Menthi majjiga (Seasoned Buttermilk)

Ingredients:

• Majjiga (Yogurt drink, buttermilk) - 1/2 lt.
• Chopped green chillies - 2 nos.
• Pinch of turmeric
• Curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Cilantro

Seasoning:

• Ghee
• Fenugreek seeds (Mentulu) - 3 or 4 seeds
• Mustard seeds (avalu)
• Jeera (Cumin)
• Ajwan seeds (vamu, bishop's weed) - 1tsp.
• Asafoetida (inguva)
• Dried red chillies

Preparation:

Add salt, turmeric, cilantro and curry leaves to the "majjiga". Add chopped green chillies. Heat ghee and first put fenugreek seeds until dark. Then add the rest of the tadka ingredients sequentially. Serve along with plain dal (mudda pappu).

Palakura pappu (Spinach dal)

Ingredients:

• Moong Dal (pesara pappu, Split green gram) - 1/2 cup
• Chana Dal (senaga pappu, Split black gram) - 2 Tb. sp.
• Spinach - 1 bunch
• Green chillies
• Tamarind (paste)
• Red chilly powder (karam)
• Cilantro
• Jaggery (very small piece)
• Salt to taste

Seasoning:

• Oil - 1 tsp.
• Urad dal (minappappu, split black gram)
• Mustard seeds (avalu)
• Asaefotida (hing, inguva)

Preparation:

Wash spinach thoroughly and chop it. Pressure cook dals (moong and chana) and spinach. Grind salt, green chillies, cilantro and tamarind to a paste. Add the paste to the cooked dal. Add jaggery and red chilly powder. Do the tadka and add it to the dal. Serve hot with rice and a fry curry.

Nimmakaya Charu (Lemon Rasam, Lemon lentil Soup)

Ingredients:

• Lemons – 1 no.
• Tomato – 2 nos.
• Toor Dal (Kandi pappu, red gram) – 1 cup
• Green chillies (chopped) – 2 small
• Ginger (chopped) – 1in
• Cilantro (chopped)
• Black Pepper (miriyalu) – 1 tsp.
• Jeera (curry)– 1 tsp.
• Pinch of turmeric.
• Salt to taste.

Seasoning (popu, tadka)

• Ghee – 1 tsp.
• Red chillies – 2 no.
• Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.
• Jeera – ½ tsp.

Preparation:

Pressure cook toor dal and tomatoes. Mash the cooked dal. (Note: Remove excess water if any from the cooked dal and add it to the mashed dal). Add 1 cup of water if needed to make it rasam (soup) like. Add green chillies and ginger to the rasam and let it simmer for 5-10 mins.
Powder black pepper and jeera and add it to the rasam. Add turmeric and salt after 5 mins.
Seasoning (tadka, popu): Heat ghee and add the above seasoning sequentially and let the mustard seeds splitter.Add the seasoning to the rasam.
Garnish it with cilantro and let it be.
Squeeze lemon juice to the rasam before serving (note: not while on the stove).

Carrot Kheer (Payasam, Carrot Pudding)

Ingredients:

• Carrots (shredded) - 2 to 3
• Ghee - 1 tb spn
• Cashews (Kaju)
• Cardammom (Elaichi) - 2 no.
• Raisins (Kissmiss)
• Milk - 1/2 lit
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Optional (Pinch of Borneo-camphor (pacha karpooram) and a pinch of Saffron (kumkum puvvu))

Preparation:

Fry shredded carrots in ghee for 1 min. Sprinkle some water on it and cook it under closed lid. Cook till the shred softens. Add milk to the shred and mix well. Stir frequently and get the milk to a boil. Set this aside and let it cool.

Fry Cashews and Raisins in Ghee and set it aside. Powder cardammom seeds.

Add sugar to the kheer (milk+shred) and add the fried cashews and raisins and sprinkle the cardammom powder along with the optional ingredients (kumkum puvvu and pacha karpooram).

Serve hot or cold. (The colder the better it tastes).