A - Z Andhra Recipes ~ O for Ottotti

 
Here starts a new week of blogging marathon. For those, who are joining me late, I am doing 'A - Z' recipes based on Andhra cuisine this month, presenting dishes with regional names in an alphabetical order and it's time for the letter 'O' today. The number of recipes with a Telugu name, starting with the alphabet 'O' are very few. The 'few' here meaning where you don't need all your digits on one hand to count them. 

There is no produce or a pantry ingredient in an Andhra kitchen which starts with 'O'. However there are a couple of dishes starting with 'otti', which literally means empty. Otti pappu refers to the plain cooked lentils and is also called mudda pappu / chappa pappu and is an important dish in an Andhra kitchen. The other one is 'Otti pulusu', a sweet, tangy stew cooked sans lentils. 

And of course a spicy pickle which would be a 'pachadi' in Andhra region becomes 'ooragaaya' in Rayalseema area. And speaking of Rayalaseema, here is one more traditional recipe from the region which starts with 'O' and the dish which kinda kick started the event for me. It is called ottotti and used to be a common preparation in brahmin households. It is a healthy, home style preparation using a combination of amaranth greens and vadiyalu*. While the word 'otti' means empty, 'ottotti' is like stressing that point, in reference to the humble greens' saute. In lieu of amaranth greens, other variety of greens can be substituted. This simple and  quick saute is similar to my favorite vadiyala koora recipe where minapappu vadiyalu / urad dal vadi are used where as in the case of ottotti, my mother in law and her mother used to use mainly biyyam pindi vadiyalu (rice floured wadi) and occasionally even the saggu biyyam vadiyalu (sago ones). It is like a old world kind of recipe and is not very commonly made anymore. For blog sake, I broke the vadiyalu into bits and sprinkled some on top. However the vadiyalu are generously used in the recipe and added to the koora just before serving so that they do not get soggy.

* Vadiyalu - Sundried, slightly spicy and crispy spirals made with rice flour. Vadiyalu are called sandige, wadi, vadam in some of the Indian languages.

Ingredients:
1 big bunch of amaranth leaves / Thotakoora
2 spicy variety red chillies, broken into bits
Salt to taste
Biyyapu vadiyalu / Rice flour wadi
1 tbsp. oil + extra to fry vadiyalu

Method:
* Wash the amaranth leaves and chop them finely. Chop the stalks as well if they are tender.
* Heat oil, add red chillies and saute for 15 to 2nd seconds.
Next add the greens along with the chopped stalks and salt. Cook until the greens are done and appears dry. (This is supposedly a dry saute. I used frozen variety greens and the curry kind of became mushy.)
* Meanwhile, deep fry vadiayalu in a frying pan and keep them aside.
* Add them to the cooked greens just before serving and mix.
* Serve it with hot steamed rice and a tsp. of ghee as first / second course of Andhra meal.
 
So far on my 'A - Z' Andhra Cuisine,
A for Alasanda Vada
B for Bellam Garelu
C for Chiyali
D for Dondakaaya Kaarapu Kaaya
E for Endu Kobbari Podi
F for Fine Biscuits 
G for Gongura - Mamidikaya Pappu
H for Halwa Holigalu
I for Idli Karam Podi
J for Janthikalu
K for Kobbari Koora

L for Lauzu
M for Matikkaaya Kaaram Koora
N for Nimmakaaya Kaaram

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63.
 

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