A - Z Andhra Recipes ~ B for Bellam Garelu / Bellam Vadalu

Bellam Garelu / Pakem Garelu / Theepi Garelu / Bellam Vadalu

From Rayalaseema region, we move towards the upper coastal region of Andhra for today's post. I have come with another traditional and delicious vada / gare recipe today albeit a sweeter one this time. Bellam garelu also called as pakam garelu or theepi garelu are prepared only in some of the coastal areas and not through out the state. Gare is the Telugu word for vada while garelu is the plural. Bellam means jaggery, pakam is syrup and theepi means sweet. The various names for the dish literally refer to the jaggery or the jaggery syrup used to coat the fried vadas, hinting that it is a sweet dish. The black gram / urad dal vadas are dunked in jaggery syrup for few minutes before savoring them. 
 
These vadas make a great sweet option for neivedyam though one does not need to wait specifically for festive occasions. If one is planning to make dahi vadas / medu vadas, some can be saved to prepare this sweet version or any leftover plain vadas can be recycled too this way. Bellam garelu are not overtly sweet even after dunking in the syrup since they don't soak up all the syrup as gulab jamuns do and so there should not be a problem to savor a few in one sitting. However they taste good when eaten freshly made and warm.

Now coming to the Andhra ingredients and recipes that start with "B'. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the names of the recipes that are going to use the following ingredients / vegetables whose names start with 'B' as the main ingredient also usually start with the same letter. Koora / Vepudu (Curry/Fry), Pappu / Pulusu (Dals / Andhra style lentil preparations), Pachadi (Chutney / Pickle) preparations are some of the examples. I have not included them in my list.

Fruits / Vegetables:
Battayi pandu - A citrus fruit 
Beri pandu - The pear variety
Boppaya Pandu - Ripe papaya fruit
Bachchalaaku - Malabar spinach
Batani - Peas
Bangala dumpa - Potato
Bendakaaya - Okra / Ladies finger
Beerakaaya - Ridge gourd, Chinese Okra
Boodida gummadi - Ashgourd/ Wintermelon
Boppayakaaya - Green Papaya
Budumkaaya - Dosakaaya , Plump yellow cucumber
(Also beans and beetroot with no regional names.)

Ingredients: 
Badam pappu - Almond
Bellam / Bellam paakam - Jaggery / Jaggery syrup
Biyyam - Rice
Biyappindi - Rice flour
Biyyapu nooka - Broken rice
Biyyapu rava - Rice rava, Rice semolina
Bobbarlu - Alasandalu, Black eyed peas
Borugulu - Maramaralu, Puffed Rice

Chutney / Pickles / Sun Dried Peels and Vegetables:
Beerakaaya pachadi - Ridge gourd chutney
Beerakaaya pottu pachadi - Ridge gourd peels chutney
Bellam aavakaaya & Bellam maagaya - These versions of the famous spicy mango pickles also uses jaggery.
Bendakaya pachadi - Okra chutney
Budumkaya pachadi - Yellow cucumber chutney
Beera pottu orugu - Sun-dried spicy, ridge gourd peels
Budumkaaya orugu - Sun-dried cucumber pieces

Dishes:
Beerakaya attu - Ridge gourd Dosas
Bellam dosa - Wheat flour and jaggery pancakes 
Bellam minapa rotte - Jaggery, blackgram and rice based pancakes
Biyyam pindi dosa - Rice flour and buttermilk pancakes
Billa kudumulu - Coarsely ground rice and lentils are used to prepared this breakfast / snack.
Borugula upma - Puffed rice upma
Bellam pulusu - Sweet and sour lentil preparation
 
Now coming to festive dishes
Bandar(u) Laddu / Thokkudu laddu - Laddus made with chickpea flour based chakli powder and jaggery.
Bellam thaalikalu - Traditional recipe where rice flour noodles are cooked in jaggery syrup
Bellam Gavvalu - Sweet shells made with flour, dunked in jaggery syrup and dried
Bellam undrallu & Bellam kudumulu - Traditional sweet dishes that use rice and jaggery and are steamed
Bobbatlu - Poli, Sweet stuffing encased in flour based outer layer and toasted with ghee
Boorelu - Sweet split chickpea stuffing coated with black gram batter and deep fried
Borugula laddu -  Sweet balls made with puffed rice and jaggery.
Bhakshyalu - Generally covers all the sweet varieties (though I have seen some online mentioning it as another name for poli)

And of course, there are dishes that are common all over India like bajji / bonda, badam burfi, badushah, basundi, boondi and boondi laddu.

Ingredients: (Yield 20 - 22 vadas)
1 cup urad dal / skinned black gram / minapappu
A dash of salt 
1 cup powdered jaggery / bellam
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
3/4 cup water 
About 2 cups oil to deep fry (I used canola oil.)
Method:
* Wash and soak urad dal in enough water to cover it, for about two hours. Drain the water after soaking period. Grind urad dal adding salt and a little water, to a soft and thick batter. 
* Heat oil in a deep frying pan until a pea sized batter dropped into it comes to surface immediately. 
* Keep a bowl of water beside the stove. Wet both hands, take a lime sized portion of the batter and flatten it on a greased banana leaf / plastic sheet or your palm. Make a hole in the center and carefully slide the vada into the hot oil. Repeat the steps, make vadas and drop as many as the frying pan can fit.
* Fry the vadas in batches on low flame, until they are cooked golden brown through out.  
* Make jaggery syrup meanwhile the vadas are frying. Add jaggery, cardamom powder and water to a pan and boil until jaggery melts. Strain the liquid if any impurities are present. Lower the heat and continue to cook until the syrup formed is sticky to touch. Stop before one thread consistency is reached since the vadas / fritters need to be soaked in the syrup. The vadas won't soak up the syrup if it is thicker in consistency.
* Remove the fried vadas with a slotted spoon and drop them into the jaggery syrup. Turn around the vadas in the syrup or pour the syrup all over the vadas with a spoon so that the vadas are all uniformly soaked. Let them sit for about 10 minutes or until the next batch of vadas are fried. Transfer the syrup soaked vadas onto a plate and drop the next batch of vadas into the syrup to soak.
* Serve them immediately. They taste good when eaten warm.

Notes:
* If you have time, leave the batter aside for one or two hours so that it can ferment which results in crunchy vadas.
* Add about 1/2 tsp. coarsely ground pepper corns to the ground batter, if preferred.

So far on A - Z Andhra Cuisine,
A for Alasanda Vada

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63.

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