Sankranti Festive Meal
Sankranti Subhakankshalu! Wishing all my dear readers and friends who are
celebrating, a very happy and prosperous Makar Sankrathi.
Most native Andhra homes celebrate the most auspicious Thanksgiving festival,
Sankranti with traditional festive foods like Kalagaya kura, Kalagaya Pulusu,
Ariselu, Bobbatlu and Teepi Punugulu. Each region and each home have their own
versions of festive preparations. Whatever the custom, you can be assured
that each home will prepare a special dish to usher in the harvest season and
offer thanks to nature, the sacred cow and beloved ancestors.
The newly harvested rice is cooked and offered as neivedhyam to the Gods. By and
large, Kalagaya kura aka mixed vegetable curry is a common traditional Sankranti
preparation including Kalagaya Pulusu aka Teepi Pulusu, mixed vegetables cooked
in jaggery and tamarind. The sweet dishes might differ based on the customs followed by
each home like Boorelu, Ariselu, Kajjikayalu, Bobbatulu, Sunnundalu etc.
Two loyal readers of Sailu’s Kitchen, who are based abroad, have requested me
to post recipes of Kalagaya Kura and Teepi Pulusu. For the benefit of all those
readers who are very far away from home and do not know how to prepare the
traditional ‘Pedda Panduga’ (the other name given to Sankranti in our
parts) delicacies, I am posting traditional special recipes of Sankranti.
Mixed Vegetables (Red Pumpkin, Brinjal, Drumsticks, Raw
Plantains, Sweet Potato, Colocasia, Indian Broad beans and Yam)
Kalagaya Kura ~ Mixed Vegetable Curry
Mukkala Pulusu ~ Mixed Vegetable Stew
Teepi Punugulu ~ Sweet Fritters
Traditional Andhra Pedda Panduga Bhojanam ~ White rice with
roasted and cooked yellow moong dal, Kalagaya kura, Kalagaya Pulusu, Paramannam, Teepi Punugulu and Perugu (curd)
Kalagaya Kura Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Yield: 6
Main Ingredients: mixed vegetables
Ingredients
Red Pumpkin - 5-6 cups, peeled and cubed (I used one small pumpkin weighing
approx 600 gms)Brinjal - 1, large, cubedYam - 1 cup, peeled and cubedRaw Plantain - 1, peeled and cubedDrumsticks - 2, peeled and cut into 2" piecesIndian Broad beans - 2 cups, nip ends and cut into 1 1/ 2" pieces
(Sem/Chikkudukaya)Sweet Potato - 3, wash and cut into 1" piecesColocasia - 1/2 cup, peel and cut into 1/2" piecesOnion - 1, large, finely choppedTomato - 1, large, finely choppedGreen chilies - 5, slitCurry leaves - 1 sprigRed chili powder - 1 tsp (optional)Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspCoriander powder - 1 tspJaggery - 2 tbsp (add to suit your palatte)Salt to tasteCoriander leaves - 2 tbsps, finely choppedFor tempering/tadka/poppu:Mustard seeds - 1 tspCumin seeds - 1 tspSplit urad dal - 2 tspsGarlic - 6-7 cloves, crushedCurry leaves - 2 sprigs
Method
Heat oil in a large cooking vessel. Once hot, add mustard seeds and allow to
splutter. Add cumin seeds, split urad dal and allow the dal to turn red. Add
crushed garlic and curry leaves and saute for a few seconds. Add the chopped
onions, green chilies and curry leaves and saute till the onions turn pink.Add all the vegetables except pumpkin and mix well with the onions. Cook
without lid for 4 mts. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder
and salt and mix.Place lid and cook on low flame for 10 mts. Then add the pumpkin pieces and
mix and place lid and cook till the vegetables turn soft. This could take approx
15-18 mts. Keep mixing once in a while during the cooking process.Add half a cup of water and jaggery and mix. Place lid and simmer till the
vegetable are completely cooked.Turn off flame and remove onto a serving bowl. Garnish with fresh coriander
leaves.
Tips
The quantity of pumpkin and sweet potato should be more than all the other
vegetables used to make the curry as well as pulusu.Use jaggery as per taste. For the above quantities, I use around 2-3 tbsps
grated jaggery.To prepare Mukkala pulusu, you will need to add 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
(methi/menthulu) and 1 tbsp chana dal (bengal gram/senaga pappu) in the
tempering along with the rest of the tempering ingredients that were used to
prepare the curry. Follow the above recipe till step 2 (omit coriander powder).
Then place lid and cook for 15 mts or till the vegetables are half cooked. Add 1
litre water and tamarind paste (large lemon sized tamarind) and 2 tbsps jaggery.
Bring to a boil. Reduce flame and place lid and cook till the rawness of
tamarind disappears and the stew thickens lightly, approx 15 mts. Add salt to
taste and turn off heat. Remove into a serving bowl and garnish with fresh
coriander leaves.Usually freshly plucked raw tamarind (chintakayalu) is used to prepare the
pulusu. If not available, tamarind paste can be used.If using chintakayalu, boil 7-8 chintakayalu in two cups of water for 8-10
mts. Allow to cool and extract the juice and discard the pulp. Add about a cup
of this juice to the pulusu, if not using tamarind paste.Happy Sankranti to my dear readers. Learn how to make Andhra style
traditional festival recipes like Kalagaya kura, pulusu, bobbatalu and teepi
punugulu.
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