Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Vine Sweet Mini Peppers

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Mini Peppers

They look like peppers and they are named peppers.

They are not what you might expect. Certainly not the fiery peppers that spice up the curries, nor the bloated bell peppers that would collapse on cooking.

No, these peppers are the stuff of dreams. Like the botox-faced on-air talent, they glisten and also need PIN codes to access their emotions. A product of calculated hybrid breeding, they do not shrivel, sweat and the seeds inside rarely reproduce on Design. Other charming features – delicate skin, cooks in minutes and doesn’t become saggy on cooling. A perfect, plastic produce, alive with cloying sweetness. These are the “Vine Sweet Mini Peppers“, the 21st century vegetables.

Not knowing what they were, I brought them home. Dolts they are, taste buds seem to accept them without any hesitation.

Peppers for Figure 8
Pepper in Figure 8

Recipe:

1 tablespoon peanut oil
Pinch each – cumin and mustard seeds
20 to 25 mini peppers – ends removed and sliced to thin rings

Heat oil in a wide skillet. Add and toast cumin and mustard seeds. When seeds start to pop, add the peppers. Mix. Keep the heat on medium, cover the skillet and cook for about five minutes.

While peppers are cooking, prepare the pappula (dalia) podi.

3 tablespoons pappulu (dalia, bhuna chana)
1 tablespoon grated coconut
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
2 dried red chillies, Indian variety
Take them all in a spice grinder, blend to fine powder.

Remove the lid and sprinkle this powder on peppers. Also add quarter teaspoon each – turmeric and salt. Mix. Cook, uncovered for another five minutes. Serve at once. Tastes good with chapati, roti, rice or pasta.

Mini Peppers Curry with Chapati
Mini Pepper Kura with Corn Rotis, Carrot-Okra Sambar and Pear ~ Meal Today

~ Indira

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Peppers (Tuesday February 19, 2008 at 4:48 pm- permalink)
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Teepi Gummadi Kura for Sankranthi

(Pumpkin Subzi with Winter Melon from Nandyala)

Photo Purchase Keywords: Pumpkin, Subzi
(It takes money, time, effort and energy for food photography. Please don’t photosteal. Click on the links and purchase the photos legally to digital download and to print. Thanks.)

Winter melon, Ash Gourd, Gummadikaya, Gummadi

Pumpkin kura sweetened with jaggery is a Sankranthi tradition at Nandyala and in many parts of Andhra, Bharath. Pumpkin is a winter vegetable, and jaggery is made fresh from sugarcane during this season. So on Bhogi, the first day of three day festival Sankranthi, we cook these two together as part of harvest celebration. The pumpkin cubes coated with jaggery-spice mixture glisten like an early morning Sunshine on wintry day in this curry. Usually we serve it with Sajja Rotte (Millet Roti) on Bhogi.

The white fleshed pumpkin is called boodida gummadi in Telugu. Here in US, it is sold as ash gourd or winter melon, often cut into small portions like shown in the image. Winter melon tastes like cucumber, mildly sweet and no smell whatsoever. If this variety is available in your area, do try this recipe. Sweet, aromatic and with ruchi, this curry is a hearwarming wintry delight and a must try for winter-melon fans.

Gummadi, Winter Melon, Ash Gourd, Kaddu
Winter Melon, Coconut, Dalia and Jaggery

Recipe:
(for two, for two meals with roti)

Boodida Gummadi (Winter melon): Peel the skin, remove the seeds and cut the white part to bite-sized cubes : 4 cups

Jaggery-spice Paste:

Dalia (putnala pappulu, Bhuna Chana) – quarter cup
Jaggery, crushed to small pieces – 3 tablespoons
Coconut, fresh or dry, grated – 1 tablespoon
Dried red chilli – 4
Coriander seeds – half teaspoon
Take them all in a mixer, blend to fine consistency.

Kura Preparation:
In a pot, heat a teaspoon of peanut oil. Add and toast a sprig of curry leaves, pinch of cumin and mustard seeds. When mustard seeds start to pop, add the pumpkin cubes. Also the jaggery-spice paste along with a glass of water. Mix. Stir in a pinch of turmeric, and salt to taste. Mix, and simmer, covered for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the pumpkin pieces cook to tender.

Serve the teepi gummadi kura with chapati, sorghum roti or sajja roti. (This curry is not that good with rice.)

Teepi Gummadi Kura, Pumpkin Curry with Roti
Teepi Gummadi Kura with Roti, and Boondhi Mixture

Recipe Source: Amma, Nandyala
This kura is also prepared with orange pumpkin. The recipe is same except the change in pumpkin.
Kura=Curry, Teepi=Sweet, Gummadi=Pumpkin, Ruchi=Flavor (from Telugu to English)

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Amma & Authentic Andhra,Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Jaggery,Pumpkin (Wednesday January 9, 2008 at 2:35 pm- permalink)
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Scrumptious Subjis : Chayote in Chilli Sauce (Bengaluru Vankaya Kurma)

Chayote in Chilli Sauce (Chayote Kurma)

Just a little color dabbed on the cheeks can do wonders to a pale, lifeless face. Same thing, small dose of vibrant chilli sauce can do wonders to otherwise bland, mild flavored chayote. Just add a dash of chilli and a pinch of spice. Sprinkle some tamarind juice and touch of tadka – here we go. Utterly lip-smacking yet not at all overblown. Impressively energetic but balanced with a persistent sweetness from chayote. Another traditional, savory and scrumptious sabji would be ready. We usually have this sabji with sorghum roti or with chapatis.

Cubed Chayote and Powdered Ingredients for Chilli Sauce
Cubed Chayote and Powdered Ingredients for Chilli Sauce

Recipe:

1 chayote – peel, slice to half, remove seed and dice to bite-sized cubes
1 onion – finely chopped

For chilli Sauce:
5 dried red chillies
2 tablespoons – dalia (pappulu, bhuna chana)
1 tablespoon – grated coconut (fresh or dried)
1 tablespoon each – powdered jaggery and tamarind juice
1 teaspoon – mustard seeds
½ teaspoon – cumin
¼ teaspoon each – salt and turmeric
Take all of the above and grind to smooth in a blender or spice grinder.

For popu or tadka:
1 tsp each – oil, minced garlic, curry leaves, dried red chilli pieces, cumin and mustard seeds

………

In a wide skillet, heat oil. Add and toast the popu or tadka ingredients in the order mentioned above.

When the mustard seeds start to dance, add onions and chayote cubes. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.

When the chayote starts to soften, add the powdered chilli sauce ingredients and one cup of water. Mix. Have a taste. Adjust the salt and jaggery sweetness level to your liking.

Cover and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until the chayote becomes tender and chilli sauce thickens and coats the spoon.

Serve warm with a cup of yogurt or tea on the side. Taste great with sorghum roti/chapati/naan. (Not that good with rice.)

Chayote Kurma with Naan and a Cup of Tea
Chayote Kurma with Naan and a Cup of Tea

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Chayote (Cho Cho),Dried Red Chillies (Wednesday January 24, 2007 at 6:32 pm- permalink)
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Coriander ~ Pappula(Bhuna Chana) Chutney


Coriander~Pappula Chutney with Upma

Just like dear Supriya (Tweety) of Bengaluru, I also prepare upma often, at least once a week for lunch or dinner. Rice and roti are good but sometimes I feel like taking a break from those two and upma usually comes to my rescue.

Upma recipe is very forgiving. We can make it as elaborate, nutritious (by adding lot of vegetables, nuts etc) or simple (just plain water and some salt) as we like. One thing the recipe does need is a pickle or chutney on the side. A meal is healthy when it’s homecooked and upma is pleasing when it’s served with chutney on the side. One such simple and easy chutney recipe that taste terrific with upma or for that matter all varieties of breakfast items is coriander-pappula (roasted chana dal) chutney.

Pappulu or putnala pappulu (Telugu) are sold as ‘dalia’ in US. See this label here. I always thought the name dalia is a North Indian one, but not so says Anita of ‘A Mad Tea Party”. So now the question is who calls pappulu or bhuna chana ‘dalia’? Which Indian language is it from? Or unknown to us mere mortals, Indian grocery wholesalers have a separate language to confuse us more?:)

Edited to add:
Thank you Darshana and Madhuli for clearing the confusion. Dalia is a Gujarati word for pappulu or bhuna chana.


Pappulu (Putnala Pappulu, Dalia, Bhuna Chana, Roasted Chana Dal) and Fresh Coriander

Recipe:

1 cup of roasted chana dal (Pappulu, dalia, bhuna chana)
1 bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro, Kottimera)
8 green chillies – short, Indian variety
1 T of tamarind juice or limejuice or to taste
1 T of coconut fresh or dried (optional)
1 teaspoon of cumin
½ teaspoon of salt

Take them all in a blender, add about half glass of water and grind to smooth paste. Remove to a cup.

Do the popu or tadka:
Heat a teaspoon of peanut oil in a tadka pan. Add and toast in this order – 5 curry leaves, half teaspoon each of urad dal, then cumin and mustard seeds. When seeds start to splutter immediately add the popu to chutney. Mix and serve with breakfast items.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Amma & Authentic Andhra,Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Kottimera(Cilantro) (Thursday November 9, 2006 at 1:28 pm- permalink)
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Sanagalu (Kala Chana, Black Chickpeas)


One Chickpea (Chana, Choleye, Sanaga) ~ Different Forms
For This Week’s Indian Kitchen

Green fresh chana – Shelled from pods (and available frozen in Indian grocery shops).

Black chickpeas (Kala Chana) – Result of green chana dried under the sun.

Chana Dal (Bengal Gram, Sanaga Pappu) – Prepared by splitting the black chickpeas and removing the brownish-black outer skins.

Roasted Chana Dal (Dalia, Pappulu) – Prepared by roasting black chickpeas in special kilns and then splitting and removing the brownish-black outer skins.

double_curve.gif

Contributions From Fellow Bloggers For Indian Kitchen Series

Kavvam (Buttermilk Churner)
Kavvam (Buttermilk Churner) ~ To “Cool Those Summers”, from Yadbhavishya

Boondhi Maker
Boondhi Strainers and Makers ~ To Prepare Boondhi Laddu, from Foodnewbie

Thanks Vidyanath and Sudha for sending me these photos for Indian Kitchen series.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Chana Dal,Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Chickpeas-Black,Indian Ingredients,Indian Kitchen,Indian Utensils (Sunday July 23, 2006 at 3:08 pm- permalink)
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Bottle Gourd in Sesame (Sorakaya-Nuvvula Kura)

Few months ago, I wrote about my mother’s recipe of bottle gourd. It is a standard, no fuss kind of recipe with minimum ingredients. I like the taste of that curry and played around with the recipe little bit and came up with this one. It is also a simple no-nonsense recipe and supplies carbos (bottle gourd), protein (black chana) and fat (sesame seeds). I love the taste and also the ease with which it can be prepared.

Bottle gourd Pieces (Sorakaya, Lauki)
Bottle Gourd (Sorakaya, Dudhi) – Peeled, Cut into Cubes

Recipe:

Prep Work:
One cup of black chickpeas (kala chana) soaked in water overnight.
Half of medium-sized bottle gourd (sora kaya, dudhi), peeled and cut into half-inch pieces (about 2 cups)

Cook:
Heat a teaspoon of peanut oil. Toast a teaspoon of cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves (for tadka).
Add the bottle gourd pieces and soaked kala chana. Saut? for few minutes on medium heat. Add about a cup of water and close the lid and cook.

SesameDalia paste:
Meanwhile prepare the curry thickener. Grind in a blender:
3 tablespoons of each – sesame seeds and dalia
½ tablespoon of each – tamarind juice and powdered jaggery
1 teaspoon of each – coriander seeds (dhania), cumin and red chilli powder
½ teaspoon of salt or to taste
Grind them to smooth paste by adding about one cup of water.

Simmer:
Add the sesame-dalia paste to the curry. Stir in half teaspoon of turmeric. Mix and on medium heat, simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the curry reaches the consistency you desire.
Tastes great with chapatis/naans and with sorghum rotis.

Bottle gourd curry with chapatis
Bottle gourd curry with chapatis

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Jaggery,Sesame Seeds,Sorakaya(Dudhi,Lauki) (Tuesday July 18, 2006 at 7:21 pm- permalink)
Comments (15)

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Coconut Chutney (Kobbari Pacchadi)

Coconut chutney is an example of how good a raw food can taste when prepared with right ingredients. Whoever came up with this recipe, my salute to them! People remember and replicate a good recipe; no wonder, this age old recipe continues to be popular and beloved by all who tried it.

Breakfast is not a proper breakfast without coconut chutney in Southern states of India (Andhra, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala). Perfect blend of different flavors and the ease with which it can be made – coconut chutney is a great example of traditional, health conscious South Indian food and a showcase recipe for raw cuisine. See the photo below, if you find coconut chutney looking similar in an Indian restaurant along with your dosas, idlies, that’s a sure sign that you are getting a proper south Indian food.

Fresh Coconut, Cilantro, Red onion, Ginger, Dalia(pappulu) and green chillies

Recipe:

1 cup of thinly sliced fresh coconut
¼ cup of pappulu(dalia, roasted chickpeas)
6 Indian small green chillies, chopped
1 tiny red onion or shallot, sliced into chunks
6 sprigs of fresh cilantro and 1/2 inch of ginger
½ tablespoon of tamarind extract
¼ tsp of salt
for popu or tadka
1 tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, fresh curry leaves and few pieces of dried red chilli.
extras(optional)
1 tablespoon of yogurt and one lime

Tadka/popu is done and ready to add to the coconut chutney Final step- adding the tadka/popu to coconut chutney

Preparation:
Preparation means grinding. Taste of coconut chutney varies with grinding method. Believe it or not, different grinding tools give different taste. The best taste comes out of using a stone mortar. Closest is the machine, which grinds with a stone. Last is the food processor or the blender etc., The taste is inversely proportionate to how easily you can grind it.

In a mortar or blender, combine all the ingredients (coconut, pappulu, onion, green chillies, cilantro, ginger, tamarind extract and salt). Add half to one cup of water and grind them until the ingredients are pureed. Transfer the mixture to a cup.

In a small pan, add half teaspoon of peanut oil, add the popu ingredients, sauté them until they start to splutter. Remove the pan from heat and add this popu to the pureed coconut mixture in the cup. Stir in little bit of yogurt now (our family variation). The chutney is ready. Just before serving, squeeze few drops of limejuice.

Traditionally coconut chutney is served with dosa, idly, vada, upma, utappam, pesarattu and pongal, as a part of morning breakfast.

Coconut chutney with popu/tadka just added
Coconut Chutney ~ South Indian Style

Note to reader: I use, tiny red onion or shallot (Indian onion, small baby onion) for this chutney. Either one is preferable than white/yellow onions (US). Red onion/shallots are less harsh in flavor when raw and don’t overpower the chutney with their bitterness.

Recipe source: Family- Amma & Attamma(mother and mil)
For several variations of this recipe, read the comments.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Amma & Authentic Andhra,Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Coconut (Fresh) (Thursday February 16, 2006 at 8:13 pm- permalink)
Comments (54)

The New Home of Mahanandi: www.themahanandi.org

Red, Yellow and Green – Bell Pepper Curry

Eye catching and good looking, the 3 bell pepper curry is a flavorful, quick side dish to make.

1.Take one each of red, yellow and green bell peppers, cut each one into half. Remove the seeds inside and slice them thin lengthwise.

2.Heat one teaspoon of peanut oil in a wide pan. Toast pinch of each mustard seeds, cumin, minced garlic (popu).

3.Add and cook bell peppers, covered for about 5 minutes on medium-low.

4.Remove the lid; add pinch of turmeric, a tablespoon of spicy dalia powder (pappula podi) and salt to taste. Cook/saute them for another 5 minutes openly, on high heat, stirring often.

Serve hot with rice and dal or with chapatis.

Celebrating Steelers Superbowl Sunday with 3 Bell pepper curry.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Bell Pepper,Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia) (Friday February 3, 2006 at 2:29 pm- permalink)
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Bottle Gourd Curry (Dudhi/Sorakaya Kura)

Bottle Gourd, Sorakaya, Dudhi, Lauki and Lau

I remember the mock fights with my sisters using this lengthy, stout vegetable, when we were children. This vegetable was our makeshift club in our funny fights. There are other stories that I still could remember to this day related to this vegetable. My mother used to plant this vegetable every year in our backyard and the crop was surplus to our family… in those days I dreamt of making a lot of money by selling surplus produce, which never materialized. After some time we were tired of eating this vegetable and I tried to convince my mother not to plant this vegetable in vain. One year we had a crop of more than 200 of these and needless to say, if you were our neighbor during that time, you would have received some of these from us for free, you might have begged us not to sent any more too.:)

Sorakaya in Telugu and bottle gourd, lauki, dudhi or lau in different Indian languages, here is one of my mother’s recipe with bottle gourd. Not a lot of ingredients, very simple and basic – tastes good only with chapatis and jowar roti.

bottle gourd cubes, Dalia (roasted chana dal), red chilli powder, turmeric and jaggery

Recipe:

Bottle gourd – medium sized – outer skin peeled, then cut into cubes.
1 cup of dalia(pappulu, pottu kadalai) – finely powdered
Dalia or Pappulu is a type of dal made by roasting the chana dal or bengal gram
1 teaspoon of red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon each of salt and turmeric
Jaggery, one tablespoon or to your liking

Heat one teaspoon of peanut oil in a big saucepan, toast mustard seeds, cumin and curry leaves. Add the bottle gourd cubes. Cover and cook them in their own moisture. When they are little bit softened, add the finely powdered dalia (pappulu), red chilli powder, salt, turmeric and jaggery. Add half glass of water and mix them all thoroughly, without any lumps. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce thickens and bottle gourd pieces turn soft.

Serve hot with chapatis or with jowar(Sorghum) roti.

Bottle gourd curry (Sora kaya Kura) and chapatis
Bottle gourd curry and chapatis

After two days of silence in our kitchen (because of newyear celebrations at friends house), Vijay and I prepared this simple meal today.

Recipe source: Amma
Note to the reader: The sauce to this curry is mainly made of dalia powder. If you think, there is not enough sauce, powder some more dalia and add it to the curry and adjust the seasoning like salt and jaggery to your taste.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Amma & Authentic Andhra,Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Sorakaya(Dudhi,Lauki) (Monday January 2, 2006 at 9:39 pm- permalink)
Comments (52)

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Hot Stuffed Cherry Peppers

It’s been a while since I bought cherry peppers. I believe it was in Houston about 4 years ago. Last weekend I found them again at a price I like to pay, here in Ohio at a nearby grocery shop called Rulli Brothers. This local Italian grocery shop is old, located in a 60 to 70 year old building. I gathered from reading the local newspaper Vindicator that because of some family financial problems, the brothers closed this shop for several years and recently reopened it for business. I think this also contributed to the whole dilapidated look and feel of the shop.

At first being new to this area, not knowing the history, we were hesitant to try this shop. After a while we came to know that they sell mainly local produce and meat. After seeing how busy the parking lot always was, one fine day, we braved, liked what we saw, now regularly shop at this local grocery. Every week, I would find something interesting to buy at an affordable rate and last weekend I eyed cherry peppers and other varieties of peppers priced at 50 cents per pound. Needless to say I came home as a happy person with lots of peppers.

Cherry Peppers

First I wanted to stuff them with potato filling and dip them in besan batter and deep-fry them in oil like egg pakora. But these past few days it has been very hot here with temperatures touching almost 90° F. The idea of oily food didn’t appeal to me. So I prepared stuffed, roasted cherry peppers.

Recipe:

Ingredients for stuffing
1 cup of roasted chana dal
Half cup of cut dry coconut pieces
Small marble sized tamarind
4 red chillies
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1/4 tsp of salt

Powder them all together in a Sumeet mixie jar or in a food processor. This is your filling.

Roasted Chana dal,  Dry Coconut Pieces, Tamarind, Red Chilli, Cumin Seeds Powder of Coconut, redchilli, tamarind, cumin, salt and roasted chana dal

Stuffed Cherry Peppers Stuffed Cherry Peppers after 30 minutes of cooking

Preparation:

Wash the cherry peppers and dry them with a towel. Cut the top off and remove the seeds from inside of each pepper. Fill the well in each pepper to the top with the roasted chanadal-coconut powder prepared earlier.

In an iron skillet, take about one tablespoon of oil, when it is hot, gently place the stuffed peppers. Leave space around them so that they will cook evenly. Reduce the heat to medium low and cover the skillet with a lid and leave them like that undisturbed for about 30 to 40 minutes. By the end of cooking, the bottoms will be brown, and the sides and top are cooked in their own moisture.

Even though they are feared as hot ones, they are surprisingly mild and sweet cooked in this way and also because of the filling. No upset stomachs with this recipe, I can guarantee you that.

Roasted Cherry Pepper stuffed with Chana Dal Powder, on the background Spinach dal  & Rice
Stuffed cherry peppers with spinach dal and rice.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Green Chillies (Wednesday September 14, 2005 at 9:13 am- permalink)
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Pappula Podi (Putnala/Bhuna Chana Powder) (Spicy Roasted Chickpea Powder)

Roasted Chickpeas, Pappulu, Putnala Pappulu, Dalia - 4 pounds for $4.99, purchased at Subji Mandi, NJ

Pappulu, Putnala pappulu or Dalia are prepared from chickpeas. Not the regular, white chickpeas but from a special variety of chickpeas specific to India and commonly sold under the name “Kala Chana or Black Chickpeas”.

The preparation of pappulu (dalia) is a fascinating process. First, the black chickpeas get soaked in water for several hours, and then after draining, chickpeas are roasted in big caldrons under controlled low fire for several hours. Until the chickpeas turn to crisp. Once the roasting process is completed, the hulls of chickpeas will be removed and each chickpea will be split into two equal pieces. This whole soaking-roasting process intensifies the chickpea flavor, and also changes them to light yellow, mildly sweet pappulu or Dalia. This process is done in special places called Bhattis. Almost every town in Andhra Pradesh would have a bhatti. People go there to buy the freshly prepared pappulu and also the puffed rice There were couple of bhattis near our home in Nandyala and we were used to buy them fresh and hot from those places.

Among all the lentil types available in an Indian store, pappulu are the only one which you can just open the packet and pop them into mouth. As kids and even now, we love to eat them as they are or mixed with murmura. They are a snack item for us, like popcorn. If you are from South India, I assume you already know the pappula taste. For those of you who don’t, you must try them at least once. They are usually sold in Indian grocery shops under the label “Dalia” in lentil section. They are really great tasting, guilt free snack.

Pappulu, Dry Red chillies, Cumin, Salt and Dry Coconut

Pappula Podi is a famous Andhra preparation. In some parts of Andhra this is also called gunpowder. We add it to season the curries and also to prepare chutneys and to spread on dosas, idly, pongali and upma. Pappula Podi not only spices but also adds a mild sweetness to the preparation. This following recipe is from my mother’s and my most valued one. If you are used to besan (gram flour) preparations, try this one instead. You will be delighted, I promise.

Pappula Podi:

1 cup – Pappulu
6 to 8 – dried red chillies, Indian variety
2 tablespoons – grated coconut or dried coconut pieces
1 tablespoon – cumin
½ teaspoon – salt or to taste
4 garlic cloves (this is optional, even without garlic this powder tastes great.)

Take pappulu, chillies, coconut, cumin, garlic and salt in a clean and dry mixer jar or food processor. Grind to fine powder. This is a dry preparation and do not add water. Store the powder in a clean, dry, airtight container. This will stay fresh as long as it remains dry.

The following are the most common ways I enjoy the Pappula Podi:

1. Add a tablespoon of Podi to fistful of cooked rice. Add a teaspoon of ghee. Mix and make small rounds. Eat.

2. Add a tablespoon of Podi to cooked rice and dal (tomato or spinach etc). Add a teaspoon of ghee. Mix and eat.

3. Prepare dosas and spread the pappula Podi on the dosa for Masala Dosa. Yum!

4. Dunk and coat the Idly, Upma and pongal morsels in Pappula Podi, and eat. My new favorite is Pappula Podi and oatmeal upma combination.

5. I also add pappula Podi to vegetable curries. Cabbage, bell pepper, green beans and Indian variety broad beans (Chikkudu kaya), the sauté style curries with these vegetables taste great spiced with pappula Podi. I usually sprinkle one tablespoon of this powder before turning off the heat.)

6. Add roasted onion, garlic and few branches of fresh cilantro to Pappula Podi, along with about half glass of water. Grind to smooth to make an instant chutney.

Pappula Podi (Spicy Roasted Chickpea powder, Putnala pappula powder, Dalia Powder)
Pappula Podi

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Amma & Authentic Andhra,Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Dried Red Chillies (Thursday July 7, 2005 at 5:53 pm- permalink)
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The New Home of Mahanandi: www.themahanandi.org

Buggani (Puffed Rice Upma)

Puffed Rice, Borugulu, Murmura, Mamra, ArisiPoriBuggani, the name itself makes my mouth water. A simple and common dish, prepared with puffed rice or borugulu , it’s traditionally served as breakfast in our Rayalaseema region. My mother makes the best buggani in the whole world, so I follow my mothers recipe exactly to the last words.

In Nandyala, my hometown in India, we buy freshly made puffed rice from street vendors. Here in US, in Indian grocery shops, puffed rice is available in only one size i.e. 14 OZ packets. Usually I prepare Buggani with half of that (25o g) packet for us two.

Recipe:

Puffed rice
One big onion – finely chopped lengthwise
4 green chillies – made into paste
1 tsp each of salt and oil
Pinch of turmeric
Popu
1/2 tsp each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, few curry leaves and one red chilli
extras
1 tablespoon of roasted chickpea powder(putnala pappu podi)
1/4 cup of roasted peanuts
1 lime

Buggani needs hot, spiciness from green chillies. So don’t hesitate to add enough green chillies.

Onions, Green chilli paste, Turmeric, Curry leaves, Urad dal, mustard, cumin&redchilli, pappula podi, lemon and roasted peanuts

Preparation:

First, take a big pot, fill half of it with tap water and add puffed rice to the water. Because of lightweight, they will float. Using your hands push them under water for few seconds. Let them soak water. Exactly after 5 minutes, remove them from water by taking handfuls and firmly squeezing the water from them by pressing the hands together tightly. Remove them all from water in this way and put them in a colander.

Puffed Rice, Puffed Rice in Water, Removing Puffed rice from water with my hands

In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat one tsp of oil and do the popu (frying the mustard seeds, cumin, red chillies and curry leaves in oil). Add onions, sauté them until light brown, then add green chilli paste, sauté it till it turns from bright green to light green colour, don’t brown it. Finally add a pinch of turmeric and salt. Stir them all once and turn off the heat.

Add this hot onion mixture immediately to puffed rice along with roasted peanuts and roasted chickpea powder. Mix them all together and add salt if needed. That’s it. Serve them as soon as you prepare them.

Sautéing the ingredientsMixing all the ingredients with soaked puffed rice

Just before eating, squeeze few drops of lime. We usually serve this Buggani along with few pieces of finely chopped onions (washed in water beforehand), some more roasted peanuts, and a lemon wedge.

Buggani (puffed rice or murmura upma)  - On the side a lemon wedge, onions and roasted peanuts.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Chana Dal-Roasted (Dalia),Murmura (Borugulu) (Tuesday July 5, 2005 at 3:43 pm- permalink)
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