Vanchina Chaaru, Kura

Thank you to all our blog viewers and hope you continue to encourage the blog and us in the same way. Yes, we write our 50th recipe and are glad to share our celebration with each and every one of you.

As the 50th post, we decided to bring to you a completely traditional Karnataka and Rayalaseema recipe, or rather recipe(s) of Vanchina chaaru and kura. Called Baggisida saaru mattu palya in kannada, this is a dual recipe of a rasam and curry, complementing each other while cooking and supplementing each other when had. Vanchina or baggisida in telugu and kannada respectively mean drained or strained. So ideally the name translates to strained rasam and curry.

The rasam and curry can be made using any of the following:

French beans

Horse gram (kulathi/ulavalu/huruli)

Flat beans (toovar lilva/anapaginjalu/ avrekaayi) .

These are found in Karnataka especially during the winter season.

Amaranth(thota kura/dantu kura/Dantina soppu). Dantina soppu/leaves are abundantly available only in Karnataka and the areas bordering Karnataka in AP and Tamilnadu. Thota kura is generally available in AP and is a variety of dantina soppu itself.

We have used dantina soppu to make the curry and rasam as this is the most popularly used vegetable for this recipe. The other veggies mentioned above can also be tried though and will taste equally awesome.

Preparation time: 20-25 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

For Curry/kura/palya:

French beans/Horse gram/Flat beans/Amaranth 1 cup

Split Pigeon peas (toor dal/kandipappu/Thogari bele) 1 cup (100 gms)

Finely chopped onion (ullipaya) 1

Mustard seeds 1tsp

Cumin seeds 1tsp

Black gram (urad dal/uddin bele) 1 tsp

Red chilles 2-4

Fresh and chopped coriander 1 bunch

Curry leaves 4-5

Refined cooking oil 2 tsps

Pinch of Turmeric

Salt to taste

Fresh and grated coconut to garnish.

For Rasam/Vanchina chaaru/Baggisida saaru:

Cumin seeds(jeera/jeela karra/jeerige) 1/2 tsp

Grated fresh coconut(pachi kobbari/hasi kobbri) 1 tsp

Coriander seeds(dhaniyalu/ kottambri beeja) ½ tsp

Chopped small Onion (ullipaya)1

Green chilli 1

Pinch of Tamarind ( chintapandu/hunasehannu)

Pinch of Asafoetida

Ghee 2 tsps

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Red chillies 2

Curry leaves 4-5

Salt to taste

When thota kura is used, a blob of jaggery can be used. If other veggies including dantina soppu are used, there is no need to use jaggery.

Method:

Pressure cook pigeon peas and the Amaranth leaves together upto 3 whistles. While keeping in the cooker, ensure there is enough water to strain out later.

Once done, Strain the water and keep aside the dry mixture and water as separated.

Curry:

In a pan/kadai(bandli/mookudu), heat 2 tsps of oil. Add mustard seeds and once they splutter add black gram, cumin seeds, red chilli, curry leaves, coriander, pinch of turmeric and the chopped onion and sauté.

Add the pressure cooked dal-vegetable mix (dry now as all the water is already strained) and mix well.

Add salt to taste , mix and leave for 2mins. Switch the stove off and garnish with freshly grated coconut.

Curry/kura/palya is done.

Rasam:

Grind into a fine paste: Cumin seeds, grated fresh coconut, coriander seeds, chopped small onion, green chilli, pinch of tamarind, pinch of asafoetida (hing/inguva)

Now in a vessel take the strained water kept aside previously, add salt to taste and the above ground paste and allow to boil up to 2-3 times. (Incase thota kura is used, please add a blob of jaggery (bellam/bella) also.)

In a pan/kadai add 2 tsp ghee. Once hot add mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.

Season the rasam with this tempering.

Vanchina chaaru or baggisida saaru or the strained rasam is done.

Highly nutritious and one of the best options for the diet conscious , vanchina chaaru kura should be mixed with rice and had ideally. We can also have the rasam as soup and the curry with rotis. However the best way to have vanchina chaaru kura is to mix the rasam, curry, rice and a tsp of ghee and crunch papads along.