WaterMelon Rind Curry

 WaterMelon  Rind is used here to prepare the curry. Curry is one the side dish and we can prepare different types of curries. Normally the fruit part of water melon is eaten and the rest part is thrown out.It is said that water melon's inner part is also should be consumed and it is full of nutritious and filled with good qualities. 
I have used toor dal, black channa and spices to prepare this curry. Watermelon curry goes well with plain rice, chapatis, rotis, dosas and almost all main dishes.
No onion or garlic is used in Watermelon Rind Curry.
Lets see the recipe now :

Things Needed :

Moong Daal :1/4 cup
Water Melon  Rind : 2 to 3 cups.
Sambar powder or Rasam powder : 2 to 3 teaspoons
Tamarind Pulp : 1 Table spoon
Salt : to taste
Coconut : 2 to 3 Table spoons( Fresh and grated ).
Jeera/Cumin Seeds : 1/2 Teaspoon
Oil : 1Teaspoon
Mustard Seeds : 1/2 Tea spoon
Urd Daal :1/2/ tea spoon
Ingh : 1 pinch
Curry Leaves : 5 to 6 leaves.

 Method :

1. Wash and pressure cook moong dal and black channa. (better to soak channa at least 4 to 5 hours before cooking). .

2. Wash watermelon rind nicely, remove the top green part slowly and cut it into small pieces. (Pressure cook along with moong dal).
3. Grate coconut and grind it with little jeera. Use very little water to grind it.

4. Soak tamarind (a small marble size) in hot water.  Squeeze out the pulp and keep the pulp aside.
5. Now keep a big pan on the fire. Heat and put mustard seeds, jeera and 4 to 5 grains of methi seeds. Let the mustard seeds splutter.

6. Add curry leaves and ingh. Add cooked dal and cooked water melon pieces.  Add a  pinch of turmeric and sambar/rasam powder. Mix it well and let it cook for 2 minutes.

7. Add salt and ground coconut mixture. Mix it nicely and let it boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Shift the ready curry to a serving dish. Add cut coriander leaves and serve with main dish.

8. Add a spoon of ghee when the curry is hot.

Note : 

You should use pressure cooker to cook watermelon rind. (The pieces turn hard after cooking it. (It is better to pressure cooker).
You can also use a pinch of garam masala to give a good aroma and adds to the taste. Adding ghee to the sambar is optional. Using more or less jaggery is optional. You can cook this curry with out black channa . Adding different types of beans is optional.
To get fresh rasam powder, fry  1/4 Teaspoon of methi seeds, coriander seeds, red chilly and add jeera. Fry nicely . Dry grind it in the mixi jar and allow it to cool.
Time :Cooking time :30  minutes +  soaking time 4 to 5 hours.
Serves : 3 to 4 .

Channa ( Hurikadale ) Laadu....

Chann seeds ( Huri kadale in kannada , Pottu kadale in Tamail and Malayalam..chenna in Hindi) are very famous people use this to make chutney too...and this seed is used in Mixture also ( fried items).
Channa Laadus are sweet dish and can be eaten at anytime of the day.

Things Needed :
Chenna seeds : 1 cup
Sugar : 1/2 cup .
Mixed Nuts : 2 Table spoons.
Coconut : 2 Table spoons.
Cardamom : 5 to 6 seeds
Ghee : 1/4 cup .

Method : Powder Sugar.  Add cardamom  while dry grinding  ( Use dry grinder )  and keep it aside.  Cut nuts in to small pieces.  Roast Chenna seeds slightly and leave it for cooling .  Dry grind the roasted Chenna  and put it in a big bowl.
Now add  nuts,  powdered sugar and coconut  to the chenna powder.  Mix thoroughly and add ghee little by little and  tale a handful of this mixture and prepare Laddus. Repeat the same until all the  laddus are prepared.
.Note :Roast the Chenna slightly to make it warm so that it powders quickly.  Not to burn the chenna other wise it gives a burnt smell.  You can also roast seseme seeds to this laddu.  Or you can also powder the roasted seseme seeds and add it to this mixture..and then  prepare Laddus. ( 2 Table spoons of seseme seeds are enough). Can Add little more  ghee if you are not able to prepare laddus.( Warm the ghee and keep it as liquid form , so that you can pour ghee and it helps you to make proper Laddus). Use copra ( dried coconut ) or roast coconut until its brown. You can also roast Nuts before adding . ( Dry roast for few seconds). ( Cashew nuts , Raisins, Almonds even Ground Nuts ).

10 Laddus can be prepared.