You say gongura and I say Andhra! It’s The king of Andhra cuisine. The one and only gongura pachchadi. This chutney made with the sour leaves of the roselle plant is an absolute favorite dish, and I’ve always thought the store bought one was too oily and oversalted. So this year, I got a couple of plants at a plant sale. And it’s doing extremely well in the Florida weather. I harvested about 8 cups of leaves today, and set to work making this yummy chutney. My husband and I had it for lunch with hot steaming rice, and a dollop of ghee. Heaven! I researched several recipes, and used the Guntur recipe, the way it’s made in Guntur in Andhra.
Vazhakai Podimas (Steamed Plantain Curry)
This is a low fat, vegan, gluten free, tasty side dish made out of steamed plantains. A healthy alternative to fried plantains. Excellent accompaniment for sambar rice and rasam rice. Simple ingredients, steamed, and delicous.
Green Chili Thokku (Spicy Chili Reduction)
I am not sure what language thokku is in, most likely Telugu, but it refers to any fresh herb/vegetable pounded/ground to a paste with salt, tamarind and jaggery, and reduced in sesame oil. The key ingredients are tamarind, jaggery, and sesame oil. This recipe makes a thokku out of fresh green chilies and is dynamite!
Mixed Vegetable Quick Curry (Kadamba Curry)
A super simple side dish. Sometimes, you have a lot of vegetables – a couple of potatoes, a carrot, some peas, half a cauliflower, but none enough to make a side dish. This is a perfect curry to use up all of those, and make a great curry that’s perfect as a side dish for rotis. This is a great lunch box item, a quick breakfast dish, or an excellent vegetable to go along with a dal, and some rice or rotis.