Bottle Gourd Halwa

Ingredients:

Grated bottle gourd-2 cups
Sugar-1 cup
Milk-2 cups
Ghee-2 tablespoons
Cashew nuts-4-6
Crushed aardomam-a pinch
Raisins-a few (optional)

Method:

1. Heat one tablespoon of ghee in a pan and fry the cashew nuts on a medium flame until they turn brown in colour.
2. Keep them aside and add the grated bottle gourd in the same pan.
3. Fry it until the raw smell goes and add the sugar and milk. Cook it for 7-8 minutes on a medium flame.
4. When the halwa becomes thick, add the remaining ghee and crushed cardamom.
5. Turn off the stove and serve it hot or chilled.



Note: We can replace the grated bottle gourd with grated carrot, pumpkin or beet root.

Sorappalu

In Telugu, we call Bottle Gourd Sorakaya. The announcement for the event

'Vegetable of the Week-Bottle Gourd',

reminded me Sorappalu. It is a very good evening snack.

This is my submission for the event-Vegetable of the Week-Bottle Gourd hosted by http://creativepooja.blogspot.com/


Ingredients:

Rice flour – 3 cups
Grated bottle gourd– 3 cups
Grated ginger – 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
Sesame seeds-1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder-1 teaspoon
Curry leaves – a few chopped

Hot oil-2 tablespoons
Salt-1 tablespoon

Oil for deep fry

Method:

1. Mix all the above ingredients into a big bowl and make dough by adding two tablespoons of hot oil.
2. The grated bottle gourd itself is watery, so there is no need to add water to make the dough. Divide the dough into small balls.
3. Take a greased plastic cover and flatten the balls by patting them with your fore fingers.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium flame and fry them in batches.
5. Serve them hot. Hmmm...spicy...crispy...tasty...:)

Pachi Pulusu

Ingredients:

Chopped green chilli-1
Chopped onion-1
Tamarind pulp-2 tablespoons
Sugar-1teaspoon (optional)
Garlic cloves-2
Dry red chillies-4
Curry leaves-few
Seasoning ingredients-1/4 teaspoon (mustard seeds, ¼ teaspoon of cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon of urad dal, ¼ teaspoon of chenna dal
Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
Salt-1 tablespoon
Warter-4 cups
Oil-1 tablespoon

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a vessel on a low flame and add dry chilli pieces, crushed garlic and seasoning ingredients.
2. Let them splutter and add curry leaves. Crush them with the ladle carefully and add water and tamarind pulp.
3. Add salt, sugar and turmeric powder and boil for two minutes on a medium flame.
4. Now add the chopped onions and green chillies and turn off the stove.
5. Serve with hot rice, kandi pachadi or mudda pappu.

Note: If you want to get crunchy onion pieces, don’t boil the pachi pulusu after adding the onions.

Poornalu and an Award

Happy Father’s Day!

Hi Friends! It’s been quite a while since I have posted. I went to a beach resort in Bintan (Indonesia) with my family. A few pictures from Bintan…

Prajusha of http://icookipost.virtualgrub.com/
has passed me an award. Thank you Prajusha!

I want to pass this award to:
Menu Today of http://menutoday.blogspot.com/
Pooja of http://creativepooja.blogspot.com/
Sagari of http://indianhomefood.blogspot.com/
Jaya of http://spiceandcurry.blogspot.com/

Poornalu

We make poornalu for festivals like Vara Lakshmi Vratham and Vinayaka Chavithi. We use chana dal but I have used moong dal for a change. They came out very well…

Ingredients:

For the poornam to dip in the batter:
Splitted green grams without sking (yellow moong dal)-2 cups
Grated jaggery-1 cup
Cardamom-5

For the batter:
Soak 2 cups of rice and I cup of urad dal for four hours and grind it with ¼ teaspoon of salt into a smooth batter (like dosa batter). No need to ferment the batter.
Or
Take 2 cups of all purpose flour or maida, salt and a pinch of baking powder (optional) in a bowl and make a smooth batter using sufficient water.
Oil-for deep fry

Method:

1. Cook the moong dal for 5-8 minutes on a medium flame with sufficient water.
2. Let it cool and grind it into a coarse paste by adding cardamom and jaggery. Do not add water while grinding.
3. Make the paste into small balls and keep them aside. Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium flame and dip the balls in the batter.
4. Leave them gently in the oil and fry them until they turn golden brown in colour.
5. Take them out from the oil and drain them on a paper napkin. Serve them on a plate.