HANUMAN APPALU

Appalu-this is the main neivedyam recipe for Lord Hanuman. This sweet prasadam with crunchy outer layer and soft smooth inside tastes awesome. As a child I remember going to the temple near my house every Tuesday specially for this Prasadam. Some make these with rice flour and some use the wheat flour and some others combine both the flours. I remember the temple poojari’s wife near my house making them with wheat flour, I love the taste and I prefer using wheat flour. The appalu made with the rice flour tastes some what similar to arisalu, the one’s made with wheat flour tastes different but you cannot resist yourself form eating more. Well, the taste of the prasadam at temple is unbeatable, but I tried hard to get the exact taste. 

INGREDIENTS

• Wheat flour                     1 cup
• Rice flour                         2 Tsp
• Grated jaggery                 1 cup
• Water                               1/2 cup
• Elaichi powder                 1 tsp
• Ghee                                2 Tsp
• Oil                                    for deep frying

PROCEDURE
Combine the grated jaggery and water and keep the mixture on a stove. When the jaggery melts and just begins to boil add the ghee, cardamom. Switch off the flame and slowly add the flours. Mix well till you make a smooth soft mixture. The mixture should be tight and not watery. If required add more of the flour. You should be able to make a round ball with the mixture.
Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Grease your palms with oil/ghee and make a  round ball out of a small amount of mixture. Gently press the round on your palm to make a flat patty. Alternatively you can use a banana leaf or zip lock cover to make the appalu. Gently drop the appalu into the hot oil. Fry them on medium flame to deep brown color. Frying them on medium flame cooks them from inside. When the appalu are done gently press them between two ladles so that excess oil is removed (the same we as we do for arisalu or sojjappalu) and place them on a tissue paper. When the remaining oil is removed serve them.
TIPS

• Rice flour gives the appalu a crunch. Increase the quantity to get extra crunchy layer.
• Removing the extra oil is an important step.
• Do not overcrowd the pan as they tend to stick with one another and break.
• The flour jaggery mixture should not be too hard or too soft. If it is too hard the appalu will be hard and if is too soft they absorb more oil. You should have the right consistency and this is attained only by practice. 
• If you are not able to make soft appalu every time try adding 2 Tsp of grated coconut to the mixture and sure you will get softer appalu.      

METHI DHAL

Methi Dal

Pulses are rich in protein, carbohydrates and fibre. Toor dal, moong dal, urad dal, channa dal, kala chana, kabuli chana are some of the pulses used in Indian cooking. They form an important part in vegetarian cooking. Toor dal is extensively used in everyday cooking, especially  in South India. Combined with different kinds of vegetables toor dal is used to make different dishes.

Toor dal combined with green leafy vegetables form a very good main course with rice. Spinach, methi, Chinese spinach, Amaranths, are most commonly used to make dhal.

I made methi dhal which goes well with rice or roti.

INGREDIENTS

• Methi leaves          1 large bunch or 2 cups finely chopped
• Toor dal                 3/4 cup
• Onion                     1 medium
• Tomato                   1 medium
• Green chilies          1
• Redchillypowder     1 Tsp
• Sugar                      1 Tsp
• Salt                         to taste
• Tamarind  juice      3 Tsp( thick tamarind juice)

FOR TADKA

• Oil                          2 Tsp
• Chana dal               1/2 tsp
• Urad dal                 1/2tsp
• Mustard seeds       1/4 tsp
• Hing                       a pinch
• Garlic                      5-6(finely chopped)
• Curry leaves           5-6

PROCEDURECook the toor dal in a pressure cooker and mash it and set aside. In a pan add the oil and once it is heated add the tadka ingredients. When the dals turn to brown add the finely chopped onions. Fry for a minute and then add the finely chopped tomatoes. Fry for another minute and close the lid and let remain for a minute. When tomatoes and onions become soft add the methi leaves. Add the salt and sugar. Fry the methi till a nice aroma is felt. Although methi is bitter it gives a nice aroma when cooked. Close with the lid and fry intermittently. When the methi is cooked completely , to compensate the bitter taste add the tamarind juice and green chilies. Add half cup of water. When the water boils add the mashed dal. Stir till every thing incorporates well and finally add the chilly powder. See the consistency of the dal and adjust water to your taste.Serve hot with rice or roti.
TIPS

• Raw onion goes well with methi dal and rice, for that reason, with any leafy vegetable dal.
• Sugar is used so that methi does not change color.
• Some people cook every thing together in a pressure cooker, but the above procedure is the best way to bring out the flavors of methi.

AMARANTH STEW/THOTAKURA PULUSU

 
Including the leafy veggies in your daily foods increases the immune capacity. Green leafy veggies are low in calories, low in carbs, high in protein, high in iron, high in dietary fiber, high in calcium. A cupful of greens included in your diet gives all the vitamins and minerals needed for the body. Although it is difficult to eat the leafy veggies every day, right and tastier cooking make you crave for more and more.
To me spinach is the tastiest green leafy veggie. Amaranth aka thotakura stands in the second place. Any thing prepared with this turns to a tasty dish. Whether it is fry or dal or stew every thing is delicious and mouthwatering. The red amaranth is mostly used for making the stew. This tangy and sweet and hot stew made with Amaranth can be had with rice or roti.     
INGREDIENTS

• Amaranth leaves             3 cups finely chopped
• Onion                              1 large finely chopped
• Tomato                            1 large finely chopped
• Green chilies                    3 finely chopped
• Garlic                                4 cloves chopped
• Oil                                     3 Tsp
• Tamarind                          a small lemon size ball  
• Urad and chana dal           1 tsp each
• Mustard seeds                  1/2 tsp
• Jeera                                1/2 tsp
• Turmeric                            a pinch
• Salt                                    to taste
• Sugar                                 1 Tsp
• Red chilly powder              1 tsp

PROCEDURE
In a small bowl soak tamarind in warm water. Extract juice and keep it aside. In a pan heat oil and add the dals , mustard, jeera and the green chilies and garlic. When the dals turn golden brown add the onion and tomato pieces. Sautee them for two minutes and then add the amaranth leaves. Fry for two minutes and  add the salt, sugar, turmeric. Fry for another minute and then add the tamarind juice. Add a cup of water and cook on a slow flame for about 15 minutes. By now you will feel the nice aroma from the stew. Finally add the chilly powder and cook till the required consistency of the stew is reached. Serve hot with plain dal and rice along with ghee.       
TIPS

• The same procedure is used to prepare any other leafy vegetable stew.
• If you like the stew to be more sweet and tangy add more of tamarind and sugar.
• Raw onions go well with this stew.

HYDERABADI SAMOSA

The samosas available in Andhra especially Hyderabad are entirely different from the samosas available elsewhere. These small and  perfect triangle samosas are famously known as Irani samosas. These samosas are served with chai in every road side hotel and of course big restaurants . The stuffing in these is only onions and nothing else. They are so crispy and so tasty that you can have 10 at a time. I was searching every where to get the perfect recipe for these mini delicacies and finally I found it in vahrehvah.com. I followed the same procedure and attained the perfect Hyderabadi style Irani samosas.  The procedure is very simple, but you need to have practice in making these. Unlike the regular samosas which uses only maida, wheat flour and maida mixture is used to make these samosas.
INGREDIENTS

• Wheat flour                       1 cup
• Maida/All purpose flour     1 cup
• Salt                                    to taste
• Oil                                      2 Tsp
• Oil                                     for deep frying

for the stuffing

• Onions                     2 Large
• Poha                        4 Tsp
• Red chilly powder    1/2 Tsp
• Salt                           to taste
• Jeera powder           1/2 tsp

PROCEDURE
In a large bowl add the flours, salt and 2 Tsp of oil. Mix well and now add water and form a soft yet firm dough. Rest the dough for 1/2 an hour.
Now roll a very thin chapathi out of a small portion of the dough.
Heat a tava and put the chapathi on it. Fry for 20 seconds on each side and remove into a plate. Do not over cook. Do not use oil and the chapathi should remain white.

Now cool the chapathi and cut it into rectangular pieces as shown.     

Chop the onions finely. Add the poha, salt, chilly powder and jeera. Do not rest the stuffing. The poha used absorbs the water oozed out by the raw onions while frying.
Make a paste out of a table spoon of maida and water.
Take each rectangular sheet and apply the paste on one edge.

Now fold the rectangle into a triangle pocket along the pasted edge.

Now place a table spoon of the stuffing inside the samosa as shown.

Apply some maida paste on the open edge, fold into a triangle and seal the edges tight. Make all the samosas.

Now heat the oil and deep fry the samosas on a medium flame till golden brown. Enjoy these with a cup of Tea.
TIPS

• Here I gave the traditional way of making the samosas. You can add any kind of finely chopped veggies to the stuffing.
• Carrot halwa or kalakand or kova can be used as stuffing to make sweet samosas.
• Applying maida paste to seal the edges is an important step.
• Traditionally these samosas are very small, you can also make larger ones.

RAGADA PATTICE

Ragada pattice, ragada samosa, ragada puri, ragada chaat………. The list goes on and on. Any thing served with ragada tastes awesome. This is one of the famous recipe in  the chaat world. The word chaat comes from the word chaatna…….finger licking. The tantalizing flavored recipes available at the chaatwalas are so delicious that you cannot stop licking your fingers  after finishing the dish. Now coming to our ragada pattice recipe, this is one of the recipe which has a bit of elaborate procedure of all the chaat recipes. The taste of it will be so tempting that you will not mind eating it every day. Basically I am a big fan of samosa ragada. A bowlful of ragada with two samosas will be a stomach filling menu for a happy evening. Well, coming to our ragada pattice, small mashed potato-patties are combined with a flavorful ragada to give  a best tasting chaat dish. This recipe is also called as Aloo tikki chaat.
INGREDIENTS

• Potatoes                       2
• Carrots                          1
• Bread crumbs                 3 Tsp
• Onions                          1 large chopped
• Tomatoes                     2 chopped
• Coriander                      3Tsp chopped
• Chana                            1 cup
• Green chilies                  2 chopped
• Red chilly powder          1 tsp
• Turmeric                        1/2 tsp
• Chaat masala                  1 tsp
• Salt                                to taste
• Sugar                             1 tsp
• Coriander powder         1/2 tsp
• Jeera powder                1/2 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste         1/2 tsp
• Sweet chutney              2 Tsp
• Green chutney              1 Tsp
• Pomegranate seeds      for garnish
• Oil                                4 Tsp    

PROCEDURE
Soak the kabuli chana for at least 6 hours. If you are making the chaat in the evening soak the chana in the morning. White peas or green peas can also be substituted for the kabuli chana.
For making the aloo tikki or patties, only potatoes are used, but I like to use carrots also. You can even skip carrots.
Cook the potatoes, carrots, garbanzo beans in a pressure cooker.
For the aloo tikki
Mash the boiled and peeled potatoes and carrot. Add enough salt, Chopped green chilies, bread crumbs, a Tsp of chopped coriander leaves. Mix them well. Now make small thick patties out of the mix. Shallow fry the aloo tikki  with 2 Tsp of oil on a medium flame till they are crisp on the outside.
For making the ragada
Take a pan and heat 2 Tsp of oil and add the ginger garlic paste. Now add finely chopped onion pieces. When the onions turn brown add the finely chopped tomatoes, green chilies. Cook for about 2 minutes till the tomatoes turn soft and mushy. Now add the boiled chana. Mash half of the chana. Cook for two minutes. Now add the dry spices one by one. Turmeric, red chilly powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, chaat masala, sugar, salt. Add half cup of water and cook on a slow flame for 10 minutes with lid covered. Now the ragada is ready.
Arranging the Ragada pattice
Place two patties on a serving plate. Pour the ragada over the pattice. Now sprinkle a table spoon of finely chopped onions, tomatoes, chopped cilantro. Top it with sweet chutney and green chutney. Add a pinch of chaat masala and a spoonful of pomegranate seeds as a garnish.  Serve hot.

ALOO PAPDI CHAAT

As any other chaat item this is also very easy to make and delicious to eat. The crisp mouth melting papdi (also called papri) pieces are combined with finely cut veggies, chaat chutneys and served with a dash of salt, pepper and chaat masala on the top. Papdi is like the thick crisp puri. Maida is combined with jeera and salt and made into a very stiff dough. Now the dough is rolled into small thick puries and deep fried. Well I will come with the papdi recipe in my coming posts. Here I have used the store bought papdi. Some chaatwalas break the papdi into small pieces and combine the pieces with veggies, while some others serve the whole papdies topped with veggies and chutneys. You can choose any way you like. 
INGREDIENTS

• Papdi or Papri               15(small) or

                                               10(Large)

• Boiled potato                1 large
• Onion                            1 medium
• Tomato                          1 medium
• Coriander                      4 sprigs
• Sweet chutney              2 Tsp
• Green chutney              2 Tsp
• Salt                                to taste
• Red chilly powder          1/4 tsp(optional)
• Chaat masala                 1/4 tsp

PROCEDURE
If the papdi used are large then crumble them into small pieces, and if they are small and round you can use them as it is.
Boil the potato and cube it into small pieces.
Finely chop the onion, tomato, coriander.
In a large bowl add the papdi, chopped onions, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet chutney, green chutney, salt, red chilly powder and chaat masala. Mix well and serve immediately.
Alternatively if the papdi’s are small, arrange then in a tray, top them with the veggies, chutneys, salt, chilly powder and chaat masala.
A spoonful of thick beaten curd can also be used if you like.  

GOBI 65

Gobi 65 is somewhat similar to gobi manchuria. While Gobi Manchurian is an adapted Chinese dish, Gobi-65 is purely an South Indian dish and tastes very yummy. This is very simple and can be had as an appetizer, snack or as a side dish for roti, naan. Many of you might have come across the Chicken 65 recipe, and gobi 65 is the vegetarian twist for chicken 65. There are many stories related to this number 65. What ever may be the story, the dish tastes very awesome.
INGREDIENTS

• Cauliflower florets                 2 cups
• Besan                                     2 Tsp
• Maida                                     1 Tsp
• Rice flour                               2 Tsp
• Ginger garlic paste                 1 Tsp
• Salt                                        to taste
• Red chilly powder                  1 Tsp
• Garam masala                         1/2 tsp
• Curd                                       3 Tsp
• Lemon juice                           1 tsp(optional)
• Green chilies                          1 finely chopped
• Red food color                        a pinch(optional)
• Julienned veggies                   1/2 cup(onions, carrots, capsicum)
• Chopped coriander                  2 Tsp
• Curd                                        1/4 cup
• Oil                                            for deep frying

PROCEDURE
In a large bowl add the flours, salt, green chilly pieces, red chilly powder, garam masala, curd, lemon juice, food color, ginger garlic paste. Mix well and add enough water to make a batter same as the bajji batter. Now add the cauliflower florets and marinate for 15 minutes.
Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the marinated gobi florets. Do not over crowd the oil. Fry the gobi in small batches. Fry the gobi till crisp and brown. Now remove it into a dish.
Heat a table spoon of oil add  the julienned veggies, green chilies and chopped coriander. Add the well beaten curds.  Add the fried gobi , toss well and serve.
TIPS

• Egg can be used instead of water if you eat eggs.  
• You can add tomato sauce or soy sauce in the marinade to enhance the taste. 

LOW FAT DOUBLE KA MEETHA

Double ka Meetha is yet another Hyderabadi delicacy. Bread is deep fried in ghee, dipped in sugar syrup and then topped with rabdi and dry fruits. The sweetness of the  this dessert is from the sugar syrup and the rabdi, hence the name double ka meetha …………..twice the sweetness. On the other hand bread is known as double roti, so the name double ka meetha…………….sweet made of double roti. What ever may be the story behind the name,  this rich delicious flavorful and lavish Nizami dessert  is loved by every one.
Traditionally the bread pieces are deep fried in ghee, dipped in thick sugar syrup and then thick saffron and cardamom  rabdi is pored on the bread slices. Then the dish is topped with ghee fried dry fruits. Having this once a while is ok, but if you want to eat this any time you like then try my low fat Double Ka Meetha recipe. The taste of this dish is also awesome and moreover health friendly.
INGREDIENTS

• Bread                     6 slices
• Sugar                      1 cup
• Water                     3/4 cup
• Dry fruits                1/4 cup
• Low fat Milk            2 cups
• Sugar                       4 Tsp
• Ghee                       3 Tsp
• Custard powder      1 Tsp

PROCEDURE
Heat the milk in a thick bottom pan and let it come to a boil.  Mix the custard powder in cold milk and add this to the boiling milk. Add  4 Tsp of sugar. When the milk becomes thick switch off the flame, cool the milk and chill the milk in refrigerator . 
A day old bread works well for this recipe. For the traditional recipe also old bread is good, as it absorbs less of ghee. Well coming to our recipe, smear some ghee on a tava and fry the bread on both the sides lightly. Fry all the pieces in the same way. You can discard the edges if you like. Now place the breads on a oven plate. Set the oven to broil mode at 300 degree Fahrenheit. Now place the plate on the middle rack of the oven. Now wait for just 45 seconds. You find the top of the bread turning dark brown and crisp. Now flip the other side of the bread pieces and again place them inside the oven. Again wait for another 45 seconds and your bread is now ready.
NOTE: Temperature of each oven vary, so be careful while the bread is in oven. It gets burnt up very easily, so open the oven for every 15 seconds and check the bread.
Cool the bread and by now the bread would become very crisp. When you break the slices you should hear the sound. Cut the slices into 4 pieces each and set them aside.
Make sugar syrup with one cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water. The syrup should attain one thread consistency.
Now dip each piece of the bread inside the sugar syrup and the place them on the serving tray. Now fry the dry fruits in a Tsp of ghee and sprinkle them on the sugar dipped bread pieces. Now pour the refrigerated milk on the pieces. Serve immediately. Some like the bread to be little crisp and some want the bread to absorb the milk. Serve according to the taste of your family members.
TIPS

• Mix the dry fruits in the milk and serve the milk in a small cup with the sugar dipped bread in a separate plate.
• If you don’t like the custard flavor take one cup of milk and one cup of condensed milk and boil them. When the mixture becomes thick you can use this. Cardamom powder and saffron can also be added for an added flavor and taste.
• If you do not have an  oven roast the bread on the tava on a medium heat till you attain the crisp brown texture.
• Vanilla flavored custard powder tastes awesome, You can even try the other flavors.