities of Andhra cuisine and immediately one conjures up images of ‘pulusu’. Pulusu is basically a tamarind based sauce in which vegetables, meat and seafood are cooked and you will come across quite a few delicacies with that tangy and sweet-sour flavor being served in most authentic Andhra restaurants. For JFI-Potato, I’m [...]

Chikkudu kaya happens to be a favorite vegetable in our household and I know there are quite a few of you out there who are not very fond of these mildly sweet plump beans. I always felt there is something addictive about the beans, especially during their non-availability in the local market and when those [...]

Both Satish and I like to snack on some tasty nibbles with our evening tea and one tea-time snack I prepare once in a while, are green moong dal fritters – full of earthy goodness, simple with few ingredients, flavorful and ones which Nehal also relishes. It hardly takes any effort to prepare them – [...]

Dondakaya happens to be one of my favorite vegetables and I just realised that I have blogged only one recipe of Tendli/Ivy Gourd, a stir-fry (vepudu). In Andhra, dondakaya being available all year round, this humble, rough vegetable is a regular with most kitchens concoting some wonderful recipes and transforming it into something exotic and [...]

Each time I buy brinjals, I want to spin off a new dish, be it a variation of the classic stuffed brinjal, gutti vankaya kura or a basic stir fry. Come winter, when fresh green peas are abundantly available, I invariably prepare a simple delicious curry, Vankaya (brinjal) bataani (green peas). Served as a special [...]

A treasured sweet dish, very dear to us Andhras, are these golden bewitching treats, Chandrakaantalu. Classified as pindivantalu (festive foods), these classic favorites are absolutely delicious making you crave for more even after you have had your fair share. I actually have to remove the serving plate from the table to keep us from finishing [...]