As I mentioned yesterday, I am doing a month long marathon starting today, with A-Z regional cooking as the theme. For this theme, we have two options to choose from. Option one is cooking from a region in India or one country and the other is to pick 4 regions from India or 4 countries, and cook from a region or a country every week. So it is either one region from India or one country for 4 weeks or 4 weeks of 4 different regions or countries. The only rule is that the dishes cooked should be in an alphabetical order, in local dialect.
I opted option one, cooking from a region in India for 4 weeks. I chose my home state of Telangana as my region. Often times my virtual friends and some of my cousins remark that I do not have many Andhra/Telangana/Telugu food on my blog. And my virtual friends even ask if I cook Indian food at home. Yes, I do cook Indian food at home and in fact, we eat only Indian food and to be more precise, we eat only Telugu home cooked food. However, when we go on low carb diet, I do make lot of grilled/ baked meats and salads at home.
Keeping that remark in mind, I chose to do Telangana cuisine and I narrowed it down to Telugu Telangana cuisine. You might ask isn’t Telangana cuisine Telugu cuisine? Yes it is but it also includes Hyderabadi cuisine and both the cuisines are influenced by each other. When preparing for this blogging marathon (BM), at times I even contemplated removing my self imposed Telugu cuisine clause as it would have been a breeze coming up with dishes, specially for some of the tough letters. We do have an extra clause for tough letters and shall talk about it when we get there.
This mega marathon is a good way to showcase some of the traditional Telangana food. I am glad I chose my home state as I have cooked some of the dishes for the first time just for this BM, though these are a common fare back home. Though some of these dishes are very simple, I hardly cook because husband is not interested or some of the dishes I never considered worth blogging as those are very simple.
Today I have a classic Telangana curry, Attu Tunukala Koora. Attu is dosa or crepe, tunukalu are pieces and koora is curry. This is a curry prepared with pieces of crepe or dosa. I think pancake would be a better word because this attu is not as thin as a crepe and dosa, but thick like a pancake. It is prepared with gram flour. This is a rustic curry prepared a lot at my maternal grandmother’s place. It is also a must preparation for some of the pre and post wedding rituals.
Here are few vegetables and dishes that start with letter ‘A’.
Vegetables:
Aaku Kooralu - Leafy vegetables
Aalugadda - Alu ~ Potato
Anapakaya - Avarekalu ~ Surti Papdi ~ Hyacinth Beans
Anyapakaya - Sorakaya ~ Lauki ~ Bottle Gourd
Aratikaya - Plantain and Fruit Banana
Ingredients:
Aavalu ~ Rai ~ Mustard Seeds
Atukulu ~ Poha ~ Beaten or Flattened Rice
Dishes:
Annam is cooked rice, aalugada koora, anapa gudalu (sauteed avarekalu or hyacinth beans), anapa kudumulu (steamed rice cakes with avarekalu~hyacinth beans), aratikaya koora, atukulu
Attu
Ingredients:
- ½ cup Gram Flour
- ½ cup Water
- ⅜ tsp. Salt
- ⅜ teaspoon Chili Powder
- ¼ tsp. Coriander Powder
- ⅛ - ¼ tsp. Cumin Powder
- 1 ½ - 2 tsp. Oil
Preparation of Attu:
- Mix all ingredients listed under attu, except water and oil.
- Gradually add water and make a thick batter.
- Heat a nonstick pan. Smear some oil. Pour batter on the hot pan and slightly move the pan around to spread it evenly.
- Drizzle about teaspoon of oil around the attu and smear a little on top.
- Cover and cook for about 2-3 minutes on medium to medium high flame until the attu is firm and the bottom is light golden yellow in color.
- Flip the attu, if needed drizzle more oil. Cover and cook for another minute or two.
- Remove the cover and cook until the bottom is light golden and both sides are cooked.
- Transfer to a plate and let cool.
- Once cool, cut the Attu into small pieces.
Attu Tunukala Koora
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. Oil
- ¼ tsp. Cumin Seeds
- 4-6 Curry Leaves
- ½ cup Onions
- 3 small Green Chilies
- 1 tsp. Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 tsp. Coriander Powder
- ¼ tsp. Chili Powder
- ⅛- ¼ tsp. Salt
- ¼ tsp. Turmeric Powder
- Attu Tunakalu (recipe above)
- Cilantro to garnish
Preparation:
- Heat oil in pan. Add cumin and let the seeds roast lightly in oil.
- Add onions and sauté until translucent.
- Add garlic and roast until garlic changes color.
- Add salt, chili powder, coriander powder , turmeric and give a good stir.
- Add attu tunukalu and give a good stir until spices coat the attu.
- Reduce the flame to low and cook until spices blend in and attu is crisp and roasted, about 5 - 8 minutes. Keep stirring for even roasting of the attu tunakalu.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.
Note:
- Be liberal with oil and curry tastes better when cooked in more oil.
- For more masala (curry), use more onion.
- Garam masala can be sprinkled over the curry before removing the curry from fire.
This day in 2014: Hyderabadi Haleem
This day in 2015: Chocolate Chunk Blondies
Events: Apart from Journey Through the Cuisines, I also signed up in A-Z Challenge. The rules for this challenge are simple, we need do a blog post everyday in alphabetical order, taking a break on Sundays. This is a very large group with very diverse group of bloggers participating. It is going to be interesting reading some of their posts.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63
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Mayuri Patel says
Hi Usha, I tried out your Attu Tunukala recipe and my family loved it. In fact we had it on its own as a snack, even though I had made it with a dal and some rice. Easy to make and so flavorful. I made for the shhh secretly cooking challenge. Thanks for sharing the recipe. You can check mine out.https://mayuris-jikoni.com/2019/10/31/attu-tunukala-tunaka-koora/
MySpicyKitchen says
Mayuri, thanks for trying the recipe and am glad you all loved it! Though it is a dry curry, can double up as a snack as well.
veenasvegnation says
Amazing clicks Usha. My bookmarks seems to be running into pages now.waiting for the rest of the recipes
Priya Srinivasan says
Superb choice usha!! Love this curry, I make besan crepes almost every week, must give this a try. Love that pan-like bowl you have used here.
Thanks for listing other dishes too we can run 5 more mega BM on this theme! !?
Mireille Roc (@ChefMireille) says
what a unique curry - never seen anything like this - so looking forward to learning about this cuisine
pradnya says
it will be a treat to read about your home state dishes...this one looks like a the tofu curry, we make tomato omellete often, so this is a good way to use up some of it when made in excess, i am looking forward to the rest of your telugu telangana cuisines
Nalini says
Nice and interesting choice of theme looking forward to your Telungana dishes,so many bookmarks are going to happen for me.BTw curry sounds interesting and new to me,for a moment I thought its elephant yam fry.You cut the attu so perfectly.
harini says
A new one for me, Usha. Looking forward to get introduced to the authentic Telangana cuisine.
Suma Gandlur says
I have heard about the dish but have never tasted it. Sounds similar to roti fry.
Looking forward to your Telangana recipes and hoping to learn.
Smruti | Herbivore Cucina says
Wonderful choice for the mega marathon. Would love an entire collection of Andhra food. This recipe looks easy and amazing. I loved the clicks very much Usha!
Priya Suresh says
Looking forward to see all your Telugana recipes, ultimate attu tunukala koora, quite a unique dish definitely..
ruchi indu says
This recipe is totally unheard of. Very nice choice to pick up authentic telangana dishes. Looking forward to all your recipes.
Kalyani says
Thank u for bringing us authentic Telangana dishes , Usha .. Am sure it's gonna be added to my ever growing bookmarks !! It takes a lot to narrow down ur choices alphabetically to a region ! Kudos on that , and this dish looks very tempting ..
srividhya says
Loved you write up usha. Very detailed and looking forward to A - Z Telangana recipes. This recipe is very interesting. Good luck. 🙂
Gayathri says
That is an awesome theme Usha. Looking forward to your posts. This curry leaves is.quite interesting and is very new to me. Looks absolutely inviting..
cookingwithsapana says
Such a wonderful choice Usha.Looking forward to seeing A to Z Telangana dishes.The dish attu koora looks very delicious and I can finish it without rice.Love your neat and elegant clicks.
Pavani says
Love the theme you picked up Usha. I'm sure I'll be learning quite a few new dishes from you this month.
My MIL makes similar curry and calles it Besan chikki. The tunukalu part seems to be the same, but she makes it with a tamarind gravy. I love your dry version too. Will have to try it some time.
Vaishali Sabnani says
absolutely fantastic..love the clicks and the dish. it is very similar to Sindhi Cilan ji Kadhi and Gujju Dhokli nu Shaak...bookmarking instantly!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Usha, awesome region selection and looking forward to some wonderful Telangana dishes from you! This recipe is so new to me and looks wonderful with that bowl of rice. I also like your idea of giving alphabet choices for future references 🙂
PJ says
Your theme is surely exciting Usha.I am looking forward to learn more Andra based recipes from here, This dish is new to me and love your set up.Superb!
Amara says
Good selection Usha, living in Hyderabad I tasted a lot of Authentic Telangana dishes but this one is new to me. Thanks for the share. Can't wait for more of your wonderful shares:)
Padma Rekha says
I was expecting this theme from you Usha and thank you so much for choosing this. you are right most of the people forgot about the real telangana food. good choice. this recipe is new to me but we make a similar dish with pesarattu.. looking forward to the other recipes you are going to bring them out Superb choice.....
Srivalli says
Wow Usha that's fantastic...can't wait to read more about your choice..I am loving your notes on the alphabet choice, that's a treasure and good reference point for others..thank you for doing that...and coming to the dish, yes I haven't heard this name, though I think my mom /mil make something similar. this also resembles somewhat to bengali dhokar dalna...very good one...