My all time favorite "Noone Vankaya"

Friday Night's Tiffin " Uggani"

Uggani or Buggani or Borugula Upma has been the one favorite thing that always tops my list of tiffins. My kid brother couldnot pronounce it as is, and had nicknamed it 'Pungani', and everyone at home used to ask mom to make pungani every week then. As kids we loved the rubbery texture of the wet borugulu or Puffed rice, also the mild sweetness given by the onion and the pappula mixture made it so very yummy. I never thought Uggani could be found outside Rayalaseema region, but it was a pleasant surprise to find it at Silparamam in Hyderabad. I might have not made it so often here in my kitchen had it not been for my uggani mad husband's insistent requests. Some tastes, I have noticed change as we age, but this one thing among few others never tastes any different than it tasted since I started eating Uggani. So here I am with the delicious yet simple Uggani recipe.

What you will need:
Borugulu/ puffed rice/ murumuralu 4 cups (good for 2 people)
Medium sized onion: slit length wise
Pappulu/ Putnala pappu/ Fried chana dal: 2 tbspns
Endu Kobbera/ Dried Coconut: 2 tbspns
Green Chillies: 7-8
Salt: as needed
Turmeric: Just a pinch

For the vata ( tiragamata/seasoning)
Mustard seeds: 1 tspn
Curry leaves: 5-6 no
Oil: 2 tbspn

• Powder pappulu and endu kobbera and salt.
  
• Slit the green chillies into half (alternately you can always make a green chilli paste)
• Soak borugulu in lots of water for about 5 minutes and then drain the water from them by squeezing. They might appear all pressed but they will be fine. Just make sure you donot soak them for longer than mentioned.
• Now take the oil in a frying pan, may be a deep pan and add the mustard seeds followed by curryleaves when the oil is hot enough.
  
• Add onions and chillies and fry them for a while till they are crisp and light brown but not too brown. Add salt and turmeric at this point.
• Now add the soaked borugulu and just mix everything in the pan, and then add the pappula powder to the puffed rice. Turn off the heat and mix all the ingredients well.

So that is it your Uggani is ready to be savoured.

Budamkaya pappu and Beerakaya Talimpu

Well I was just going to end the day with some dish, just for the sake of filling my stomach. But then I was like why not make this interesting. So I decided my mundane dinner should be spiced up. I would be making Budamkaya (AKA Dosakaya) pappu, and Beerakaya talimpu, and some Kattu Charu from the Pappu. All decided why not add an Omlette to the menu to make it more filling? And this time I was going to boil pappu the traditional way. Hmmmm all this I was supposed to finish off before dear husband gets home so we could spend some timetogether. Was my project successful? Yes yes yes..and here is the recipe

Budamkaya Pappu :
Kandi bedalu/Toordal- 1 cup
Small tomatoes- 2 diced
Green Chillies- 10
Budamkaya- peeled and cut into cubes
Tamarind- small lime sized
Turmeric- a pinch
Cilantro- a few sprigs

For the Tiragavata (Seasoning)
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
half onion small- sliced
curryleaves- 7-8

• Take 3 cups of water in a heavy bottomed vessel, add the bedalu or dal along with the green chillies, budamkaya mukkalu, tomatoes and pinch of turmeric and boil with a lid on the vessel until you see the bedalu soft but not really mushy. You can add salt in between.
  
• Just wash the tamarind and add it to the boiling pappu, and turn off the heat after 2-3 minutes.
  
• Now with the lid on the vessel, try to drain as much water into a separate vessel. This we will be using for the kattu charu.
• With a spoon or pappu gitti mash the boiled bedalu, budamkaya and everything inside along with the coriander leaves, if needed add salt accordingly.
  
• Now for the seasoning part, take a tbspn of oil in a small pan, wait till the oil gets hot add the mustard seeds, wait till they splutter and add the curryleaves next. Then add the onions fry for 2-3 minutes, take some of the tiragavata and add it to the charu kept aside.
• This is called Kattu Charu, which is very good for toddlers, and infants, and for grownups too.. why not heh..you can drink it for better digestion folks.
  
• Now add the mashed pappu into the vessel containing tiravata, and again back into the initial one..(well I am just complicating it for the sake of it...haha..just do what ever is convenient for you)

And bingo, my delicious budamkaya pappu was ready.
Now to the beerakaya talimpu recipe.

One of the talimpus my mom made (most of them I used to not like as a kid, coz they were not deep fried), and which my brother and I competed for was the beerakaya talimpu. As kids we always liked the fried stuff and not the usual koora/curry. Well who doesnot like fried bendakaya, dondakaya anyway? But poor mom, we would never be satisfied with the talimpus she would make. As the old saying goes, "Pakkinti Pullakoora chala Ruchi", we used to like the neighbor aunty's talimpu because it was nicely fried. Only when I grew up did I realize how healthy, and tasty the not so fried veggie talimpus/fries were. And one of the pastes that is used commonly in curries and talimpus is the fresh coconut, chilli, salt paste.And ooh..this makes anything taste like heaven!!
Ok now to the recipe

Beerakaya talimpu:
Ingredients:
beerakaya/Ridge Gourd- 2 long ones peeled roughly and cut into 1/2inch cubes
Turmeric- a pinch
Onion- 1 medium sized diced
Fresh coconut- 2 tbspns
Green Chillies- 8
Salt to taste
COriander leaves for garnishing

Make a paste of the coconut, salt and freen chillies.

For the Seasoning:
Oil- 3 tbspns
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp

• Take oil in a frying pan, wait till it gets hot, add the mustard seeds, wait till they splutter (yes you know the drill..), add the curryleaves, and the onions. Fry the onions till they are transparent, and then add the cut beerakaya pieces.
• Fry them for approximately 15 min on mediumheat with a lid on till they are a bit soft. Now add the green chilli coconut paste, and stir for a minute.
• Do not cover the pan with the lid now, and fry till you feel the raw smell of chillies no more.
• Add the coriander leaves finally.

And there you go, the tasty beerakaya talimpu is ready.

I made an omelette as a side dish for the pappu and talimpu, and kattu charu, and it was a complete meal. OOh did I say I took a share of majjiga mirapakayalu that my husband fried for himself. So double dhamaka for me. So my little nani had his favorite charu, and ourselves the whole menu..every one happy and full. And ready to go to sleep...
Good night every body and try these in your Happy Kitchen too!!!
Here are the final pictures that I took before I gobbled up everything.

Ulava Charu

As per some friends’ requests I am posting the recipe for the whole some Ulava charu. Most people would have tasted this atleast once, it could be at home as mom’s yet another delicious dish, or at a wedding. So is it that delicious that it is considered worth preparing at a wedding? Definitely a big YES. And boy it tastes great, spicy, sour, a bit sweet and………….do you still want me to continue?? Let’s get to business ye all!
Ulava charu is made from Ulavalu/horsegram, a bean less known to most of us. The beans were basically used as fodder for cattle, and also by poor farmers as food. But the food was as nutritious as any legume ( think horse gram belongs to the family Fabaceae, just like any other pappu or dal) They can be boiled and seasoned and can even be eaten as an evening snack (both as a paste ground with jaggery or just whole ones seasoned.....beleive me very yummy) or Charu can be made from the bean paste as well. Although the process is a bit tedious and time consuming, the final results will make it all worthwhile. My dinner for the night was Ulava charu with rice, chama dumpa fry and Pachhi tomato Dosakaya pachhadi. Since the charu is good for 3-4 days (even without refrigeration), I had a feast with several combinations. For non vegetarians the best bet would be Kheema balls with Ulava charu and hot rice, or chicken fry with ulava charu, for veggie lovers there is always a variety of fries like bendakaya, dondakaya and so on.
Ingredients:
Ulavalu 1 ½ cups
Redonions ½ of a medium sized one chopped into big pieces

For the Charu POdi (Powder)
9-10 Curryleaves,
2 tspdhaniyalu
1 tsp jeera,
10 no miriyalu ,
½ tspmenthulu,
Dry fried Coconut fried 3tb spns,
2 garlic cloves,
4 dried mirchi,
Rathi puvvu – 2
Jaggery - can be added in the powder or separately while boiling

Chintapandu (tamarind) – lime sized soaked in water
For the seasoning:
2-3 garlic cloves, mustard seeds, curry leaves, 2 tb spns oil

You can soak the gram over night, or even if you do not you can always wait for an extra whistle while pressure cooking. Boil the horse gram in enough water in a pressure cooker, let’s say until you hear 7-8 whistles or 10 whistles when not soaked over night. Mean while you can grind the dry ingredients for the charu podi. Now drain the water and keep aside. Grind the boiled gram in to a fine paste. Add the paste into the tamarind water ( pulp removed) and add some more water, say 2 cups, salt, and boil for 10 minutes in a thick bottomed vessel. Now add the charu podi, and boil for another 30 minutes (If you want to add jaggery at this point you can instead of in the podi). By this time you should see a thick charu, not a liquidy one. Finally add the chopped onions and boil for another 10 minutes. Adjust salt accordingly. Finally in a separate pan, add oil followed by crushed garlic (wait for a few seconds), mustard seeds( wait till they splutter), and curryleaves respectively. Add the seasoning to the boiling charu, and boil for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat. Cover with a lid so that all the falvors are trapped inside.
Ulava charu is good when eaten fresh, but best when eaten the day after!! Some things are best when eaten stale like the delicious chepala pulusu which I hope to make soon.
Will post the recipes for chama dumpa fry and dosa kaya pachadi tomorrow!! And I am just hoping that my still struggling to be potty trained little one gives me some ME time to write and post those up.

Oorimindi and Ragi Mudda

Okay here I am with the first recipe for the dashboard, and I thought what better dish than the one and only Ragi Mudda/Sangati and to go with it Oorimindi/Chenigginjala Chutney urf Peanut chutney, would be the best. Ragi or the Finger Millet is one crop that is grown well in the area, and many delicious foods can be prepared from the Ragi flour made from the grains. Whether it is Ragi rotti, or Ragi Mudda, Ragi Halwa, or even to that matter the simple Ganji, any thing that is made from Ragulu is delicious and at the same time healthy. Given the high fibrous nature of Ragi, it is recommended for diabetic patients to substitute rice. Also it is highly recommended for infants and toddlers due to its rich nutritive values. Infact my mom used to give us Ragi ganji up until we were ready to leave for higher studies. And especially in summer it’s the best drink because of its cooling properties (Chalava chese gunam). Medicinal properties aside, ragi is mainly remembered for the tasty dish Mudda. Also known as Mudde in Karnataka (slight variations in this version), Ragi mudda or Sangati can be eaten with anything literally, but in villages the farmer’s brunch usually includes Sangati with Oorimindi. Just one round big mudda with oorimindi, is something that can light up your moods. Believe me it is so filling, that the brunch would be good enough up until the evening when they usually come back from the farm. But again I didnot actually live in our village, but in a small and beautiful town four hours away. when we used to eat it on Sundays especially, we gave my mom some peace of mind for atleast that part of the day. Coz we would doze off however hard we tried to stay awake. Hmm.. I always love the days when we were at our grandmas place, and we would take Sangati along with some curry or chutney to the farm, swim and play in the digudu bavulu ( wells) and then come out so hungry that we could eat a couple of muddas. Okay I know this is still my first recipe yet, and I am already delving into memories and all, so I will continue with the actual recipe for both Sangati and Oorimindi now.

Oorimindi (for 4 people)
Peanuts/ Chenigginjalu - 1 cup
Red Chillies - 9-10 if using green chillies 6-7
Tamarind - size of a small tamarind
Onion - 1/4 of a big
one Cilantro - fistful
Oil - 1/4 tsp
Jaggery - just a bit
Salt - to taste
Usually we would all have peanuts already fried, but if not just dry fry the peanuts until they are slightly brown. In the same skillet add the oil just enough for frying the chillies and fry them for about a minute. Soak the tamarind in water. Cut the onion into big chunks. In a blender or mixie if you have one, grind the peanuts chillies, tamarind with a little bit of water. When the ingredients are all finely ground, add the jaggery, salt, and grind it once more. Finally add the cilantro, onion chunks and just push the button for 2 seconds. Now you should still have the onion chunks in the chutney so that you can feel them in every bite.

Now to the Sangati part

Rice - 11/2 cups
Water - 4 cups
Ragi flour - 3 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Boil rice in a thick bottomed vessel, until its very soft (you can add the salt some where in between). Now when its almost done add the ragi flour on top and wait for 2 minutes (even when the rice is all cooked you should still see some starchy water in the rice) Now with a sturdy spatula or with the traditional pappu gitti (I use the long stick part) mix the rice with the flour really well that you should not see any lumps what so ever. When you feel that it’s all mixed take the vessel off from the stove. Take a small portion of the sangati, put it on a wet cloth, wet your hands with cold water, make it into a ball, to get the perfect shape use the cloth. By moving the cloth around the ball, it makes it easy to handle the piping hot ragi mudda. You can make atleast 4 muddas/balls out of the rice. Once ragi muddas are made just leave them in the vessel with the damp cloth on them. But if you donot want to take the trouble of making the rice into balls, you can always just have the mixed up sangati.
But believe me the fun part is making the ragi ball.

So just go on and taste the hot ragi mudda with the oorimindi, once you have it in your mouth you will definitely know what I have been talking about. It has been a rainy day and the combination of sangati and chutney was the perfect lunch for the day. Hope you all would try them sometime!! Will be back with another seema dish pretty soon!