Bengal Gram Onion Curry

Senaga Pappu Ullipaya Kura, Chana Dal Pyas Curry

Ingredients :

Onion 1/4 kg

Bengal Gram 1/2 cup

Tomato 1 medium (chopped)

Curry Leaves 6

Green Chilly 3 (slit)

Coriander powder 1/2 tsp

Dry Coconut powder 1/2 tsp

Garam masala 1/2 pinch

Mustard Seeds 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds 1/4 tsp

Ginger Garlic Paste 1/4 tsp

Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp

Red Chilly Powder 1/2 tsp

Oil 1 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Coriander Leaves few sprigs

Preparation :

Chop onion and soak bengal gram for half an hour.

Heat oil in a Pressure pan, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds,

after spluttering add curry leaves, slit green chilly, ginger

garlic paste, onion and turmeric powder, fry for 3-4 Min's.

Add soaked bengal gram and chopped tomato to it, mix it well.

Now add red chilly powder, salt, coriander powder, dry coconut

powder and 1/2 pinch garam masala (do not add water), mix it

thoroughly.

Put lid and wait (whistle) and cook it on low flame

till you get one whistle, turn off the flame and open it after

10 Min's, If it is not cooked, cook it for more one whistle.

Then add coriander leaves. Now it is done.

Serve it with rice, chapati....etc.

Makes roughly 3-4 servings.

It takes approx 20 - 25 Min's to cook.

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Potato Egg Kabab

Aloo Egg Kababs










 
This is very soft snack item .This dish is like dipping mashed
aloo in egg and fry it on pan.

Ingredients :
Potatoes 2 big
Eggs 2
Green Chilly 3 (finely chopped)
Mint Leaves 8 (finely chopped)
Coriander Leaves (finely chopped)
Red Chilly Powder 2 pinches
Turmeric Powder 1 pinch
Salt as per taste
Oil 1 tbsp

Preparation :
Boil potatoes and peel skin , mash potatoes very finely (like dough).
Now add finely chopped green chilies,mint leaves, coriander leaves
and salt. Mix it well. Keep it aside.

Now take 2 eggs . Add red chilly powder ,turmeric powder and
salt to eggs , and beat it perfectly.Now take small lemon size
potato mash and press itby keeping on the other hand.

Make 2-3 pieces.

Now heat omelet pan and spread 1/4 tsp oil on it.
Then dip those pieces in beaten egg and put it on the pan,
after a min turn to other side very softly, cook on
medium-low flame , till they get light golden brown colour.

Repeat it for all the pieces.

Now Aloo Egg kebabs are ready.

Children likes it very much.

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Bhadrakali Temple

 Location:

Bhadrakali Temple in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh is known to be one of the oldest temples for Goddess Bhadrakali in India. This temple is located on the banks of the Bhadrakali lake, a picturesque location between Hanamkonda and Warangal about 1.5 km from Government Polytechnic.

ABOUT THE TEMPLE:-

This temple is dedicated to Goddess Bhadrakali, the Giant moyher Goddess, with fierce looking eyes and face. The Diety is believed to be worshipped bt the Historic ruler pulakesin-II of Chalukya Dynasty in the year 625 A.D. after his win over the 'Vengi' region of Andhra Desha. The minister of Kakatiya Ganapathy Deva namely 'Hari' has constructed the tank and road to the temple. Every tourist to Warangal will certainly make a visit to this historical temple to have the blessings of the Mother Goddess.
 

Architecture: The temple is square shaped with a stone image of the goddess (2.7 x 2.7 meters). The image is seated with a fierce look in her eyes and on her face. The goddess wears a crown and has eight handsholding various weapons.There is an artificial lake of two and half km radius close to the temple.Natural rock formations add to the charm of the temple and are the dominant feature of the temple. These rocks are said to carry spiritual powers too. The temple is around 250 years old.The image transforms into a rare form called Tripura Sundari with the help of mantras, which includes the Kali form. Tripura Sundari is regarded as the supreme manifestation of Prakriti - the feminine power a vital energy of the universe. Literal meaning is The Beauty of Three Worlds.

Festivals: is held in the month of Sravana - August-September. The deity is aesthetically decorated.There are eight major and twelve minor temples in the mountains surrounding the Bhadrakali Temple.

Best Time to Visit Bhadrakali Temple: 

The best time to visit the famous Bhadrakali Temple in Warangal is the Telegu month of ‘Sravana’ which corresponds to the month of August - September according to Gregorian Calendar. At this time a festival is organised and the deity is aesthetically decorated in various forms. Housing about 8 major and 12 minor temples surrounding mountains of Bhadrakali Temple exude a sacred aura when a large number of devotees gather to offer prayers.
Some of the festivals celebrated at the temple are

• Vasanta Navaratri in Chaitra masa
• Shakambari Utsavam in Ashada masa
• Sharannavaratri in Ashwayuja masa

Vasantha Navaratri is a 9 day festival dedicated to 9 forms of Goddess Bhadrakali in Chaitra masa which is the start of Vasantha Ruthu (Spring Season).
During the Shakambari Utsavam the Bhadrakali deity is aesthetically decorated with various vegetables.
Sharannavarathi is also called Maha Navaratri and is celebrated in Sharad Ruthu (Winter Season) in September–October every year during Ashwayuja masa. This festival ends with Durga Ashtami. During this festival veda scholars recite vedas, perform Homams.
Bathukamma Festival is celebrated on Durga Ashtami and is famous for large gatherings (in lakhs) of colorfully dressed women and girls who visit the Bhadrakali lake with pans decorated with colorful flowers and perform poojas at the lake. During these poojas they sing various Bathukamma songs. Later these flowers are put on the water. It will be a colorful sight to see so many lakhs of flowers floating on the lake.
The people of Warangal and Hanamkonda believe in Goddess Bhadrakali and visit her for all the auspicious occasions like newborn babies, marriages etc. and offer her bangles, sarees and garlands and pray to her for her blessings.Brahmotsavas are held every year in the month of April/May in a grand manner. The festival attracts thousands of devotees from all over the region of Telangana.
People with desires go to the temple and tie a coconut (Mudupu) with red blouse piece at the temple after pooja. After the fulfilment of their desires they once again visit the temple and untie the coconut and perform poojas and offer sarees to the deity.

People who visit Bhadrakali Temple also visit Hanamkonda Fort which is just a kilometer away from the another well known thousand pillared Hanamkonda Temple. Inside the fort is the Siddeshwara Temple housing a small Linga shrine.

 

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Thousand Pillar Temple

Thousand Pillar Temple- Warangal is 150 kms away from Hyderabad. It was built by King Rudra Deva in the year 1163 A.D. Warangal is flooded with splendid temples, historical monuments and huge forts. This region has been beautified by the Kakatiya rulers. The Thousand Pillar Temple reflects the magnificence of the Chalukya kings.

History:-

The Thousand Pillar Temple of Warangal is built in the form of a star with one thousand ornately carved pillars, and reflects the splendour of the Chalukya kings. Built in a typical Chalukyan style of architecture by King Rudra Deva in 1163 A.D., the temple constitutes of three concentric shrines, dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya.
The Thousand Pillar Temple has been built at the base of the Hanamkonda hill. As the name suggests, there are one thousand intricately carved pillars of wide range and different sizes. The pillars of the main temple are firmly interwoven and form its parapet. Apart from the ornately carved pillars, the temple also has delicate smokescreens, brilliant stonework, and detailed and elaborate sculptures that will leave you enthralled.

The combination of the three shines of the temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Surya is known as Trikutalayam. Of the three shrines, Shiva's shrine has been positioned facing the east while other shrines face south and west. This was so, because the Kakatiyas were great devotees of Lord Shiva and wanted early morning sun rays to fall directly on Shiva Lingam.

On the fourth side of the Thousand Pillar Temple is Shiva’s sacred bull, Nandi. It has been carved out of a monolithic black stone, which is an impressive piece of art. Adding to its exclusivity, the Nandi in the Thousand Pillar Temple faces east, unlike most Nandis in Indian temples that face west. Enclosed within these four corners is the ‘Natya Mandapam’ where dancers performed. The pillars that support this innermost chamber of the temple are large and made of multiple blocks of stone.

Several small shrines devoted to the lingam, i.e. Lord Shiva, enclose the huge lawn of the Thousand Pillar Temple. Neatly carved rock-cut elephants built on both the sides of the temple entrance are wonderful icons. Presently, the temple is being sustained by the Archaeological Survey of India which has recognised it as one of the protected monuments.

Best time to visit

The best time to visit the Thousand Pillar Temple is during the winter months of October to March when the weather is pleasant in Warangal.

Trivia

Interestingly, the third deity of the temple is Surya, and not Brahma who is a part of the Hindu Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva), as the Kakatiyas did not worship Brahma much.

Timing

The temple remains open for the public between 6:00 am – 8:00 pm.

In addition to architecture, I loved the rich carvings and sculpture. You have to see it to believe it. The Nandi had on its back, a chain made of bells which seemed real. And the bull was life like.
Impressive Bull was a beginning. The 1000 pillar temple takes it to a whole new level. Enter the temple, you will see four magnificent pillars supporting the Natya Mandapam (dance floor). Each richly carved with exquisite designs. A pillar has multiple designs, 2 centimeters to about 30 centimeters, on the perimeter of circular pillar. They used designs of jewelry of the age. Chains, bangles, rings, crowns and the Kakatiya Dynasty’s symbol, Kalisam, can be seen one after another on each pillar. The design also had flowers finely carved. So fine, the sculptures carved gap between petals. A guide showed us such gaps by inserting a tiny stick into those holes. “This is how fine Kakatiya’s sculptures were.”

Exquisite design on one of the pillars in 1000 pillar temple. The guide demonstrates how fine the sculpture is by inserting a tiny stick into a gap between two flowers.

Gallery:-















 

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Jonna Rotte

Very popular in villages and small towns as an accompaniment to meat and vegetable gravy curries, sorghum roti is one of the traditional recipes of India. As the name suggests, the rotis are prepared from sorghum flour. Instead of rolling pin, hands are used to shape the sorghum dough into a round, flat, thin circle. Because sorghum flour is gluten-free flour, it’s very tough to spread the dough without breaking the shape, and one really needs hands-on experience and many failed attempts to get the skill.

I am very sad to say that it is becoming one of those ‘dying’ kind of recipes. My mother and grandmother generations perfected the sorghum roti preparation. But coming to my generation, the ‘educated’, the ’sophisticated’ ones, who can talk about baguettes and brie’s for hours and goes to great lengths to prepare and showoff knowledge of foreign cuisines, have no interest and can’t give the time of the day to learn or master the technique of this classic Indian recipe. It is not that we don’t like the taste. We love it! Imagine the warm paratha taste, multiply by 10 times, that’s how a good, well made sorghum roti tastes. In artisan hands, it puffs like puri - all on its own. No leavening agents and oil or ghee are added. Just fresh sorghum flour, warm water and touch of fire - pure grain power in its glory.

Making a prefect sorghum roti is a skill that I wanted to master with all my heart. For me, it is not just a recipe, but an Indian tradition that I wished to be a part of. The process is difficult to explain in written words and pretty much useless. Again this is one of those recipes, where one must be in the kitchen next to the cook, to know what they are talking about. One really needs a visual experience to understand the recipe. Well that’s how I feel anyway, so I’m going to keep the recipe directions simple for a change, and instead show the process in images.

Prepare dough by gradually adding and mixing hot water. After a rest period of 10 to 15 minutes, the dough is kneaded and divided into lemon sized balls. Then, using palm of the right hand, on a flat board, the dough is spread into flat, thin round.

The doughspread is carefully lifted and placed on a hot iron tava (griddle). We use a separate tava just for making these rotis. On medium-high heat,roti is roasted slowly. Water is applied with a cotton cloth on the surface of roti, before turning it to the other side.

After two to three minutes of cooking, roti is turned to the other side and cooked until done.

Jonna Rotte (Sorghum Roti) with curry ~ our meal today.

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Dry Fruits Laddu (Dink Laadu/Antina Unde)

There are many dishes that are prepared specially for lactating mothers. Many of these dishes have loads of ghee – it was a common belief that ghee which gives the necessary fats/calories and overcomes weakness and some other healthy ingredients. One very popular preparation is this dry fruits laddu – Dink Laadu or Dinkache Laadu(Marathi) or Antina Unde(Kannada). These laddus can be eaten by anyone, not just lactating mothers. They are very delicious.
Dink is the edible gum.  We found this edible gum in Indian store here. Normally the dink laddus have dry coconut, poppy seeds(khus khus) and dry fruits. We used all kinds of dry fruits that we had. Usually Kharik/Kharuk(dried dates) is used in this recipe, but since we did not have that, we used normal dates.

Ingredients:

1 cup jaggery
1/2 cup dry coconut (kopra/kobbari) (we used desiccated coconut)
1/2 cup water
2 tea spns ghee
1/8 tea spn nutmeg powder
1/8 tea spn cardamom powder
1 date cut into tiny pieces
1 tbl spn raisins
1 tbl spn edible gum(dink/anTu)
2 tbl spn cashews chopped into small pieces
2 tbl spns walnuts chopped into small pieces
2 tbl spns almonds chopped into small pieces
2 tbl spns poppy seeds (khus khus)
Method:
Dry roast coconut till it tuns slightly brownish. Take it out on a clean plate.
Heat ghee and add edible gum. The gum puffs up like small balloons. With a spoon take out on a plate, leaving behind any remaining ghee in the pan.
Add the cashews, almonds and walnuts, fry till they start to turn brown. Add poppy seeds and fry till they pop. Add raisins and dates and fry for few moments. Take out on same plate.
Bring to boil 1/2 cup water, add jaggery and cook till it forms syrup. To know whether the syrup is done, take some water on a plate and put a drop of syrup on it. If it sits like a crystal, syrup is done.
Add all the fried ingredients and mix well. Add nutmeg and cardamom powder. Mix well.
Make laddus when the mixture is still warm. Apply some ghee to palms before trying to hold the warm mixture. If the mixture dries out, sprinkle some water and heat it for few seconds.
Makes about 12 laddus
PS: If you are calories conscious, reduce the quantity of ghee and use just enough to fry the ingredients.
Pictorial:


In the below picture, the crystals on the right are edible gum pieces.




Below picture shows puffed up edible gum.

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