Lavanya's Hyderabadi Dahi Bhindi Masala

Ingredients:

3-4 cups Bhindi/Okra, washed, dried and cut into 1 cm pieces
1 large Onion, finely chopped
2 large Tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 tsp Sugar (Optional, to balance the sour taste of amchur and yogurt)
1 cup Yogurt, beaten
1 tbsp Grated Coconut, fresh/frozen
6-8 Cashew Nuts, soaked in warm milk for at least 10 mins
½ -1 tbsp Kasuri Methi/Dried Fenugreek Leaves
1 tsp Garam Masala/Kitchen King Masala
½ -1 tsp Red Chilli Powder (Adjust acc to taste)
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
½ -1 tsp Amchur/Dry Mango Powder
½ tsp Coriander Powder
1-2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

For Tadka/Tempering:

1 tsp Mustard Seeds
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
A Pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
Few Curry Leaves
1 tbsp Oil


Method:

Sprinkle little salt to okra pieces and mix well. Keep it aside for half an hour. This helps in reducing the sliminess while frying the okra. This step is optional.

Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil in a pan and add okra pieces to it. Fry them continuously at high flame till they turn brown retaining their crispiness, about 7-10 mins. Alternatively you can also deep fry them but I prefer pan frying for healthy option.

Transfer these fried okras to a plate lined with kitchen/paper towel and keep them aside till needed.

Grind soaked cashews and coconut to smooth paste adding the milk used for soaking. Keep it aside till needed.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When mustard starts to pop and splutter, add cumin seeds, hing and curry leaves and sauté it for a minute till cumin seeds turns golden brown in colour.

Now add finely chopped onions and fry till they turn light golden. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for another minute till their raw smell disappears and onion turns golden brown.

Now add all the dry masalas (garam/kitchen king masala, red chilli powder, amchur, turmeric and coriander powder) along with Kasuri Methi and fry for a minute in low heat.

Mix in finely chopped tomatoes and sauté till they turn pulpy and release their juice, about 2 minutes. Now add ground cashew-coconut paste and mix well. Keep stirring for a minute.

Add yogurt, sugar and salt to taste and stir well. Depending on the consistency of gravy required, add ½-1 cup of water and mix well. Simmer the gravy and let it cook uncovered for another 5 minutes.

Mix in fried okra and adjust the seasonings. Add little more water if you think the gravy is too thick and simmer for another 3-5 minutes.

Serve this delicious gravy of Hyderabadi Dahi Bhindi Masala with any roties or flavoured Basmati rice and enjoy.

Lavanya's Peerkangai Pachadi

Cut 2 peekings into small peices.
Cut 2-3 green chillies. Finely chop 1 big onion.

Pressure cook the above with very little water and cumin seeds for 2 whistles. Cool and pulse it in the mixer. If there is lots of water, save it and use for grinding coconut and soaking tamarind.

Grind one spoon of grated coconut and cumin. take extract from tamarind - 1.5- 2 ounce approximately.

In a kadai do tempering with mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves and 2 dry red chillies. then add finely chopped onion and fry till it turns brown.

Then add the coarse peekings mixture,coconut jeera paste, tamarind extract,salt and turmeric and hing and bring to boil. remove from heat when done.

Thattukada Chicken (Sig)

Ingredients

1 lb Chicken pieces, bone-in, preferably drumsticks
1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
3/4 tsp Coriander powder
3/4 tsp Red chilli powder
1 pinch Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp rice flour
Salt to taste
1/2 cup oil (use coconut oil for the real thattukada taste)
Juice from 1 lemon
Garnish
2-3 sprigs curry leaves
5 green chillies
1 cup thinly sliced onions

Method

Clean the chicken and pat dry. If using drumsticks, make a few slits, if using a whole chicken, cut into medium sized pieces.

Mix the ginger-garlic paste, coriander, chilli, turmeric, garam masala and rice flour along with the lime juice to make a paste.
Marinate the chicken in this paste for an hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chicken in medium-low heat till brown on all sides.

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Mix the sliced onions for garnish in the remaining marinade.

In the same oil, deep fry the marinated onions till crispy and keep aside. Now deep fry curry leaves and slit green chillies if using (remove the seeds from the chillies to reduce heat).

Garnish the fried chicken with lemon wedges, fried onions, curry leaves & chillies