MLA Pesarattu ..aka.... Upma Pesarattu....Andhra's Signature Recipe

I am sure all of us are aware of this famous Andhra breakfast which is called 'MLA pesarattu'
and when combined with upma it is called 'Upma Pesarattu'.I got to know only today the reason behind the name MLA pesarattu,what I understood by googling today is that pesarattu is famous among the canteen's and restaurants in the MLA Quarters of Hyderabad and that is the reason why it is called MLA Pesarattu.

Coming to the recipe unlike the regular dosa's these are prepared with whole green gram traditionally or sometimes with the yellow moong dal(not the authentic pesarattu) and is sprinkled over with onion-ginger-green chilli-Jeera mixture and stuffed with upma, and is served with tangy and fiery Allam pacchadi(Ginger Chutney).These are always preferably better than regular dosa's as it uses minimum quantity of rice and more whole green gram which is good in proteins. I have already posted a few variations of this regular pesarattu like Whole green gram Adai and Sprouted gram's Adai.

As a kid I never liked the taste of Pesarattu as it is dominated with the flavor from the whole moong.So when I came across the recipe for Whole green gram Adai from a neighbor I liked the taste of it as it has less moong and more rice and the batter is fermented to give a tangy taste to the adai.Now I have overcome the problem of not eating regular pesarattu as soaking the moong for longer time and changing the water twice and adding ginger while grinding the batter really helps in removing the smell to an extent.This is my version of Pesarattu which is less or same as prepared in any other house holds just that I make my pesarattu crisp which I always prefer my dosa's to be crisp as you all know about my dosa funda which I mentioned here and here.If you are new to my blog and you are a dosa lover do definitely read my most famous Mysore Masala Dosa and Paper Rava Dosa posts for some useful tips to get crispier dosa.

Ingredients:
2 heaped cups whole green gram
a handful of raw rice
2 green chillies
1" ginger
oil and ghee as required
salt to taste

For the filling:
1 big onion,very finely chopped
2 green chillies,very finely cut
1" ginger,finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds

For Upma stuffing:
1/2 cup sooji/rava
1 medium onion,chopped
2-3 green chillies,chopped
1/2" ginger,chopped
2 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
6-8 curry leaves chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method:
To make Upma:

• Dry roast the rava until the nice aroma comes out of it.Keep it aside and let it cool.
• In a kadai heat oil and crackle mustard seeds and add urad and chana dal and fry until they are slight golden in color.
• Add green chillies,curry leaves,ginger and fry for a minute.
• Add chopped onions and fry until they are translucent.
• Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water to it and let it come to a boil,add salt and add the rava slowly by stirring it continuously.Keep covered and let it cook on low flame for 3-4 mins.
• Add lemon juice and coriander and mix well and cover it with lid.Keep it warm until you stuff it in pesarattu.Do not let it become cold.

To make Pesarattu:

• Soak the whole green gram and rice overnight or for a minimum 2-3hrs and change the water twice.
  
• Grind green gram and rice with green chillies,ginger in a wet grinder(you can even use regular mixie) until you get a slighltly coarse batter similar to that of dosa consistency.
• Empty the batter into a bowl and add enough salt and mix well.
• Mix batter well.Pour a big ladle of batter onto a medium hot pan into a dosa,it should be slightly thicker than the regular dosa.
• Pour 1 tbsp oil approx over it and cover it with a lid.(No need to add more oil if using Non stick pan,you can completely replace oil with ghee for better taste if you are not calorie conscious).
• Let it initially cook on low flame for 1-2 mins and remove the lid and increase the flame later and cook for a couple of mins until you see brown/red patches.(No need to turn the pesarattu).But do not try to remove the pesarattu between while it is roasting.We should remove it only when you are sure that it is perfectly roasted.
• Mean while mix well finely chopped onions,ginger,cumin seeds and green chillies.
• Remove the lid and pour some ghee in the center and sprinkle the onion mixture over evenly and place upma on one side and fold the pesarattu.You can even close it from two sides or three sides like we get in hotels.
• Brush the pesarattu with ghee and place it in the center of the pan to make it more crispier.
• Serve it directly and do not drop them in hot boxes.It should be served on to the plate immediately to enjoy the flavor and crispiness of the pesarattu.
• Reduce the flame for one minute and sprinkle water and wait until it heats up and then start preparing the next one.Do not pour the batter on high flame the batter will stick to the pan and will not let us to spread it evenly.

Serve it hot right off from the flame with Ginger chutney or Coconut chutney.It tastes best with ginger chutney and the pesarattu is traditionally served with it.

Note:

• Instant Version : When you did not plan to make this and did not soak the gram,you can still even grind whole green gram instantly without soaking in water and add a handful of rice flour,green chillies,ginger while grinding it.Even the pesarattu's made by this process also yield good crispy one's but I personally like it when it is soaked and done.
• Make Upma as simple as possible without adding any vegetables or tomato.It tastes best when the flavor of pesarattu is dominated instead of upma taste.
• For a Vegan version avoid ghee and use as much oil as required for frying pesarattu.
  

Ginger Chutney / Allam Pacchadi :

Ingredients:
2 " ginger,sliced
2-3 garlic cloves(optional)
1 tbsp urad dal
4-5 red chillies
2 tbsp thick tamarind pulp
1 tbsp grated jaggery
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

for Tadka:
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
5-6 curry leaves,chopped
a pinch of hing
1 tsp ghee/oil

Method:

• Heat 1/2 tsp of oil and roast red chillies slightly and keep it aside.
• In the same oil add urad dal and fry until red in color and keep it aside.
• Add 1/2 tsp oil or ghee to the kadai and add ginger pieces and fry slightly and add garlic pods and just stir it and switch off the flame.
• Grind roasted red chillies,fried urad dal,jaggery and salt to a coarse powder.Add fried ginger,garlic,tamarind pulp and enough water and blend into a smooth chutney.
• Heat ghee/oil in the same kadai and crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves and hing and fry for few seconds and add the tadka to the chutney and mix well.

Serve it with Pesarattu / Idli / Dosa / Wada.

Note:
You can even replace urad dal with fried gram and follow the same process.No need to fry the fried gram in oil.