Chama dumpala Pulusu (Colocasia curry) - Andhra style

Chama pulusu (Chema pulusu) is an Andhra-style tamarind soup made with taro root.

First, boil taro root in the cooker. Then add cold water to cool it. Remove the skin from the pieces and cut them into medium-sized pieces (cylinders with small height). Separately, chop onions and green chillies into small pieces. Garlic too if you like it. In a small cup, soak 1/2 a ping pong ball size tamarind in water.

Heat 4 tsp oil in a frying pan. Add 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds (menthi/methi). Fry until it turns light brown uniformly. Add green chillies & fry. Then add lots of curry leaves and onions (and garlic if you want). Add jaggery & turmeric powder (pasupu). Fry until the onions turn golden brown. Then add the colocasia pieces. Keep it on low flame and stir occasionally. If you stir too often, chama will become Colgate toothpaste.

Add salt. Add a little bit of red chilli powder. Mix the soaked tamarind homogeneously in water and add it. Stir well. Cover with a lid and stir occasionally for 10 mins or until it tastes uniform.

Kesari

(Satyanarayana Swamy prasadam) [ Preparation time: 20 mins. ]

Traditionally this prasadam should contain (1 + 1/4) cups each of godhuma ravva, sugar, ghee and some bananas kept at the top. Heat ghee in a large heavy pan and add rava. Stir on low heat for 7-8 minutes or till aroma exudes. In a different vessel, boil water, add sugar and bring it to a boil. Add boiling water to the rava, bit by bit, stirring continuously. Mix well. Check the rava grain between fingers to find out whether it is cooked or not. Adjust sweetness, and add more boiling water if grain is hard. Add cardamom powder, cover and simmer till ghee starts separating to the top.

Bread Pakoda

Grind green chillies, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves into a rough paste. Measure 1 part chana dal (senagapappu) and 1/3 part rice flour (biyyam pindi). Add salt, a pinch of garam masala and the above paste. Mix well, until it has a little more water than what is required for toothpaste consistency.
Take oatnut (or any other) bread and cut each slice into pieces, as big as you want. Dip them into the flour and fry until golden brown.

Masala Vada

Soak 1 glass of chana dal in water for 2 hrs. Grind 1/2 of it until it into a batter medium thick. Add salt, green chillies, ginger and grind until it is mixed well.

Add some dhaniya powder and cinnamon powder(dalchini) to the batter. Add 2 spoons of besan. Cut onions into small pieces and add it along with coriander leaves. Add the remaining soaked chana dal and mix well.

Heat up some oil in a frying pan; take small amount of the batter pat it and make it flat; drop them in the hot oil and fry until cooked and make the vadas.

Rava dosa

Mix these ingredients in a vessel in the ratio given below.
Bombay rava (sooji) - 1 glass
Rice flour - 1 glass
Maida (all-purpose flour) - 1/2 glass
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1/2 tsp or more if you like
Add salt to taste
Finely chopped green chillies - optional
Diced Onions - optional
Finely chopped ginger - optional
1.Add plenty of water and mix well. The consistency should be slighty thicker than whole milk but not as thick as condensed milk.
2.Heat up the frying pan. Add a little bit of oil and spread it well on the surface.
3.Mix the batter with a ladle everytime you take from it. Otherwise the flour will settle at the bottom, seperating from the water.
4.Pour the batter on the pan starting from outside to inside. If you start from inside, all the batter will settle inside and you'll get a fat dosa.
5.If the batter is of the right consistency and the pan at the right heat, you will see several holes form in the dosa a few seconds after you pour the batter.
6.Add a bit of oil to each of these holes and around the dosa.
7.Wait till the ends turn golden brown. Then reverse the dosa. Fry lighty or more as you like.
8.You might observe that the remaining batter keeps getting thicker as you make dosas. If so, it is quite ok to add a bit more water to achieve the desired consistency.

Pneumonia

During the early acute stage of pneumonia, a tea made from fenugreek seeds will help the body to produce perspiration, dispel toxicity, and shorten the period of fever. Upto four cups of the tea can be taken daily. The quantity can be reduced as the condition improves. To improve the flavour of the tea, a few drops of lemon juice may be added. During this treatment, no other food or nourishment should be taken, as fasting and fenugreek will allow the body to correct these respiratory problems in a few days.

Garlic is a marvellous remedy for pneumonia, if given in sufficient quantities. It brings down the temperature, as well as the pulse and respiration within forty-eight hours. A paste of garlic can also be applied externally on the chest with beneficial results as it is an irritant and rubefacient

Sesame seeds are valuable in pneumonia. An infusion of the seeds can be made by steeping 15 gm of seeds in 250 ml of water. This infusion, mixed with a tablespoon of linseed, a pinch of common salt, and a dessertspoon of honey, should be given in the treatment of this disease. This will help remove catarrhal matter and phlegm from the bronchial tubes.

The juice of parsnip, a root vegetable botanically known as Pastinaca sativa, has been found beneficial in the treatment of pneumonia. The juice of the leaves and root of this plant possess high therapeutic value. The phosphorus and chlorine elements contained therein are of particular benefit to the lungs and the bronchial system, thus making the juice an excellent home remedy for pneumonia. The patient should take 250 ml of juice daily. It is however, essential that only the juice of the cultivated parsnip plant should be used for this purpose. The wild variety must not be used in juices as it contains some poisonous ingredients.

The juice of carrots, in combination either with spinach juice, or beet and cucumber juices, has also been found useful in pneumonia. In these combinations, 200 ml of spinach juice or 100 ml each of beet and cucumber juices should be mixed with 300 ml of carrot juice to prepare 500 ml or half a litre of combined juice.

The pain of pneumonia can be relieved by rubbing oil of turpentine over the rib cage and wrapping warmed cotton wool over it.

Remedies for Body odor

If your body odor is caused due to any medicine that you are on, then you need to talk to your doctor. Use antibacterial soap or deodorant soap to combat body odor due to sweating. Wear cotton clothes during summer so that the sweat is soaked up. Instead of using deodorant, wipe your sweat producing areas like armpit using white vinegar or alcohol. Avoid using antiperspirant because they clog sweat glands, use alum instead. Apple cider vinegar can be used to combat under arm odor. Use baby powder to keep areas of heavy perspiration dry. Apply some baking soda on arm pit, it will absorb sweat and kill bacteria. Soak yourself for 15 minutes in bath water with couple of cups of tomato juice in it