Kurbani ka Meeta

This is a Hyderabadi dish which is made useing dried apricots.Its mainly served with fresh cream,vanilla ice-cream or custard.It reminds me of all my cousins weddings that i attended as a child in hyderabad...where this dish was a staple...

Kubani in urdu means apricots in english,n hence the name Kurbani ka Meeta...meaning sweet made out of apricots.

This sweet is very easy to make and a hit at most of my partys...As u can prepare the syrup the day before the party and store it in a air tight container in the fridge...On the day of the party just serve with any store bought vanilla ice cream.

I have learnt this dish from my uncle(dad's brother),he is a good cook and like's to experiment with different cuisines....I was his help whenever he is used to cook something new...that's how i learnt this dish.



Ingredients:

1 small packet of Dried apricots(for those of u who dont know what they look like here's a pic )



1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water

Method:

Soak the dried apricots overnight in bowl full of water.

The next day u will notice that they swelled up n became smooth.Then take each of these apricots open it with ur fingers and remove the seed from it.

Take the seeds n break them open u will see a small almond type nut in it,remove it and keep aside.

Take the deseeded apricots and mash them coarsely with ur hand or in a blender.

Put this into a pot add the suagr and water and on medium-low heat let it come to a boil.

Cover and Cook it for 20 mins stirring in between.Check for sugar adjust it according to ur sweet level.

Remove the lid n let it cook for 5mins or more or until the mixture tunrs into a thick brown sauce.

Remove n let it cool for some time at room temperature.Once cool remove into a air tight container and store it in the fridge.

U can use it as a topping on Vanilla ice cream,custard or fresh cream.Its a very cool n refreshing deseart after a heavy biryani meal.

A Simple Meal

Usually when its a weekend there is always some party,get togeathers,potlucks...etc where we tend to eat lot of spicy and oily food....n when sunday night comes we start craving for a light meal with not much oil or masala's....On such occassions i prepare these type of meals which are simple to make and appealing on the palete,as they are made with very less oil n seasonings

So last sunday our meal consistted of mudda pappu,vankaya pachi pulusu,chikkuda ginjalu curry,avakaya n curd rice.

Vankaya Pachi Pulusu i posted the recipe already so here is the link

http://coffeenconvy.blogspot.com/2009/07/vankaya-pachi-pulusu.html



Mudda Pappu

Pressure cook 1/2 cup toor dal with 1 1/3 cup water and pinch of turmeric until soft(i.e upto 3-5 whistles),Once soft remove n mash it into a smooth paste,add some salt and if its a bit watery keep it on the stove for few mins until it thickens(usualy when it cools down it becomes bit thick)

In Charlotte we have this wonderful farmers market(will blog about it more in detail later) located close to my house....Its one stop shopping for all the vegetables including the indian varietys like thotakura,bachali aku,menthi aku ,gongura,drumsticks,aartipuvvu,dosakaya,potlakaya,dondakaya,bendakaya,kakarkaya,mint,curry leafs,green chilies etc...

When i visit the farmers market i visit most of the stalls to see what new variety they have.....on such visits i found a yellow watermelon...n zipper beans.This is how they look like.



Just remove the seeds from the beans,then peel the skin of the seeds and keep aside as shown below....at home amma used to use the peeled skins as fodder for the cattle or throw it around the plants as a composte.



Now heat some oil on medium heat ,to this add 1 tsp Mustard,1 tsp jeera,3 dry red chillies broken into 2,few curry leafs,dash of hing.Next to this add the peeled beans add salt and 2 tbsp water mix cover and cook for 3 mins.Then remove the lid and let the water evaporate.Remove n serve hot with rice n dal as a side dish.




Serve it with Hot rice

Amma used to make another curry with the seeds cooked along with drumsticks and bit of milk.

Vankaya Pachi pulusu

Pachi pulusu or vankaya pachi pulusu goes well with muddha pappu or kandhi pappu pachadi.



Ingredients:

3 thin n long eggplants
1 lemon size ball tamarind soaked in 1 cup water n pulp extracted
1 medium onion chopped fine
3 green chillies chopped fine
pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli pwd
2 medium cubes jaggery pc's or 3 tbsp sugar(adjust according to ur sweet level)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera
3 red chillies broken into half
few curry leafs
dash of hing

Method:

Line a baking tray with foil n apply some oil,Preheat the oven at 500F.

Take the brinjals/eggplants and rub some oil onto to it and put it on the baking tray and put it into the oven.(alternatively if u have a gas stove wrap the eggplants in foil n put it on top of the fire rotating once in a while)

After 5-10 mins remove and turn them and put it back in the oven and bake for another 5-10 mins.

U will notice the eggplants become mushy,then remove onto a plate with tongs and cover it with another plate or bowl n let it cool.

Once cool peel and discard the eggplant skin and reserve the pulp in a bowl.

Into the same bowl add the chopped onion,green chillies,turmeric,chilli powder,tamarind pulp,jaggery and water until u get a flowing consistency.

Check for sourness,salt n sweet levels and adjust according to ur taste.

Now in a pan heat some oil to this add the mustard,jeera,hing,dry red chillies and few curry leafs,add this to the eggplant mixture.