Dondakaya Vepudu-1 (Tindora Fry)

Ingredients:

Dondakayalu (Tindora) - 250 gm

Green chillies (finely chopped) - 2-3

Red chillies - 2

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tbsp

Peanuts - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - 5-6

Freshly grated coconut - 3-4 tbsp

Turmeric - pinch

Coriander leaves (finely chopped) - 1 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

Oil - to deep fry

Procedure:

1. Wash, trim both the ends and chop all the tindora vertically in to four pieces and set aside.
2. Take a kadai, heat oil, add chopped tindora and deep fry until their surface turn shrinked. Drain all out of oil and set aside.
3. Take a wide pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and heat it. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them splutter. 
4. Add urad dal, peanuts, chopped green chillies, red chillies, curry leaves and fry them.
5. Add deep fried tindora slits and mix well. Sprinkle some turmeric, salt, freshly grated coconut and stir well.
6. Finally garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve it with hot rice.

Hungarian Pepper Fritters

Ingredients:

Hungarian peppers - 4

Gram flour (Besan) - 1 cup

Baking soda - large pinch

Salt - as per taste

Oil - to deep fry

Procedure:

1. Wash, clean and chop Hungarian peppers vertically in to two equal half's. Deseed and you can cut each half in to two pieces horizontally. 
2. Take a wide mixing bowl, add besan, salt, baking soda and mix well. Now add water little by little and stir well to get a smooth batter without any lumps. The batter should be in right consistency (not too thick or thin). 
3. Take a kadai, add oil and heat it. Now dip each piece of Hungarian pepper in to the batter and drop one by one in to oil. 
4. Deep fry until they turn to golden yellow. Serve hot with your favorite chutney.

Tomato Thokku (Tomato Pickle)

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (large) - 5

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tbsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/8 tbsp

Hing - pinch

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Sambhar powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Jaggery - 1/2 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

Oil - 1-2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Wash, chop tomatoes finely and set aside.
2. Take a wide pan, heat oil, add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add hing and fry well.
3. Add chopped tomatoes and saute them with covered lid.
4. Saute under medium flame until the gravy thickens by stirring occasionally.
5. Add red chilly powder, sambhar powder, jaggery, salt and mix well. 
6. Once the oil starts oozing out switch off the flame and cool it. Transfer in to clean, dry air tight container and store.

Poornam Boorelu / Poornalu

Ingredients:

To prepare stuffing:

Chana dal (Senagapappu) - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 cup 

Elachi powder - 1/4 tbsp

To prepare batter:

Urad dal - 1/2 cup

Rice - 1 cup

Salt - as per taste

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak urad dal and rice for at least 6-8 hours and similarly soak chana dal for atleast 4 hours and keep aside.
2. After soaking, thoroughly wash, urad dal, rice and blend them to get a smooth batter. Adjust salt and keep it aside for at least for 6 hours to get fermented.
3. Wash soaked chana dal and boil it with plenty of water. Once the dal is well cooked, switch off the flame and drain all the excess water.
4. Now mash the boiled dal, add crushed jaggery and heat the mixture under low flame. Continue stirring, until jaggery completely dissolves. At this point, suddenly the mixture turns runny. Don't get panic, sprinkle elachi powder and continue stirring with ladle.
5. After some time, the mixture thickens and starts leaving the vessel. Switch off the flame and cool the mixture until it reaches to room temperature.
6. Take a small portion of stuffing and make in to desired size balls and set aside.
7. Take a wide kadai, add oil and heat oil. Now dip each ball in to prepared batter and drop one by one slowly in to oil. Fry them until they turn to nice golden yellow. 

Capsicum Rice / Capsicum Masala Rice

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup

Capsicum chunks - 1 cup (I used green, yellow and orange)

Onion (large) - 1 (chopped lengthwise)

Whole garam masala (cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, cloves & bay leaf) - 1/2 tbsp

Cashews - 1 tbsp

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

Oil - 2 tbsp

To prepare spice powder:

Bengal gram - 1 tbsp

Urad dal - 1 tbsp 

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

Groundnuts - 2 tbsp

Red chillies - 3

Curry leaves - 3-4

Garam masala - 1/2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Cook basmati rice and spread as a layer on a wide plate (to get grainy texture).
2. Take a kadai, dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under spice powder except garam masala  and blend together to get slightly coarse powder. Now add garam masala and blend one more time to get a uniform mixture.
3. In the same kadai, heat oil, add fennel seeds, whole garam masala, cashews and fry until a nice aroma comes out.
4. Add finely chopped onion and saute until they are transparent. Then drop all the capsicum chunks and cook until they are slightly tender. 
5. Now add the ground spice powder, adjust salt and stir well. Finally add cooked rice and mix well until until all the grains are well coated with spicy capsicum mixture.

TIP: Do not over cook capsicum, it should retain its crispness for better taste. Similarly do not add excess whole garam masala, just add a little of each ingredient to enhance the flavor of rice.

Bangaladumpa Koora (Potato Curry)

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 2-3

Onion - 1 (chopped length wise)

Green chillies - 3-4

Red chillies - 2

Crushed garlic pods - 2

Finely chopped ginger - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Chana dal - 1/2 tbsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tbsp

Curry leaves - 5-6

Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp (adjust according to taste)

Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Wash, clean and boil until they are cooked. Once they cool and reaches to room temperature, mash them and set aside.
2. Take a kadai, heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add crushed garlic pods, chana dal, urad dal, curry leaves and fry them.
3. Add finely chopped green chillies, ginger and stir well.
4. Add finely chopped onion and saute them until they are transparent.
5. Finally add mashed potato, adjust salt and stir well. Sprinkle some lemon juice and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Chocolate Strawberry Milkshake

Ingredients:

Strawberries - 1/2 cup

Chocolate Ice cream - 1 large scoop

Milk - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1-2 tbsp (adjust according to taste)

Ice cubes - few

Procedure:

1. Blend roughly chopped strawberries, chocolate ice cream, milk and sugar together to form a smooth mixture.
2. Finally add some ice and serve chill.

Pineapple Kesari

Ingredients:

Sooji (Godhuma rava) - 1/2 cup

Pine apple chunks - 3/4 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Water - 1 1/2 cup

Elachi powder - pinch

Yellow Food color - 2 drops (optional)

Cashews - 10

Raisins - 6

Ghee - 1-2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Take a frying pan, heat 1/2 tbsp ghee, add cashews and raisins one by one until they turn to golden brown. Remove them in to a bowl and set aside.
2. In the same pan, add sooji and roast until it slightly alters its color or until nice aroma comes out. Transfer roasted sooji in to another bowl and set aside.
3. Take a wide pan, add water and heat it. When water is boiling, add pineapple chunks and let them boil for few minutes (add food color at this stage if required).
4. Add roasted rava slowly in to boiling water and stir well without forming any lumps.
5. One the rava is cooked, add sugar, elachi powder and cook for few more minutes until the desired consistency is attained.
6. Finally add roasted cashews, raisins, remaining ghee and stir well.

Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

Bananas - 2

Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 2-3 tbsp (adjust according to taste)

Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp

Water - 1/2 cup

Ice cubes - few (optional)

Grated chocolate - to garnish

Procedure:

1. Blend roughly chopped bananas, yogurt, milk and sugar together to get a smooth mixture without any lumps.
2. Then add water, vanilla essence and run the mixer one more time.
3. Now transfer the mixture in to a glass, add ice and garnish with finely grated chocolate. 

Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients:

Mushrooms - 200 gm

Capsicum - 1

Tomato (medium) - 2

Onion (large) - 1

Shredded coconut - 3 tbsp

Cashews - 10

Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tbsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tbsp

Garam Masala - 1/4 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4tbsp

Turmeric - pinch

Salt - as per taste

Water - sufficient

Finely chopped coriander leaves - to garnish

Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Wash thoroughly and chop mushrooms in to quarters and set aside. Similarly wash and chop capsicum in to medium size chunks.
2. Now take a kadai, heat oil, add chopped capsicum and fry them. Then, add chopped mushrooms and continue stirring for few minutes. After sometime, transfer these in to a bowl and keep aside.
3. Meanwhile blend onion, cashews(retain few of them to garnish) and coconut together to get a fine paste. Similarly blend tomatoes separately to get fine puree. 
4. Take a kadai, heat oil, add cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add blended cashew-onion-coconut paste and fry for few minutes until the raw smell disappears. 
5. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric and mix well. After sometime, add tomato puree and cook until the oil oozes out (it might take 12-15 minutes).
6. Then add cooked capsicum, mushroom and sprinkle some water. Saute them under medium flame for few minutes by adding red chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, salt and stir well for 2-3 minutes.
7. Finally garnish with finely chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or roti.

Pineapple Juice

Ingredients:

Pineapple cubes - 2 cups

Orange - 2

Salt - small pinch (optional)

Sugar - 2-3 tbsp (adjust according to taste)

Water - 1 cup

Procedure:

1. Grind pineapple cubes with sugar, salt and water until a smooth mixture is obtained.
2. Squeeze orange juice and run the mixer one more time.
3. Now filter the juice using a strainer and refrigerate for some time. Serve chill...