Normally in Andhra, garelu and payasam are prepared on special occasions and they are must for Nivedyam(offering to god)  during festivals in our house. I thought this is the special occasion as I am entering the world of blogs with my own blog, So opted these recipes to share with you all.

                              “Thinte garelu thinali vinte bharatam vinali“

 This is very popular saying/proverb in Andhra. This means “Either you have to eat garelu or have to listen bharatam.” Bharatam/Mahabharat is a Sacred and India’s greatest epic. This dish is related with the epic for the reason of its taste, a heavenly taste to say.

This is a very very special dish in our house.

This dish is also prepared if you have the guests and in our family it should be in the menu if son-in-law visits.It has a greater significance all over the andhra.

There are two versions of garelu….the version I am presenting here is offered as nivedyam which does not contain onions.
The other version is ULLI GARELU.Ulli means onion….so it has onion finely chopped….the method of preparation is same though.

Garelu :

Source: Mom

Ingredients:

Mina pappu(Urad dal) – 2 cups,
Ginger – Small piece,
Green chillies – 2-3 finely chopped (acc. to your taste buds),
Jeera(cumin seeds)-1-2 tsp
Salt to taste,
Oil for deep frying.

Method :

1. Soak the urad dal for 4-5 hours.
2. Clean them well and grind to paste by adding ginger and little salt.
            Remember it should be a tight paste.So do not add water.
3.Now remove from the grinder , add jeera, finey chopped green chillies. You can also salt at this point if you feel it to be
    less salty.
4.Take a deep frying vessel and add enough oil for deep frying.
5. Wet your hands with water and take a lemon sized ball and flatten it into a vada on a greased sheet.
6.Make a hole in the centre of the vada.
7. Slowly drop it into the hot oil carefully and fry it on both sides on medium heat to a golden brown colour.

Goes well with coconut chutney,Chicken curry,Sambar.
I personally like to have with chicken curry.

The other version I mentioned earlier has same precedure but just add finely chopped onions,coriander leaves in step 3.

 Biyyam Payasam,God’s own food :

Payasam (Kheer in Hindi) is a traditional Indian dish.
Biyyam payasam is a rice pudding made by boiling rice with milk,sugar( or jaggery).In our house it is served as offering to the God during festivals and on special occasions.

Source : Bebamma (My ammamma/grandmom, I call her with that name)

Ingredients :
 
Rice – 1 cup,
Jaggery – 1 and 1/2 cup,
Milk – 1/2 – 1 litre(It depends on the desired consistency)
Elaichi – 2-4
Ghee – 1/4 cup
Some dry fruits like almonds,Cashew nuts,Kissmiss.

Method:
1. Soak the rice for an 1/2 hr.This is done to save the time during rice cooking in the milk.
2. Boil the milk with elaichi in a heavy bottomed vessel.
3. Once the milk gets boiled add soaked rice and cook it well,..it must be cooked in such a way that it should be very soft.
   The state of the rice should be between soft and paste.
4.In the mean while take a vessel and boli the jaggery (in a cup of water) on stove.
5.Now add the jaggery water to the milk rice and mix well.Mix for about 5 to 10 min by adding ghee.
6. Serve with almonds,cashewnuts,kissmiss roasted in ghee.

Step 4 can be avoided by directly adding jaggery( powdered) to the rice once it gets cooked. Normally I follow step 4 in order to avoid the burning of rice during mixing of jaggery.

NOTE: Jaggery should be added only once the rice is cooked well. Once the jaggery is added rice will not get cooked.
Hope you have enjoyed my virtual festive food.