Trail Mixes are always fun to eat. A traditional way of celebrating Sankranti/Pongal in Karnataka & Maharashtra is to make yellu-bella or til-gul. Sankranti yellu bella is a mixture of toasted sesame seeds and jaggery pieces. Apart from these ingredients which denote bitter-sweet flavours, roasted groundnuts, roasted gram and pieces of desiccated coconut are also added.
This is the perfect marriage of all flavours depicting the flavours of life. On this occasion of Sankranti make this mixture from scratch at home. With only few days away from Sankranti I thought of posting this recipe for Sankranti yellu bella.
It is more of proportions of all ingredients that need to be added in order to make this mixture well balanced. Most people tend to buy this from grocery stores these days to celebrate Sankranti. Would it not be more fun and authentic to put together a simple mixture at home this Sankranti?
Along with this Sankranti yellu bella mixture, Sakkre Acchhu (sugar figurines) and kabbu (Sugarcane) are exchanged with friends, relatives and neighbours. To Sankranti yellu mixture, jeerige peppermint (coloured candy) and kusarellu (coloured sugar candy) are also added. I love it unadorned and is healthier too as we avoid unwanted sugar.
This recipe can be doubled, tripled or how many ever times you want. (Try roasting so many groundnuts :)). Sankranti yellu bella is very very easy to make and takes all of 10 minutes of your time (may be a little more if you are trying to peel groundnuts yourself, refer to Shenga Unde recipe for this step).
More Sankranti recipes on FOI. Pongal, shenga unde, shenga chikki, shenga barfis along with these savoury masala groundnuts will make your festival simple yet great!
More groundnut and sesame based recipes.
- 1 Cup peeled/unpeeled unsalted groundnuts/peanuts/shenga/kadalebeeja/mungphali
- ½ Cup roasted gram/huri gadale/puthani
- ⅔ Cup small diced jaggery pieces
- ⅔ Cup small diced desiccated coconut pieces
- 2 Tbsp white sesame seeds/yellu/til
- Roast peeled groundnuts on low flame till light golden on edges and crisp. See notes for unpeeled groundnuts
- In same pan, add sesame seeds and toast them till they release their aroma and turn lightly golden
- Add these to a pan and let them cool
- Mix in roasted gram, diced jaggery and diced desiccated coconut pieces
- Give a nice mix
- Distribute to family and friends! And of course you can savour it too!
Check shenga unde recipe for unpeeled groundnuts for steps on how to peel them
Mixture can be doubled or tripled easily
Buy cut jaggery and desiccated coconut if time is an issue and reduce some work
Sankranti Yellu Bella Stepwise:
Roast peeled groundnuts on low flame till light golden on edges and crisp. See notes for unpeeled groundnuts
In same pan, add sesame seeds and toast them till they release their aroma and turn lightly golden
Add these to a pan and let them cool
Mix in roasted gram, diced jaggery and diced desiccated coconut pieces
Give a nice mix
Distribute to family and friends! And of course you can savour it too!
