Indian Ivy Gourd is a widely consumed vegetable, available in India through out the year. Called Dondakaya (Telugu) or Tindora/Tondli (Hindi), these cute looking small, stubby, green colored vegetables which grow aggressively on vines are used to prepare delicious stuffed curries, stews, pickles, salads and stir fries. To many, dondakaya is an unusual vegetable, not [...]

This fast and flavorful dish is a simple recipe, quick and easy-to-make and so tasty! I got this capsicum rice recipe from one of our pot-luck party friends and I tweaked the recipe a bit to add more spice and crunch to it. Fresh crunchy capsicums, masala flavor and crunchy peanuts jazz up the taste [...]

The podi (spice powder), pachadi (type of chutney) and the pickle form an integral part of Andhra cuisine and no Andhra vegetarian meal is complete without them. Other than the famous traditional Andhra Avakai (Mango Pickle), Andhra cuisine also boasts of an assortment of pachadis, one of them being Pachi Mamidikaya – Kobbari Pachadi. Raw [...]

Dosakaya or Nakka Dosakai (Yellow cucumber), a small, round-shaped light green to bright yellow colored vegetable, with a crisp crunchy skin and a mild sweet-tarty taste, is used to prepare traditional Andhra delicacies like dosakaya pappu , dosakaya pachadi and dosa avakai. Dosa Avakai is an old Andhra culinary tradition which is made on the [...]

Andhras love their mirapakaayalu (green chillis)! Not only do we use them liberally to spice up our curries, pachi mirapakaayalu are used to prepare mirchi bajjis(stuffed green chillis), mirchi khatta masala curry,mirchi ka salan(hyderabadi chilli delicacy) and a hot favorite (among the South Indians) is majjiga mirapakaaylu (sun-dried chillis). Majjiga Mirapakayalu Majjiga (buttermilk) mirapakaaya, a [...]

Sesame flavored rice or Nuvullu Annam is a light flavoured rice delicacy, enriched with nutrients from seasame seeds and Indian spices.This dish is simple unlike a pampered biryani..:)in the fact that the main ingredient is only sesame seeds with the infusion of spices like curry leaves and mustard seeds in the tempering. Sesame seeds have [...]

No festive meal is complete without the classic dish ‘garelu’ or ‘garellu’ in most Andhra homes, be it for Sankranti, Ugadi, Ganesh Chaturthi or Diwali. Infact during Sankranti,our major harvest festival, on Kanumu day, the sons-in-law of the family are treated to delectable delicacies and one savory dish prepared is garellu served with meat curry, [...]

Utappams or thick dosas are South Indian vegetarian tiffin variety made from rice and lentil batter, fermented overnight making the batter slightly sour and then used to prepare thick pancakes like dosas which are light and porous. Uthappams are topped with chopped onions, green chillis and vegetables like tomatoes or carrots but can be eaten [...]

Bisi (means hot) Bele (means lentils) Bath (means sauce mixed with rice) is a Karnataka (S.India) speciality rice dish.Don’t get carried away by the simple looks of this dish..:) because the preparation of the masalas which bring out the aromatic tangy-spicy flavour of this rich dish is an extravagant and tedious affair.Besides this rich dish,I [...]

Do you know of the most nutrient rich tree in the world that grows really fast,its root,bark,leaves,flowers and pods can cure more than 300 diseases (according to Ayurveda),whose leaves,flowers and pods are edibles and are used to conjure up culinary delicacies, and can even purify water–but has been overlooked by modern medicine?Yes,we are talking about [...]