Apr 1, 2011

Power Pesarattu

Pesarattu is a much loved dish of Andhra or Telugu region of India. I have adapted the ingredients to suit my family’s taste. The use of sprouts and herbs in the batter create a unique power packed combination, easy and amazingly tasty.The herbs helped in masking a slight bitter flavour that sprouts develop. This dish works just right for breakfast in our home. I hope you find it great too! The measures used here serve 5-6 people.
Power Pesarattu
You need   
  1. Mung bean sprouts – 4 cups, heaped
  2. Raw rice – 1/2 cup, rinsed and soaked for 1/2 hour
  3. Ginger – 1 tbsp, chopped fine
  4. Green chillies – 2
  5. Coriander leaves – 1 cup, chopped
  6. Mint leaves – 1 cup, loosely packed
  7. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
  8. Garlic – 1 pod (optional)
  9. Salt – 1 tbsp ( or more)
  10. Fresh water – 1 cup
  11. Vegetable oil / sesame oil  - 4-5 tbsp, for drizzling over dosas
mint, cumin, ginger, chillisprouts, rice, and coriander


To assemble
  1. Grind all ingredients mentioned under ‘You need’ except oil, to a real smooth batter. I used a mixer grinder. Using garlic gives a ‘kick’ to the final taste, but omitting it does not take away the pleasure either.
  2. Use water sparingly for grinding. The batter should be thinner than usual dosa batter but not too runny.smooth, frothy batter
  3. Hereon, writing the recipe is fairly simple, but creating a good dosa / pesarattu does need some practice!
  4. Heat up a dosa griddle real hot. You can see the griddle all smoked up in this picture. Season the griddle with a tsp of oil.
  5. smokin hot
  6. Dribble a ladleful of batter around the griddle, fill up the centre with more batter, and spread very gently to form a circle. Drizzle 1/2 tsp of oil around the dosa, let it sizzle.Mummy look, a green dosa!
  7. Allow to cook through and brown around the sides, ease out the dosa carefully with a sharp spatula and flip over. flip over
  8. Cook this side over medium heat, ease out and remove to a plate when done.
  9. Check the dosa for salt and flavours before proceeding with the rest of the batter. To  salvage a runny batter or too much salt, you could add up to a couple of tbsp of rice flour to the batter. Rice flour will also help the Pesarattu become more ‘flippable’ and less clingy to the dosa griddle.
I did ruin a couple of dosas before I got it right. It helped to have the griddle smoking hot, waiting for the first side to really brown before attempting to loosen it and thereon, cooking over medium heat.
Pesarattu is traditionally served with ginger chutney. I usually serve with a peanut chutney which is a great favourite with my kids.
power pesarattu
Notes
  • Soak, drain, rinse whole mung bean and tie up in a muslin cloth, leave in a moist dark place for 10-12 hours, by which time the seeds would have sprouted and you have super healthy sprouts ready.
  • Mung bean sprouts have been used in Ayurvedic approach and Chinese cuisine for several centuries.
  • Consuming raw sprouts is not advised for toddlers, pregnant women, and in any gastrointestinal disturbance. The ideal way to consume for these people would be to use home  grown sprouts, rinse well, steam or lightly stir fry them.
Nutri notes
  • The sprouting process increases the beans’ enzyme content which means, complex carbs are converted to simpler starches, proteins to amino acids and fats to simpler lipids. As a result sprouts are more easily digested.
  • Sprouting increases sodium and Vitamin C content, both of which add to protein digestibility in the body.
  • Sprouts are 'live' food. They contain active RNA, DNA, in addition to being a veritable enzymes and antioxidants storehouse. They help cell regeneration and can rightly be called ‘fountain of youth’.
  • Dry beans do not have any vitamins or minerals, but we get almost magical amounts of Vitamins A, B, C, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, Iron, Phosphorous, Manganese, from sprouts. Thus they are very handy in winters when fresh fruits or vegetables are in short supply. Sprouts can be eaten the whole year through too, for the whole host of amazing benefits.
  • Sprouts decrease the oligosacharides in the beans – this means, beans lose their gas producing quality.
  • Sprouting also increases fibre and water content of the beans, thus helping in avoiding or easing constipation.
  • For benefits of pudina and coriander, please do read up my earlier posts.

23 comments:

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Very healthy and yummy recipe....

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

pesaratu with sprouts sounds interesting and healthy too

Unknown said...

very healthy and yummy dish...nice presentation.

kitchen queen said...

yummy and healthy adai.

Preety said...

great healthy recipe

Ramya said...

What a healthy breakfast recipe.. Yummy!!

Deeksha said...

thanks for visiting my space and lovely comments!
healthy and yummy pancake!

Unknown said...

Its our weekend breakfast!...looks awesome!
Smitha
Smitha's Spicy Flavors

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Rajani
Humm..Thats a real power pesaratu..I take note of the variation, specially the sprouts, you have done and will try next time.
Have a nice day

Kaveri Venkatesh said...

Thats a lovely variation to the traditional recipe..I agree with you regarding the planning of the menu a day ahead...It does really help a lot..

Rajani said...

Hi everyone,
Nice to have all of you here with your comments, I like reading each of them.
Ushnish da,
So nice of you to read through carefully and find power in my pesarattu :-)

Sensible Vegetarian said...

First time here and I love your blog. Love healthy recipes.

aipi said...

A protein packed n delicious recipe- perfect for breakfast..
US Masala

Unknown said...

I like the name of it and the power of it! Delicious Rajani :) Please have me over for this treat :)

AMMU MOHAN said...

first time coming to your blog..looks good..lovely one..glad to follow you..

kitchen queen said...

Hi u have a nice blog.you can visit my blog and give ur valuable comments.

Sobha Shyam said...

Healthy ones....will surely try :)

Sobha
http://sobha-goodfood.blogspot.com

Lifewithspices said...

Rajani,

Thanks for visiting my blog n for ur comments...Happy to follow u .. Pesarattu with sprouts is an absolute healthy idea ...love it!!!

Padhu Sankar said...

I too make pesarattu with sprouts at times but I have not tried adding mint leaves .Must have been very flavourful

Nisha said...

I love your nutrition notes

Panchpakwan said...

Delicious and healhty dosa..

shriannalakshmi said...

healthy breakfast.The info on sprouts is excellent.

Vaishalini said...

Rajani akka.. I used quinoa and kala channa too. Kala channa took a lot longer to sprout. The quinoa adds more protein, found it easy to get the kids to eat. Couldnt smell the quinoa at all.