Take the chana dal in a vessel, wash it twice and drain off the water
Add 1½ Cups of water and keep on low flame to cook the dal
Once dal starts cooking and becomes soft and transparent, check the cooked dal. It should be just soft. You should not overcook or undercook it. Add a little more water if required. This step is very important
Dry roast khus khus till it releases aroma and slightly changes colour turn off heat and keep aside
In same pan, roast desiccated coconut with the residual heat. Keep aside
In another pan, heat 1 Tbsp ghee, add broken cashews and fry till light golden
Add raisins and fry till they plump up. Keep cashews and raisins aside
When cool, dry grind roasted khus khus and desiccated coconut into a coarse powder. Keep aside
In same pan, add 2 Tbsp ghee and add soft jaggery pieces or grated jaggery into the ghee
Jaggery starts to mix with ghee and melt
When it completely melts (no need of making a thread syrup, it should melt evenly) turn off heat
Add dry ground khus khus-coconut mixture. Mix well
In mixer jar, take 2-3 Tbsp of cooked and cooled gram dal and grated coconut. Grind them without water into a coarse paste
Put this paste into melted jaggery and mix well
Now add remaining dal and mix well. Bring back to heat
Add golden fried cashews. Mix well
Add elaichi powder and mix well
When it thickens and reaches desired consistency, turn off heat
Serve warm or at room temperature
Notes
Grinding little cooked dal with grated coconut gives a good consistency to hayagreeva and makes it evenly textured along with thickness
Khus Khus adds a nice flavour to hayagreeva
As mentioned before do NOT overcook or undercook gram dal. Do watch over the dal while cooking it
Dal can also be pressure cooked. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Check and steam for extra 5 minutes if it is not cooked. I prefer cooking it outside
Recipe by Food Of Interest at https://foodofinterest.com/hayagreeva/