Quick Urid Dal Guli Appa /Paddu

Guli appa/ Paddu/ Guntpongalu/ Kuli appa is one of the traditional dish done in South India. It can be spicy or sweet. There are varieties of Guli appa and each one has its own taste.

This time I have prepared Urid  Guli appa which can be done with out fermenting.
Urid guli appa is good to have for breakfast, as evening snack or it goes well with coffee/tea.
Urid dal is full of protein and vegetarian get good protein by using urid dal.

Let us see some benefits of eating Urid dal in our diet.
Urid dal is filled with proteins. It is good for digestion. It has a good source of anti-inflammatory properties. It is also good for nerves disorders. Urid dal helps to lower the cholesterol levels and boost our health. They are rich in minerals and vitamins. It has calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium copper, manganese etc. It is good for hypertension since it helps to balance sodium and potassium level in our body. It helps to balance the high blood pressure. Urid dal is good for strengthening our nervous system.
This Guli appa  batter can be used for preparing Urid bonda/Fried fritters/ Urid Vada.
No Onion OR No Garlic is used in thi sQuick Urid Dal Guli Appa /Paddu.
I love to prepare Guli Appa since it takes less oil and it is  healthy .
Let us see the recipe now :

Things Needed :

Urid whole : 1  Cup
Rice Powder : 1 Table Spoon
Curry leaves : Handful
Coriander leaves : 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Ginger : Grated : An inch
Green chilly : 2
Ingh /Asafoetida : A little
Salt : As required
Pepper Pods : 2 to 3
Cooking Oil : 3 to 4 Tablespoons

Method :

1. Wash and soak urid dal for 2 to 3 hours and grind it with required water. Add 2 to 3 pods of pepper while grinding.

2. Wash and cut green chilly , coriander leaves and curry leaves.
3. Wash and remove the outer layer of ginger and grate it. Keep it aside.
4. Now take a big bowl and add ground urid dal. Add rice flour, salt.

5. Add coriander leaves, curry leaves, cut chilly, ingh and grated ginger.
6. Mix all the ingredients nicely.

7. Keep a guli appa pan on the fire and heat. Sprinkle oil on the top.
8. Mix the ready batter nicely and put the batter to each Guli. (The down part).

9. Sprinkle oil on the top and cover. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes in low and medium flame.
10. Turn the other side and cook for a minute. Remove guli appa from the pan.

11. Serve  hot guli appa with little ghee and the choice of your side dish.

12. We had these yummy guli appa with coconut chutney.

Note :

No need to ferment this batter. It might turn too soft. You can add coconut pieces. I have not added.
You can add cut onions to the batter while mixing. It taste different. I have not added. It makes up good breakfast and snack. Adding more chilly is optional. No need to add any soda or eno . Adding rice flour turns guliappa crispy and tasty. You can also fry this  as bondas/fried fritters/ Uddina Vada.
Time : 30 Minutes to prepare  + 5 minutes to grind and soaking time 2 to 3 hours.
Serves :  2 to 3.

Channa Dal - Ridge Gourd Tovve/ Dal

Tovve /Dal is one of the must dish served in the beginning of the food. tovee is full of dals and is normally with very little spices.

Tovve is eaten with ghee and it provides minerals and vitamins.
I have prepared Heerekai/Ridge Gourd with channa dal/Kadale bele and it goes well with almost all the main dishes.
Tovve is filled with proteins, because we do use lots of dal while preparing it. Adding vegetables helps to digest the food we eat.
Different types of dals can be used for preparing Tovve. Moong dal, Toor dal, Masoor dal and even pulses like pea pods, cow pea, black eyed bean and whole moong  are used preparing tovee.
Let us see some benefits of eating channa dal in our diet.
Channa dal/split bengal gram is one of the nutritious dal . We indians use this channa dal for many dishes.It is filled with nutrition and minerals.
Channa dal is low in fat and it helps to lower the cholesterol. It is good for diabetes. It has minerals like zinc, folate and proteins. It helps to boost our energy and immunity. It is good good for weight loss. It is good for people who suffer from high blood pressure. It protects from digestive problems.
No Onion or No Garlic is used in this Channa Dal - Ridge Gourd Tovve/Dal.

Things Needed :

To Cook :
Channa Dal : 1/2 Cup
Ridge Gourd : 2 ( Medium sized )
Methi Seeds : 1/4 Teaspoon
To Add : 
Green chilly : 2
Curry leaves : 6 to 8
Coriander leaves : 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Lemon Extract : 1 Tablespoon
Ginger : An Inch
Salt : As required
Fresh grated coconut : 2 Tablespoons
To Season : 
Mustard Seeds : 1/2 Teaspoon
Jeera /Cumin Seeds : 1/2 Teaspoon
Ingh /Asafoetida : A little
Curry Leaves : 6 To 8
Oil/Ghee : 1 Teaspoon

Method :

1. Wash and cook channa dal with required water.

2. Wash and remove the edges and the outer layer of Ridge Gourd and cut it in to small pieces.
( Use the outer layer to prepare chutney) .

3. Cook ridge gourd pieces till they turn soft.
4. Wash and slit green chilly, cut coriander and curry leaves.. Extract lemon juice from lemon. (1 lemon).
6. Wash and remove the outer layer of ginger and wash it again. Grate it and keep it aside.
7. Keep a pan on the fire and heat. Add ghee/oil and put mustard seeds and jeera.
8. Let mustard seeds splutter. Add cut green chilly and curry leaves. Add ingh.
9. Add cooked dal and  ridghe gourd pieces. Add little turmeric powder. Add grated ginger.

10. Add required salt and water. Mix it well and let it cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add Lemon extract.

11. Shift " Channa dal - Ridge gourd Tovve to a serving dish.
12. Add little  grated coconut and coriander leaves. Serve with the main dish of your choice.

Note :

Channa dal must be cooked well. It is better to cook in pressure cooker. Do not allow it to over cook or it turns fully powdered grains.
Adding green chilly is your choice. You can use red byadagi chilly. Seasoning with ghee is optional. I have done with coconut oil and I top up the tovve with a tablespoon of homemade ghee.
Adding any other spice is your choice.
Time : 20 to 25 minutes.
Serves : 2 to  3 .

Spicy Brinjal Sasive.

Whenever  we travel to Udupi I make sure to buy some Mattu Gulla (Special type of brnjal of from a place called Mattu near Udupi). Mattu gulla taste different, tasty and soft. It does not take much time to cook either.

Sasive /Sasme..is a Kannada word, Sasive is  one of the side dish,
There are varieties of Sasive preparations one can do easily.  Preparing sasive is easy. We can cook vegetables and mix with mustard coconut mixture or you can cook vegetables and then add the ground spice (containing mustard seeds, coconut and little chilly).

Here is a recipe of " Brinjal Sasive ".  It is  done in just mixing the coconut - mustard seeds ground mixture to cooked brinjal.
This is one of the traditional dish of South Canara. My doddamma used to prepare this Brinjal Sasive very nicely. She used to cook brinjal on charcoal. Those days there were no gas stoves or gas supply to house. People had to cook with the help of wood which they get in their surroundings. We had lots of coconut , jack fruit trees, mango trees around our house. Doddamma used to use the dry sticks from the trees and coconut shells and other  things. It is a nice memory that I have.
 I have mentioned the speciality of this brinjal in my earlier post. Mattu Gulla is very famous and especially its grown in particular place called Mattu. The seeds of this Gulla is given to people by Yati. Vadhirajaru.
Any type of brinjal can be used. (Optional).
Sasive is one of the traditional dish of South Canara, Malenadu and Coastal areas.
Let us see the recipe Now :

Things Needed :

Brinjal/Badanekai/Gulla : 1 (Big one).
Green chilly : 2
Mustard seeds : 1/2 Teaspoon
Coconut : 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Salt : As required
Coriander leaves
Curd /Yogurt : 1 Cup
For Seasoning :
Mustard seeds : 1/2 Teaspoon
Urid dal : 1/2 Teaspoon
Coconut Oil : 1 Teaspoon
Ingh/ Asafoetida : A little

Method :

1. Wash and cut brinjal and soak in water for 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Remove from the water wash it again and cook with little water till it is soft.
3. Grate coconut and grind it with mustard seeds, green chilly.

4. Remove the ground paste and put it in a big bowl.
5. Now put cooked brinjal in a big bowl and smash it nicely.

6. Put  ground coconut mixture, required salt and mix it well.
7. Add a cup of thick curd and mix it. Shift the ready Brinjal Sasive to a serving dish.
8. Keep a small pan on the fire and heat. Add a teaspoon of coconut oil. Add mustard seeds and urid dal.

9. Let mustard seeds splutter. Add ingh and curry leaves. Put off the fire. Put this seasoning to Sasive.
 10. Add cut coriander leaves and serve ready sasive with rice/chapati etc.
Note :
Brinjal should be cooked well. You can cook brinjal on gas burner  (Optional). Adding more /less chilly is optional. Use of coconut oil is optional. You can also prepare varieties of Sasive using different vegetables.
Time : 15 Minutes
Serves : 2 to 3.

Huri Hittu Unde / Dry roasted Finger Millet Laddu.

Huri Hittu is Ragi flour, which is washed, dry roasted and powdered . I got this Ragi Huri hittu from my son Ravi , who buys organic packs of grains and used it for making healthy  Huri Hittu laddu/ladu/unde. One or two laddus are enough to make your tummy full and a good snack in the evening.

I do remember that, one of my friend's mother used to prepare this Huri Hittu laddu and give it to her kids after they return from school. They used to eat this laddu and come back to play with us in school compound. Those were the really golden days. We had school from 10 to 1 and break for 1 hour and then it starts again from 2 to 5. Then we used to play for an hour and then get back home.
Coming back to these Huri Hittu Unde, in those days people used to clean ragi and then wash it. Dry it in a shade. (Inside the home ). Then dry roast and it pops up a bit. When it cools down they send this roasted ragi to mill and get it powdered. They use it whenever they want it.
They used to prepare Huri hittu in this way. Take some huri hittu flour and then add little coconut and powdered jaggery. Mix it well. Add very little ghee and then give a shape as small laadu/laddu. One laddu is enough to provide energy which is lost during the day. Tummy full and happy kids go back to play for a while. This is how we used to have time in our childhood days. No comparison for these days school and the study. No time to play for the kids and they are fully tired for the day when they come back from school. Feel so sad seeing the kids and their home work and the other work. The proverb say play while play work while work. But where is the time for play these days?
Let us see the recipe now :
I have used some dry fruits like dates, figs, apricots, almonds and dry raisins

Ingredients :

Huri Hittu : 2 Cups
Almonds : 1/2 Cup
Walnuts - 1/4 Cup
Figs : 5 to 6
Apricot : 5 to 6
Dry Raisins : 1 Cup
Dates : 2 to 3 Cups.
Cashew nuts :  5 to 6
Ghee : 1 Tablespoon
Coconut/Copra : 1 Cup ( One small kobbari/Kopra)

Method :

1. Remove the seeds from dates and keep it aside.
2. Dry grind kobbari/Kopra and put it in a big bowl.

3. Dry grind dates and all the nuts one by one or together.

4. Put it in a big bowl and put ragi huri hittu.

5. Add a tablespoon of ghee and mix it well.

6. Prepare Laddu/laadu by taking handful of dry fruits mixed ragi huri hittu.

7. Arrange them in a big bowl. Let it be there for 10 to 15 minutes.

8. Store them in a airtight bottle or box and serve or eat.

Note :

Use good variety of dates. Use of any nuts are optional. Dry grinding raisins along with other nuts is optional. ( I did dry grind the raisins). It helps to bind the flour tight. Use of ghee is optional.
Time : 30 Minutes.
15 to 20 Laddus can be prepared.