Puran polis and Sukrundes need a very dry stuffing. The water from cooking the chana dal is not used for these preparations. So instead of wasting this nutritious water, it is used to make some delicious dishes. Everyone has their own version of recipe to use up this water. Here is the version I usually make at home. It is very simple and delicious.
Check here for another recipe for this saru.
Ingredients: 2 cups water that is drained from cooked chana dal 1/2 cup tomato 3-4 green chillies 2 tea spn jaggery Ghee 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 5-6 curry leaves A pinch of asafoetida 1 tbl spn chopped coriander leaves Salt
Method: Add tomato, green chilies to the chana dal water and cook. When the tomatoes are cooked, add jaggery, salt. Heat ghee and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves, asafoetida. Pour this over saru. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 10mins
PS: Also add the water used to rinse the mixer/blender/grinder after grinding the chana dal for puran poli/sukrunde. This gives a little thickness. If you like thick saru, add 1 tbl spn of ground chana dal. This can be eaten with rice like a rasam or can be had like a soup.
Pictorial:
There are many dishes that are prepared specially for lactating mothers. Many of these dishes have loads of ghee – it was a common belief that ghee which gives the necessary fats/calories and overcomes weakness and some other healthy ingredients. One very popular preparation is this dry fruits laddu – Dink Laadu or Dinkache Laadu(Marathi) or Antina Unde(Kannada). These laddus can be eaten by anyone, not just lactating mothers. They are very delicious.
Ingredients: 1 cup jaggery 1/2 cup dry coconut (kopra/kobbari) ( we used desiccated coconut ) 1/2 cup water 2 tea spns ghee 1/8 tea spn nutmeg powder 1/8 tea spn cardamom powder 1 date cut into tiny pieces 1 tbl spn raisins 1 tbl spn edible gum(dink/anTu) 2 tbl spn cashews chopped into small pieces 2 tbl spns walnuts chopped into small pieces 2 tbl spns almonds chopped into small pieces 2 tbl spns poppy seeds (khus khus)
Method: Dry roast coconut till it tuns slightly brownish. Take it out on a clean plate. Heat ghee and add edible gum. The gum puffs up like small balloons. With a spoon take out on a plate, leaving behind any remaining ghee in the pan. Add the cashews, almonds and walnuts, fry till they start to turn brown. Add poppy seeds and fry till they pop. Add raisins and dates and fry for few moments. Take out on same plate. Bring to boil 1/2 cup water, add jaggery and cook till it forms syrup. To know whether the syrup is done, take some water on a plate and put a drop of syrup on it. If it sits like a crystal, syrup is done. Add all the fried ingredients and mix well. Add nutmeg and cardamom powder. Mix well. Make laddus when the mixture is still warm. Apply some ghee to palms before trying to hold the warm mixture. If the mixture dries out, sprinkle some water and heat it for few seconds.
Makes about 12 laddus
PS: If you are calories conscious, reduce the quantity of ghee and use just enough to fry the ingredients.
Pictorial:
In the below picture, the crystals on the right are edible gum pieces.
Below picture shows puffed up edible gum.
