BAKED GREEN GRAM DAL FRITTERS/ GAARELU

The other day when i made gaarelu for the Dussera festival i was so happy with the outcome.Since it was the festival day i didnot want to experiment or offer the baked one's as naivedhyam.So just followed the traditional Deep-fry method.These traditional gaarelu are a must in every Andhra kitchen for any Auspicious festivals especilally Dussera.Theres a popular saying in Andhra:

.................“Thinte garelu thinali, Vinte Bharatam vinali“.......... which literally means

“Either have to eat gaarelu or have to listen Bharatam.” Bharatam/Mahabharat is a Sacred and India’s greatest epic. The reason it is related with the epic is bcause of its taste, a heavenly taste to say.

People usually in my house prefer eating with onions in them.But the one's that are being offered as naivedyam does not contain onions. Can try the other version namely "Ulli Gaarelu" with chopped onions in it. Since am not abig-fan of deep-fried snacks i thought of baking them for a change.I was inspired from Anudivya of ...And a little bit more's baked lentil fritters and immediately baked these the next day from the remaining batter (as not being offered to devi) adding onions to them.They came out so beautifully i jjust couldnt resist myself from eating those oil-free gaarelu......

INGREDIENTS:

Split Green Moong Dal/Pesara Pappu-------2 cups
Ginger------------------------------------------2" piece
Garlic-------------------------------------------5-6
Coriander Powder-----------------------------1Tbp
Green Chillies---------------------------------3-4
Curry leaves-----------------------------------few
Coriander leaves------------------------------chopped finely
Cumin seeds---------------------------------- 1 tsp
Salt------------------------------------------- to taste
Oil-------------------------------------------- to bake(i used Olive oil)
Onions---------------------------------------1/2 cup finely chopped


DIRECTIONS:

1.Soak moong dal in water for about 2-3 hours. Dont soak it more than that.

2.Drain the water and refrigerate overnight (without any water).Or you can just skip this step if you soaked and made gaarelu on the same day.

3.Next day or the same day put it in the mixer or a processor , just lightly grind adding very little or no water ,so that some of the dal is ground finely but some of it remains partial.

4.Along with dal grind green chillies,ginger,garlic,cumin seeds in small batches.

5. Dont grind it too much and make it a coarse paste not smooth .It should be slightly tight enough to make gaarelu like vada consistency.This is important for the gaarelu to be crispy.

6..Now add coriander powder,salt,curry leaves,onions,coriander leaves to it.

7.Preheat oven to 375 degree F and grease the muffin pan moulds with a little more butter/oil of ur choice.

8.Slowly place them in the muffin moulds upto 1/4th of height.If you put more it becomes too fat.. and takes more time to cook inside...so after baking few you can adjust them accordingly.

9.Again pour like 1/2 tsp of oil in each mould so that it wont become too dry on baking.

10.Now place in the oven and bake for 20 mins turning to the other side and baking for 20 mins or less depending on the oven.

11.Make sure to check that inside is prpoerly baked and it turns slight golden color.

12.You can bake for few more mins but the thing is they will turn out to be so dry and hard.

13.Hope you all will try this and enjoy.......

Sending this to Pallavi's Yummy Festival feast-Diwali as well as Divya vikram's Diet Foods Event, to Haripriya's SWC-Andhra Event .