Holige Saaru | Obbattu Chaaru | Special Toor dal Rasam

When we make this sweet , called Holige (in Kannada language) or any sweet which uses hoorna (sweet lentil stuffing) as the stuffing we definitely make this incredible lip smacking holige saaru along with it. I am sure that by now you all would have guessed that I made this saaru with the hoorna that I had made for Sugeelu. If we have hoorna already prepared with us then making this saaru is just a breeze.If you have anyone in the family who does not like rasam, I am sure that they would definitely change their mind after tasting it.This is my personal favorite variety of saaru and is in-fact my most signature recipe at my in-laws place.If you have never tried this before, please give it a try...it's really worth a try.
Recently, I received a request from one of my readers, for this recipe hence I thought I will post this recipe as I had made this saaru for Ugadi.
Holige Saaru | Obbattu Chaaru Recipe:
(Serves 2-3)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Hoorna(filling for Obattu/Holige) * see notes
a small lemon sized Tamarind or 3 tbsp Tamarind pulp
3 tbsp grated fresh coconut
1 tbsp finely chopped Coriander
2 tsp Sambar/Rasam powder *see notes
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

for Tadka:
2 tsp Ghee
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
a sprig of curry leaves
a pinch of Asafoetida

Method:

• Add 2 cups of water(strained water from toor dal) to the hoorna and mix well and boil the mixture.
• Once it comes to a boil add grated coconut,chopped coriander,sambar/rasam powder,tamarind pulp,turmeric powder and enough salt and mix well.Let it come to a boil.Taste it now and adjust the seasoning according to your taste buds.In case you need to add more water or tamarind or salt or sambar powder,feel free to add it.This would be sweet,spicy and tangy at the same time,a perfect blend of flavors.
• Mean while heat ghee in a small tadka pan and crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves and hing and fry for few seconds and add this tadka to the boiling rasam and boil for 1 minute and switch off the flame and keep it covered.

Serve it hot with plain hot rice and some vegetable fry and fryums.

Notes:

1. This saaru(rasam) is made when we make holige or any other sweet like sukkinunde or kadubu where we use the hoorna as filling, the rasam tastes best with the hoorna.In case you want to try this without hoorna,you can replace it with cooked toor dal and add 2 tbsp grated jaggery while boiling the rasam.Though there is a compromise in taste but it is still tastier.
2. My mom gives me the sambar powder which can be used as rasam powder.You can easily replace the sambar powder with store bought MTR brand Sambar/Rasam powder.
3. For a Vegan version use oil instead of ghee in the seasoning.
   

I am sending the entries 'Holige Saaru','Sugeelu','Alu fry','Vankaya-Soya Kura','Masala Uthappam' , 'Mamidikaya Vankaya Pappu' , 'Cabbage Chapati' and 'Miriyala Charu' to pari's 'ONLY-SOUTH INDIAN' event.

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Boorelu | Poornalu | Sugeelu | Sugunta | Sukkinunde | Suzhiyan Recipe

I hope all my Telugu and Kannada friends had celebrated a wonderful Ugadi.Ugadi is one of the most important festivals for us,I have mentioned more details about UGADI festival in my last year's post for Ugadi-check it here. While we make Hollige(Obattu) ideally for Ugadi festival,I wanted to make something different this time as it gives me an opportunity to try and learn other traditional recipes.

Coming to today's recipe 'Boorelu' or 'Poornalu' as they are called in Andhra and 'Sugeelu' or 'Sukkinunde' in Karnataka and 'Suzhiyan' or 'Sugiyan'.All these are different names and of course even the preparation methods are slightly different.The fillings and the outer coverings differ from place to place.While many use chana dal as filling for this, traditionally we used toor dal in the filling and is prepared in the similar manner like how we make hoorna(filling) for hollige.The outer covering is again made up of lots of variations like urad dal batter,maida batter and rice-urad mixture(like we make) and even the proportions might be different in various households.
As a kid, I was not very fond of sweets but this is one of those sweets which I used to like even then.As they are mildly sweet and deep fried I used to relish them and used to gobble them with out complaining.My mom is an expert in making them but I never tried making them on my own earlier. I hence took this as an opportunity to learn and make my favorite sweet for this auspicious festival.I must admit that one needs enough practice to prepare these,I have mentioned few notes with my experience and I hope it would be useful if you are attempting them for the first time.
Boorelu | Poornam Boorelu | Sugeelu | Suzhiyan Recipe:
(makes around 20-25)

Ingredients:

for Outer layer:
1 cup Urad dal
2 cups Rice(regular sona masuri variety)
Salt to taste(1/2 tsp)
a pinch of cooking Soda

for filling:
1 cup Toor dal
1 cup grated Jaggery
1/2 cup grated fresh Coconut
2-3 Cardamoms
1 tsp Ghee

Oil,for deep frying

Method:

for Outer covering:

• Soak rice and urad dal together overnight.
• Next day in the morning,Add one cup of hot water while grinding the rice-urad mixture to a smooth textured batter.
• Take care that the batter is neither thick nor thin,it should be similar to dosa batter consistency.
• Add salt to it and let it ferment for 4-5 hrs .

for poornam(filling):

• Soak toor dal for 10 mins
  
• Bring 5-6 cups of water to a boil in a deep vessel and add ghee and soaked toor dal and let it cook until you feel it is almost cooked.Dal should hold its shape and should be firm,it should not become mushy.Press a grain of dal with your fingers to get to know whether the dal is cooked properly or not.
• Strain this cooked dal over a strainer and let it drain the water and cool completely.Reserve this water to use it in making delicious holige saaru.
• Heat 2 tbsp of water in a kadai and add grated jaggery to it and let it melt over low flame.
• Now add strained toor dal,grated fresh coconut and let it cook along with jaggery until you get a uniform mixture.Now add elaichi powder and mix well and switch off the flame.Let the mixture cool completely.
• Grind to a smooth paste( do not add water) in a mixer.
• Make gooseberry sized balls out of the ground mixture and slightly flatten them and keep them covered until its usage.

for making Boorelu:

• Add a pinch of soda to the rice-urad mixture and mix well.
• Mean while heat oil in a kadai over medium flame until it is hot.
• Dip each flattened stuffing(poornam) in the rice-urad batter carefully using fingers and drop them slowly in the oil.
• Pour oil using the slotted spoon from the sides(like how we do for vadas) which helps in puffing up the boorelu nicely.
• Turn it to the other side and fry until light golden brown in color.

Serve them hot/cold or at room temperature.

Notes:

1. Rice-urad mixture for the outer layer should neither be thick nor very thin.If the outer layer is very thick it will reduce the sweetness of boorelu as the outer layer would be thick.
2. While cooking toor dal,take care not to over cook it.Cooked toor dal should be firm to touch and should be cooked inside properly.
3. The consistency of the filling should be little tight(not very soft) otherwise there is possibility that the filling might splutter while frying them.If your filling is slightly soft then try to refrigerate it for few hours or place them on kitchen towel to remove extra moisture or you can even microwave the mixture for a minute and leave it aside.This will help in hardening the mixture a bit.
4. For a Vegan version avoid ghee in the recipe.
   

Variations:

1. You can replace toor dal with chana dal and follow the same recipe.
2. You can even replace jaggery with sugar and follow the same recipe.

You can see my previous year's Ugadi specials here and here.

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