A Simple Vegetarian Meal

Mostly our meal consists of plain rice,pappu charu,potato fry,vadiyalu, pickle, uppu mirapakay and curd.Pappu charu is made daily in most of the andhra households and one can say it is a common staple food of people living in the andhra.It is best eaten with plain rice, a dash of ghee and alu fry.I learnt this from my mom,usually there are two variations of pappu charu,my m-law makes it very thick where as my mom makes it thin,i prefer the thin version and my hubby prefers thick version.

Pappu Charu (lentil cooked in tamarind water)

Ingredients:-

Tur dal (kandi pappu) 1 cup
Tamarind 1 small lemon sized (soak in 2 cups of water and extract the pulp)
Lady finger 4 (cut into big pcs)
Brinjals 2 (cut into big pcs)
Tomatoes 2 (chopped)
Onions 2 (sliced)
Green chillies 2 (silted)
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Red chilly powder 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder 1/4 tbsp
Salt as per taste

Seasoning:-

Rai 1/2 tsp
Udad dal 1/2 tsp
Zeera 1 tsp
Curry leaves few
Red chillies (dry) 2
Garlic 1pod (crushed)
Oil 2 tbsp

Method:-
Pressure cook tur dal with turmeric and water.The water proportion to the dal i took is for 1 cup dal ,1 1/2 cup water.Once cooked remove the excess water and mash until smooth and keep aside.Don't throw the excess water.

Mean while take the tamarind pulp in a pan add onions,green chillies,curry leaves,tomatoes,lady finger and brinjal.Add 2 cups water and let it cook on a medium heat for 10-12 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked well.

Add salt,turmeric powder,mashed dal and the excess water collected from the cooked dal.Let it cook for another 3-4 minutes.Lastly add red chilly powder and stir well and switch off the flame.

Now do the seasoning.Take a oil in a kadai,add crushed garlic.When the garlic truns brown add rai,udad dal,zeera,red chillies and curry leaf.Allow them to splutter.

Add this seasoning to the pappu charu and let it cook for another 1-2 minutes and cover the pan so that the aroma from the pappu charu doesn't comes out.

Alu fry (potato fry)

Ingredients:-

Potatoes 1/2 kg
Onion 1 chopped
Green chillies 2 chopped
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Red chillies powder 1 tbsp

Seasoning:-

Oil 3 tbsp
Rai few
Udad dal few
Curry leaves few
Red chilly 1 broken into 2 pcs

Method:-

Pressure cook potatoes.Let it cool and remove skin.Mash potatoes with hand and keep aside.

Take a kadai,heat oil and add all the seasoning,when they splutter add onions and green chillies.

Saute till onions are pink in colour.

Add mashed potatoes,salt and turmeric powder and mix thoroughly.

Let it fry for 2-3 minutes.

Lastly add red chilly powder and mix.