గుమ్మడికాయ వడియాలు తోటకూర: Gummadikaaya Vadiyalu Totakura: Ash gourd fritters with Amaranth greens

Serves: 2 people. Preparation time: Soaking- 3 hours, cooking- 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bunch Amaranth greens (Cholai/Totakura)
1 medium Onion chopped
1 Tsp Mustard seeds (Rai/Avalu)
1 Tsp oil

For Vadiyalu:
1/2 rice cooker cup split black gram (Urad/Minappappu)
Ash gourd (Boodida gummadikaya)
Dry red chilli flakes (or chopped green chilli) to taste
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Salt to taste
2 pinches Asafoetida

A Cauldron of oil for deep frying

Method:
1. Wash minappappu, cover with 1" water & soak for 3 hours. Drain away excess water and grind into a coarse/grainy tight paste/dough (Do not grind it too smooth, the vadiyalu soak up lot of oil during deep frying if made with fine ground dough.).
2. Cut the Ash gourd into smaller manageable chunks, carve out the white fleshy part of the vegetable and discard the tough peel. Chop the white flesh into small (1/2") pieces. Set aside.
3. Add asafoetida, Cumin, chillies and salt to the Minappappu dough and mix in thoroughly.

4. Place the cauldron of oil on heat for deep frying.

Arrange a single layer of few Ash gourd pieces over your fingers (as shown in the photo), scoop up some Minappappu dough onto the Ash gourd pieces (again as shown in photo). Minappappu dough is a very sticky substance, so the ash gourd pieces stick together easily without breaking apart. Drop the dollop into the oil. Repeat until the surface of the oil is full of floating frying dollops. Fry them until they turn golden brown, stir them to evenly brown all sides. Remove onto a plate lined with blotting paper and set aside.

5. Remove leaves from Amaranth greens, discard the stems (You could use them to make Totakura Kadala pulusu). Wash the leaves in cold running water, drain in a colander. Take a bunch of leaves, chop them lengthwise & breadthwise so that they are fine chopped.
6. Heat 1 Tsp oil in a pan. When it is hot, add Mustard seeds. When they splutter, add chopped onion. When it  browns, add chopped Amaranth greens & salt. Cover & cook until they are soft, around 7 minutes for the small quantity mentioned above. You may add a tablespoon of water if needed.
7. Mix in the Vadiyalu into the cooked greens, cover and cook for 2 minutes.

Serve with hot rice and ghee.

Variations:
You can alter the tempering as per your wish, like adding turmeric, more green chillies, include tamarind paste.

Culture & Health:
This dish is traditionally made with real 'vadiyalu'. The dollops of ash gourd-minappappu paste are dried in bright sunlight for two days and stored. These dried 'vadiyalu' are then fried and added to the Totakura.
Whereas, the vadiyalu described in this recipe are actually just a kind of vada/garey, a fried dollop of fresh dough, an instant/quick way of making vadiyalu.
This preparation is very good for health, the goodness of minappappu protein, green leafy vegetable (Amaranth) and Ash gourd, which is believed to be a very sacred vegetable full of positive energy according to Ayurveda/Yoga/Hinduism.

Trivia:

My sister taught me this recipe!

పాలకూర పులుసు: Palakura pulusu- Spinach stew

INGREDIENTS:

Spinach 1 bunch
Chanadal 1/3 cup
Tamarind big lemon size(soaked in water)
Green chillis 3 mediem size
Jaggary mediem size lemon
Salt as per taste
water to boil 2 rice cooker (meisure)
Turmeric 1/4 tsps

Seasoning:

Musterd seeds 1tsps
Jeera 1tsps
Red chillis 3


Method:
1. Wash and chop spinach.
2. Heat vessel add spinach and water.
3.Add chanadal and green chilli.
4.Add turmeric and salt and cook .
5.Take pure from soaked tamarind and add to the spinach when it is half cooked.
6.Add jaggary and chilli powder and cook them when it is done.
7. Heat oil in a pan add seasoning when it splitter add to the cooked spinach.


This item goes with rice and roti.

తోటకూర పెసర పప్పు :Tota Kura pesara pappu- Amaranth greens with yellow moong

Serves: Four. Preparation time: 1 hour. 

Ingredients:
1.5 rice cooker cups Pesara pappu/ Dhuli moong/ Split yellow moong
1/2 Tsp Turmeric
1 bunch Totakura/ Cholai/ Amaranth greens
2 Tbsp Tamarind paste
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Sugar
1 sprig Cilantro

For tempering:
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Tsp Avalu
1 Tsp Jheera
4 Dry red chillies broken into pieces
1/2 Tsp Heeng
4 Curry leaves
3 Green chillies chopped
1 Medium Onion chopped fine
1/2 Garlic clove, pounded

Method:

1. Remove the leaves from the Totakura and wash in cold running water, leave to drain in a colander. The stalks can be used to make Totakura kadalu pulusu. 
2. Boil pesara pappu until it is soft and add turmeric. (You may use the directions of Mudda pappu, but keep in mind that pesara pappu is softer & takes less time, so adjust the water/timing.) Set aside. 



3. Chop the Totakura by taking a clump of leaves and cutting into them lengthwise & breadthwise so that they are fine chopped. Also chop the onion. 

4. Boil the chopped Totakura in 1" water until half done (approx. 7 minutes), add tamarind juice, salt and sugar, and boil again until fully done (approx. a further 7 minutes). 

5. Add the boiled pesara pappu into the boiled greens and thoroughly mix in.

6. Fry chopped onions & green chillies in a teaspoon of oil,  mix in the pounded garlic paste and fry until brown. Pour into the Totakura-pesara pappu.

7. Tempering:

Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add Jheera, dry red chilli pieces, Heeng and Curry leaves. 

8. Pour the tempering over the Totakura-pesara pappu. 

9. Let the tempering & fried onions rest over the pappu, mix in just before serving. You may also add some chopped Cilantro.

Serve with hot rice with a generous topping of ghee. 


Suggestions/Variations:
1. Pesara pappu is an easy-to-cook pappu which softens rapidly. Hence, if you want to preserve the texture of the grains without letting them get mashed, you may avoid pressure cooking, boil it in a pot of water. 
2. The onions & green chillies may be boiled along with the totakura without frying separately if you want to cut down on oil or cook quickly. 
3. Some people prefer to add some chopped tomatoes as souring agent along with tamarind. Or, slices of tomatoes can be arranged for garnishing. 
4. Traditional brahmans do not consume garlic/onions, they are optional ingredients. 

Culture & Health:
Totakura belongs to the Amaranth family, a species of hardy plants which grow rapidly. The plant is highly tolerant to weather conditions and can grow even in arid soil. A single flower head can contain upto half a million tiny beady seeds that are rich in protein and amino acids. Native south American tribes used to consume the flour from the seeds of this plant, so do some African peoples. In India, it is usually consumed as greens. The Amaranth is thought to be the crop of the future, the boon for poor countries since it can be quickly cheaply cultivated with its tremendous health benefits.
The greens are a rich source of vitamins and minerals. However, Amaranth is similar to spinach in that it has high oxalic acid content, and not advisable for those who suffer from gout/kidney disorders.
It is also not advisable to reheat amaranth greens since the chemicals in it undergo undesirable changes when reheated.
Totakura comes in two varieties: one with red stalks/leaves, one with creamy green stalks. The red variety that I used is more delicious & better for health than the green one.

Trivia:
This is my mother's recipe, those are her hands chopping the greens, I was the honest photographer harassing her to pose properly!
Totakura has fond childhood memories for me, Tittu brought back seeds from her village fields, and we planted them in our backyard kitchen garden. I watched the flower beds every single day, watering them with care, waiting eagerly for the first shoots to sprout.. Then when the amaranth grew, we used to pluck the leaves fresh and make kura/pappu, I used to be so proud, that a vegetable I grew was feeding my family!! :-D I could say totakura was my pet plant!!

గొంగౌర కంది పప్పు: Gongoura Kandi pappu- Kenaf greens with pigeon peas

Serves: Four. Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1.5 rice cooker cups- Kandi pappu/ Pigeon peas
1 large onion
1 bunch Gongoura /Kenaf greens
1 tsp or to taste Salt
1 tsp or to taste Sugar
4 Green chillies chopped

For Tempering:
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 Tsp Asafoetida
1/2 Tsp Turmeric
4 Dry red chillies broken into pieces
1/2 tsp Fenugreek powder
4 Curry leaves chopped

Method:
1. Pluck leaves from the Gongoura and discard the stalks. Wash Gongoura leaves in cold running water and place in a colander to drain away excess water. 
2. Boil the pigeon peas into pappu and set aside. Follow the directions in Mudda pappu recipe but it can be a little runny with more water.
3. Meanwhile, fine chop the Gongoura leaves and set aside. Also chop the onion into small pieces. 



4. Boil the chopped Gongoura leaves and onions immersed in 1" water until they are tender, around 10 minutes, covered with a lid.




5. Mix in the salt, sugar and boiled kandi pappu into the cooked leaves-onions. 

6. Tempering:
Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add dry red chillies, jheera, turmeric, asafoetida, green chillies, curry leaves. Switch off the heat and add methi powder. Pour this tempering into the gongoura pappu.
Serve with hot rice with a generous topping of ghee.


Suggestions/Variations:
1. Instead of boiling the onions with the gongoura greens, fry them with green chillies and add into the gongoura pappu. Or add the onions into the tempering and fry together.
2. Gongoura leaf is sour so the the pappu doesn't need any additional souring agent. Add some tamarind juice if you feel the need (believe me you won't need it!). 

Culture & Health:
What comes to my mind when I think of Gongoura, are the lines from the Telugu movie Mayabazaar, which refer to it as Shakambari devi vara prasadamu, a gift from the goddess of vegetables! :-) I am sure most of us must have watched that movie, it is my most watched Telugu movie.
Gongura is very dear to Telugus, we make a pacchadi too with its leaves. It is related to the Hibiscus, Mandara puvvu, which is also very important in our culture. Plants of this family have a slimy/soapy feel in their crushed leaves, so women wash their hair with hibiscus leaf paste.
Gongoura is also called Kenaf, its scientific name is Hibiscus cannabinus, it is related to the Roselle. There are two varieties of gongoura in Andhra, one has creamy green stalks, one has red stalks. I used the red variety, it is even more sour than the green one.
Gongoura greens are very good for health, but some people are allergic to them.

Trivia:
This pappu prepared by mommy dearest, I photographed and documented the process. The lovely tulips you see in the photo- mommy papa brought them from Amsterdam for their Alludu's birthday, and mom insisted that I photograph her gongoura pappu against the backdrop of the flowers! :-D

తోటకూర కాడల పులుసు: Totakura Kadala Pulusu- Amaranth Stalk soup

 Serves: Four. Preparation time: 30 minutes 


Ingredients:

1 bunch Totakura/ Cholai/ Amaranth greens
1 Tsp or to taste, Salt
1 Tsp or to taste, Sugar
1 Tbsp Tamarind paste
2 Tsp Putnala pappu podi (Roasted chickpea powder)
Green chillies to taste
1 sprig Cilantro

Tempering:
1 Tbsp Oil
1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp Cumin seeds
2 Tsp Coriander powder
1 Tsp Fenugreek powder
2 Tsp Red Chilli powder
1/2 Tsp Asafoetida
4 Curry leaves

Method:
1. Remove leaves from the Totakura stalks, they can be used to make Totakura pappu. Wash the stalks thoroughly in cold running water and pat dry. Discard any mature fibrous stalks, use tender juicy stalks. Chop stalks into 1" pieces. 

2. Boil stalks immersed in 1" water until they soften, they will be half done in around 7 minutes, cover the boiling pot with a lid.
3. Stir in the salt, sugar and tamarind juice. Boil until the stalks are fully cooked and tamarind juice cooks too, around 5 more minutes of covered cooking.

4. In a bowl, make a runny sauce from the putnala pappu podi by adding 2 Tbsp of cold water, making sure to break up any lumps.

5. Pour the chickpea powder sauce into the Kadalu pulusu while stirring gradually. Let it boil for a minute so the chickpea sauce mixes into the soup, it doesn't need cooking time since it is prepared from roasted powder. 
6. Switch off the heat and add the green chillies and curry leaves. Cover and set aside. 
7. Tempering:
Heat the oil and add the Mustard seeds. When they splutter, add Cumin seeds, coriander powder, red chilli powder and asafoetida. Switch off the heat and add the fenugreek powder. Pour this tempering into the pulusu.
8. Garnish the pulusu with fine chopped cilantro.

Variations:
Instead of putnala pappu podi, you may add a mixture of 1 tsp Rice flour mixed into 2 tsp Besan (Chickpea flour) dissolved in 3 Tbsp water. However, the pulusu should be boiled for 5 minutes after adding besan/rice flour since they are raw & take time to cook. Alternatively, the besan/rice flour can be roasted along with the tempering as described in Bendakaya pulusu. 


Culture & Health:
Telugu cuisine is full of a variety of pulusus which are delicious accompaniments with rice, upma, mudda pappu, kandi pacchadi, etc.
I found this a very clever way of utilizing every part of the Totakura, including the stalks! The stalks are a rich source of fibre, and very yummy too. This pulusu is a medley of flavours: salt, sour, sweet, spicy, totally mouth watering.

Trivia:
This is my mother's recipe. I clicked photographs of all her cooking while she was here, and you will soon notice that she made some interesting pulusus! Mommy is fond of tamarind/chilli based dishes, so pulusu is of top priority on her menu ;-) Those are her hands you see cooking in the pics :-)

మెంతి ఆకు-టమాట అన్నం: Menti Aaku Tamata annam- Fenugreek greens & Tomato rice

Serves: Four as a snack. Preparation time: 1 hour including assembling ingredients, washing, chopping, cooking.

Ingredients:
1 bunch Fenugreek greens 

2 medium sized Ripe Tomatoes

1.5'' Ginger piece.

1.5 cloves Garlic

1 Tsp Cumin seeds

1 Tsp Turmeric

1 medium sized Onion

4 Green chillies or to taste

1 Tbsp Salt or to taste

0.5 Tsp Sugar

2 Tbsps Oil

2 Rice cooker cups of Rice

3 stalks of Cilantro

Optional: Green peas

Method:
1. Wash the rice and boil it. Boil it with slightly less water (2 Tbsps less than normal) so that it is well cooked but grainy in texture. Set aside and leave to cool. 
2. Meanwhile, pluck the leaves from the stalks of Methi greens. Discard the stalks. We can use any tender stalks if they are not fibrous. Wash the Methi & Cilantro thoroughly in clean running water. Immerse them in salt water for ten minutes if you wish. Place in a colander to let the water drain out. 
3. With a mortar & pestle, pound the ginger and set aside. Pound the garlic and set aside. Pound the green chillies or chop them very fine and set aside. 
4. Finely chop the Onion and set aside. 
5. Chop tomatoes into chunks and set aside. 
6. Finely chop the Methi greens and set aside. Also chop the Cilantro. 

7. In a wok, heat the oil. Add Cumin seeds. When they splutter, add the turmeric, Garlic paste, Ginger paste, Green chilli paste and Onions. Let it cook until onion browns. You can add the salt at this stage since salt draws out moisture from the onions & makes them crisp. However, traditional cooks like to add salt right at the end. 
8. Mix in the chopped Methi greens and tomato chunks.  Add red chilli powder if you like the taste (optional). 
9. Cover and cook for six to seven minutes by clock. The tomatoes soften and make the mixture go soupy. 

10. Mix in the sugar (and the salt if you didn't add it earlier) and rice. Let it cook for a minute. The rice soaks up the soupy juices and turns out dry. 
11. Garnish with chopped Cilantro. 


Serve with a Perugu pacchadi or Raita. 

Variations:
1. Adjust the garlic, ginger, green chillies according to taste. 
2. Traditional cooks say that souring agents like tomato/tamarind etc halt the cooking process. If you feel touchy about that issue, let the Methi greens cook for sometime before adding the tomato chunks. I add them together since I like to expose greens to the minimum cooking time, my greens just get cooked along with the tomato instead of initially being cooked & then cooked again while the tomato cooks. 
3. I cook the Methi greens for only 6 or 7 minutes since I make a small quantity (it cooks quickly). Also, it is advisable to cook greens for no longer than 8 minutes to preserve most of the vitamins and phytochemicals. However, traditional cooks may complain that the greens are still raw, you can cook it for longer if you wish!
 4. This same recipe can be made with Pudina (Mint) greens instead of Methi greens & Tomato. Also, a mix of greens can be used (Spinach, Mint, Fenugreek, Cilantro). However, remember not to club Tomatoes with Spinach. 
5. Try tossing in a handful of green peas for taste, nutrition and visual appeal!

Trivia:
I have fond memories of this dish, mom made it once when my sister & I were in an 'I-am-not-hungry' phase, this made our mouths water and our stomachs rumble!! One of my all time favourites. Very simple to make, great taste along with the goodness of green leafy vegetable...
Aahaahaahaa, try this out if you want to know what "Yummy" means!

పుదినా పచ్చడి- Pudina pacchadi

Serves: upto 10 generous helpings; Preparation time: 40 minutes including washing/chopping/cutting/roasting/grinding.

Ingredients:    
3 tsps oil
1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jheera, Jilakara)
4 Dry Red chillies (Endu mirapakaya)
1 fistful Peanuts (Moongphalli, Vesinaggkaya)
1 fistful Sesame seeds (Til, Nuvvulu)
2 bunches- Mint (Pudina) greens
4 large stalks- Cilantro (Hara Dhania, Kotimeera)
1 tbsp Tamarind paste
1 medium sized onion
4 Green chillies
1.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar

(The Dry Red & Green chillies are to taste, use generously if you like the spice. Adjust the salt and tamarind accordingly. Large mild green chillies lend an awesome flavour to this recipe. Otherwise, use the usual small fiery Indian green chillies.)

Method:
1. Wash the greens (Pudina and Cilantro) in fresh running water. If the Pudina greens are young, they can be used whole. If the stems are fibrous, discard them & only use the leaves. Coarsely chop the Pudina and Cilantro. Set aside. Also chop the onion & green chillies into chunks and keep aside.
2. Heat 2 tsps of oil. When it is medium hot, add the dry red chillies broken into pieces. Roast them. When they are half done, add the Jheera. Add peanuts. Roast. When they are almost done (browned, giving off an aroma), add Sesame seeds. Switch off the flame when Sesame seeds splutter. Set aside.

3. Heat 1 tsp of oil. Add the chopped onions and green chillies, add salt. Roast them until they are half done. Transfer the contents into another cup and mix in the tamarind paste.
Now in this same saucepan (it will have left over traces of oil smeared), add the greens and roast them for 1 to 2 minutes until they partially wither in the heat.
4. Grinding:
In the blender, first add the mixture resulting from step (2). Blend with a little water to make a smooth paste. Next add the contents of step (3), these should be coarse ground using quick spurts of power on pulse so that the onion-green chilli chunks are still visible. Finally, add the withered greens and sugar, mix them in properly. Grind with quick spurts of power on pulse so that they are coarse ground.

Suggestions/Variations:

This Pacchadi is coarse ground, individual ingredients release an awesome medley of flavours & taste when crushed under our teeth as we eat, so make sure not to grind it too smooth.

Culture & Health:
This Pacchadi has the goodness of fresh Pudina (Mentha arvensis var. piperascens) & Cilantro- vitamins, antioxidants, essential oils, all those miracle phytochemicals, minerals. Peanut-Sesame provide protien and are a store-house of minerals. Half roasted onions & green chillies also provide vitamins & minerals. Traditional Andhra cuisine is full of such fresh chutneys and Pacchadis for a healthy lifestyle. Traditional cooks make Pacchadi fresh everyday, to make optimum use of antioxidants & those goodie-chemicals that get oxidized/denatured if stored. Moreover, it has such little oil, great taste along with health!!!

Trivia:
My favourite favourite pacchadi from childhood. This is my mother's recipe, she does very little cooking, but what little she does, she has some wonderfully yum recipes. I believe she learnt this recipe from her househelp-cook, Nagamani. How I used to pester Tittu to make this!
The recipe turned out very long in writing and explanation, but believe me, it is one of the easiest, you only need to chop the ingredients into large chunks, half roast them and lazily half-heartedly grind them coarse! :-P Put the minimum effort needed to make it, and you'll be surprized at how yummy it tastes. Thanks to Nagamani, wherever she is!

తోట కూర కంది పప్పు- Tota kura kandi pappu- Amaranth greens with split pigeon peas

Preparation time : ౩౦ mins
(Serves 2)



Ingredients
1 bunch of fresh thota kura
1 cup toor dal(kandi pappu)
1 medium sized onion(vullipaaya)
2-3 green chillies
1 big marble sized tamarind(chintapandu)
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste

Popu/Seasoning/thiragamaatha/tadka :

1 tsp of oil
mustard seeds (aavalu)
cumin seeds (jeela karra))
urad dal (minapappu)
Few curry leaves (karivepaaku)
Pinch of hing powder (inguva)

Method

1 Wash and chop the leaves.
2 Cut the chillies, onions in lengthwise.
3 Add 2 cups of water and pressure cook toor dal, leaves,onions and chillies till whistles.
4 After the valve pressure is released add salt,tamarind paste and cook for 2-3 mins.

Popu: Heat oil in a pan, add the remaining popu or tadka ingredients. Saute till the seeds start crackling.
Add popu to the cooked dal, stir well and cover. Tastes great with rice and chapati.


Variations : We can also add tomatoes to this preparation. If you like it little spicy then add red chilly powder as per your taste.

మెంతి ఆకు కంది పప్పు: Menthi aaku kandi pappu- Fenugreek greens with pigeon peas

Preparation time: 15 to 20 minutes
(Serves three)

Ingredients:

One bunch of fresh fenugreek(Menthi Kura) - washed and leaves plucked
1 cups of Toor dal(Kandi pappu)
1 tomato
2 green chillies -halved
Small lemon sized tamarind
1/4 tsp of turmeric
Salt to taste

Popu/Seasoning/thiragamaatha/tadka :

1 tsp of oil , mustard seeds, cumin and urad dal
Few curry leaves
Pinch of hing powder

Preparation:
Cook dal: In a pressure cooker, take toor dal, fenugreek leaves, tomato, green chillies, and turmeric -one and half cups of water and pressure cook them till 3 whistles. When the valve pressure is all released, remove the lid, add tamarind, half teaspoon of salt and cook for 2 more minutes.

Popu: In a laddle heat one teaspoon of oil, add the remaining popu or tadka ingredients. Saute till the seeds start crackling,.

Add popu to the cooked dal, stir well and cover. Tastes great with rice and chapati.