Mahanandi

I walked to Pike Place Market this morning and came home with two pounds of fresh peas. I sat for some time thinking about what to prepare and the following recipe is what I came up with for our meal today.

Added basmati rice and salt to water. Steam-cooked the rice to tender.

While rice was cooking, I shelled the peas from the pods. I separated about a cup of plump peas for this recipe. Heated a skillet. Added a teaspoon of peanut oil. When the oil was hot enough, added a teaspoon of Mandira’s panch phoran mix. Toasted the spices for couple of seconds. Then added the fresh peas, quarter cup of finely chopped mint leaves for fragrance and a pinch of black pepper for some heat. Slow simmered the whole thing in quarter cup of very diluted homemade coconut milk for about five minutes.

By then the rice was ready. Added the Pea-panch phoran mix from the skillet to the rice. Mixed and served it with cucumber raita.

Thanks to the Basmati, panch phoran and mint presence, the fresh peas of spring season radiated comfortable glow of self-appreciation. I loved my meal today.

(Panch Phoran is a Bengali/Oriya spice mix made of Cumin, Fennel, Fenugreek, Mustard and Nigella seeds. Take the seeds in almost equal quantity. Mix and store in a spice box. That’s panch phoran.)

Black-eyed peas, Mustard Greens with Matta Rice:

There are only few American dishes that I enjoy. One of them is Hopping’ John (black-eyed peas, greens and rice). This is an African-American dish that has made it to the “Hara’s Tara”. I like the combination, but the underlying flavor melancholy is inescapable. How to add a cheerful tone to blue notes. Well, how about a mrudangam beat. These thoughts led to a new recipe, which is an amalgam of both ingredients and method.

Black-eyed peas, mustard greens and Kerala matta rice cooked together with onions and tomatoes. And the dish is flavored with fresh coconut, peppercorn and nutmeg. Though it started out like musical elements spontaneously assembled during a play, the south-Indian improvisational context imparted an orchestra effect to good old African American tradition. Mine was a solo performance, and when the single audience showed up with a serving bowl saying “encore please”, some hopping smiles sure happened.

Lobia and Sarson with Matta Rice:
(for two adults for two meals)

1-cup black-eyed peas - soaked in water overnight, and cooked to tender
1-cup matta rice (or brown rice) - soaked in 3 cups of water for 3 hours
1 bunch mustard greens - leaves and tender stems, finely chopped
1 onion, and two ripe tomatoes - finely chopped
2 garlic cloves - finely chopped

For seasoning:
2 tablespoons fresh grated coconut,
1 teaspoon black peppercorn (this dish needs some heat)
½ teaspoon each - cumin and grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon each - turmeric and salt
½ inch piece of ginger
2 tablespoons of crushed jaggery
Take them all in a Mixer. Pulse few times, first. Then add half cup of water. Blend to smooth paste.

Heat a tablespoon of peanut oil in a big pot. Add and sauté garlic and onion to pale-red. Add tomatoes and sauté to soft. Add the mustard greens and cook until leaves start to collapse. Add the rice and the water it soaked in. Cover the pot and on medium heat, cook the rice until it’s al-dente or just tender. Now add the precooked black-eyed peas. And also the spice paste. Stir-in another cup of water if the dish looks too dry. Mix. Have a taste and adjust salt to your liking. Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve hot with papadums on the side. Makes a great tasting one-pot meal.

India Inspired Hopping John ~ Meal Today

అటుకుల పాయసము

Claypot Cooking: Poha Payasam with Almond Milk

I had been looking for a decent clay pot for cooking for a long time. Last weekend, I have come across one at a local grocery shop called Apna Bazar. The clay pot is from India, very well crafted and decorated with pretty floral design. The size is good and it also has a well-fitted lid. Price $12.

I brought the clay pot home, prepped it by soaking in water and then simmering the water for few times, half an hour each time. Simmering was done on stovetop following the clay-pot cooking principles. First warm the pot on low heat and then gradually increase the heat to medium level. I never tried high heat setting fearing that it might crack. Although it was on electric stovetop, this method has worked very well. Like the iron box on steam setting, the clay pot hissed every time, but absorbed this newbie trails kindly. I felt confident enough to try out the real deal and did the opening ceremony with payasam preparation yesterday. The sweetness that comes with clay pot cooking, combined with sweetness of the payasam, it was a good experience.

The following poha payasam with almond milk is very easy to make. And I think, it has a taste that delights most everyone. If you prefer, semiya or sabudana can be substituted for poha.

Toasted Poha, Golden Raisins and Chironji Nuts

Recipe:
(for two to four people, for one meal)

3 cups almond milk (badam paalu)
½ cup maple syrup (or sugar to taste)

1-tablespoon ghee
2- tablespoons golden raisins
1-tablespoon chironji (Saarapappu or charoli)
1-cup poha (atukulu, rice flakes)
1 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom

1. Place almond milk in a wide pot on stovetop. Add maple syrup. Slowly, on medium-low heat, simmer for about 20 minutes, until three cups have reduced to about two and half cups.

2. While almond milk is simmering, in a small kadai or wok, take ghee. On medium heat, warm the ghee. Add golden raisins and saute, constantly stirring. Wait until they puff up like round balloons. It’s a beautiful sight and worth the wait. With a slotted spoon, remove the balloons to a plate.
Add chironji nuts to the kadai. Toast them to pale red. Take them out and add poha. Toast for couple of minutes just until they are warm to touch. Together, they will look like shown in the photo above.

3. Add the toasted poha, golden balloons and chironji nuts to simmering almond milk. Sprinkle the crushed cardamom. Mix. Turn off the heat immediately. Cover the pot and let the poha absorb the almond milk. Poha is like cereal flakes, softens quickly.

Serve hot or at room temperature. Just before serving, drizzle a tablespoon of maple syrup. This poha paysam with almond milk is as nutritious as it is tasty and makes a comforting dessert for people who fear the hormonal effects of regular milk and soymilk.

Claypot Cooking: Poha (Atukula) Payasam with Almond Milk

*****
Slow connection, server problems. Sorry for the inconvenience.
*****

Brown Basmati and Fresh Methi

Nutritional supplements and natural herbal remedies don’t have to be in capsule form. Example is this healing herbal rice I have prepared for our meal yesterday.

Three types of fresh herbs with potent medicinal properties and brown basmati, a nutritionally supreme rice are cooked together. The result -

a tasty and tantalizing herbal basmati.

Possessing great inner strength and capable of exerting strong nutritional benefits, this herbal rice with healing fire in its heart is the kind of meal that would provide a nourishing surround to a flourishing imagination.

Healing Herbal Rice with Potato Kurma ~ Celebrating St. Patty’s Day

Recipe Details:

Artisan Food: Healing Herbal Rice
Ingredients: Brown Basmati, Methi, Mint and Dill
Skill level: Easy. From Novice to Expert
Labels: Vegan, Wholesome, Herbal and Iron rich Food
Price: $2.00
Format: PDF

Buy Now

How it Works: After payment via Paypal, PDF file will be emailed to you to download the recipe. For any questions about the recipe or the download process, please email me at mailmahanandi@gmail.com .

Artisan Food Aim and Purpose:

“Artisan Food ~ Revenue through Recipes” program aims to raise money, however small the amount, to support the children at Swami School at Nandyala. This will also lend a sense of purpose to my food blogging, and help me feel like I am accomplishing something through my activity in this Web world.

Previously in Artisan Food:

• Avocado Annam
• Chestnut-Lentil Soup
• Maamidi Thokku Pacchadi

Artisan Photo Gallery

Upma with rice flakes or poha, also known as “Atukula Upma” in Telugu, is a favorite at thousands of road-side stalls specializing in serving quick meals in Andhra, India. The preparation starts with sautéing of vegetables, seasoning and then moistened poha is added. Cilantro, lime juice and roasted peanuts are the garnish, and it is served hot with a side order of coffee or tea. For centuries, this common food fare is a “fills the belly and wards off the hunger” kind of morning meal whether one works as a tenured servant or as a daily laborer.

For our meal today, I have prepared the upma with rosematta poha. The red colored rosematta rice grains which have been parboiled, are flattened by heavy rollers, then dried naturally. This produces coral colored rosematta poha with pronounced nutty taste, which is just addictive. Keeping up with the upcoming season and the festivals, I have added green chickpea sprouts and pistachios to upma. Coral and green, it was a good meal.

Rosematta Atukulu and Green Chickpea Sprouts

Recipe:
(makes a sparse meal for two)

2 cups Poha (atukulu, rice flakes)
1 red onion or 3 small shallots - finely chopped
3 - Indian or Thai variety green chillies - finely chopped
1 cup - chickpea sprouts (small brown or green variety)
¼ cup - roasted and unsalted pistachios (or peanuts)
¼ cup - finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

for seasoning:
1 tablespoon - peanut oil
1 tablespoon - urad dal - toasted dal tastes wonderful in upma
¼ teaspoon each - cumin and mustard seeds
1 sprig - fresh curry leaves
¼ teaspoon - turmeric
Salt and lime juice to taste

Heat oil in a wide skillet. When oil starts to shimmer, add and toast curry leaves, urad dal, cumin & mustard seeds- in that order. When seeds start to pop, add the onion, chilli and chickpea sprouts. Saute to tender, for about five minutes.

Add the pistachios and cilantro. Sprinkle turmeric and salt. Mix.

While they are cooking, add poha to water and submerge for about 30 seconds. Quickly drain into a colander, or with your hands remove and add the poha to the skillet. (This is done to moisten the poha and do not keep them in water for long. They’ll lose the bite and turn to mushy.)

Toss to mix, and stir-fry for two to three minutes. Serve hot.

Worshipping the Verdant Season with Coral Atukula Upma

Health Labels:
Traditional India-Vegan, Diet-friendly
Rosematta Poha: Carbohydrates, the complex kind
Chickpea Sprouts: Protein and Vitamins
Pistachios - Hormone-free fat
Spices - Digestion-aid and for well-being

Notes:
Tomatoes, beans, grated fresh coconut etc are also added to the poha upma.
Rosematta poha, purchased at Apna Bazar, Bellevue, WA.
Rosematta Poha Snack - the sweet kind, from Kerala.

Seattle has a great support system for homeless population. In downtown, where we live, there are many food banks; there is also one near our home. People who are going through difficult conditions can visit a food bank, and avail themselves of food like bread, fruits, milk, canned soup or soda, onions, potatoes and the like. Everything is given for free, no questions asked. Initially I was surprised to see dozens of people queuing up near our home. Then we realized what was going on. Not all times are our times. I am glad that Seattle citizens are doing a great job in taking care of their own. This good care even made few rabid TV anchors riled up. Jealousy towards the poor and less fortunate, what a way to earn millionaire salaries!

Inspired by what I see in Seattle, I resolved to generate some monetary support for our school at Nandyala through my recipes. You see, just like here, people are going through some rough conditions in Nandyala and surrounding villages. The number of school dropouts has increased greatly in recent months. Here in America, several regions took an economic hit, but at Nandyala, where the majority population, depends on agriculture, drought has brought despair. Unfortunately, unlike Seattle, there is no strong support system for children leave alone for elders in my hometown to recover.

When we wrote the maa badi post two years ago, some of you showed interest and offered help. At Swami School, we developed a system so that the school would function self-sufficiently without outside contributions. So, we kept quiet. We are providing the best education possible with minimum burden on a child’s family, and the scholarships we sponsor have been funded with our own money. But now, the need has increased immensely, and this is the time to get involved actively. As a student who has benefited from scholarships, I know how every rupee can help. With these things in mind, I am starting “Artisan Food ~ Revenue through Recipes” program to raise money, however small the amount, to support the children at Swami School at Nandyala. This will also lend a sense of purpose to my food blogging, and help me feel like I am accomplishing something through my activity in this Web world.

In Artisan Food series, there would be a brief description of recipe and the recipe will not be posted on this website. If you are interested, make a purchase and I will send you a PDF document with complete recipe details.

Well, this is a first. Wish me good luck!

Avocado Annam is a pleasing but not fluffy kind of recipe. Ingredients are avocado and annam (=Sanskrit word for rice). Tomato, onion, cilantro and lime juice are also added. The preparation process and the end result have that perfect balance of interesting, but not so tedious that it becomes frustrating. “Why didn’t I think of this simple idea before” you marvel once everything is done. The recipe is easy and quick to prepare, and makes a great luncheon or dinner dish. Avocado fans particularly will enjoy this avocado annam.

How it Works: After payment via Paypal, PDF file will be emailed to you to download the recipe. For any questions about the recipe or the download process, please email me at mailmahanandi@gmail.com .

Details:
Artisan Food: Avocado Annam
Ingredients: Basmati, Avocado etc.
Skill level: Easy. Novice to expert
Labels: Vegan (Meat-Free), Party Pleaser
Price: $2.00
Format: PDF

Buy Now

******
~ Indira
Thanks V!

Fresh Tuvar (pacchi kandulu)

Toor dal is among the most easily digestible of all food, and can serve as central element in a meatfree diet. The nourishing toor dal starts its life as an oval-shaped bean in beautiful green, neatly tucked in a row in a tuvar pod. Each tuvar pod contains about four to six plump tuvar beans. Exquisitely dense and full of spring-flavor, fresh tuvar, like green peas and green garbanzos, is a culinary delight when lightly cooked.

At Nandyala, fresh tuvar pods appear at farmers markets for a few weeks during summer time. Streetside vendors sell boiled tuvar pods in paper packets for as little as your pocket change. At our home, we used to simmer the whole pods in salted water and then shell the pods to snack on the cooked beans. Luckily, in recent years, the local Indian grocery shops in the United States have started importing fresh tuvar from India. Already shelled and in frozen avatar, a pound is usually priced at two to three dollars. It’s a good buy.

If you haven’t tried this protein powerhouse yet, you must now. Lightly cook fresh tuvar beans in salted water for a delicious snack. Or add them whole to vegetable curries or kurmas, and to rice preparations. This lentil lifeline instantly livens up any preparation.

For today’s meal, I made basmati pulao with fresh mint and tuvar. Easy to cook, incredibly fragrant and best of all, it’s so rich in flavor because of fresh mint and tuvar, that it needs little enhancement. Imagine pasta or orzo tossed in flavorful mint pesto ; almost the same taste here, but with basmati rice.

Fresh Coconut, Mint and Tuvar

Recipe:
(for four to six people)

2 cups basmati rice
1 cup fresh tuvar
¼ cup roasted cashews
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon peanut oil

To prepare masala: Take about 2 cups fresh mint leaves in a Sumeet style mixer. Add two tablespoons of fresh, grated coconut, 5 green chillies, 4 cloves and a one-inch cinnamon piece. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and blend them together to fine paste.

To prepare Mint Pulao: Heat the oil in a big pan over medium heat. Add the onion and Tuvar. Saute to tender. Next, add and cook the ground masala paste, over low heat, stirring for about five minutes, until it turns to pale green from bright green color. To the cooked masala, add the basmati rice, salt and about 5 cups of water. Mix. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until water evaporates and rice cooks to tender. At this stage, add the cashews, and fluff the rice gently with a spoon. Let it sit, covered for five minutes and serve hot.

This mint pilaf is definitely delicious enough to eat on its own, but I have prepared aloo kurma and cucumber raita to go with it. Good meal.

Basmati Pilaf with Fresh Mint and Tuvar ~ for Linda’s Toor Dal Jihva