Pesara Boorulu

(Moong Dal Laddoos)
Serves: Four
Time required: 1 1/2 hours
1 kg moong dal (green)
1/2 kg pure ghee
20 g cardamom powder
1/2 tsp yellow food colour
1/2 tsp edible camphor powder (pachcha-karpooram)
water as required
1 1/4 kg sugar
200 g cashewnuts
200 g raisins (optional)

USING a pinch of the ghee, roast the moong dal till golden. Allow to cool. Grind the dal to a smooth powder. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix the cardamom powder, food colour and edible camphor powder with the water. Blend well.

In a shallow pan, add the sugar to this mixture and bring to a boil, till it reaches a syrup-like consistency. Gently, add in the moong-dal powder and ghee and keep stirring continuously. Remove from heat only after the mix is well blended. Set aside for a few minutes. While it is still lukewarm, take fistfuls of the powder and pat into laddoo-shaped balls. Stick a few pieces of cashewnuts and raisins (if using) on each piece. Allow the laddoos to cool and harden for a few hours.

These laddoos can be stored in an airtight container for upto a week.

Pesara-Kobbari Boorelu

(Coconut-Moong Dal Laddoos)
Serves Four
Time required: 1 1/2 hrs
1 kg moong dal (green)
200 g pure ghee
800 g jaggery, pounded into soft powder
water as required
2 tsp cardamom powder
300 g beaten rice (poha), powdered
300 g desiccated coconut powder
1 kg oil (sesame preferably, though groundnut and sunflower will also do)

USING a little ghee, roast the dal to a fine golden colour. Allow to cool.
Grind the dal to a rawa-like, grainy powder. Set aside. In a shallow pan, mix the jaggery powder with some water, and cook over medium heat. Bring it to a boil to obtain a syrup-like consistency. Remove from heat and add the cardamom powder, ghee, poha powder, coconut powder and the powdered moong dal. Blend well till it becomes thick. Make laddoo-like balls out of this and pat each into a flat and thick round. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Deep-fry the flattened round pieces till they are a golden-brown. Cool and serve.

Can be stored upto a week.

Veyinchina Pesarapoppu

(Crunchy Moong Dal Snack)
Serves: Four
Time required: 15-20 minutes plus soaking time
1/2 kg moong dal (green)
4 bunches fresh curry leaves
4 tbsp oil
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
salt as required
one cup finely chopped coriander leaves
juice of 1 lemon (optional)

CLEAN, wash and soak the dal overnight. In the morning, drain the water and spread the dal on a plate to dry. Destem the curry leaves; wash and pat dry and then grind to a coarse, dry powder. Set aside. Heat the oil in a pan, add the dal and roast over low heat, till crisp. Add the chilli, cumin and curry-leaf powders, salt and coriander leaves, and mix well. Roast for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat. Serve immediately. You could squeeze a few drops of lemon juice, over the dal and mix well just before serving.

Pesara Punukulu

(Moong Dal Spicy Round Vadas)
Serves: Four
Time required: Approximately 1 hour plus soaking time
1 cup moong dal (green)
1/3 cup urad dal
a piece of ginger (about 20 cm long)
4 tsp cumin seeds
4 to 6 green chillies
1 tsp turmeric powder
4 tsp salt
4 cups fresh yoghurt
1 kg cooking oil (sesame, groundnut or sunflower)
For the seasoning:
1/2 tsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
6 red chillies
one cup curry leaves (destemmed, washed and patted dry)

SOAK both the dals for about two to three hours. Grind them with the ginger, cumin seeds, green chillies and turmeric powder, to a thick, coarse, granular paste. Add a little salt and mix well. Set aside.

Beat the yoghurt into a smooth consistency, add the remaining salt and set aside.
Heat the oil in a pan. Make small balls of the dal batter and deep fry. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a separate pan, add the mustard leaves, and when they splutter, the red chillies. When well-roasted, add the curry leaves. After a few seconds, remove from heat and allow to cool. Add this to the beaten yoghurt, and stir well.

Dip the deep-fried moong-dal balls (when cool) into the yoghurt mixture and serve immediately, with moong dal balls floating in the yoghurt.

Pesara Janthikalu

(Moong Dal Snack)
Serves: Four
Time required: 1 hour plus waiting time
500 g moong dal powder (green)
700 g rice flour
salt as required
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp ajwain powder
a pinch of baking powder
150 g ghee
water as required
1 kg cooking oil
4 bunches curry leaves, destemmed and ground to a fine powder
You will need a chakli mould for this preparation

BLEND the moong-dal powder and rice flour well with the salt. Add to this, the red chilli, ajwain, curry and baking powders and ghee, using enough water to obtain a well-blended dough of smooth, semi-hard consistency. Cover this mound of dough with a wet cloth and set aside for an hour.

Heat the oil in a kadai. Now take a chakli mould and pipe small amounts of the dough through it over the heated oil so that long, noodle-like strings are squeezed out and fall gently into the hot oil and deep-fry the pieces till golden. Repeat the process till all the dough is used up. You could serve hot or cold. They can be stored for a week.

Pesarattu

(Green Gram Dosa: The signature dish of AP cuisine)
Serves: Four
Time required: 1 1/4 hrs plus soaking time
4 cups moong dal (green)
1/2 cup rice
4 to 5 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
12 to 15 green chillies, finely chopped
a piece of ginger (about 20 cm long), finely chopped
4 tbsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
1/2 kg cooking oil (sesame preferably) or pure ghee

SOAK the moong dal and the rice for four to five hours. Grind them together to a coarse paste to obtain a thick consistency. Set aside.

Mix the chopped onion, green chillies and ginger along with the cumin seeds and set aside.

Heat a thick, flat griddle. (To check readiness, sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan, they should sizzle and evaporate immediately) Smear a very tiny quantity of oil all over the pan. Spread some of dal-rice batter on the pan to form a round shape. Since this is thicker than the normal dosa batter, it needs to be patted out carefully and slowly. Use the back of a ladle to spread it as thin as possible (but slightly thicker than the standard dosa). Drizzle some oil (or ghee) all round the batter as well as on the top. Spread the chopped pieces of ginger, onion and green chillies and the cumin seeds on the batter (so they get well-embedded in the batter, that is why you need to chop them so fine). Cook on medium heat till the underside becomes brown. Flip carefully (it's normal for a few pieces of onions or ginger to fall off during this process) and roast the other side. Turn over again and roast for a few seconds more. Serve hot with coconut chutney, or a dip made with a mixture of fresh yoghurt and Andhra mango pickles.

Pulagam
(Andhra khichdi)
Serves: Four
Time required: 45 minutes
250 g moong dal (yellow or green)
250 g rice
water as required
1 tbsp turmeric
salt to taste
For seasoning:
4 tbsp ghee
2-3 red chillies (broken)
2 tbsp peppercorns
3 tbsp broken cashewnuts
2 tbsp finely chopped ginger (washed and peeled)
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 cup curry leaves

WASH the dal and rice and set aside. Add water (double the total quantity of rice and dal) to it. Add the salt and turmeric to this and cook in a pressure cooker.

For the seasoning:
Heat the ghee in a small pan, add the red chillies, peppercorns and cashewnuts in that order and when they are almost roasted, add the ginger, cumin seeds and finally, the curry leaves. Remove from heat.

Mix this seasoning well with the khichdi. Serve hot with jaggery pieces, pickle and onion-and-tomato raita.

The Pesarattu

The classic Andhra version: It is often served stuffed with upma (like the masala dosa's filling of potato curry). When the pesarattu is fully roasted, just before taking off the pan, place a small mound of upma on one side of the roasted pesarattu, fold the other half over it, remove from the pan and serve.

The popular version: Leave out the onions completely and instead, grind the ginger and green chillies with the dal and rice. When the dosa is being roasted, simply spread the cumin seeds on top. They easily get embedded in the batter. Plus, the ginger and chilli taste remains. This version is for those who find it difficult to cut the onions and ginger into fine pieces and then roast the pesarattu such that the pieces don't fall off while roasting.

Note: This can also be made with yellow moong dal.