Kobbarilouse

Ingredients:

coconut scraped 1cup
sugar 1cup
ghee 1tbsp
milk 4tbsp

Method of preparation:

Heat ghee in a pan, add scraped coconut and fry until light golden brown. Now add milk and fry for 2 more minutes. Add sugar and stir fry until the sugar melts completely and the caramel sticks to the cocunut. U can make small sized balls if preferred.

Green gram dal bhaji(Pesara punukulu)

Ingredients:

Whole green gram dal 1 cup
green chillies 5-8
curry leaves 10
cumin seeds 1tsp
soda 1 pinch
salt to taste
oil for frying

Method of preparation:

soak green gram dal for about 3 hours.
Grind green chillies, dal, salt into smooth paste with little water.
Add cumin seeds, curry leaves, soda to the above dal paste.
fry oil in pan, take spoonfuls of above paste and drop in oil.
Removed when fried and enjoy with your fav. sauce.

P.S. you can added little amount of rice flour to make the batter thick.

Apricot Pudding

Ingredients:

Apricots : 100 gm
Sugar : 75-100 gm
Cream : 1 cup
Almonds : 25 gm
Cashew Nuts : 25 gm
Vanilla Essence : ½ tsp
Strawberry Food Colour : a pinch


Preparation:

Clean apricots. Cook them in pressure cooker adding little water for 10 minutes.

Add sugar to the cooked apricots and stir continuously till the mixture reaches jam consistency. Add vanilla essence and strawberry food colour and turn off the fire.

Let the mixture reach to room temperature and put it in a pudding bwl. Garnish with chopped nuts. Keep the pudding in fridge. Serve chilled!

Vegetable Uthappam

Ingredients:

Raw Rice : 3 cups
Black Gram : 1¼ cup
Onions : 2 (finely chopped)
Tomatoes : 2 (finely chopped)
Coriander Leaves : 2 tsp (finely chopped)
Salt : to taste


Preparation:

Wash and soak rice and gram seperately. Grind gram to a smooth batter and grind rice to a coarse batter.

Mix both the batters to gether and let it ferment for about 8-10 hours.

Just before making dosas, add salt and chopped onions and tomatoes.

Pour the batter on dosa tava and spread it to make thick dosas. Sprinkle oil and fry on both the sides. Serve with coconut or coriander chutney.

Onion Paratha

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour : 2 cups
Bengal Gram Flour : 1 cup
Onion : 1 big (chopped)
Green Chilli : 1 (chopped finely)
Ghee : 1½ tbsp (chopped)
Red Chilli Powder : ½ tsp
Garam Masala Powder : ½ tsp
Coriander Leaves(Optional) : 1 tsp (chopped)
Salt : to taste
Oil : for roasting
Water : to make dough


Preparation:

Mix together wheat flour, gram flour, onion, green chilli, salt, garam masala, ghee, coriander, chili powder. Add enough water and kead the mixture to make a soft and stiff dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it stand for half an hour.

Knead the dough again. Make big lemon sized balls from the dough. Roll each ball into a circle. Roast the parathas on a hot giddle applying oil on both side till it forms brown specks on bot the sufaces.

Make egg sixed balls from the vegetable mixture and flatten each ball to form cutlet shape. Roll all the cutlets in bread crumbs. Heat oil in a tava, and shallow fry the cutlets. Serve with tomato sauce.

Serve parathas hot with yoghurt!

Paala Undrallu and Kudumulu - Vinayaka Chavathi Naivedyam

Today is Vinayaka Chavithi aka Ganesh Chaturthi festival, dedicated to Lord Ganesha, God of Wisdom and Prosperity. It is celebrated on the Suddha Chavithi day (the fourth day after the no-moon day) of the lunar month Bhadrapada maasam (August/September).

Lord Vinayaka is said to be fond of “Undrallu” which is mainly prepared from rice flour. Hardly any ghee/oil is used to prepare undrallu as they are prepared by way of steaming which makes them low fat unlike most festive foods which are high in calories. Different varieties of undrallu both savory (kudumulu) and sweet ones are prepared and offered as naivedyam/prasadam to Lord Vinayaka.


Paala Undrallu are sweet flavored and prepared from rice flour, milk, grated coconut, seasame seeds and sugar. Very simple to prepare with a subtle sweet flavor.

Paala Undrallu Recipe :

Cooking Time: 30 mts

Cuisine: Andhra.



Ingredients:


-> 1 cup rice flour

-> 2 1/2 cups water

-> 1 cup sugar (you can reduce the quantity)

-> 1 cup grated coconut

-> 1 cup milk

-> 1/2 cup seasame seeds (dry roast for a mt and grind to a coarse pwd)

-> ¼ tsp elachi pwd (cardamom)
Method :

1. Bring 2 cups of water to boil and add the rice flour and immediately cover it with a lid without stirring and reduce heat. Let it cook for 4-5 mts. Turn off heat and cool. Make small balls and keep aside.
2. In another vessel add the sugar and water and bring it boil. Reduce heat and add the grated coconut and stir for a few seconds. Add the rice flour balls and mix.
3. Add the milk and let the balls cook in this syrup for 3-4 mts. Now add the ground seasame seeds pwd and combine well. The consistency should be a slightly thick syrup. Turn off heat. Sprinkle ground elaichi pwd.

Kudumulu or Undrallu are savory rice balls made from rice ravva and bengal gram dal. Very simple to prepare and absolutely healthy as its steamed.



Undrallu/Kudumulu Recipe :


Cooking Time: 15-20 mts other than soaking rice and grinding to a coarse pwd

Cuisine: South Indian.



Ingredients:

-> 2 cups raw rice, washed, dried completely and ground to a coarse pwd similar to sooji

-> 4 cups water

-> 1/4 cup Bengal gram / chana dal (soak in water for 5-10 mts and drain)

-> ½ tsp cumin seeds (optional)

-> 1 tsp ghee
Method :

1. Heat ghee in a pan and add the soaked channa dal and fry the dal for a second or two.
2. Immediately add water and salt, bring to a boil. Once it reaches boiling point, immediately add the ground rice ravva and stir continuously ensuring that no lumps are formed and once all the water is absorbed and appears like a big lump, cover and cook for 4-5 mts. Turn off heat and cool.
3. Once cool, make big lemon sized balls of the cooked mixture. Undrallu are ready to be offered to Lord Ganesha as naivedyam.

Note:

These days rice ravva is available in most stores and all you need is to add this ravva to boiling water instead of the tedious process of soaking and grinding the dried rice.

Bellam Gaarelu - Jaggery Flavored Vadas

Bellam Garelu - Jaggery Flavored Vadas




I’m not sure if many of you have heard of sweet flavored ‘vada/garelu’. Dear reader, I’m talking of bellam (jaggery) garelu where deep fried crisp vadas are sweetened with jaggery syrup, a traditional sweet in our parts. Sometimes, during festivals or special occasions, when garelu are prepared, if there is any left over urad dal or garelu batter, sweet flavored vadas are prepared and usually served during tea time. I can eat them at time of the day, though..:)


No onions or green chillis go into this vada batter - just whole urad dal soaked in water, drained, ground to a fine paste with salt, beaten till fluffy and white, shaped into vadas, deep-fried till crisp and golden brown and dropped immediately in warm jaggery syrup till they absorb the syrup. The resultant vadas are absolutely delicious with the first bite having that hint of crispiness when eaten hot and puffy off the stove.

The sweet richness of jaggery countered by the earthiness of urad dal, leaves a pleasant mouth-feel, very earthy and sweet - a fine balance of flavors. Best eaten hot when the crust still retains the crispiness and believe me, savoring these teepi (sweet) garelu is pure pleasure guaranteed!

Bellam (Teepi) Garelu Recipe

Prep & Cooking: 45 mts, Soaking time: 2 hrs

Makes: 12-14 vadas

Cuisine: Andhra.



Ingredients:

-> 1 cup whole urad dal (black gram dal, minappappu)

-> salt to taste

-> oil for deep frying

-> 1 cup grated jaggery, add water, cook to prepare a syrup that is sticky on touch

-> 1 1/2 cups water
method :

1 Soak whole black gram dal in water for 2 hours.
2 Strain the water, and grind the dal to a paste sprinkling little water and salt. Use small portions of dal to grind batch wise as its easier to grind into a soft paste. Beat till fluffy.
3 Heat water, add the jaggery and let it melt and form a syrup which is sticky to touch. While the jaggery is forming a syrup, deep fry the vadas.
4 Take a deep frying vessel, add enough oil and heat till piping hot.
5 Wet your hands with water, take a lemon-sized ball of batter and flatten it into a vada on a greased sheet or banana leaf. Make a hole in the centre of the vada so that it cooks evenly all over.
6 Slowly drop the vada into the hot oil carefully and fry it on both sides on medium heat to a golden brown color. Deep fry 4-5 vadas per batch depending on the size of the vessel.
7 Immediately dip these fried vadas into the jaggery syrup. Let them sit in this syrup till the next batch of vadas are deep-fried. Remove them onto a serving plate and drop the next batch of vadas into the syrup.
8 Drizzle some left over syrup over vadas before serving and serve hot while the crust is still crisp.
Note:

Add a pinch of cardamom pwd to the syrup or for a savory touch to this sweet, add a pinch of freshly ground pepper pwd to the syrup. Its your choice. Ensure that the jaggery syrup doesn’t become thick, it should just melt and feel sticky. You will know when the vadas have absorbed the syrup and done as they will be heavy. Be careful they don’t become too soggy.