I love the idea of making delicious dishes spending more time in my kitchen but there are days when I want to wrap up without the hassle of the prep that is involved before cooking for most of the dishes. Today was such a day. I came down home with sambhar in my mind but ended up making this utterly tasty delicacy of Andhra that is usually served at weddings or a family gathering along with mudda pappu [1]. It is called Mukkala pulusu/Dappalam/Theeyati Pulusu which is a crossover of rasam and sambhar. Vegetables cooked with tamarind extract, jaggery/sugar and finished off with tempering gives an amazing taste. I love the sweet and sour taste of the cooked veggies in this dish. Here is a quick and easy way to make it using a pressure cooker. For those of you who do not have a pressure cooker, use the stove top for boiling the vegetables.
Ingredients:
1 sweet potato -Â remove skin and cut into cubes
1 cup of pumkin/gummadikaya – remove the skin and cut into cubes
1 cup of bottle gourd – remove the skin and cut into cubes
2 drumsticks/munaga kaya – remvoe skin, cut into 2 “pieces
5-6 ladys fingers/okra/bendakaya – cut into 2″ pieces
10-12 shallots or 1 large onion cut into chunks (I love shallots in this dish)
1 large tomato – cut into big chunks
3-4 green chillies – Slit into halves lengthwise
Tamarind – Soak in 4 cups of water, extract the juice and discard the pulp
Jaggery/Bellam – 1 ½ tbsps or 3 tsps of sugar (Adjust sweetness according to your taste)
2 tbsps of sambar powder
2 tsps chilli powder (adjust to your spice levels)
Pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste
Freshly chopped coriander leaves for garnish
For the Spice powder (Roast with a tsp of oil, cool off and grind to a fine powder)
Split urad dal/minapappu – 1 tbsp
Bengal gram dal/pachi senagapappu – 1 tbsp
Sesame Seeds/Til/Nuvvulu – 1 tbsp
For the tempering/popu/tadka:
2 tbsps Ghee/Neyyi/Clarified butter
1 tsp split urad dal/minapappu
1 tsp mustard seeds/avalu/rai
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
2-3 dried red chilies/endu mirapakayalu
10-12 curry leaves
Pinch of hing/asafoetida
How To:
- In a pressure cooker/heavy bottomed vessel, add all the cut vegetables, along with green chillies, salt and turmeric powder. Add tamarind extract water and Pressure cook the veggies for 2 to 3 whistles or till fork tender if cooking on a stove top. Let the pressure go off then remove the lid.
- Add jaggery/sugar, sambhar powder, spice powder as mentioned above, chilli powder, and gently mix. Add 2 more cups of water. Cook for about 3 – 5 mts on medium low flame. Check for salt, and sweetness at this point of time.
- While it cooks, heat ghee in a skillet/pan, on low flame add urad dal and fry till light brown in color. Add mustard seeds and jeera. Let them splutter. Then throw in the dried red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida. Toss in for few seconds then turn off the flame.
- Add the tempering/popu to the vegetables in the pressure cooker/vessel, mix gently and cook for 2 more minutes. Turn off the flame and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves, cover and leave it for 10 mts before serving.
- Serve hot with steamed rice and mudda pappu [1] accompanied with papad or a stir fry of your choice.