Vathakulambu - Southindian spicy & sour curry

    Vathakulambu is my favourite curry.  I often admire its taste.   Once i saw cooking show which featured menu rani chellam maam cooking this yummy curry,  I was deeply moved by the show and its output.  The best part of her show is that she gives a lot of tips about cooking and also educates us about the dish's contents...  For very instance she said that vathakulambu differs from karrakulambu (another spicy, non-soury curry) a lot.  Former does not require addition of tomato and garlic, wheras latter requires them as their main contents.  Sambhar powder/sambhar masala is main spice ingredient used up in vathakulambu, wheras latter requires chilly powder, dhanya powder etc... I enjoyd watching her show and her valuable tips... Hope they telecast more of her shows....


     The perfect recipe for vathakulambu lies in the balance of imli and sambhar powder.  The best part of balance lies in adding half of  imli first and tasting the final product, lateron as per the taste other half quantity of imli can be added.  Freshers/ those who try vathakulambu and sambhar for the first time can follow the same, bcoz excess use of imli can spoil the taste and health.

Apollo fish fry

   Eversince, we came to hyderabad, I have noticed lots of boneless fish gravies hanging out at restaurants.  I always used to wonder how come these are boneless, but recently one of my sweet neighbour gave a hint saying that Apollo fish is the name given to boneless fish series.  Here selective variety of fish, mostly murrel is cleaned, deskinned, deveined, cut into slices and given as such by the fish seller, just imagine no workload for us at all!!!!  Only if Apollo fish culture prevailed at chennai, my mother wud be too delighted then!!

Coming to the dish, Apollo fish fry, is one of the famous starter at hyderabad restaurents.  The boneless fish is coated with spices and deep fried (though here I semi-fried) and is tempered with onion, curry leaves and slited green chillies.  Apart from deep-frying, kesari colour  and ajinomotto is also usual elements, though I completely left them in my dish.  If you needed them, you cud add them up.. it is individual-based decision.

Roasted phool makhana - Guilt-free snack

This is my third recipe with phool makhana (other two being phool makhana curry, phool makhana kheer)  As said before, these puffed lotus seeds are proteinaceous, restoring perfect health to our body.  These can also be roasted and spiced up to form ideal evening snack (like popcorns)  So why wait guys?? just go ahead and give these super-tasty and super-crunchy snack to ur pampering kids...

Murgh pasanda

I am sure that you guys would have read this in many restaurant's  menu card.. So, what is this Pasanda??  It is a meal that originated at court of ancient Mughal Emperors. 'Pasanda' name was derived from Pasand, meaning desire in hindi.  This indirectly shows that it should have been emperor's ulitimate/desired dish.  Here, the meat from lamb leg (or chicken pieces) were marinated with yoghurt, chilly powder, other selective spices and were grilled to perfection.  What initially started as a kebab/grilled starter gradually transformed itself into mild creamy sauce with addition of cream, coconut milk and almonds.  Vegetarians can also replace chicken with mixed vegetable to have this dish which is 'full of desires' ;)

Crunchy choclate rolls

This instant rolls can be prepared in a jiffy.  Serve this for ur kid with a glass of milk. They will luv it like anything!!!

Ingredients required

For the rolls/batter

• Cornflour-1/4 cup
• Maida-1/2 cup
• Powdered sugar-  2 tsp
• Baking powder -1/2 tsp
• Vanilla essence- 1 tsp 
• Pinch of salt
• Water, as required

For the filing

• 4-5 Marie biscuits crushed/powdered
• 1 cup dark/white choclate grated finely
• Roasted almond slices- 2 tsp