Beerakaya pappu

Having come from Guntur part of Andhra, toor dal is a must item in our daily meal in afternoons. I wanted to eat something different last weekend but couldnt totally avoid Dal too:). So made Beerakaya pappu with pesara pappu(moong dal). Very saatwik and very tasty if eaten with ghee. Do try it out....

Ingredients:
Beerakayalu/ Ridge gourd - 2
Moong Dal / Pesara pappu - 1 small cup
Green Chilly
For tadka/talimpu:
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Red Chilly
Urad dal/Minapappu
Chana dal/pachisenaga
aesofetida/ inguva
Jeera
avalu/mustard seeds
Salt
Curry Leaves

Method: Peel off the skin of Beerakayas and check if the gourd is not sour. Now cut each gourd into small pieces. Also cut the green chilly into few pieces. Wash moong dal and add sufficient water to it to cook. Add the cut beerakaya pieces, the green chilly pieces and a pinch of hing to it. Pressure cook dal. Once done, add haldi to the cooked dal, adjust salt, mix the dal and keep aside.
Heat ghee in a pan, add red chilly. After few seconds, add mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal and chana dal. When the seeds crackle, add hing and curry leaves & turn off the flame. Add this tadka to the dal and mix properly. Serve with hot rice and ghee.

Note: You can also add little lemon juice to the dal at the end.

Vankaya Podi Mudda Kura

This is a popular dish in Andhra and I couldnt find this recipe anywhere on the net. One of my favorite dishes. This Gutti vankaya is a dry item and is very authentic & tasty. I will try to upload the pictures soon. You need the purple long brinjals (pudugu vankayalu) shown in the picture to make this dish.

Ingredients:
Vankayalu/ Brinjals - 8 (considering four people and 2 per each)
Oil - 1 cup
Grind these to powder:
RedChillies - 5
Urad Dal/Minapappu - 2 tsp
Chana dal/pachisenaga - 1/2 tsp
aesofetida/ inguva - 1/4 tbsp ( make sure it is not more)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Salt

Method:

Wash the brinjals and wipe off properly. Cut off the stems of the brinjal, cut each brijal into two equal pieces. Make a cross shape slit on the cut end for all the pieces. Keep aside. Grind Red Chillies, Urad dal, Jeera and Chana dal to powder(You can dry roast the same before grinding to powder for variation). Now adjust aesofetida and salt accordingly. Mix the powder properly.

It is better if you can wear gloves for stuffing the powder, since the powder due to red chillies could be hot on hands. Take each brinjal piece and suff enough powder (with no space left). Repeat the same for the rest of the brinjals.

Now heat a pan with oil in it, add 4 or 5 stuffed brinjals to the pan. Each brinjal should be seperate in the pan to get propely fried. You can add more brinjals depending on the size of the pan. Keep the stove on low flame and let all the sides of the brinjals get equally fried. Remove the brinjals from pan after proper fry and keep aside. Repeat the same with the remaining stuffed brinjals. Serve with hot rice.