Hyderabadi Double ka Meetha ~~ Deepavali Special

Hyderabadi Double ka Meetha

Hyderabadi double ka Meetha is a very popular and easy sweet to prepare.

Double ka meetha (Urdu: شاہی ٹکڑا) is a bread pudding dessert of fried bread slices soaked in hot milk with spices, including saffron and cardamom. Double ka meetha is a dessert of Hyderabad. It is popular in Hyderabadi cuisine, served at weddings and parties. Double ka meetha refers to the milk bread, called “Double Roti” in the local Indian dialects because it swells up to almost double its original size after baking.

The dish is similar to Shahi Tukda which has its roots in Pakistani cuisine and is a famous dessert in Mughlai cuisine. It is particularly prepared during the festive month of Ramadan and on Eid. The recipe uses bread, condensed milk, and dry fruits.

I had tasted this sweet few years ago in an office potluck. For the first serving I didn’t bother to try this sweet thanks to its nonchalant looks. A colleague of mine casually remarked how awesome the ‘Hyderabadi Double ka Meetha’ was. That’s when I turned to look at the small placard reading ‘Hyderabadi Double ka Meeta’ at the corner of the table. One bite was all it took to convert me into an instant fan. I told myself that the person who prepared this should have woken up at probably 4 in the morning and should have spent quite a long time in front of the range to make this sweet. – I didn’t quite guess the simplicity of the recipe at that time

A week or so later I read about this recipe in Chefinyou’s blog and was surprised by the easy recipe. I decided to prepare this high calorie sweet some day. Time passed by and the ‘to do’ was still in the ‘to do’ list. This Deepavali I finally gave in and prepared this wonderful sweet. Its easy to put together and consumes very less time (both to prepare and to disappead ;-)) . Why not try this easy sweet for Deepavali?

Ingredients:

1. Bread – I used 7 pieces cut into triangles

2. Ghee to deep fry

Sugar Syrup:

3. Sugar – 1 Cup

4. Water – 1 Cup

Sweetened Milk

5. Milk – 1 Cup

6.  Sugar – 1/2 cup

7. Saffron threads – few mixed in 1 tbspn of hot water

8. Roasted nuts

Preparation:

1. Cut bread into triangles. Heat ghee in a pan and deep fry the bread into golden brown color

2. Place the bread pieces in a bowl

3. Mix sugar and water for sugar syrup and heat till they mix well and boil

4. Pour the sugar syrup on the bead pieces. Let it stay for 10 minutes till the bread absorbs all of the sugar syrup

5. Meanwhile in a pan , combine milk, sugar and saffron threads and boil to prepare the sweetened milk

6. When the milk reduces to half , switch off the flame and pour on the bread pieces

7. Let it sit for another 10 minutes and the bread will absorb all the milk

8. Garnish with toasted nuts. I served it by adding a spoonful of sweetened milk on the dry bread pieces

Gutti Vankaya Kura

Gutti Vankaya Kura (Stuffed Brinjal Curry)

Gutti Vankaya Kura or Vankaya Chops is an Andhra recipe where a medley of spices, the masala, is prepared and stuffed into a whole brinjal, while the brinjal is steam cooked with little oil. This is a close cousin of the popular ‘Ennai Kathirikai’ made in Tamil Nadu. 

Recently, I spotted fresh small Indian brinjal at the grocery store and was immediately reminded of this recipe. I had seen this recipe in an old, tattered book in black and white that belonged to my mother  and have tried to make it every time I could get my hands on small brinjals. Over the years we tweaked this recipe to suit our taste and spice level.  

It can be served as a side to rice or with chapathis. The Brinjal stalks are retained and are served with the dish. Hold the brinjal by its stalk, take a bite and you are immediately greeted by a multitude of tastes.. the heat of the red chilli, the spice of coriander seeds that balance the red chilli, tangy tamarind, mild sweetness from the jaggery.. all amalgamated with the taste of brinjal! Bliss! It will leave one wanting more. 

These little purple beauties look great with the stalk and when served with the all spices on them, they sure do turn heads. Beautiful looks. Great taste – A crowd pleaser! 

Ingredients:

Small Indian Brinjal – 10 – 15 

Oil to temper 

Coriander seeds – 2 tbspn

Red chilli – 2

Channa dal – 1 tbspn

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp 

Asaefoetida – 1 pinch 

Dessicated Coconut – 2 tbspn

Tamarind – juice from 1/2 lemon sized ball 

Salt – to taste 

red chilli powder – 1 tsp 

turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp 

Curry leaves – 3 or 4 

Coriander leaves – for garnishing 

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan and roast coriander seeds, channa dal, cumin seeds, asafoetida, coconut powder, curry leaves. Grind the roasted spices into a powder along with little salt 

2. Wash brinjals and make a ‘+’ slit on the bottom. The slit should be deep enough to let the brinjals cook but not break. 

3. Stuff brinjals with the prepared masala

4. Heat tamarind water along with salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder. Place brinjals in tamarind water, close the pan and let it cook for few mins

5. Once the water is absorbed and the brinjals look cooked, turn off the heat and move the dish to a serving bowl. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves

Tasty ‘Gutti Vankaya Kura’ is ready. Serve with rice or chapathis! 

Mirchi ka Salan

Mirchi ka Salan

Mirchi ka Salan is Andhra Pradesh dish. Its spicy and goes well with parathas/ chapathis. Mirchi means Chillies in hindi and Salan is a side dish with vegetable. Mirchi ka Salan is a side dish made with chillies.

Ingredients:

1. Green Chillies  – 4 or 5

2. Ginger-Garlic paste

3. Tamarind juice extract – 4 tsp

4. Salt

5. Curd – 1cup

6. Water

7. oil

To roast & grind:

1. Peanuts

2. Sesame Seeds

3. Cumin Seeds

4. Coriander Seeds

5. Onions – 1 or 2 (Chopped)

6. Grated coconut

How to prepare:

1. Slit the green chillies and remove the white color seeds inside.

2. Roast the following dry: Peanuts, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds.

3. With little oil, fry the onions till they become transparent.

4. Grind the roasted ingredients with fried onion and grated coconut, so that it becomes a sticky mixture.

5. In a pan with little oil, saute the chillies for 2 minutes and keep them aside.

6. In the same pan, add the ground mixture.

7. Add ginger-garlic paste and tamarind juice.

8. Add curd, salt and water to the gravy.

9. Add the fried chillies and allow the gravy to boil.

10. Spicy Mirchi ka Salan is now ready. Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it hot as a sidedish for parathas.

 

Bhagara Baingan

Bhagara Baingan

Bhagara Baingan is a spicy Andhra dish. Its made with Brinjal (Eggplant).Its a good side dish for chapathis/ parathas

Bhagara Baingan

 

 

Ingredients:

1. Brinjal/ Eggplant – small size 250g (Slit open and deep fry in oil without cutting it completely)

2. Onions – 3 -Finely chopped

3. Tomatoes – 3 Finely Chopped

4. ginger-garlic paste

5. cashew

6. kus-kus

7. peanuts

8. grated coconut

9. turmeric powder

10. chilli

11. salt

12. coriander

13. curry leaves

14. water

15. vanaspathi/ ghee/ oil

16. cardamom

17. cloves

18. cinnamon

How to prepare:

1. With little ghee/ vanaspathi, roast the cashew, kus-kus, peanuts and grated coconut.

2. Grind the above with little water and keep it aside.

3. With little ghee, saute oinons, tomatoes and ginger-garlic paste.

4. Add the nuts mixture to the vegetables gravy.

5. To the gravy, add little turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt to taste.

6. Remove the gravy from flame and keep it aside.

7. In a pan, add little ghee and roast cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and curry leaves.

8. Add the cooked gravy to the pan and add deep fried baingan (brinjal/Eggplant).

9. Add coriander for garnishing.

10. Bhagara Baingan is now ready to be served. Serve hot with parathas (Indian bread).