పుట్నాల పప్పు పొడి / Putnala pappu Podi/ Roasted Chickpeas powder

Ingredients:

Dalia/Roasted chickpeas /Putnaala pappu/ veyinchina senaga Pappu - 1/2 cup
Red Chillies/ Endu Mirapakayalu - 4 (adjust as per taste)
Cumin Seeds/ Jeela karra -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Pinch of Heeng

Method :

1. Dry Roast Red chillies for a minute.
2. Grind Dalia, Red chillies, cumin seeds, heeng and salt without adding water into a nice powder.
3. Store the powder in a airtight container.

Mix with hot rice with a dollop of ghee and enjoy.
Sprinkle some dalia powder while making curries to make them taste more delicious and aromatic.

బొరుగుల లడ్డు/ Borugula Laddu/ Puffed Rice Sweet Crispies

Ingredients:

Murmura/borugulu/ puffed rice- 1 cup
Powdered Jaggery - 1 cup (adjust as per sweet levels)
Water to melt jaggery - 1 tbsp

Method:
In a thick-bottomed vessel, add water and jaggery.
Cook on medium-high heat.
Jaggery melts and begins to concentrate.
To test the consistency of Jaggery syrup, take cold water in a plate and add few drops of jaggery syrup. If the syrup can be rolled to a round it is done and the syrup is ready.
Add Murmuralu while stirring continuously. Turn off the heat and remove the vessel from fire.
Let it cool for few minutes and then start making laddus.
I learnt this from my Mom-in-law

అటుకుల పులిహోర / Atukula Pulihora/ Flattened Rice with Tamarind Extract

Ingredients:

Atukulu/ Poha/ Beaten Rice/ Flat rice - 2 cups
Tamarind/Chinta pandu - small lime size ball
Turmeric/ pasupu - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Seasoning:

Oil - 1 tbsp
Broken Red Chilies - 3 to 4
Urad Dal/ Split black gram - 2 tsp
Chana Dal - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp


Method:
Soak tamarind in 3/4 cup warm water for 10 minutes and extract thick juice. Discard the tamarind.
Now soak Poha in tamarind extract for 5 to 10 minutes or until it absorbs all the liquid and the flakes become soft, fluffy and separate.
Meanwhile heat oil in a wide pan. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, Peanuts, red chillies, urad dal, turmeric powder. When mustard seeds crackle, add poha. Sprinkle salt.
Gently toss everything together without mashing Poha.
Fry for 2-3 minutes and serve hot.

Trivia : I learnt this from my Mom-in-law.

రవ కేసరి/ Sooji Halwa/ Semolina Dessert

Ingredients:
Sooji/ Rava/ Semolina - 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1/3cup
Cashews/ Jeedipapu - 5to 6
Pinch of Orange/yellow Food color
Cardamom - 2 (powdered)
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Water - 3 times of Rava

Method:

Heat ghee in a wide Vessel and roast cashews first and then Sooji Rava. Remove them in to a plate.
In the same vessel, add sugar, food color to water and bring it to a boil.
Reduce the heat and add Sooji rava, Cashews and cardamom powder.
Simmer on slow heat for ten minutes.
Serve warm or cold, and enjoy.

సేమ్య పాయసం/Semiya Payasam/ Vermicelli Dessert

Recipe:

1/2 liter milk
1/2 cup Semiya / Vermicelli
1/2 cup Sugar (adjust as per taste)
2 tablespoon of ghee, melted
10 cashews
10 golden raisins
2 cardamom pods, seeds powdered


Heat ghee in a wide Vessel and roast raisins first, and then cashews to pale gold color. Remove them in to a plate.In the same vessel, add and Roast the semiya for one to two minutes. This is to remove the raw smell of semiya , however this is optional. Take the roasted semiya to a plate and keep aside. In the same vessel, add the milk and stir in sugar. Bring the milk to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat and add the semiya, cashews, golden raisins and cardamom powder. Simmer on slow heat for ten minutes. Serve warm or cold, and enjoy.

సున్నుండలు/ Sunnundalu/ Black gram sweet balls

Ingredients

Urad dal – 2 cups
Jaggery – 1 1/2 cup (Grated)
Ghee – 1/2 cup
Cardamom -2 (optional)

Preparation
Roast the urad dal in a low heat till golden brown. Stir continuously, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Let it cool.
Now, take the roasted urad dal and grind it to a smooth powder using a mixer or a food processor. Add the grated jaggery and grind it again. If you want to add cardamom powder, you can add it now.
Melt the ghee and keep it aside.
Take the ground mixture in a bowl, add ghee until you get a consistency where you can mould them in the form of laddoo.


Variations : We can use Sugar instead of jaggery. It tastes good either ways, but I like it with jaggery.

This is a very simple sweet and doesn't take much time to prepare.

మణుగుపూలు / Manugupulu/Janthikalu/ Murukulu/ Rice flour snack

Ingredients:
2cups Rice flour
1/2cup Moong dal
2tsp jeera/cumin seeds
4tsp sesame seeds (Optional)
Oil for deep frying
1tsp.Red chilli powder
Salt to taste.
3 tbsp hot oil or butter

Preparation :
1. Pressure cook moong dal.
2. In a wide bowl add rice flour,moong dal paste, chili powder, salt, sesame seeds and cumin seeds mix it well.
3. Add 3tbsp.oil(hot oil) or butter,mix it well, by adding enough water make a dough of roti dough consistency.
4. In a deep frying pan add oil for deep frying, once the oil is hot enough for frying(oil should not be too hot, this makes murukulu get burnt)
5. Now take the mould(can be bought from Indian store) keep enough dough in to it, press it in hot oil, fry them until they are light golden brown in color, fry them in batches and drain on a paper towel.
6. Store them in air tight container.

Variations: Instead of moong dal you can use urad dal or puttnala pappu( Dalia). If you are using putnala pappu then just grind it and mix it in the rice flour, no need to pressure cook.


Learnt this from my mom-in-law (Manjuvani):)

పచ్చి మిరపకాయ బజ్జి / Mirchi bajji / Stuffed Green Chilli Snacks

Preparation time : 30 mins
Serves (2-3)


Ingredients

10 big green chillies (can be found in Indian stores)
1 big potato
1 cup besan
1/4cup rice flour
2 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1 small onion
pinch of baking soda
salt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric

Method:

1 Take a green chilli, make a slit lengthwise in the middle, keeping the ends intact. With a knife remove the seeds and make space for stuffing.
2 Boil the potato and peel the skin and mash it, add salt, turmeric and 2tsp.lemon juice,1/4 tsp.red chilli powder and mix them together and make the stuffing.
3 In a bowl take besan, rice flour, pinch of baking soda, salt to taste and 1/2cup water(if needed add little more water), mix them all together into thick batter (more like dosa batter).
4 Stuff the chillies with the stuffing and dip them in the batter and drop them in the hot oil and deep fry them until they get little golden color.
5 Make a slit in the bajjis and garnish them with chopped onions mixed with lemon juice and cilantro

కొబ్బరి లౌజు/లడ్డు: Kobbari lousu/laddu- Coconut Sweet

Preparation time : 20 mins
Makes 6-8 laddus

Ingredients:

2 Cups Fresh grated Coconut
1.5 cups Jaggery(adjust as per sweet levels)
3 Elachi/cardamom (Optional)

Method:

1 In a thick bottomed pan add grated coconut, jaggery and little water(about 1tsp. of water)
2 Keep on medium flame and keep stirring, until the whole jaggery converts into liquid.
4 Then it comes together to a single mass consistency(should be very sticky)it takes approx.15-20min to get that sticky consistency. Now add elachi powder.
5 Let it cool for a while , then make round balls(laddus) and serve.


This is one simple and delicious sweet.

Pesarattu /పెసరట్టు / Green gram batter crepe

(Serves 2)

Ingredients
1 cup whole moong Dal / Green gram
1 cup water
1 Onion
2 tbsp Rice
1 inch ginger piece
3-4 green Chillies
Salt to taste

Method
Soak moong dal and rice for about 8-10 hours in water.
Wash them and grind to make smooth paste by adding 1 cup of water along with the salt,chillies and ginger.
Heat frying pan or non-stick pan on high flame and pour one ladle full of batter into the center of pan and spread it around in a circular fashion (from inside out) shaping the batter into a thin round.
Add finely chopped onions and sprinkle little oil on its sides and cook it for a minute.
Turn over and cook again for 1 more minute.

Note: Pesarattu -Upma is the tastiest and traditional breakfast.
Please refer to vineeta's recipe to prepare upma.

పులిహొర /Pulihora/ Tamarind Rice

(Serves four)
Preparation time : Approx 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 cups Rice
1 tbsp oil
1 big lemon sized tamarind
1/4 tsp turmeric
10 curry leaves (Karivepaku)
4 green chillies
2 tsp salt
pinch of methi(fenugreek) podwer (Optional)

For Popu:
8 Dry red chillies (Endu mirapakayalu)
2 green chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds (aavalu)
2 tbsp urad dal (minapappu)
2 1/2 tbs chana dal (senagapappu)
4 tbsp peanuts (veru senagapappu)
1/2 tsp hing powder
2 tbsp oil
6 curry leaves


Preparation:

Cook rice separately (make sure the rice doesn’t get sticky) and once it is cooked spread it out in a wide bowl/dish and add 1 tbsp oil, turmeric and curry leaves. Keep it aside and let it cool.

Soak the tamarind for around half an hour in water and extract the juice free of all the pulp and seeds

Heat oil in a pan, add few curry leaves, 2 green chillies a pinch of hing, a pinch of turmeric, 2 tsp salt and put it to boil until the tamarind becomes a thick consistent paste and all the water evaporates

Mix the rice with the tamarind paste . Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add all the popu ingredients. When they splutter, turn off the heat and add popu to the rice.

మెంతి ఆకు కంది పప్పు: Menthi aaku kandi pappu- Fenugreek greens with pigeon peas

Preparation time: 15 to 20 minutes
(Serves three)

Ingredients:

One bunch of fresh fenugreek(Menthi Kura) - washed and leaves plucked
1 cups of Toor dal(Kandi pappu)
1 tomato
2 green chillies -halved
Small lemon sized tamarind
1/4 tsp of turmeric
Salt to taste

Popu/Seasoning/thiragamaatha/tadka :

1 tsp of oil , mustard seeds, cumin and urad dal
Few curry leaves
Pinch of hing powder

Preparation:
Cook dal: In a pressure cooker, take toor dal, fenugreek leaves, tomato, green chillies, and turmeric -one and half cups of water and pressure cook them till 3 whistles. When the valve pressure is all released, remove the lid, add tamarind, half teaspoon of salt and cook for 2 more minutes.

Popu: In a laddle heat one teaspoon of oil, add the remaining popu or tadka ingredients. Saute till the seeds start crackling,.

Add popu to the cooked dal, stir well and cover. Tastes great with rice and chapati.