ಕರಿದ ಅವರೆಕಾಳು/Deepfried Surtipapdi with Chivda/ Fried Avarekaalu

Updated on Feb 10, 2015.

Just wanted to update this post with new pictures. It's good to eat seasonal vegetables. Sankranti is a time for peanuts, fresh chickpeas (kadalekaalu), avarekaalu etc. I fried avarekaalu after 4-5 years. We don't get good avarekaalu in Singapore and when we chance upon it, they may be expensive. This season we were lucky to have good supply for fresh mochai in Singapore. One of the batches was fried and it vanished in less than a week's time, as expected!

A very simple procedure and ingredients list as below :


Avarekaalu - 250g
Avalakki / Poha - 1/2 cup
Peanuts- 1cup (2 fistfuls)
Cashewnuts - generous amount
Roasted chickpeas - 1/2 cup  (1 fistfuls)
Dessicated/grated dry coconut -2tbsp (for garnishing only, do not deepfry)
Dry red chillies - 3-4
Curry leaves - 1 tbsp of leaves
Oil for deep frying
Salt, turmeric, pepper powder, red chillipowder  and chaat masala according to your taste

Utensils : Deep frying pan, Mesh laddle strainer (tootina jaradi in kannada) - two types. One to immerse in the frying pan and fry beans and the other is to drain them from the pan.

Method :

Step 1:

Deskin Surti papdi or avarekaalu. Soak them in water for 2-3hours. Drain the water and de-skin them. Discard the skin and retain the bean. Spread the beans on a towel to dry.

Keep other ingredients in the list ready. Heat oil in deep frying pan. Immerse the laddle inside the hot oil. Fry beans in batches. When beans are fried, the froth around it is less and they become lighter and brown. Drain them on kitchen towel (tissue). See the picture below :

Fry cashew nuts, peanuts, roasted chickpeas, curry leaves, red chili in the oil and keep them aside.

Add all spices and mix well.

Garnish it with dry grated coconut if you have at home. I did not have it this time around so skipped it. You can see the old post below which has grated coconut on it. 

Serve it with Kapi/Coffee or Chai urmm...actually no need, they will vanish away in minutes after you mix and keep. Storing them from tempting hands is a huge task in itself. Dig your hands in the container and just enjoy!

ELLU BELLA ~Sesame Peanut and Jaggery Mix for Sankranthi

HAPPY SANKRANTI TO YOU ALL.

Close Up, when the ingredients are mixed...

The word 'Sankranti' is derived from sat and kranti, meaning "good movement". More information can be found on Wiki . This period of the year also has agricultural significance. It is the harvest time !! Sankranti is a time to distribute new year crops among your family, friends, and neighbours. We in Karnataka distribute ellu (sesame) , peanut and bella (jaggery) mixture along with sugarcane and banana or a fruit which is available during the season among our friends. As kids we just waited for amma to dress us up appropriately in silk skirts with some good jewelary and off we went streets after streets distributing ellu bella packets. I miss that time of my past now. I took my 5yr old with me in the evening to distribute ellu bella to few Indian neighbours. It was a good experiance to learn their way of celebrating Sankranti.

This is was the last cup of sesame mix which I saved for taking pictures. My son loved eating them and R relished it. Though it can be made at any time of the year, festive mood is an added bonus and excuse for eating more. Here is how we make this wonderful mix which can be served as a snack too :

Peanuts : 1cup (roasted and deskinned)

Dalia/roasted chanadal/pottukadalai/huridakadale : 1cup

Coconut scrapings/dessicated/coconut pieces (dried coconut only) :1 cup

White Sesame seeds : 1cup (fried till they are light brown and fragrant)

Jaggery : 1 cup (cut into pieces or powdered which ever is convinient)

Mix all of them and voila! your snack is ready to eat!! Store in a airtight container

Ellu Bella For Sankranti A festive treat for your loved ones Blog: www.tasteofmysore.com       Author: Lakshmi Grandhim Preparation time : 1hr                  Mixing Time : 5mins       Total Time Taken : 1hr               Makes : half a kilo or more

Ingredients: 200g : Peanuts 100g:  Hurgadle* 150g: Palm Sugar (Jaggery)   50g: Dry Coconut 100g: Sesame Seeds Method : 1.       Roast peanuts and de -skin them. 2.       Pick and clean hurgadle. 3.      Cut jaggery into small pieces. 4.      Cut dry coconut into small pieces too. 5.      Pick and clean sesame seeds too. Fry on low flame till they are fragrant.   6.      Sun dry jaggery pieces and coconut pieces. If weather is not suitable, you can leave it on a warm pan. Take care not to melt jaggery. 7.      Mix all these ingredients and your ellu bella is ready to eat. Notes: 1.       Hurgadle is also known as Pottukadale in tamil, putnala pappu in telugu.   2.       Once peanuts are fried, allow them to cool down. Roll a rolling pin over them. This way it is easy to de-skin peanuts.

 

Garlic and Curry Leaves Chutney Powder

Think of Spice ..event has given a favorite spice of mine to think for this month. I love garlic, and I would add it to as many dishes as I can as long as garlic suits to the dish perfectly. One among them is chutney powder or Chutney Podi.



Ingrediants :

Roasted Chanadal/Huridakadalae/Pottukadalai - 1cup
Grated dry coconut -1/2cup
Red Chillies - 10 (adjust according to your taste)
Tamarind - 1/2tbsp
Curry Leaves (dried/roasted) - 20 leaves or 2 lines
Garlic Cloves- 3

Procedure :

1. Roast garlic, curry leaves, red chillies without oil on a pan
2. Leave tamarind on hot pan till it is warm. Remove any fibre or seed from tamarind or best is to use a seedless and cleaned tamarind.
3. Take garlic, curryleaves, tamarind, salt and red chillies in a blender. Blend them to a coarse mix. Remove it from the jar and keep it aside.
4. Take roasted chanadal and grated dry coconut in the same blender and blend till you get coarse mix. Mix both the powders well.
5. Blend the mixed powder in the blender to get a fine powder. I keep my final powder a bit coarse as I like it that way.
6. You can choose to tamper the Chutney powder (in such cases you may want to preserve the final powder in the refrigerator)
7.Enjoy this podi with hot rice, stuff it in to make stuffed podi parantha, sprinkle over dosas (esp masala dosa) , add it over idlis....many ways to relish it.

Tampering : Heat oil and add mustard seeds and once it stops popping, add hing and remove it from stove. This tampering can be mixed with chutney powder.

This goes to Sunita for her Think of Spice Garlic event.

Sago Halwa

I wish you all bloggers a very happy and prosperous new year. Welcome 2008!!!

It was a long vacation that I took for myself from blogging. This is my first post for this year. Sago halwa is one of the easiest halwa to make and amma used to make this at home once in 15 days. We used to get treated to simple desserts on tuesday or friday which used to be her special prayer days. Vermicilli halwa, payasam, sooji halwa...are other desserts that she made on such occassions. Remembering those weekly celebrations fondly and seeking all the blessings was the way to start our new year. We watched Taare Zameen Par, a very good movie directed and acted by Amir Khan on New Year's day. It was a good start to new year.

Ingrediants :

Sago - 1 small cup

Sugar/Brown Sugar - 1/2cup or depending on your sweet levels (threshold??)

water-4 -6 cups (use same cup for sago and water)

Milk - 2-4tbsp

Ghee 2tbsp (optional)

Food Color-1pinch

Cashewnuts and grated dry coconut for garnishing

Procedure :

1. Fry sago on a hot pan. When u see sago poping up like popcorn, remove them from hot pan and add 2-3 cups of water and bring it to boil.

2. Keep stirring the mixture to prevent it from sticking to the vessel or use a nonstick vessel to cook. Add more water if required. Do not make it watery as you might end up with payasam and not halwa.

3. When sago is fully cooked, add color, sugar, and 1tbsp ghee and mix thorougly.

4. Bring this mix to boil. Add 1tbsp of milk and mix again.

5. The sago, sugar mixture at this time should be thick at this time and it no longer sticks to the vessel.

6. Grease a plate with teaspoon of ghee. Add the hot sago mix to the plate and spread it.

7. Fry cashewnuts in remaining teaspoon of ghee and garnish halwa with grated dry coconut and cashewnuts.

8. Allow the halwa to cool down before you cut them into pieces and serve. You can serve them at room temparature or chilled.