Rajma Guggillu or Red Kidney Bean Sundal

Rajma are rich in protiens and soluble fiber content and help to improve immunity system. Let's see how to make this healthy snack.. 

What you need:

Rajma or red kidney beans--1 cup

Water-4 cups
Mustard seeds-1/4 tsn
Cumin seeds-1/4 tsn
Urad dal-1 teaspoon
Hing-a pinch
Green chilli-1
Curry leaves-few
Salt-to taste

Oil-1 tablespoon

                                                                  

Preparation:

1. Wash and soak the rajma in sufficient water for ten hours or over night. 
2. Add four cups of water and salt and pressure cook rajma upto four whistles.
3. After fifteen minutes open the lid and drain the water. 
4. Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, cut green chilli, hing, and curry leaves and let them splutter for few seconds.. 
5. Add the cooked rajma and salt if required and saute for two minutes and turn off the stove. Transfer them into a serving bowl.          

Note: You can replace green chilli  with chilli powder. If you want you can also add two tablespoons of fresh grated coconut in the end..

Sunnundalu or Uraddal Laddoo

Sunnundalu is a popular and traditional dish of Andhra. Sunnundalu are nothing but laddoos made by mixing roasted and powdered urad dal, jaggery powder and ghee. These laddoos are simple to make and are very good for children as they contain protiens (in urad dal), iron (in jaggery) and fat (in ghee). Let's see how to make them...                                                        
                                                                 

What you need:

Skinless uraddal (skinless black gram)-2 cups

Powdered jaggery-1 and 1/4 a cup

Ghee-1/2 a cup 

                                 

                                     

How to make:

1.Dry roast the urad dal on a medium flame for five minutes by stirring in medium intervals. Lower the flame and fry for 3-4 minutes until it gives a nice aroma.

2. Once the dal gets light brown colour, turn off the stove. Allow it to cool and grind into a fine powder.

3. Transfer the flour into a wide bowl and add the hot ghee and powdered jaggery. Mix it well and make lemon sized balls.

4. Leave them for 10-15 minutes to settle down and store them in a dry container.

  Delicious and healthy sunnundalu are ready to eat now :)

Note: We can replace jaggery with sugar. Avoid roasting the dal on a high flame, the laddoos may give burnt smell and at the same time improper roasting of the dal gives stickiness to laddoos.

Ragi Murukulu or Ragi Janthikalu

Ragi or Finger Millet is the one of the most nutritious food and is rich in calcium, protein, iron and also minerals. It is an excellent baby food and considered as veg weightloss diet. It helps in increasing hemoglobin level in anemic people. In most recipes ragi is used in powder form. The state of Karnataka is the largest producer of ragi in India. It's good to incorporate ragi in the diets in one way or the other. we can make ragi porridge, ragi mudda, ragi rotti, ragi idiyappam, ragi laddoo, ragi murukulu..
I am going  to share the recipe of Ragi Murukulu with you :)

                                  

What you need:

Ragi flour-1 cup
Rice flour-2 cups
Butter-2 tablespoons,
Azwine-1 teaspoon,
Chilli powder-1 teaspoon,
Turmeric powder-a pinch (optional)
 Salt to taste,
Oil for deep fry

Preparation:
1. Mix all the above ingredients except oil in a wide bowl. Make a soft dough using sufficient water.
2.  Heat the oil in a kadai or wok on medium flame. Greese the murukulu mould with oil and fill it with the dough.
3. Press the dough in circular motion carefully in the oil. Fry it until it turns brown in colour. 
4. Flip it to the other side and fry it till it gets brown colour. Transfer it onto a paper towel and do the same with the remaining dough. 
5. Once the murukulu get cool, transfer them into an air tight container.

Note: You can also replace azwine with cumin seeds.

Atukula Upma or Methi Poha

Whenever I am  in a hurry to go out or want to have a light meal, I make this simple dish. Atukula Upma with fresh or dry menthi kura (fenugreek leaves). We can have it for breakfast or as a snack.

What you need:

Atukulu or flattened rice or rice flakes (thick)-2 cups
Fresh fenugreek leaves-1/2 a cup or 1 tablespoon dry methi
peanuts-1 tablespoon
Urad dal-1/2 teaspoon
Gram dal-1/2 teaspoon
Chopped green chilli-1
Mustard seeds-1/4 tsn
Cumin seeds-1/4 tsn
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Hing-a pinch (optional)
Dry chilli-2 broken
Salt-to taste

Oil-2 tablespoons

                                                                           

Preparation:

1. Wash the rice flakes with water, drain the water and keep them aside.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or pan and add the crushed dry chilli, peanuts, urad dal, gram dal, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and hing. Fry them for a minute on a low flame.
3. Now add the green chilli, fenugreek leaves and turmeric powder. Fry it for 1-2 minutes and add the rice flakes.
4. Add salt and mix it well. Fry it for two more minutes and turn off the stove.

     Transfer it onto a serving plate and serve it with curd. :)

Note: You can replace the peanuts with sesame seeds or cashew nuts. 

Green Apple Jam

An apple a day keeps the doctor away :) I bought green apples from the supermarket because I was attracted by their color. Sometimes green apples taste a bit sour and are inedible. I thought of making a jam with those apples.
I have previously posted my recipe for oven-made peach jam: http://dailymeals.blogspot.in/2007/10/peach-jam-biscuits.htm
Today is the seven year Anniversary of my blog :)
Now let me show you how I made the green apple jam :)

                                  

What you need:

Peeled and cubed green apples-2 cups

Sugar-1 1/2 cup

Lemon juice- 1 tablespoon

water- 1/4 cup

Cinnamon stick-1/2 an inch (optional)

Preparation:

1. Place the apple cubes in a microwave safe bowl and add 1/4 a cup of water.. Cook them in the oven for three minutes and then switch it off. Mix it well and add sugar to it. Cook the contents for three more minutes.
2. Now switch it off, mix it and give a two-minute break. Cook it again for three minutes in the oven and give another break. Mix it and add the cinnamon stick.
3. Cook again for three minutes. It took me 15-16 minutes to thicken the jam.
4. Take the bowl out and let it cool. Take out the cinnamon stick and add the lemon juice. Mix the jam properly and store it in a glass jar. 
5. Refrigerate the jam and use whenever you need it. Serve it to children with bread, chapathi or even dosa. Enjoy the homemade, healthy and yummy Green Apple Jam :)

Note: You can add one tablespoon of ghee or oil to prevent the jam from sticking to the bowl while cooking. And you can also blend the apple cubes and then cook the pulp with sugar. 

Idiyappam (authentic Kerala dish)

Happy Onam to all those who are celebrating it :)
Idiyappam is an authentic Kerala dish. We visited Kerala in December (2013). During the trip, I realized why Kerala is called "God's Own Country". It's a very beautiful place. It's filled with greenery, coconut trees and the aroma of spices. I came to know the meaning of 'Kerala' is coconut through a cab driver. Coconut has an important role in their cuisine. We had appam with stew and puttu with chick pea curry which tasted amazing. I was also very excited to see the mangrove forests.

                                                  Mangrove forest..

I tasted idiyappam with grated coconut and sugar. I gave this dish a try and wanted to share my recipe with you. The Idiyapams were delicious with coconut milk.

                               
                                   

Ingredients:

Idiyappam flour-2 cups

Warer-2 and 1/2 a cup

Ghee or oil-2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

                           

Method:

1. Heat the water in a vessel with salt and one tablespoon of ghee until you see bubbles. Turn off the stove and put the flour in a bowl.

2. Mix the flour with hot water until it turns into a soft dough. Now grease the steaming plates and murukku press with ghee.

3. Fill the bottom of the press with dough and press it onto the steaming plates using the top part of the press. Do this in a circular motion (similar to pressing murukku).

4. Steam them in an idliy maker for 10-12 minutes. Turn off the stove and open the lid after 2-3 minutes. Serve the steamed Idiyappams separately on a big plate.

Note: If you want, you can use fresh rice flour by soaking raw rice for  two hours and grinding it into a fine powder (after drying the rice for half an hour under a fan on a cloth). Sieve and dry roast the powder for two minutes on a low flame.

Coconut Milk with Sugar

Ingredients:

Fresh grated coconut-2 cups

Sugar-1 cup (as per your taste)

Water-2 cups

Cardamom powder-a pinch

Rice flour and coconut paste (mix 1 tablespoon of rice flour and 1 tablespoon of coconut extract with 2 tablespoons of water)

Ghee-1/2 tsn

                         

                                             

Method            

1. Grind the grated coconut with a cup of water and filter the thick coconut milk into a bowl. Keep it separately and add one more cup of water to the extract and grind it again. 

2. Filter the thin coconut milk into a bowl and heat it in a thick bottomed vessel on a low flame for a minute. Now add the rice flour, coconut paste and sugar to it and stir well.

3. Add the ghee and heat for a minute. Now add the thick coconut milk and cardamom powder. Heat for a minute and turn off the stove.

4. Transfer the sweetened coconut milk into a container and serve it with the idiyappam.

Pour the coconut milk on the Idiyappam and have it :) Simply delicious...

Note: It's important that the whole process of preparing coconut milk should be done on a low flame otherwise it will curdle. And you can also serve Idiyappam with vegetable stew or sambar or any others of your choice.

Kandi Guggillu or Red Gram Sundal

Last April I visited my grandma's place and brought back some red grams to make guggillu. We can also make kandi pachadi with these red grams.Here is a link to the recipe for kandi pachadi:
http://dailymeals.blogspot.in/2007/11/kandi-pachadi.html

What you need:

Kandulu (red grams)-1 cup
Water-3 cups
Mustard seeds-1/4 tsn
Cumin seeds-1/4 tsn
Hing-a pinch (optional)
Dry chilli-2 broken
Chilli powder-1/4 tsn
Curry leaves-a few
Salt-to taste

Oil-1 tablespoon

                                                                       Soaked red grams

Preparation:

1. Wash and soak the red grams in a lot of water for six hours. Add three cups of water and pressure cook them for four whistles.
2. After fifteen minutes, open the lid and drain the water. Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, broken red chilli, hing and curry leaves and let them splutter on a low flame. 
3. Add the cooked red grams, chilli powder and salt. Saute them for two minutes and turn off the stove. Transfer them into a serving bowl. 

           Spicy and healthy guggillu are ready to eat now. Have them in the evening during tea time. :)

Note: Guggillu can also be made with alasandalu (black eyed peas), pesalu (green gram) or sanagalu (chick peas).