A - Z Andhra Recipes ~ Y for Yerra Gummadikaaya Pulusu

I am doing 'Andhra Vegetarian Recipes' series this month, going in an alphabetical order, as part of the April mega marathon of our blogging marathon group. This month's challenge was called 'Journey through the Cuisines' and the recipe names were supposed to be in the regional language. Owing to the difficulty of finding recipes with regional names for certain alphabets, it was decided that we could use an exemption clause for any three alphabets of our choice and could go with English names instead. I had decided at the beginning that I would use that exemption card for the last three alphabets and so, I had cooked 'yard long beans' Andhra style curry, for today's post.

I started cooking recipes for this month series, going in a reverse order and so this week's dishes were cooked first. The problem with me is that when I cook dishes in advance, I start having second thoughts about my clicks or the recipes I choose. I always end up cooking other dishes and this marathon, I had cooked 2 to 3 dishes for many alphabets. The same happened with my initial recipe choice for today's post. I knew that the curry I was planning to post is prepared in a neighboring state as well making it not unique to the region. Besides, I wanted to see if I overlooked any vegetables that would fit my 'Y' criteria today. After giving the matter a little thought, I realized that I indeed forgot about one.
  
It was erra gummadi which happens to be pumpkin in English. I had noticed earlier, many bloggers referring to it as yerra gummadi as well and so, I had my 'Y' ingredient to work on. The reason I overlooked it in the first place is because it is never referred as so in our homes. Both ash-gourd / winter melon and pumpkin are called gummadikaya in Telugu, though with different tags. The ash gourd is called 'boodidha gummadi' where the word 'boodidha' literally means 'ash' in Telugu. Whereas pumpkin is referred to as 'theepi gummadi' (the sweet one) or 'manchi gummadi' in our homes. It seems that the same pumpkin is referred to as 'erra gummadi (also spelled as 'yerra gummadi') in some of the regions though I don't know where. It literally means the red colored one and even my mother didn't know it was called so. She was wondering why you call a fruit red one when it is of orange hue. However I noticed during this marathon that the pumpkin has the red tag in other Indian regional languages as well. And after, I realized that the word 'erra' can  be also written as 'yerra', I had other options as well to go with for my "Y' post today but I decided to stick with this yerra gummadi.

Now the next step was to decide what to prepare with it. I had already blogged about halwa and so that choice was ruled out. I had the option of preparing a koora / curry or a pulusu / stew using the pumpkin. My mother prepares curry using ash gourd but not the pumpkin. Besides, I wasn't even sure whether my husband could stand the sweet flavor in a curry and so I went with the latter choice. I prepared two versions, one using lentils and one without. The version I am posting today is without lentils and is called theeya pulusu in our homes. It is served with mudda pappu / cooked lentils in our homes, when a thinner version is made. My version today is thicker and can be served alone with rice and ghee. The pumpkin in the recipe can be replaced with green mango, sweet potato, bitter gourd, cucumber, eggplants, okra or even plain onions. This pulusu is prepared on the same lines as the wadiyala pulusu I posted earlier.
 
A pulusu is a stew from Andhra that can be prepared using lentils or without lentils. In coastal areas, a lentil and vegetable based pulusu (pappu pulusu) is one of the main dishes prepared on a daily basis in place of sambhar. It doesn't include any addition of spice paste or powders and would be a melange of balanced flavors. This is what I grew up eating and even now if I have a choice, my vote goes to pulusu among the Indian legume varieties. I wasn't used to spicy concoctions and had a really hard time adjusting to sambhar version after my marriage. When preparing a pulusu without lentils, we usually call it otti pulusu (otti means nothing and used here in reference to the absence of lentils) or theeya pulusu (sweet one) or even neella pulusu (watery stew). Theeya pulusu is prepared on death anniversaries too in some brahmin households, like my husband's for instance. However I keep the lentil less versions on a thicker side.

Whether a pulusu is prepared using lentils or without, the sweet, spicy and tangy flavors should be balanced. It may take a little experience to prepare a stew with perfectly balanced flavors. And it is hard to give perfect measurements / teach the balance through a recipe, since no two tamarind / jaggery taste the same. One can taste while preparing the stew and can adjust the seasonings as needed. I am used to this version of pulusu and kind of mastered it and my husband when bored of other dishes, asks me to prepare a pulusu.
 
Ingredients: (Yield 3 servings)
1 cup peeled and cubed pumpkin pieces
2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
A sprig of curry leaves
2 pinches of asafoetida
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder
2 tbsp. chickpea flour / senaga pindi *
1&1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp. chili powder
Salt to taste
3 tbsp. tamarind juice
1 to 2 tbsp sugar / jaggery (I used 2 gm / 3/4 tsp. Splenda)
( * or a paste made with 2 tbsp. rice flour and water can be used.)

Method: 
* Soak about a big lemon sized tamarind in water until it softens or nuke the tamarind and water in a microwave for 3 minutes. Squeeze the pulp and extract thick juice.
* Cook the pumpkin pieces with little water in a microwave, without turning them mushy.
* Add chickpea flour / rice flour and a few tbsp. of water to a small cup and make a smooth paste. I added 2 tbsp. of toasted chickpea flour instead. Rice flour or chickpea flour is used to thicken the stew here since lentils are not used.
* Heat 2 tsp. oil in a sauté pan and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When mustard seeds start to pop, add curry leaves, asafoetida and turmeric. (If pumpkin pieces are not cooked in the microwave before, they can be added along with the water now and cooked until done.)
* Next add the cooked pumpkin pieces along with the water used to cook them, tamarind juice, jaggery, chili powder, salt, chickpea flour (or rice flour paste) and about 1&1/2 cups of water to the pan. 
* Mix everything with a ladle and check the consistency. It thickens while cooking and the final pulusu should be of pourable consistency like sambhar. Add extra water if necessary and bring the mixture to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. There must be a balance between the dominant flavors of the dish.
* Lower the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes more. 
* Serve with rice and ghee, as part of a 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
O for Ottotti
P for Perugu Vadalu  
Q for Qubani ka Meetha 
R for Ragi Sangati
S for Satyanarayana Vrata Prasadam
T for Theepi Dibba Rotte
U for Usirikaaya Pulihora 
V for Vankaya Kothimira Karam Koora 
W for Wadiyala Pulusu
X for Xtra Spicy Hot Andhra Aavakaaya

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

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A - Z Andhra Recipes ~ W for Wadiyala Pulusu

My father was complaining about the summer heat in Bangalore last week, over a phone call. It seems that they had almost hit the mark of 40 deg C (around 104 deg F), a sort of record in the recorded meteorological history of the city. Those who live in Indian cities / towns where they experience summer season all through out the year, in varying degrees may wonder what we are grumbling about. However for the local Bangaloreans, it is nothing short of a catastrophe. The city was oncecknown for it's greenery and serene, cool climate but over the years, it gradually is tipping towards the opposite side. 

Keeping the heat woes aside, there are also some great things to look forward in the summer. It is the season when the plump and luscious mangoes and fragrant jasmine flowers show up in the markets. And it is also the time for mothers / grandmothers to start making jar loads of variety of pickles and start stocking up on year load supplies of vadiyalu, appadalu, orugulu and such sun-dried stuff. Coming up to the latter stuff, vadiyalu aka sun dried crisps are made through out India during summer months and go by regional names. Appadalu or papad are made generally using black bean and are paper thin circles. Where as orugulu (in Telugu language) are sun-dried vegetables or peels. Vadiyalu which go by regional names like wadi, sandige or vadam are sundried crisps made using legumes / rice flour / tapioca pearls / beaten rice flakes / popped rice grains and such. 

I chose to go with 'wadiyalu / vadiyalu' as the star ingredient for today's recipe. Mostly we tend to use the latter spelling when talking about these summer bounty. However 'va' and 'wa' are similar sounding in Indian context and logically speaking there is no rule that vadiyalu has to be spelt in that particular way since it is not an English word. Besides, they are called 'wadi' in several Indian languages and so, I chose to go with the word 'Wadiyalu' for today's post. And did I forget to mention why this maneuvering around the spelling? There are no ingredients or recipes in Telugu language that start with the alphabet 'W'. And a pulusu / stew prepared using wadiyalu is going to be my 'W' dish today, under the A to Z Andhra vegetarian recipe series I am doing this month.

Wadiyalu / Vadiyalu are meant to perk up any meal while some are served as a side dish for rice. Minapappu wadiyalu (Black gram / urad dal wadi) / Gummadi wadiyalu (Black gram - ash gourd ones) fall under the latter category and we eat them with rice. They are also used to make curries and stews like today's post. I have been making my own supply of vadiyalu for over a decade now and I usually have a very big box full of variety of wadiyalu / sundried chips in stock through out the year. I have been to India during the past two summers and couldn't prepare wadiyalu then. However I am looking forward for a successful summer this year, in terms of wadi making.
 
The spicy minapappu wadiyalu aka black gram ones are my most favorite ones and the fried wadis are used in making this pulusu aka spicy, sweet and tangy stew. I had only a handful of minappau wadiyalu left in my stock and so I used pesarapappu ones (moong - methi wadis) instead. If using the black gram ones, they are added to the stew just before serving since they get soggy once dropped in the stew. Here is a version of that pulusu I already posted but it is prepared using lentils. However if using moong dal ones, they are cooked along with stew since they are harder and retain their structure even after cooking. This pulusu is flavorful and comes handy when one runs out of vegetables. Besides, it takes around 10 minutes from start to finish and a simple one to prepare. However attaining a right balance of the flavors is the key. It was hard to capture the dish since wadiyalu and all the seasoning including the curry leaves kept sinking into the pulusu as it doesn't provide a thick base for the stuff to stand on. There are about 30 pieces of wadiyalu in that stew and each wadiyam that can be seen in the image is stacked on about another 3 or 4 wadiyalu. :))

Here are links for some of the dishes I mentioned above.
Minapappu vadiyalu / Black gram Wadi
Pesarapappu vadiyalu / Mungori
Sundried Potato Chips
Orugulu
Vadiyala pulusu with lentils

Ingredients: (3 servings) 
Wadiyalu / Vadiyalu *
Oil for frying + 2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
A pinch of asafoetida
Few curry leaves
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder
About 1/4 cup thick tamarind water **
2 tbsp. chickpea flour / rice flour (I used besan / chickpea flour / senaga pindi.)
1/4 tsp. chili powder (or accordingly)
Salt to taste
1 - 2 tsp. sugar / jaggery powder

* 1 cup minapappu / black gram / urad dal wadiyalu or 1/2 cup  moong / pesara pappu wadiyalu
** Soak about a big lemon sized tamarind in water until it softens or nuke the tamarind and water in a microwave for 3 minutes. Squeeze the pulp and extract thick juice.


Method:
* Heat oil and fry the wadiyalu until they turn a few shades darker. They fry very quickly and so, close attention needs to be paid not to burn them. Scoop them out using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
* Add rice flour / chickpea flour and a few tbsp. of water to a small cup and make a smooth paste. (I added 2 tbsp. of toasted chickpea flour instead.) Rice flour or chickpea flour acts as the thickening agent here since lentils are not used in the recipe.
* Heat 2 tsp. oil in a sauté pan and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When mustard seeds start to pop, add curry leaves, asafoetida and turmeric. 
* Next add tamarind juice, jaggery powder, chili powder, salt, rice flour paste / chickpea flour and about 1&1/2 cups of water to the pan. If using moong dal wadiyalu, add them to the pan as well at this point. The quantity of chili powder used depends upon the spiciness of the wadiyalu being used. Mine were very spicy and so a little chili powder was used. 
* Mix everything with a ladle and check the consistency. It should be of pourable consistency like sambhar and if needed, add extra water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. There must be a balance between the dominant flavors of the dish. Highlighting any one flavor ruins the dish.
* Turn down the stove and simmer for a couple of minutes more.
* If using minappapu wadiyalu / black gram wadi, add them to the stew just before eating so that the crunchiness of wadiyalu is retained.
* Serve with rice and ghee. 

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
O for Ottotti
P for Perugu Vadalu  
Q for Qubani ka Meetha 
R for Ragi Sangati
S for Satyanarayana Vrata Prasadam
T for Theepi Dibba Rotte
U for Usirikaaya Pulihora 
V for Vankaya Kothimira Karam Koora

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

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