Shenga Barfis | Kadalebeeja Barfi | How to make groundnut barfi? | Sankranti Recipes

Mini cut groundnut or shenga barfis – something for the sweet tooth
01/01/2017 12:08:59 PM vindhyadesai

New Year is here! Let’s us start this new year on a sweet note. A fun to make recipe, shenga barfis. Made with roasted groundnuts mixed into melted jaggery and ghee. Now, what can go bad with that 🙂
Sankranti/Pongal planning has to start soon. This year the harvest festival is on the 14th of January. Make simple sweets like shenga unde, shenga chikki along with these shenga barfis. They will make your Sankranti/Pongal celebration special.
These shenga barfis can be cut into any shape, I have cut them into small squares. Small squares are ideal to distribute amongst friends and colleagues. Everyone can just grab a little barfi and help themselves with more. ... “Shenga Barfis | Kadalebeeja Barfi | How to make groundnut barfi? | Sankranti Recipes”

Southekayi Hasi Gojju

Tasty and delicious side dish, southekayi hasi gojju
12/30/2016 4:24:09 PM vindhyadesai

Simple side dishes are always a welcome change to rich and laborious gravies. This cucumber dish called as southekayi hasi gojju (no cooking required) has ingredients that are added to a bisi gojju (cooked and warmed)
Gojjus/Gotsus are typically tangy side dishes which have loads of flavour in them. Take for instance, pineapple gojju, apple gojju or this yellu gojju, they are very tasty. But they require the masala to be prepared and ground. That is the reason why these dishes are limited to certain special occasions like festivals and weddings. ... “Southekayi Hasi Gojju”

Kayi Holige | Kayi Obbattu | Nariyal PoLi | Coconut Holige | How to make kayi obbattu?

Soft and crunchy sweet coconut/kayi holige, a special dish for the festivals
10/10/2016 10:28:16 PM vindhyadesai

Wish you all a very happy Vijayadashami/Dasara! Coconut holige/kayi obbattu/nariyal poLi is one of my favourite sweets. It is soft yet crunchy on the outside and it has the unmistakable flavour of coconut. Unlike many other dishes where coconut gets lost in between other ingredients, here it is the main ingredient and it gets due importance. Most functions in Karnataka have holige/obbattu/poLi as the main sweet. Usually beLe holige or this kayi holige steal the show and are made in the order of hundreds. They are made with maida/all purpose flour which can make the edges quite hard and the filling inside might not be sufficient to make them soft yet crunchy. I always try and make recipes with whole wheat flour, for the fibre, taste and it makes the holige so much more softer and they hold together beautifully. Make these and a few can be made quite quickly and is not all that difficult. ... “Kayi Holige | Kayi Obbattu | Nariyal PoLi | Coconut Holige | How to make kayi obbattu?”

Gasa Gase Payasa | Khus Khus Kheer | Poppy Seeds Payasam | How to make gasa gase payasa?

Cooling, easy on the stomach gasa gase payasa
10/04/2016 9:48:35 PM vindhyadesai

Gasa-gase or poppy seeds or khus-khus are pungent oil seeds which give a very unique flavour to dishes. It can be added to breads, to gravies or in our very own Karnataka cuisine it is made into a payasa (liquid sweet). It is not as thick as usual payasa/payasams/kheer. It is liquidy and can be consumed as a beverage. Gasa-gase payasa has unique cooling properties, along with the gasa-gase seeds, it has jaggery (bella/gur), cardamom (elaichi), coconut milk (or grated coconut) and milk. It is a must have dessert during festivals in Karnataka. Along with bisi-bele-bhaat this is a delicacy and is consumed warm/cool as a beverage during or after lunch. This dish has a special mention in wiki under Indian cuisine. This is frequently made by my MIL and I learnt this recipe from her. She generally adds desiccated coconut (kobbri/copra), here I have added coconut milk. Sometimes I add grated and ground coconut. The little raisins pop in the mouth when drinking this unique payasa and it tastes great! This is a light sweet for ongoing Navratri festivities. ... “Gasa Gase Payasa | Khus Khus Kheer | Poppy Seeds Payasam | How to make gasa gase payasa?”

Haalbai | Akki Haalbai | How to make haalbai?

Soft, fudgy rice and coconut milk barfis
9/05/2016 4:27:39 PM vindhyadesai

Ganesha Chaturthi is a 3 or 5 or 10 day long festival for some people. If you celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi for more than one day, it is mandatory to make at least one sweet dish as offering/naivedya to Lord Ganesha. After making sweets like holige (poli), kadubu or other traditional ones from sweets list one will need a recipe that is simple, easy and light on the stomach. Haalbai is one such recipe, soaked rice ground into a thick batter with coconut milk lightly flavoured with elaichi it is a super easy sweet to make. It does not need resting time after preparing. Just plan to soak rice a few hours before making this sweet. Only water can also be used in place of coconut milk but coconut milk adds a subtle taste and makes haalbai pliable because of the oils in it. If you want to keep this vegan use vegetable oil in place of desi ghee. ... “Haalbai | Akki Haalbai | How to make haalbai?”

Bele Obbattu | Bele Holige | Puranpoli | How to make holige?

Filling and delicious sweet dal stuffed poli/holige for festivals
09/01/2016 06:27:09 PM vindhyadesai

Bele Holige or obbattu is one of the most filling and delicious sweets. It is a sweet dal stuffed poli/holige. During a festival or a function we all look for one dish that can feed a big crowd which is also filling. Sweets generally are accessories in a big spread. Yes, preparing bele holige or obbattu is effort but when you have mastered the process of making the dal filling then preparing bele holige or obbattu will be easy especially if you have a few people to assist/work with you.
I have used whole wheat flour/atta for the outer covering dough whereas generally all purpose flour (maida) and chiroti rava (fine rava) are used to prepare the dough along with a pinch of turmeric. I prefer whole wheat flour(learnt it from my mother), holige turn out to be soft and do not become stretchy and chewy when they are kept for a while.
*Updated with new pictures for Ugadi 2019. Try more holige recipes:
Kayi Holige/Coconut Holige
Dry Nuts Holige
... “Bele Obbattu | Bele Holige | Puranpoli | How to make holige?”

Kuchida Kadubu | Khara Kadubu | Sihi Kadubu | Steamed rice dumplings with fillings

Steamed traditional rice kadubu/dumplings wih spicy and sweet fillings
08/07/2016 2:04:13 PM vindhyadesai

A special dish for Naga Panchmi. Traditional rice dumplings with both spicy and sweet fillings. Spicy filling is a mixture of ground dal with different spices and masala. Sweet filling is made from grated coconut and jaggery with elaichi as the flavour. Outer covering is made using rice flour or ground rice paste. Here I have used rice flour. These kadubu/dumplings are very filling and makes a very good dish to make for a festival. The kadubu/dumplings are made and then steamed for a few minutes covered in leaves. I have used parchment paper as I cannot procure banana or turmeric leaves easily around here. ... “Kuchida Kadubu | Khara Kadubu | Sihi Kadubu | Steamed rice dumplings with fillings”

Tambittu | Puthani Unde | How to make tambittu for Naga Panchmi

Tambittu/Puthani unde/ladoo for Naga Panchmi
08/04/2016 11:24:32 PM vindhyadesai

Another sweet for the line of festivals coming up. This sweet is also from Karnataka and is made for Nagara Panchmi as offering/naivedya to Nagappa (snake god). It is made from roasted gram dal/fried gram/puthani/huri gadale/kadale pappu/daria/chutney dal, whew! a lot of names for one ingredient. I learnt this recipe from my mother and is mainly made in North Karnataka. In South, another type of tambittu similar to ‘sajjige‘ is made. This is a very easy ladoo/unde to make. You can even cut them into barfis but for Nagara Panchmi they need to be in the shape as shown in my hand below. I am not an expert in making that shape for unde/ladoo like my mother. Add cashews, almonds if you want. ... “Tambittu | Puthani Unde | How to make tambittu for Naga Panchmi”

Hayagreeva | Hayagreeva Maddi | Kadalebele payasa

Festive and authentic hayagreeva maddi
08/04/2016 11:02:37 PM vindhyadesai

Hayagreeva maddi is a payasa/payasam dish from Udupi region. I made this for Bheemana Amavasya but it can be made for many festivals. It is simple to make, the only detail to pay attention to is when you are cooking gram dal/chana dal/kadale bele. Before we begin the recipe, I would like to mention a little *story/legend* associated with the origin of ‘Hayagreeva Maddi’, I read in a book.
Once there was a sculptor who was trying to make an idol of Lord Ganesha, however all his efforts in making the sculpted idol turned into the head of a horse. He finally gave up and sculpted the idol into the shape of a horses’ head and stashed it away. One night, the Lord himself appeared in the scluptors’ dream and blessed him and asked him to donate the horses’ head idol that he had sculpted to Sri Vadirajaru. The same night Sri Vadirajaru also dreamt about the idol. The next day the sculptor brought in the idol and Sri Vadirajaru established the idol in Sonda in Sirsi, Karnataka. Everyday he started worshipping the idol and as offering/naivedya he made Hayagreeva Maddi a payasa made of gram (horses’ favourite food) and jaggery. Make this authentic and traditional dish from Karnataka for an upcoming festival 🙂 ... “Hayagreeva | Hayagreeva Maddi | Kadalebele payasa”

Puliyogare | Puliyogare Gojju | Pulihora | Puliyodarai | How to make puliyogare?

Traditional Iyengar puliyogare with homemade gojju
08/02/2016 5:46:18 PM vindhyadesai

Tangy, sweet, spicy and even slightly bitter, all tastes in one dish. Puliyogare has to be one of those dishes. Traditional Iyengar Puliyogare made at home is an excellent dish for festivals. You can make the gojju ahead of time and store it and make puliyogare quite easily for your lunch box or even for a quick picnic. It is just mixing in gojju evenly with cooked and cooled rice. Cooked rice should not be sticky and you can eat the most wonderful puliyogare at home. The prasada/offering they give at temples has a unique taste. I would say this one will come quite close and it’s homemade, so no complaints. There are a few steps to make the gojju. I have segregated them to make it easy and each stage can be done separately. ... “Puliyogare | Puliyogare Gojju | Pulihora | Puliyodarai | How to make puliyogare?”