Kaayi Regi palla pachadi/Raw ber chutney

Regi pandu is called ber in hindi, elachi hannu in Kannada, ilanthai pazham in Tamil and Indian jujube or Indian plum/dates in English. A seasonal fruit hits the markets around mid October and is available until early march. We have already posted a chutney recipe with the ripe fruits: regi palla pachadi. We now use the semi-ripe fruit referred to as doraga unde regipandu in Telugu. Therefore, for this recipe, we need fruits that are not very raw and not too ripe. They have to be half-ripe, and these are mostly available during the months of November -December.

Ingredients:

Semi-ripe Indian Jujubes (Doraga unna regipandu) 250 gms

Red chillies 14

Green chillies 5

Cumin seeds (jeera/jeelakarra) 2 tsp

Black gram (Urad dal/uddipappu) 2 tsp

Refined cooking oil 4-5 tsp

Mustard seeds (rai/aavalu) 1 tsp

Bengal gram (chanadal/senagabedalu) 1 tsp

Curry leaves 4-5

A pinch of asafoetida

Salt to taste

Method:

Take the semi-ripe jujubes and de–seed them. Do not peel. In the process, they are cut to small pieces.

Dry roast 10 red chillies, 5 green chillies and a tsp each of cumin and black gram each separately in a drop of oil and set aside to cool. Once at room temperature grind them all to a fine powder.

Heat oil and fry the jujubes for around 10 minutes on low flame. When the fruits feel cooked, set aside to cool.

Add to the blender the fried jujubes, above ground masala and salt to taste. Blend to a fine paste.

Heat oil and add 4 red chillies and mustard seeds. As they pop, add a tsp each of Bengal gram, black gram and cumin. Add curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida.

Season over the jujube paste and mix well.

Kaayi regipalla pachadi is a great rice supplement and tastes well as a brown bread or Indian bread spread. Instant chutney, it shall stay good for a couple of days if refrigerated. Get going to the nearest store, pick the jujubes and enjoy fruity and spicy chutney.

Apple obbattu/Apple puran poli/Apple bobbatu

We wish you and your family a great and de’light’ful Diwali.

Beginning this Diwali, Thrillingtreats is available on Flickr and Youtube too.

Puran poli or obbattu, bobattu, hollige is a popular Indian sweet. We have given it an apple touch this Deepavali. Here’s how:

To watch how the apple obbattu is made please click here.

 

Preparation time: 45 mins to 1 hour

Ingredients:

Apples 2

Bengal gram (Chana dal/Senagabedalu) 1 cup

All purpose flour (maida) 11/2 cup

Ghee 1 tbsp

Refined cooking oil 1 cup

Method:

Add ghee to the flour and mix to dough with water as required. Take lumps and make balls, cover and set aside for an hour.

In the meanwhile, pressure-cook the Bengal gram to 5 whistles or boil until soft and mash-able.

Chop and blend the apples to a fine paste. The paste is a little syrupy, but not to worry.

For the filling, mash the Bengal gram well. Add the apple paste and mix well. Take small lumps, roll into balls or laddus, and set aside.

Take butter paper/wax paper/milk polythene/almond tree leaf/banana leaf or any other glossy polythene. Grease the polythene/leaf with oil and grease your hands as well.

Pat dough flat. Place the filling in the centre; pull the edges together to make a stuffed ball and pat/bail flat again like a parantha.

Fry on a pre-heated tava/pan. Flip to fry evenly on both sides. Repeat for more polis or obattus.

Apple obbattu is a sugarless/jaggery-less recipe. So how sweet the obattu will turnout depends totally on how sweet the apples used are. Also, It is advisable not to add cardamom or almond powder as it will kill the apple flavor in the obattu.

Ideally served with sweetened almond or saffron milk, apple puran poli or apple obattu will make this Diwali fruitlicious.

We once again wish all of you a dhamakedaar Diwali. Burst crackers, but keep in mind the environment and enjoyyy.

Coconut Dal/Kobbari pappu

Fresh coconut is a favorite of most South Indians. Neeharika in particular can have any number of them. She in fact visits temples only for the half piece of coconut or kobbari chippa as it is called in Telugu. Coconut dal is made more during festivals at home, thanks to the number of coconuts we break for the puja/vrath etc. and then keep wondering what to do with so much of coconut. Coconut dal is not just about coconuts but is also very good for digestion and highly nutritious.  

Preparation time: 25-30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Fresh and grated coconut (pachi kobbari) 1 cup
Pigeon peas (toor dal/kandipappu) 1 cup
Refined cooking oil 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds (rai/aavalu) 1 tsp
Cinnamon stick (dalchini/dalchinchakka) 1
Cumin seeds (jeera/jeelakarra) 2 tsp
Coriander seeds (dhania seeds/dhanialu) 1tsp
Pepper 2 tsp
Green chillies 2
Curry leaves 4-5
Pinch of asafoetida (hing/inguva)
Pinch of turmeric (haldi/pasupu)
Salt to taste
Fresh and chopped coriander for garnish

Method:

Finely grate the coconut and set aside. Finely chop coriander, green chillies.

Add turmeric and pressure-cook/boil the pigeon peas to 4 whistles or until cooked.

Dry roast and grind to a coarse or fine powder pepper, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick and cumin seeds.

Heat oil in a pan/kadai (bandli/mukudu) and add the mustard seeds, chopped green chillies, curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida.

Add the cooked pigeon peas, water (if required) and cook to a soft and well-mashed dal. Add the above ground coriander and pepper powder, salt to taste and chopped coriander. Mix and leave to cook for another couple of minutes.

Before serving add a full cup of grated coconut and mix well. Coconut dal complements both rice and any Indian bread. A must inclusion in the daily menus, especially because it is a good digestive containing the essential fats and proteins.