Pappu Charu (Lentils and Vegs Stew)

Ingredients:

• Toor Dal (Red Gram)- 1/2 Cup
• Tamarind
• Jaggery - Small lemon sized.
• Tomato
• Diced Bottle Gourd (Sorakaya) - 1 Cup
• Drumsticks (Mulakkaya) 4-5Nos.
• Small Onions 4-5 Nos.
• Coriander leaves
• Pinch of turmeric
• Red chilly Powder - 1tsp.
• Salt to taste

Seasoning:

• Oil
• Mustard seeds (Aavalu)
• Asefotida (Inguva)

Preparation:
Cook Toor dal in pressure cooker. Mash it properly.
In a saucepan put tamarind water and add salt, turmeric, red chilly powder, jaggery and all the vegetables. Let it cook until the vegetables are cooked well.
Add the mashed dal to it. Cook it for a long time say at least for 30 mins. Do the tadka and garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Spring Onion (Scallion Stew) Sambar (Ulli Kadala Sambar)

Ingredients:

• Toor Dal (Red Gram)- 1/2 Cup
• Spring Onions - 5-6 Nos.
• green Chillies - 2-3 Nos.
• Tamarind
• Coriander Leaves
• Jaggery small piece
• Salt to taste
• Pinch of turmeric

Powder:

• Chana dal (Senagapappul, Bengal gram) - 1tbsp.
• Coriander Seeds - 1tbsp.
• Dried red chillies - 2Nos.
• Black Peppers (Miriyalu) - 4 Nos.
• Rice - 1/2 tbsp.
• Dried Coconut - small piece (alt. can use dry coconut powder)

Seasoning:

• Oil
• Mustard Seeds (Aavalu)
• Asefotida (Inguva)

Preparation:

Cook Toor dal separately in pressure cooker. Mash the dal properly.

Cut spring Onions (stems) into very small pieces. Leave the Onion in the end as it is. In a saucepan put tamarind water and add the chopped spring onions and the onions. Add chopped green chillies to it. Add salt to taste and a pinch of turmeric. Let it cook for sometime untill the leaves are well cooked. Add the mashed dal to it. Cook it for some more time.

Heat very little oil in a pan and fry the ingredients for powder. Fry till golden brown. Powder these to make sambar powder.

Add little water to the sambar powder to make it a paste and add the paste to the sambar. Add the small Jaggery piece. Do the tadka with Aavalu (mustard seeds) and inguva (Asefotida). Garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Bisibele Bhath

Ingredients:

• Rice - 1.5 Cup
• Toor Dal (Kandipappu, Red gram) - 3/4 Cup.
• Tamarind Paste - 2 tsp.
• Oil - 1/2 Cup
• Turmeric - pinch
• Salt to taste

Vegetables:

• Potato (Diced) - 1 Nos.
• Cauloflower - 6-8 florets
• Green peas - 1/2 cup
• Carrot (Diced) - 1 No.
• Chopped Beans - 8-10 Nos.
• Chopped Tomato - 1 No.
• Chopped Onion - 1 No.
• Chopped Green Chillies - 2-3 Nos.

For Powder:

• Fenugreek Seeds (menthulu) - 1/4 tsp.
• Black Pepper (Miriyalu) - 1/4 tsp.
• Urad Dal (Minapappu, split black dal) - 2tsp.
• Chana Dal (senagapappu, split bengal gram) - 2tsp.
• Coriander Seeds (Dhaniyalu) - 2tsp.
• Mustard Seeds (Aavalu) - 1tsp.
• Jeera (Cumin)- 1/2tsp.
• Dried Red Chillies - 2-3 Nos.
• Cardomom (Elaichi) - 2Nos.
• Cloves - 8-10Nos. (Less for less spice)
• Cinammon Stick - 1in.
• Marathi Mogga - 1 No.

Seasoning:

• Ghee
• Mustard seeds (Aavalu)
• Asefotida (Inguva)
• Chopped Corinader Leaves

Preparation:

Cook the rice and toor dal separately. Cook the vegetables ( Potato, GreenPeas, Cauliflower, Beans, Carrot, Tomato) separately in microwave or Pressure cooker. Set Rice, dal and Vegetables aside.

Heat a little bit of oil in a pan and add all the ingredients for the powder. Fry them for 5 min. Let it cool completely. Powder the above mixture. Add a little bit of water and let it sink in for some time. Add some more water and grind it to a paste. keep it aside.

Heat 1/2 cup of oil in a pan. Add chopped onions and green chillies and fry till transparent. Add chopped tomatoes and fry till cooked. Add the rice, dal, cooked vegetables, salt and turmeric powder. Mix well and add tamarind paste and the above paste. Let it cook for 10-15 mins on a low flame.

For seasoning, heat ghee and add mustard seeds and Inguva and add it to bisibele bath. Garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve hot with Potato chips or Saggubiyyam (Rice) vadiyalu. Serves 4 people.

Menthi majjiga (Seasoned Buttermilk)

Ingredients:

• Majjiga (Yogurt drink, buttermilk) - 1/2 lt.
• Chopped green chillies - 2 nos.
• Pinch of turmeric
• Curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Cilantro

Seasoning:

• Ghee
• Fenugreek seeds (Mentulu) - 3 or 4 seeds
• Mustard seeds (avalu)
• Jeera (Cumin)
• Ajwan seeds (vamu, bishop's weed) - 1tsp.
• Asafoetida (inguva)
• Dried red chillies

Preparation:

Add salt, turmeric, cilantro and curry leaves to the "majjiga". Add chopped green chillies. Heat ghee and first put fenugreek seeds until dark. Then add the rest of the tadka ingredients sequentially. Serve along with plain dal (mudda pappu).

Palakura pappu (Spinach dal)

Ingredients:

• Moong Dal (pesara pappu, Split green gram) - 1/2 cup
• Chana Dal (senaga pappu, Split black gram) - 2 Tb. sp.
• Spinach - 1 bunch
• Green chillies
• Tamarind (paste)
• Red chilly powder (karam)
• Cilantro
• Jaggery (very small piece)
• Salt to taste

Seasoning:

• Oil - 1 tsp.
• Urad dal (minappappu, split black gram)
• Mustard seeds (avalu)
• Asaefotida (hing, inguva)

Preparation:

Wash spinach thoroughly and chop it. Pressure cook dals (moong and chana) and spinach. Grind salt, green chillies, cilantro and tamarind to a paste. Add the paste to the cooked dal. Add jaggery and red chilly powder. Do the tadka and add it to the dal. Serve hot with rice and a fry curry.

Nimmakaya Charu (Lemon Rasam, Lemon lentil Soup)

Ingredients:

• Lemons – 1 no.
• Tomato – 2 nos.
• Toor Dal (Kandi pappu, red gram) – 1 cup
• Green chillies (chopped) – 2 small
• Ginger (chopped) – 1in
• Cilantro (chopped)
• Black Pepper (miriyalu) – 1 tsp.
• Jeera (curry)– 1 tsp.
• Pinch of turmeric.
• Salt to taste.

Seasoning (popu, tadka)

• Ghee – 1 tsp.
• Red chillies – 2 no.
• Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.
• Jeera – ½ tsp.

Preparation:

Pressure cook toor dal and tomatoes. Mash the cooked dal. (Note: Remove excess water if any from the cooked dal and add it to the mashed dal). Add 1 cup of water if needed to make it rasam (soup) like. Add green chillies and ginger to the rasam and let it simmer for 5-10 mins.
Powder black pepper and jeera and add it to the rasam. Add turmeric and salt after 5 mins.
Seasoning (tadka, popu): Heat ghee and add the above seasoning sequentially and let the mustard seeds splitter.Add the seasoning to the rasam.
Garnish it with cilantro and let it be.
Squeeze lemon juice to the rasam before serving (note: not while on the stove).