Sun dried treats 2 - Perugu Mirapakayalau, Dahi Mirchi, Dried yogurt chillies

Here in New England, Fall is already set in. Though mornings are still warm, the nights have become cold. A chilly breeze always blowing telling us that winter is almost near.
So this is not the right time to make any sun dried treats for us, but for people living in tropical countries, where you can find sun year round, you can make these any time. And if you are privy to a dehydrator, use it. I have seen some in shops though I don't have one.

Here is another yummy sun dried treat called Perugu Mirapakayalu or Dahi Mirchi or Dried yogurt chillies. Just make sure that you have lots of sun available to you like atleast for a week, cos if these don't dry enough, they can start rotting!
This process is done so as to remove any spiciness in the chilli pepper. But the chillies, we used are not that spicy, so they are good yummy. They are an interesting accompaniment to pappu annam or perugu annam.

Perugu mirapakayalu isn't that hard to make, but just that the whole process takes about a week. While preparing to make, make sure that you have fresh green chillies. In India, we get special chillies for this preparation, but here we only get these. Clean them, keep them dry too.
After drying, these chillies really shrink up. So the amount may seem small. So if you want count how many you are going to make.

Ingredients:

About 50 green fresh chillies
yogurt
lemon juice
salt
some water

Method:

I didn't give any measurements since its better to use your sense of sight and taste for this!!
After cleaning the chillies, use a sharp knife to slit the chillies, not completely, but just to the middle. I slit them top to middle on one side, then middle to bottom on the other, just making sure I didn't slit open the bottom.
Beat the yogurt with some water, lemon juice and salt. It should be like buttermilk, not too salty or sour. The consistency should be that like a thicker buttermilk, not too watery.
Put these chillies into the yogurt. Use a wide flat bottom container, so that all the chillies will fit comfortably into the yogurt, dipped in the yogurt that is! Soak it overnight.
Next morning, lay them to dry in the sun. I used a baking sheet lined with tin foil, but you can use a plastic sheet too. Let them dry for the whole day, at night put them back into the same yogurt.
So what was this yogurt doing the whole day....it was drying too, getting thicker. When you add the chillies back, don't add anything to the yogurt, just put the chillies back into it!
Repeat this process, atleast for 3 days and nights. By the end of 3 days, the yogurt would be soaked up enough by the chillies and get too thick. You can now discard it!
But put the chillies out to dry for atleast 4 more days or until they are completely dry, hard and light as a feather.
Store them in an air tight container for 1-2 years.

To serve, fry them in oil till they are brown in color. They do change color very fast and burn, so keep a tab on how hot the oil is. It should low to medium heat.
Serve as a side dish along with Pappu annam, daal chawal, lentils rice or Perugu annam, Dahi chawal or yogurt rice. Enjoy!!!

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Sun dried Treats 1 - Dried cooked rice crackers made with leftover rice - Annam Vadiyalu

Summer is the best time to make and stock up on any sundried treats like vadiyalu and perugu mirapakayalu.
Its a fun summer project to do with kids. As a kid, I am sure we all helped our parents make them, now its our kids turn to help us!! ;)
In India, I remember, it used to be one big family time to make them and put them up for drying on the terrace or the roof top. Then it used to be like, whose turn is it this time to turn them over or bring them down for the day! And mind you they are made in huge quantities, not only for ourselves but also for distributing to friends and families. In India, we get a variety of them to munch on. They are also good to crunch on at snack time or tea time.
Here, when we make them, its only in small numbers, and just enough to last the whole year.
The main thing required for this job is good strong sun or heat, rest its very easy to make. Though its a little time consuming the first day to make them all, later on its on keeping a eye on them so that they don't get rained out.
Vadiyalu dried crackers are of many types and are made of different ingredients like rice, sago or  different lentils. They all are either ground into a paste or used in their original form.
If made of rice, they are called biyyam vadiyalu or rice crackers.
If made of lentils, they are called pappu vadiyalu or lentil crackers.
If made of sago, they are called saggubiyyam vadiyalu so on and so forth.
These dried crackers can also be made of pumpkin, known and gummadi vadiyalu or dried pumpkin crackers and also of chillies called perugu mirapakayalu or dried yogurt chillies.

Let me first start with annam vadiyalu or dried cooked rice crackers. These are the easiest to make and don't require much hard work. I made them with leftover rice, but you can surely make them with fresh rice which is soft.
I recooked the leftover rice to a softer consistency using some water in a pressure cooker. Then added some color, which can be omitted, I did it just for fun for the kids!! Added some salt, pinch of baking soda and jeera. Spread them out in small quantities on the baking sheet lined with aluminium foil, but even plastic sheet can be used. Let them dry for 4-5 days in good sun, flipping them over daily. They should be totally dry in the end. If they are little bit wet also they will spoil in the long run. Totally dried ones can be stored in a air tight container upto an year.
When ever required, take a few out and fry them in oil. Since these are made of cooked rice, they will turn color very fast, so low heat and with quick turning, let them blow up into nice enjoyable, crunchy vadiyalu or crackers.
Vadiyalu are usually enjoyed with pappu annam or daal chawal or lentils and rice. They taste good with saambar or any liquidy daals too.

When first laid out...

After complete drying...

Ingredients for Annam Vadiyalu

1 cup Leftover rice cooked soft or fresh soft cooked rice
a small pinch of baking soda
color of your choice
Jeera or cumin seeds
salt to taste

Baking sheet lined with foil
all sun and no rain!!

Method:

Mix all ingredients and smash them together, till they are slightly sticky. Lay them little by little on the baking sheet in hot sun. Let them dry completely for 4-5 days, flipping them everyday.
Heat oil. Fry them, a few at a time, flipping fast so that they don't burn. Remove on a napkin and serve with rice and pappu.
Store in air tight container for upto an year. Enjoy!!!

This is going to Pari's 'Only' Kids event on Foodelicious.

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