Pappu Charu - Andhra Style

For so many days, I was quite confused about Pappu Charu, Sambar, Rasam. Atleast rasam would be easily differentiated with its watery nature. But I was unable to get the correct differentiation between the other two. Now I can clearly conclude by telling that Sambar is a thick version of lentils, sambar powder, veggies whereas Pappu charu is a thin version with lentil water, powders and veggies as I do both Sambar and charu regularly at home. We can add any vegetables in Pappu Charu and it can be well accompanied by any vegetable fry.  As I am a veggie freaker, I add lots of vegetables into the Pappu Charu.

Ingredients

Toor Dal -- 1/2 Cup

Tamarind Extract - 1 Cup

Jaggery - 2 tbsp full

Salt - To Taste

Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder - 3 tsp

Fenugreek Powder / Methi powder - 1/2 tsp

Tempering

Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

Jeera - 2 tsp

Fenugreek Seeds / Menthilu / Vendhayam - 1/2 tsp

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Dry Red Chillies - 2 big

Curry Leaves - 1 stem

Vegetables

Okra / Ladyfinger / Vendaikai - 4  ( cut into finger size )

Carrot - 1 Small ( Sliced into smaller rounds )

White Raddish / Mullangi - 1 ( Sliced into smaller rounds )

Sorakai / BottleGourd - 1/2 Cup ( Cut into small squares )

Onion - 1 Small

Tomato - 1 Small ( cut into small pieces )

Brinjal - 2 ( Cut into small pieces )

Broad Beans/Avaraikai/ Chikkudukaya - 5 or 6 ( Cut into finger size)

Green Chillies - 4 ( Slit into Halves)

Method 

1. Soak the tamarind in water and extract the juice and keep it handy.
2. Cook the toor dal / Thuvaram paruppu / Kandi Pappu in a pressure cooker to a fine paste. Add some water, mix and keep the dal water ready.
3. Wash and cut all the vegetables in desired form and keep it ready.
4. On a thick bottomed vessel, add all the vegetables, turmeric powder, little salt, hing/asafoetida, tamarind juice and little water and allow them to cook till the vegetables get mashy and softer.
5. Then, add the dal water into the vessel followed by salt, coriander powder, red chilli powder, fenugreek powder and jaggery. Mix them well and let the charu cooks and comes to a boil.
6. Add more water if you feel that the consistency of the charu is thick due to excess boiling.
7. On a separate tempering pan, add all the ingredients in order in Olive Oil and pour the tempered contents from the pan into the Pappu Charu.
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and switch off the heat.
9. Enjoy the Pappu Charu with white rice and ghee.

Variations

You can add more green chillies to increase the spicyness of the charu.

You can add any vegetables of your choice into the Pappu Charu.

Tips

Dal water and tamarind juice are very important in this charu. So make these perfect and keep it ready.

If you add few drops of ghee during tempering, the whole pappu charu smells very good.

Adding drumsticks,small onions to the pappu charu gives an excellent flavour and taste.

Patiently wait till the vegetables get completely cooked. After its cooked fully, continue the process. Otherwise, your veggies would be little raw in the Pappu charu making it difficult for the kids to eat the veggies.

Multi Beans Adai / Multi Beans Crispy Dosa

Multi Beans Adai / Multi Beans Crispy Dosa

Beans Adai with a side of a cup of Blueberry Kesari and Aviyal ( Vegetable Stew in coconut gravy ).

Legumes ( Beans ) are generally referred as "poor people's meat" but i prefer to call them as "healthy people's treat".  Legumes supply more amount of  Good Protein to the body and there are many varieties of legumes found in the world which are widely used in many cuisines across the world.

One of the important health benefits of  legumes ( beans ) is its rich source of cholesterol reducing fiber. It reduces the blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal so its a best choice for diabetic people.  It also protects against breast cancer. In addition to the high fiber content, beans also contain lots of antioxidants, folic acid and other vitamins.

Another important issue that stuck in our mind is the  gas problem due to the intake of Legumes / beans. Its natural for any human digestive system to produce gas ( intestinal gas ) during regular digestion. But after consuming beans, we might feel that excessive intestinal gas getting produced. In order to minimize this excessive intestinal gas, its always suggested in many health magazines to break down the fiber in Beans by mashing, grinding..etc., Also by adding good amount of ginger into the recipe, this problem could be minimised and helps in easy digestion.

Multi beans Adai is one of the food items I tried out last week. I followed the same method of making  traditional adai but substituted legumes ( Beans ) instead of lentils ( Dals / Paruppu ).  As I mentioned, ginger is always a good accompaniment for any legume based food item. So it is a good idea to make some spicy Ginger Chutney and serve this as a side for the Adais.

Ingredients

Black Eyed beans ( White Karamani ) - 1/4 cup

Rajma - 1/4 cup

Soy Beans - 1/4 cup

White Channa Dal ( White Kondakadalai ) - 1/4 cup

Red Moth - 1/4 cup

Brown Masoor Dal - 1/4 cup

White Beans ( Lima Beans ) - 1/4 cup

Green Gram ( Pesara pappu ) - 1/4 cup

Idly Rice - 1 Handful

Ginger -  1 inch square or 3 tbsp grated

Hing - 1 Dash

Dry Red chillies - 3 or 4

Salt - To Taste

Oil - Enough to fry the Adais on the kadai / Pan.

Method

• Soak all the Beans and rice in water for 4-5 hours. Then drain the water and grind them coarsely in a wet grinder along with ginger, dry red chillies.
• Add required amount of salt, dash of Hing, crushed curry leaves to the Adai Batter and leave it aside for an hour.
• Then, heat the frying pan and pour the Adai over the pan, spread them uniformly and make a round shaped Adai.
•  Add few drops of oil along the edges of the adai. Fry them till it turns golden brown in colour on both sides.
• Continue the process for the rest of the batter. Serve the crispy hot Beans Adai with a side of spicy Ginger Chutney and a small bowl of fresh curd.

Tips / Variations

You can add different varieties of legumes of your choice and try it out.

You can add finely grated red onion pieces into the batter and make some yummy Onion Adais too..

A Side of Aviyal is also a good choice for this Beans Adai.