Pesarapappu Boorelu - Traditional Andhra Festive Sweet

Boorelu , a delicious sweet is a sign of Joy, Happiness which is made in every household of Andhra during the festive days.  This golden sweet ball has a yummy pooranam inside which is covered by a dough, fried in oil. Generally, the Pooranam is made out of Channa Dal or Moong Dal with Jaggery Syrup or Sugar Syrup. Boorelu made with the Channa Dal ( Senaga pappu ) poornam is called as "Senaga Pappu Boorelu" and its called as "Pesara Pappu Boorelu" if its made with Moong Dal ( Pesara Pappu) poornam. For Kartika Pournami, this time I made the Pesara Pappu Boorelu for Prasadam. Process time for making this mouth watering sweet is little longer due to the preparation of Dough and Poornam separately. But this will get compensated completely after seeing the delightful golden sweet balls on your plate.

Ingredients

For the Dough

Raw Rice -- 1 Cup

Idly Rice --  1\2 Cup

Urad Dal \ Minna pappu -- 3\4 of a cup

Water -  Little to Grind

Salt --- To Taste

For the Poornam

Moong Dal \ Pesara pappu -- 2 Cups

Cardamoms -- 7 or 8

Powdered Sugar -- 1 Cup

Shredded fresh coconut -- 1 Cup

Ghee -- 2 tsp

Oil -- For Frying the Boorelu

Method

• Soak the rice and Urad Dal together in a bowl of water for 3-4 hours and grind it in a wet grinder like a Dosa Dough. Add required amount of Salt to the Dough and mix it. Keep the Dough ready for making the Boorelu.

• Soak the Moong Dal in a bowl of water for an hour. Grind the Moong Dal with very little water and make a paste.  Using the Idly Maker, steam the Moong Dal paste and cook them completely. Take out the Poornam Idlies from the Moulds and grate them using a normal grater or using a food processor or regular mixer grinder. 



• Add shredded coconut, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, ghee to the vessel on top of the grated Moong Dal and mix them together.  Make small balls of the Poornam and keep them ready.

• Heat oil in a frying pan.. Take one poornam ball and dip it inside the Dough and drop the Boorelu into the heated oil carefully. Make sure that the dough covers the poornam completely. Likewise, drop 4 or 5 Boorelu into the oil and fry them till golden brown and drain them.
• Finish the process with the remaining dough in the same way and arrange the Boorelu on a plate for Prasadam. If any excess dough is left, add some seasonings to the dough and fry them separately like mini vadas. Excess Poornams can be eaten as it is like a laddu.

Vegetable Makhanwala

Having different veggies in a limited quantity, I opted to make a complete veggie side dish for the chappathis\rotis. Vegetable Makhanwala was the best choice I felt for the night...Different kinds of vegetables in a mild spicy, creamy gravy on the side of hot chappathis will always be an ideal dinner. With the addition of few small paneer cubes along with the veggies makes it so so.... special for my kids to finish the meal. Preparation time is also considerably less for this dish. I don't prefer to use the cream while making the gravy or adding cream to the dish at the end. Instead I try to make a rich, creamy gravy using some almonds itself.

Ingredients

Beans - 10 or 12.

Carrots - 1 Big

Peas - 1 Handful

Potato  - 1 Big

Mushroom - 6 to 8.

Noolkol \ Kohlrabi - 1

Fresh Paneer Cubes - 1 Cup.

Oil - 2 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder -- 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Kasoori Methi -- 2 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar -- 1\2 tsp

Milk - 2 tbsp

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp

Cumin Seeds \ Jeera - 2 tsp

For Grinding

Onion -- 1 Big

Green Chillies -- 1

Almonds - 1 Handful

Cardamom - 1 or 2

Method

• Wash and cut all the vegetables into small cubes and keep them ready.
• Shallow fry the paneer cubes and keep it ready.
• Grind together Onion, green chilli, almonds and cardamom and make a smooth paste and keep it ready.
• Now add oil into the vessel or kadai and when its heated up, add the cumin seeds first. Then add Ginger Garlic paste to the oil and fry them till the raw smell goes off.
• Add the grounded paste into the kadai and fry them for 2-3 minutes.
• Then add all the powders, Kasoori methi to the gravy and fry them all for few more minutes till the raw smell completely goes off.
• Add all the fine cut vegetables into the kadai and mix them well. Add some water to the gravy and cook everything in the kadai with the lid closed for few minutes till the vegetables are cooked.
• Finally add milk, salt and sugar to the kadai and cook them again for few minutes. After its done, add all the fried paneer cubes into the kadai and mix them well.
• Switch off the flame and garnish the Vegetable Makhanwala with few coriander leaves.

Tips \ Variations

Add some fresh cream at the end or while making the gravy to make it richer, especially when you are making this dish for a party or special occasion.

Also, you can substitute Almonds with Cashews if you have abundant cashews and not worried about using more cashews.