I have not been able to post in this blog for so long. sorry friends, I am travelling on and off. So it is difficult for me to keep in touch. But I am collecting many authentic, recipes from Andhra Kitchens. The moment i am back for good I will post many of them.
Any way here is one of our authentic, traditional recipes from Andhra Kitchens. Hope you like it. this called Oora (ura) Mirapakayalu or Challa or Majjiga Mirapakayalu. Challa means butter milk and Mirapakayalu means peppers or chillies and Oora means to soak in Telugu.
This is prepared by soaking chillies in buttermilk. hence the name. this is one of the most favourite accompaniments like the papad. These are fried in oil and eaten with Dal (lentil) dishes and rice.
The idle time for preparation of this is summer time. But any time if it is hot for a week or two, we can make them and store.
For this purpose, broad, thick skinned but medium sized that is not too long chillies are used. Actually there is a special variety available locally, which is very good for this recipe. It is better to use those variety which not too spicy. They should be washed and cleaned, wiped dry and left for some time to completely dry. Sour curds should be churned after adding some water to make buttermilk. It should be thin.
Ingredients:
Chillies 500 gms
Buttermilk half litre
turmeric 1tsp
Salt To taste
Method:
- Don't remove the stalks of the chillies. Leave them.
- Mix in salt and turmeric to the buttermilk. Mix well until the salt dissolves completely.
- Put a slit on one side of the chillies up to three-fourths of its length. They should not be slit completely.
- Soak the chillies in the buttermilk. Lightly stir the buttermilk now and then and leave them over night.
- Next morning drain the chillies and place them in the sun to dry. Place the buttermilk also in the sun for an hour or two.
- At the end of the day, bring the chillies inside and leave them to cool for some time.
- Then again put them in the buttermilk to soak overnight.
- Next day again repeat the process.
- Repeat this for three to four days until all the buttermilk is exhausted.
- Dry the chillies in hot sun until they are completely dry and rustling.They turn slightly brown on drying.
- Store them in air tight container. This will keep for an year.
- For using them, heat oil well and bring down the heat. Put some chillies at a time and deep fry till crispy. This will only take a minute or two. So be careful not to burn them. Drain them on a blotting paper or a tissue paper and serve with Rice and Dal. They are spicy, sour and tasty. Once fried, these can be kept for a week or two in a air tight container. But it is better to fry them and serve fresh.
This is the variety of Chillies. they are not that spicy as other varieties. I like their colour.
Buttermilk with salt and turmeric.
The chillies are slit and soaked in the buttermilk over night and dried in sun until completely dry.
