Boorelu
January 8th, 2007It’s festival time! Sankranti, our most auspicious harvest festival is just around the corner - time for indulgence, good food, new clothes and lot of fanfare. Preparation for Sankranti, begins weeks in advance at my grandmother’s (ammamma) home and is always centered around fun and traditional festive foods. Sankranti evokes memories of the warmth and tantalizing aroma of food being cooked in ammamma’s kitchen that would perk up our palates and endless rounds of hot-piping sweets and savories would disappear as soon as they were cooked, much before lunch time..:).
Boorelu, one of the most popular sweets prepared in the homes of Andhras, symbolic of joy and festivity, completely embodies the idea of a traditional Andhra sweet to the hilt.
This perennial favorite is a deep-fried sweet ball, the filling of which is prepared from bengal gram, jaggery or sugar, coconut and cardamom powder being the flavor enhancer, which is dipped in a batter made from black gram dal and rice and deep-fried to a golden brown color. Here’s how to make these delicious treats with a golden hue and redolent with cardamom flavor to indulge yourself this festive season.
Boorelu Recipe
Prep & Cooking: 1 hour, Soaking: 4 hours
Makes approx 25 boorelu
Cuisine: Andhra
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1/2 cup cup black gram dal/urad dal/minappappu
1 cup rice
1 cup bengal gram/channa dal/sengapappu
1 cup sugar or 1 cup grated jaggery (adjust according to your choice)
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut (optional)
3/4 tsp cardamom powder
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
1 Drain water from the black gram dal and rice and grind to fine paste adding very little water. It should be like a thick dosa batter. Add a pinch of salt and mix well. Leave aside covered.
2 Cook bengal gram with just enough water to cover the dal. The dal should be just cooked and hold shape. Drain any left over water from the dal after its cooked. Add jaggery or sugar to the dal and use a masher to mash them together till it blends well.
3Take a heavy-bottomed vessel and add the ground dal paste and cook till it appears like a thick paste, stirring continuously as the dal tends to stick to the vessel. Turn off heat and cool.
4 Add grated coconut, cardamom powder and mix well. Shape small bite sized balls like shown in the picture above.
5Heat enough oil in a wide heavy bottomed vessel for deep frying the balls. Dip each ball in the batter and let it coat evenly and place in the oil and deep fry till golden brown and crunchy. You can deep fry a batch of four to five balls depending on the size of the vessel.
6Serve warm. Store in an air tight container as they last for at least two days.
Note:
Alternately, you can cook the jaggery or sugar till it melts and then add the mashed dal to the syrup and cook it till it forms a thick paste. Ensure that the rice-dal batter is thick so that it coats the balls evenly and holds shape. The batter should not be runny. Just before eating, make a small hole on top and fill it with a little ghee or melted butter. Its purely optional though. You can use the left over batter to make savory balls by adding a little more salt, cumin seeds and green chilli paste. Deep fry these savory balls till golden brown.
Bobbarlu Vadalu - Black eyed Peas (Lobia) Fritters
January 5th, 2007I had bought some bobbarlu from the rythu bazaar last week and prepared a snack with these black eyed peas, today. Bobbarlu, alasandalu, lobia, vella payuru, karamani - the names by which cow pea/white kidney bean/black eyed pea is known in different parts of India is packed with a lot of protein, dietary fibre and nutrition.
Bobbarlu vadalu are a savory deep fried snack popular in Andhra. It’s a very down-to-earth recipe, that is appetising at sight, tasty and simple to prepare. Its prepared as a evening tiffin/snack at our home, for my 4 year old. Usually chopped onions, ginger, green chillis and coriander leaves are used to prepare the traditional bobbarlu vadalu, but today I added some grated coconut and carrots for variation and to provide more nutrition. Serve hot to savor the crunchy vadalu.
Bobbarlu Vadalu Recipe
Prep & Cooking: 20-30 mts, soaking: 4-6 hours
Makes 25-30 vadalu
Cuisine: Andhra
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1 1/4 cup bobbarlu (soaked in water for 4-6 hours,drained
2-3 tbsps cup grated coconut (optional)
1/4 cup grated carrots (optional)
3/4 cup finely chopped onions
3-4 green chillis finely chopped
2″ ginger finely minced
1 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
1 small bunch coriander leaves finely chopped
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
1 Grind the soaked and drained black eyed peas to a coarse paste adding very little water. Add the chopped onions, grated carrot, coconut, green chillis, ginger, coriander leaves, cumin seeds and salt and mix well.
2 Take some of this mixture to form a lemon sized ball. Flatten it on your palm to make a patti shape. Prepare patties with the rest of the mixture.
3 Heat oil for deep frying. Once its piping hot, reduce flame to medium and place these patties in the oil and fry them to a golden brown color.
4Serve hot with tomato sauce or any chutney of your choice.
Kothimira-Kobbari Pachadi - Coriander-Coconut Chutney
January 1st, 2007When the ingredient for JFI- January (Coconut) was announced, I knew which recipe I was going to blog. One of the most treasured fruits of the Gods is the coconut so revered to us, Hindus, symbolizing divine consciousness and forms an integral part of Hindu religious ceremonies, from birth to death. The humble, tender loving, versatile coconut is our offering to the Gods, its white flesh eaten as “prasadam” and is the super food to us, South Indians.
There are innumerable traditional recipes prepared with it and by far the most simple and classic recipe is kobbari pachadi or coconut chutney in all its variations. There are certain pachadis or chutneys that are so simple, which can be prepared at a moment’s notice and yet taste divine. Coriander coconut chutney, is one such classic example of an irresistable chutney that is easy to prepare, nutritious and flavorful. A treasured recipe like kothimira kobbari pachadi can give even the most exotic culinary creations a run for its money.
Coriander coconut chutney, is a variation to the traditional coconut chutney, that has a sweet-nutty flavor due to the coconut, coriander and peanuts and the green chillis balances the flavors by giving it a hint of spice. All you need to do is saute the greens and chillis, grind them along with fresh coconut and roasted peanuts and infuse with a seasoning of mustard seeds and fresh curry leaves giving it a fragrant touch.
Kothimira Kobbari Pachadi Recipe
Prep & Cooking: 15-20 mts
Serves 4-5 persons
Cuisine: Andhra
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1 cup of freshly grated coconut (you can also cut the coconut into thin slices)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small bunch fresh coriander leaves, washed and chopped into pieces
10-12 mint leaves (pudina)
3-4 green chillies (increase or decrease to suit your spice level)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts (de-skinned)
1/2-3/4 cup water
salt to taste
1 tsp oil
For tempering:
1 tsp mustard seeds
8-10 fresh curry leaves
1/2 tsp oil
1 Heat a tsp of oil in a small pan. Add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add the green chillis and washed coriander leaves and stir fry for 2-3 mts till you get a nice aroma. Add the mint leaves and toss them about for a few seconds. Remove from heat and cool.
2 Grind the grated coconut, sautéed green chillies, coriander leaves, mint leaves and roasted peanuts along with salt, to a paste by adding about half a cup of water. A stone mortar is recommended to crush them but you can use a blender too.
3 Serve with dosas, idlis or vadas.
courtesy by...
SAGAR RESTUARANT
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Sagar Restaurant offers an extensive choice We provide 100% halal meat.of traditional Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian cuisine together with new mouthwatering recipes, but if you have a preferred dish that isn't on the menu, please don't hesitate to ask the management who will be more than happy to have our chef specially prepare it for you. |
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