Thummi Kura Chutney

Hello All,
The festive season is still on and I am going to show you one more special dish made only on Vinayaka Chaturthi and not eaten on any other time during the entire year, as far as I know, unless medicinally prescribed. It is Thummi kura or Thummi leaves chutney. Thummi is a telugu word and it is known as Leucas aspera in scientific terms. 

Thummi stem

Thummi leaves

                 

It is a commonly grown weed in India and has medicinal value. It is said to have anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties. For more information on this weed, you can visit Wikipedia.


Thummi Chutney

Thummi Chutney

Ingredients:

Thummi leaves -- 3 cups*

Green Chillies -- 10 (Make a paste)

Raw Tamarind Paste -- ¾ cup

Onion/Shallot -- 1 (finely chopped)

Cooking oil -- 2 tblspn

Turmeric powder -- ½ tblspn

Salt as per taste

Procedure:

1. Pour oil into pan and add finely chopped Onions/Shallots to it. Fry them till they attain golden brown colour.
2. Add Thummi leaves and close the lid of the pan.
3. Cook on medium flame for 5 to 7 minutes (till the leaves become very soft). Stir occasionally.
4. Add Turmeric powder, Green Chillies paste, Raw Tamarind paste and Salt and toss well.
5. Keep cooking until the above mixture takes the form of a chutney. It should take about 3 minutes to get into the shape of this chutney.

That’s it….!! Tangy Thummi chutney is ready to be served.

Note: Eat with white/plain rice for best taste.

* You can buy 5 bunches of Thummi stems in the market. Pluck all the leaves from each stem and see if it gets you 3 cups of leaves. I suggest you to buy in extra bunches to cover up any deficit.

Please leave a comment if you like the recipe.

Undrala Payasam

Hello All,
It's Vinayaka Chaturthi today, and the festival continues for 11 days. Lord Ganesha is the God of wisdom according to the Hindu mythology. That's all.........I don't want to say more about how to make Ganesha puja and all as there might be expert blogs on this. 

Lord Ganesha at my home

I am just going to tell you how to make an Vinayaka Chaturthi's special dish that is especially made in Andhra Pradesh. It is a sweet dish and is diversified depending upon the geographical locations. Within Andhra Pradesh, it is prepared in several ways. What I have made here is one of the common versions of it, which I learnt from my mom.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour 1 cup

Jaggery (brown sugar) ¾ cup

Water 5 cups
dry fruits mix ¼ cup

Ghee 2 tblsp

Cardamom (elaichi) 3

Undrala Payasam

Procedure:

Take ¾ cup of flour and mix it into dough as we do it for chapattis/rotis

You can make all tiny shapes that you like. Here I made tiny balls and tapered threads as they are easy to be made.

Put the shapes in the remaining ¼ cup of flour (dry flour). It is done so that the shapes do not stick to each other.

Boil 5 cups of water in a vessel.

Add the dough shapes to the boiling water. Let it cook for 10 minutes

Crush the block of jaggery into small pieces and add it to the above mixture.

Let it cook for another 2 minutes, while you keep stirring it occasionally.

Make a paste of the dry flour (which was left over after the shapes were added to water), and add it to the mixture. This will enable the mixture to thicken slightly and would avoid lump formations.

Cook for another 2 minutes.

Add crushed cardamoms to the mixture and switch off the stove.

Add dry fruits mix (which was toasted in Ghee) to the mixture and also the remaining ghee.

Yummy payasam is ready. Serve hot for best taste J

Cautions:

Make sure that the recipe is little soupy and not overcooked as it thickens automatically upon cooling.