Food

Ran across this picture showing the best of each state’s food in India. I think I only tried 10% of these dishes… and I consider my self a food junkie on top of being an India :).

Click on the picture to get to an enlarged version

I will try to convert the data in this picture to an excel spreadsheet when I get some time..

The data in tabular form..(work in progress)

[gview file=”http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tWM60O2i56vebN-13Jkel9g&single=true&gid=0&output=html”]

Recipe for Palathalikalu, a dessert from the Guntur region in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It is a classical dish and is usually made during the Sankranthi festival. This used to be a “must have” dish in my childhood, but it has become into a exotic dish in recent times. My brother in law made some recently and I was surprised, how easy it is to make the dish. Here is an attempt to share the knowledge :).

Ingredients :

• Rice Flour (1.5 cups)
• Brown Sugar (2 cups)
• Milk (1/2 Gallons)
• Butter (Ghee) (3 tablespoons)
• Cashew Nuts (1/2 cup)
• Cardamom Seeds (eilachi) (~15)

Preparation :

• Knead the rice flour into a dough by adding 1 cup of brown sugar and some warm milk.
• Add the rest of the brown sugar to the milk and bring it to a boiling point
• Put the prepared dough in a cookie press and drop it into the milk as short noodles (use the cookie press template with round holes of ~0.25 inches in diameter)
• Roast the cashews slightly in butter and them to the milk (along with the butter)
• Crush the cardamom seeds and add them to the milk.
• Let all the ingredients boil for ~15 minutes and you are ready to enjoy palathalikalu

Wasn’t that easy? :).. You can also add raisins to the dish based on your preference.

Visuals :

The Ingredients

The Cookie Press (Indian Version 🙂 )

Creating the noodles

Yummy!!

Receipe for beerakaya royyalu (Shrimp with Ridged Gourd). This dish is mainly cooked in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Meat and vegetables are usually not mixed in Andhra dishes..so I thought this one deserves a blog entry.

Ingredients :

• Shrimp (uncooked, medium size)
• Beera Kaya (Ridged Gourd.. you can get it at an Indian grocery)
• Red Onions
• Red Chilli Powder
• Salt
• Ginger Garlic Paste
• Coconut Milk (check out the ethnic aisle in any grocery)
• Cloves
• Cardamoms
• Cilantro
• Garam Masala (ground spices..another thing you can get at an Indian grocery)
• Vegetable Oil

Preperation :

• Peel and cut the ridged gourd into medium sized cubes and the onions into small pieces.
• Cook the shrimp (2lbs) in coconut milk (3 tablespoons) and ginger garlic paste (2 teaspoons) without adding any water for ~20 minutes. There is no need to add water, since the shrimp has a lot of water in it. This process helps with cooking the shrimp and elimninating the “fishy” odour.
• Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the cloves, cardamoms. Add the onions after a couple of minutes.
• When the onions turn golden, add the shrimp.
• Add some more ginger garlic, red chilli powder and salt
• Wait for a couple of minutes and add the ridge gourd
• Let the whole disk cook for ~15 minutes (let the water evaporate).
• Add the garam masala and cilantro
• Serve hot with rice.

Visuals  :

Shrimp being boiled with coconut milk and ginger garlic

Chopped Onion and peeled beera kaya

Shrimp and Beera Kaya cooking together

Beerakaya Royyalu served hot with rice

Recipe for Goat soup (AKA known as Bokkala Pulusu in Telugu). Credit goes to Banda and his mom. This dish is mainly prepared in the Telangana region of the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a spicy soup made from Goat meat with bones. Hence the name Bokkala Pulusu. Bokkala means bones and Pulusu means soup in Telugu.

Ingredients :

• Goat Meat (with bones)
• Onions
• Green Chilli
• Cloves
• Cinnamon
• Cardamoms
• Garam Masala
• Oil
• Turmeric
• Salt
• Chilli powder
• Tamarind Paste

Preperation :

• Cut the meat into medium chunks. Don’t skin the meat from the bones. Let the meat cling onto the bones.
• Heat some oil in a skillet and gently roast the cloves, cinnamon and cardamoms after crushing them.
• After a minute, add the sliced onions and half cut green chilli.
• When the onions turn golden, add the meat and gently turn it around until it becomes light pink.
• Sprinkle some turmeric and add salt, chilli powder (according to your taste).
• Let the meat cook for another 3-4 minutes and add garam masala.
• Add plenty of water (should be at least 2 inches about the level of the meat) and the tamarind paste.
• Let the meat cook for at least 1 hour on medium flame.
• Serve hot with white rice..

Visuals :

The meat..

 

Cinnamon, Cloves &  Cardamoms

Onions & Chilli

All mixed together..

Served with a bunch of other dishes 🙂