Andhra Delight-Kandha-Bhacali Kura/Suran-Saag Curry

One of The most Authentic Andhra dish is "Kanda Bachalli Kura". This dish is supposed to be a very festive, special, curry prepared by Andhra people. It is more famous in and around the East and West Godavari areas of Andhra pradesh. More popular among the Brahmins. It has a unique taste which we don't get it any combination of our regular vegetables. Preparation takes a while but when you practice it, it turns out to be easy and can pat yourself to have become the Master cook.

If you are living in outside India and wondering, how to get the basic ingredients..It's very simple. Before we proceed into making of the dish, lets first catch up with what these ingredients are called in Stores. In English its "Yam", Hindi "Suran". Bachali is a green leafy vegetable, its called in English as "Ceylon Spinach" or "Indian Spinach".In Hindi its known as "Poi" Making this in U.S. was a cake walk for me as there was no huge cleaning process involved for Yam/Suran/Kanda. You can find it in the frozen vegetable section of the Indian Grocery stores.

The key taste for this dish is garnishing with Mustard powder and Fenugreek powder, which we traditionally in Telugu call it as "Ava petatam".

Ingredients
Kanda/Yam- 1/2 lb
Bachali/Indian spinach/Saag-1/2 lb
Green chilli and Ginger paste-2 tb.spoon
Tamarind Juice-3 tb. spoons
Red chilli powder-1/2 tb.spoon
Turmeric-1/2 tb. spoon
Garnish
Green chillies Red Chillies Channa dal Urad dal Mustard seeds Hing/Asofotedia

Final Touch: Mustard and Fenugreek powder
Method
1.) Steam Cook Yam in a pan or pressure cooker. Add salt for taste
2.) Add Saag/Indian spinach to the steam cooked pan.
3.) In a open skillet add 3 tb.spoons of oil, and add all the garnish ingredients (channa dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, hing) and Greenchilli Ginger paste.
4.) To this, add the steamed yam and Indian spinach, sprinkle salt, red chilli powder, green chillies, tamarind juice, turmeric.
5.) Let all of them cook for a few minutes.
6.) Once the curry is cooked, allow it to cool for a while. In the meanwhile, take 2 tbspoon of oil and in that add mustard and fenugreek powder (1 tb spoon each)
7.) Pour it on the top of the curry. Serve the curry after few hours. The trick is to allow the mustard and fenugreek paste to soak into the curry.

Time to Cook:20 mts Serves:4
Nutritional Value: Rich source of Vitamin A and Proteins

NOTE: Please change the quantities of Green chilli ginger paste and Mustard-Fenugreek powder as per your taste.