Uppudu Pindi and a Thank You Note from Kiran and Happy Teej

Hello friends,


Happy Teej to all my fellow married Indian Ladies. For my readers who do not know what it is, here you go. This is Teej in Jaipur (Courtesy info: Wikipedia).


Teej is the festival of swings. It marks the advent of the monsoon month of Shravan (August). The monsoon rains fall on the parched land and the pleasing scent of the wet soil rises into the air. Swings are hung from trees and women dressed in green clothes sing songs in celebration of the advent of the monsoon. This festival is dedicated to the Goddess Parvati, commemorating her union with Lord Shiva. Goddess Parvati is worshipped by seekers of conjugal bliss and happiness. An elaborate procession is taken out in Jaipur for two consecutive days on the festive occasion which is watched by people in large numbers. The Teej idol is covered with a canopy whereas the Gangaur idol is open.


Thank to all of you who have participated in Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday event of yesterday. Please follow the link to check all the participating mouth watering recipes.


Here is a very easy, quick and favorite dinner in my mom's family. It is called "Uppudu Pindi". If you are from Andhra, you may have a clue on what this is. This is a very unusual dish, if you haven't heard about it before.


I love it, because it is easy to prepare and has both rice and dal in it. And, can be simply eaten with plain yogurt or any spicy chutney or gravy curry.


Uppudu Pindi (Rice and Lentil Savory porridge)

Ingredients
Idli Rava (It is coarsely ground rice grains) - 1 cup
Moong Dal (Split Green Gram) - 1/4 cup, washed and drained
Fresh Shredded Coconut - 1/4 to 1/2 cup (per your liking) - I used frozen
Water - 3 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Urad Dal (Split Black Gram) - 1 tbsp
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 tsp
Rai (Mustard Seeds) - 1 tsp
Sabut Lal Mirch (Dry Red Chili) - 3 broken in pieces
Heeng (Asefoetida) - one pinch
Salt - as per taste
Preparation

• Take a deep bottomed vessel, add oil to it.
• Once oil is hot, add urad dal, rai, jeera, lal mirch.
• Once the seeds are spluttering and urad dal is golden brown, add water, coconut and moong dal to it and let the water come to boil.
• Once the water is boiling properly, add idli rava slowly while stirring it continuously. Stir it nicely and cover and cook on the lowest heat setting for about 4-5 min. You will see that it will be nice smooth mass like upma or you will see that the grains are cooked. But, they will not be as separated as upma, just soft and smooth. 
• Turn off the heat and let it be there for at least 2-3 more min. before serving as it will be very very hot :)

Serving
We usually make it for dinner. And, the best serving is with plain yogurt and some spicy chutney. Remember, that we have not added any spices to it other than those red chilies in tempering.


I am sharing a sweet "Thank You" note from Kiran of Sumadhura, who posted her Cooking With Whole Foods: Barley roundup. Please do visit the roundup, you will be amazed at how much you can do with Barley. Thank you so much Kiran for sharing this with me.

Sending this recipe to MLLA # 26 hosted by Briciole and started by Susan.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.