BANANA FLOWER WITH MOONG DAL CURRY RECIPE (ARATI PUVVU PESARAPAPPU KURA RECIPE)

 Banana flower is an edible flower that blossoms in a banana plant. The inner petals also called as bracts are edible part's, It's starchy and bitter in taste.

    The Banana flower has a deep magenta color covering which is peeled as layers.The entire banana plant is very useful,the shoot, leaves, fruits,flower are used for cooking.

    My grandmother planted 4 banana trees in our garden and the bananas are big in size, tasted as sweet as honey.Instead of plates we used to eat in banana leaves.

Benefits of Banana flower

• Cures infection's
• Improves kidney function
• Overcoming diabetes and anemia
• Improves lactation
• Helps in menstrual problems and weight loss
• Rich source of vitamin and minerals
• Reduces neural disorders
• Treats stomach and digestive problems
  

Ingredients 

• Banana flower
• Moong Dal 1/2 cup (soaked)
• Green chili's 3
• Onion 1 medium sized
• Ginger (finely chopped)
• Garlic cloves 5
• Red dry chill's
• cumin seeds 1 tsp
• mustard seeds 1 tsp
• curry leaves
• Turmeric 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder
• Salt as per taste
• Oil 3 tbsp
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Tamarind small piece
• water for boiling
• 1/4 cup of butter milk

Cleaning banana flower

Steps to be followed 

•  Apply cooking oil to your hands, so sap wont stick to your hands even though it is not harmful but takes some time to get ride off.
•  Wash the whole flower & gently peel off the outer bracts- Reddish leaf like portion.
  
•  Just pluck and gather all small flowers which is under the bracts. This can be done to certain limit only, then flower will be too tiny to pluck so leave the cone part.
•  Hold the flower between forefinger, middle finger and thumb. this position will be easy to remove petal & stamen.
•  Carefully open each flower or blossom, you can see the plastic textured petal & a hard stamen which must be snapped and removed entirely from the base. These parts cannot be cooked even in tender stage.
•  Discard the petal & hard stamen and collect all the soft flower.
  
  
  
• Can be stored in zip lock for later use in refrigerator.

 Before preparing banana flower for any dishes.

• Take 2 cups of water or required water and add 1/4 cup of buttermilk or 2 tbsp of curd to it and keep it aside.
• Chop the cleaned plantain flower and the cone in to desire size & immediately immerse the flower into the buttermilk water to avoid oxidation.
• Soak it for 1/2 hour.
• Drain & Squeeze the excess water & keep it ready to prepare the dish.

 PREPARATIONS

1. Boil the banana flower for 10 minutes adding little tamarind. keep aside.
   
2. Heat oil in a pan add cumin,mustard seeds,red chillis,curry leaves. let them splutter fry it for a minute.
   
3. Add green chillis, onion,garlic cloves, ginger, turmeric and toss them untill onions turn to pink color.
   
4. Add Banana blossom to it and saute it for a minute.Now add moong dal,lemon, salt and cover it with a lid.
   
5. Cook it for 10 minutes in a low flame. until it gets soft, Stir in between.
6. Add red chilli powder and garnish with coriander leaves (optinal)
   
7. Serve hot with steamed rice or roti's

GULAB JAMUN RECIPIE

    It is a favorite Indian sweet.There are many versions of making it either with Khoya, Milk powder, Bread....There are many ready-made Instant mixes available in market you can use any of them.

    In parties, weddings Gulab Jamun happens to be one of the desserts served after the meals.Many Children love Gulab Jamun's. It's very easy to make So mom's prefer to make Gulab Jamun's for birthday's, festivals special occasions and sometimes to satisfy sweet cravings. It can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.

Ingredients for Gulab Jamun

• Oil for deep frying
• Gulab Jamun Mix 250gms
• Sugar 2 cups
• Water 3 cups
• Corn flour 1 tsp
• Rice flour 1 tsp
• 4 Green cardamom (powdered in a motar)

 Sugar syrup making

1. Take 2 cups of sugar in a heavy based non stick kadhai and add 3 cups of water into it.
2. Bring the mixture to boil over high flame, when it comes to rolling boil reduce the flame to medium flame.
3. Let it boil till the syrup is little sticky and stir occasionally in between.
4. Add cardamom powder and switch off the flame.

Gulab Jamun Making

1. Pour the Jamun mix in a bowl. Add 1 tsp corn flour,1 tsp rice flour. mix it very well. There should not be any lumps.
2.  Add milk and gather together to form a dough with milk. Don't knead and Mix gently.
3. Cover the dough and keep aside for 30 minutes.
4. Now grease your hands with oil or ghee and make smooth surface small balls from it. Make sure that there is no crack on the surface of the balls.(If you are not able to form crack-less balls, Then you need to make the dough bit softer)
   
5. Heat the oil in a pan over medium flame.add a pinch of dough in hot oil if it comes upwards immediately without changing it's color,oil is ready. 
6. Add prepared dough balls gently in oil batch wise and deep fry them in a medium to low flame.
   
7. Once they start to have tiny golden spot's,keep on rotating them in oil,so that the jamun's are evenly browned.
   
8. Remove the jamun's and then drain them on kitchen paper towels to remove excess oil.
9. Add fried balls into warm sugar syrup.
   
10. Use a large pan so that the gulab jamun's are not overcrowded.soak them 1-2 hours before serving.
11. Serve gulab jamun warm or at room temperature. You can also chill them and serve them cold.
    
    
    

     

 

POHA UPMA/ ATUKULA UPMA/ FLATTENED RICE SNACK

    Poha is one of the easiest ,healthy recipe which can be made in minute's.It's a south Indian recipe mostly eaten for Breakfast or tea time snack.Mostly this is done in the state of MAHARASHTRA on the country's west coast.

    It's delicious and kid's friendly food.When we are in hurry this can be done for breakfast and can be packed in tiffin box.

    This poha upma cannot be made with thin poha as they become mushy and soggy when rinsed.we can use thick and medium sized poha. serving 2 persons.

 

HEALTH BENEFITS OF FLATTENED RICE

• Rice in Iron
• Easily digestible
• A good source of healthy carbohydrates
• Low in calories 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Cups Flattened rice
• Oil 3 tbsp
• 2 Green chili's
• 1 Medium sized onion finely chopped
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Medium sized potato
• 1 Tomato
•  Turmeric 1 tsp
• Curry leaves (optional)
• Cumin seeds 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds 1 tsp 
• Channa dal 1 tbsp
• 2 Red chili's
• Peanuts 2 tbsp
• Coriander leaves
• Salt as per taste
  

PREPARATION OF POHA UPMA

1. Clean and rinse poha thoroughly in water.
2. Drain off the water completely in a colander. Keep aside.
   
3. Heat oil in a pan fry peanuts and keep aside.
   
4.  Add Channa dal, Cumin seeds, Mustard seeds, Red chili's, Curry leaves in the same pan. Let them splatter.
   
5. Add green chili's,chopped onion.
   
6. Slightly fry them add carrot,potato,turmeric, Toss in between for 3 minutes.
   
7. Add tomato and salt.let it cook for a minute.
   
8. Add poha, break up the lump's, put it on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Stir in between.
   
9. Add fried peanuts and coriander leaves serve hot.
   
   

MINT POWDER/ PUDINA KAARAM

 People use mint in many recipes.Today we are going to prepare mint powder which goes well with  Idly's, Dosa's, Hot Rice with Ghee. 

     It's a healthiest herb famous for its refreshing flavor, aroma.It's easy to make, can be stored for a month.

    In Andhra people start their meal with different podi's (mint powder,curry leaves powder)

   

 Some of mint benefit's

• Rich in Nutrients. 
• May Improve Irritable Bowel Syndrome. 
• May Help Relieve Indigestion. 
• Could Improve Brain Function. 
• May Decrease Breastfeeding Pain. 
• Subjectively Improves Cold Symptoms. 
• May Mask Bad Breath. 

Ingredient's

    Fresh Mint leaves – 2 bunches              

   Oil(ghee) – 1 tsp
   Urad dal – 3 tbsp
   Bengal gram dal/ Channa dal – 1/4 cup
   Red Chilies – 10 to 12
   Hing – a pinch
   Tamarind – a small bit 
   Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp

   Cilantro - 3tbsp

   Salt to taste

 

Steps to make mint powder

1.Wash the mint leaves well, drain the water completely and pat it with a towel. Spread it on a cloth and leave it to dry in the shade. There should be no moisture in the leaves. It should be completely dry.

2.Take a pan fry urad dal, channa dal, cilantro, cumin seeds till u get nice aroma.

3.Let it cool down and take into a jar and add salt,tamarind.

4.Add oil (ghee) fry red chilies take them into jar.

5.grind them to fine powder.

6.Fry mint leaves in the same pan.

6.put into jar and grind them to fine powder.

 Serve the mint powder with hot steamed rice and ghee.it tastes awesome.

Egg with Tamarind gravy /kodi guddu pulusu

Egg curry can be made in many ways but I prefer this Andhra style kodi guddu pulusu. it is a tangy spicy curry. It’s a sour curry because of the tamarind pulp we use which is a main ingredient. it is pretty easy to make, my grandmother used to cook this once in a week.

Egg can provide a number of health benefits

• Strong Muscles
• Increases Immune system
• A Healthy Pregnancy
• Energy production
• Increases Skin Health

    It’s generally served with hot rice but it goes well with rotis too..  serving 2 persons

    In this curry eggs are boiled and made slits along the length of each egg and lightly fry them in 1 tbsp oil with a pinch of turmeric for approx 1-2 min’s

Ingredients

• 3 Boiled eggs
• Oil 4tbsp
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
• 3-4 green chillis slit length-wise
• 3 medium sized onions
• Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• Salt as per taste
• 2 Cups water
• Curry leaves , coriander leaves (optional)
• 1 big lemon sized tamarind (soaked in warm water and pulp extracted) or 2-3 tbsp of tamarind paste (this can vary according to the amount of tang you want)

Instructions

• Heat oil in a vessel and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and let them splutter.
• Add green chilies let them fry

• Add onion’s fry till they turn light brown color

• Add salt and boiled fried eggs fry for 4 min’s
• Add red chilli powder

• Add tamarind extract and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. let it cook for 10-15 minutes or till you get the required gravy consistency.
  
  
  

• Add coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice or roti’s.

Chicken pakoda/chicken fritters

  Today’s recipe is crispy chicken pakoda. It’s a quick and easy snack which can be made in minute’s.

    This amazing chicken fritters made using boneless chicken and chickpea flour/besan. There are several other chicken starters. 

    These chicken pakoda are an absolute delight to have it as an evening tea time snacks especially in monsoons. We have to marinate the boneless chicken before frying.

Ingredient’s  

 Take 250 gms boneless chicken breast or thigs, cut into small cubes.

Oil for deep frying

MARINADE

• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon red chilly powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons corn flour / corn starch
• 4 tablespoons chickpea / besan flour
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water if needed

Instruction’s

• Add the marinade ingredients to the boneless chicken and mix well.
• 
• Cover and keep it aside for 30 minutes to an hour. (If in a hurry 15 minutes works too).
• Heat oil in a pan.
• Deep fry the chicken pieces in a medium flame until
• They they are golden brown.
• 
• Frying on medium heat ensures that the chicken cooks well on the inside.
• Serve it with Onions, green chutney or your favorite sauce.
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