Modaka, Karigadubu for Ganesha Chaturthi

Gowri-Ganesh festivals are one of the biggest in our households. Preparations at home start more than a week ahead. For Ganesha who apparently is a food lover, there will be varieties and varieties of snacks prepared, mainly deep fried ones. And all these get done for neivedya, for offering to God, which means it is done before even having breakfast, soon after a bath, in fresh clothes, without tasting them. They are prepared and kept away, out of reach till the Ganesha arrives! The house will be smelling heavenly with all the goodies, but yet, everyone knows they won’t get it!

One of the years, when they had a lot of energy my parents had made 21 kinds of goodies for this Elephant God, 21 being his favorite number! And at in-laws’, it is usually a big huge box full of chakli, kodubale, thenkolalu, etc along with of course Kadubu and modaka. And these will be distributed among relatives and friends too...

This is the first year that we are celebrating festivals by ourselves, and kind of missing home and all the festive spirit. To make up for a part of it, we both made some Modaka and Karigadubu and have kept it away on the top shelf… Just waiting for Ganesha tomorrow to have a first taste or rather sight of it, before we indulge in them :)

Wishing you all a very happy Gowri-habba and Ganesha Chaturthi… Enjoy all the goodies you make, and work out a lil more :D

Here is how to make kadubu/modaka…

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 cup Maida/All purpose flour

¼ cup Chiroti Rava(fine Semolina)

Salt - ¼ tsp

1 tbsp hot Oil / Ghee

For stuffing:

Grated dry Coconut / desiccated coconut - ½ cup

Sugar - ½ cup, powdered

2-3 Cardamoms

Oil,for deep frying

Milk - a couple of tsp, for brushing the edges for sealing

Method:

Dough:

• Mix maida, rava, salt and oil and add enough water to form a stiff dough. It should be stiffer than the regular chapathi/poori dough
• Keep covered with a wet cloth for ½ an hour
• After half an hour, knead the dough well until it becomes soft and pliable

Filling:

• Peel and rush the cardamom seeds to powder
• Mix with the grated coconut and sugar

For Kadubu:

• Make small balls from the dough and roll it out to very thin oval shapes of 4-5" length and about 3” width.
• Spread about 2 tsp of the filling in the middle, making sure to leave a gap of ½ inch around the edges
• Dip a finger in the milk and brush the edges
• Now, fold lengthwise, and seal the edges tightly, by pinching it. Make sure to seal it right, else it opens up and messes the oil while frying

For Modaka:

• Take smaller balls of the dough and roll it out to thin circles of about 3-4 inches diameter
• Spread about 1-2 tsp of the filling in the middle, making sure to leave a gap of ½ inch around the edges
• Dip a finger in the milk and brush the edges
• Now, bring the edges together, gathering it on top and pinch them together.

Frying:

• Heat oil in a thick frying pan/ kadai over medium flame.
• When hot enough, reduce the heat to medium and drop 3-4 at once into the oil and fry them till crisp and golden in color
• Drain them on a paper napkin.
• Store in airtight container when cooled. They remain crisp for 4-5 days.

Notes:

• The dough for the outer layer should be mixed stiff which gives crisp kadubu.
• Make sure to seal the edges well

Ugadi - Hosa varsha, Hosa harsha

“Yuga Yugadi kaledaroo, Yugadi marali barutide
Hosa varushake hosa harushava hosatu hosatu tarutide….”

On every Ugadi, we’d wake up to this same old song of Black ‘n white movie era. The same song would be played on both the radio stations – Akashavani and Vividha Bharati and the only TV channel, Doordarshan. And even now, when there are over a hundred television channels, almost every Kannada channel would play this song. The song translates close to this - “Year after year is passing by, and a fresh new year is beginning, bringing new joys, and everything new…”

Well, Ugadi is considered to be the beginning of a year according to Lunar calendar. It is the first day of the month ‘Chaitra’. It is when the trees have just started sprouting with fresh green leaves, after fall, the mango trees are full of fresh leaves, and flowers beginning to grow into fruits. Fresh Green everywhere is a small ounce of relief to the scorching summer heat.

Ugadi, or Yugadi, as it is called in Kannada, starts with the task of cleaning of the house from a couple of weeks before. It is rather weekends for working people like us! The entire house is cleaned, dusted, curtains, cushions washed, all utensils and boxes in kitchen washed and refilled, so on and so forth.

The previous evening, mango and neem leaves are tied to the main door frame – what we call ‘torana’. This gives the house a festive look. Yugadi starts with wishing each other a happy new year and then an elaborate oil bath – ‘abhyanjana’. Then starts the pooja and meanwhile preparation of sweets and naivedya in kitchen. The main highlight of this festival is ‘bevu-bella’ – neem and jaggery combination – which signifies the sweet and bitter situations of life, which we need to accept with the same spirit.

Then comes the much awaited panchanga shravana – reading out from the new lunar calendar about the astrological significance of the new year, predictions of all zodiac signs for the coming year, which we believe or not, would want to hear, and speculate!

Then begins the feast – the sumptuous lunch that is prepared, and served on plantain leaves. The menu mainly consists of Mavinakai (raw mango) chitranna, or puliyogare, Bele obbattu, obbattina saru, payasa, bajji/bonda, salads, and curries (Recipes will follow eventually). All these are served on plantain leaves in a certain order.

A short nap after a heavy lunch and then getting decked up with new clothes in the evening. And a visit to the nearby temple. Also, they say it is auspicious to watch the rising moon on Ugadi. Since it is the first day after new moon day, the moon appears as a growing arc. There are some places where inflation/deflationfor the year, whether cost of commodities rise or fall, are predicted based on the orientation of the moon! And thus begins a new year….

Wish you all a happy and prosperous Virodhi nama samvatsara.

Note: The scientific explanation to having neem on this day is this. Ugadi marks the onset of summer season, when lot of epidemic diseases outbreak. Neem, as it is a natural antibiotic, gives us resistance to these diseases to a certain extent. Since it is too biter to be had as is, it is mixed with jaggery.

Sankranti

Happy Sankranti to one and all.
Well, here I start my new Food blog with Sankranti Specialties.

Sankranti is an important festival in India. The word is derived from sat and kranti, meaning "good movement." Sankranti means transmigration of Sun from one Rāshi (zodiac in Indian astrology) to the other. Hence there are 12 such Sankrantis in all. But the Sankaranti festival usually refers to Makara Sankaranti, or the the transition of the Sun from 'Dhanu' Rasi (Sagittarius) to 'Makara' Rasi (Capricorn). that marks the starting of Uttarayana, which means northern movement of Sun.

Well, the celebrations in Karnataka is marked by preparing and distributing “ellu-bella” and sugar candies called sakkare-achhu to friends and relatives. People greet with the words " “Ellu bella thindu, Olle Maathu Aadu”, meaning “Eat sesame seeds and jaggery and speak only good”. The significance of this exchange is that sweetness should prevail in all the dealings.

Additionally, newly wed ladies are expected to give ‘baagina’ to 5 ladies, containing bananas, dry fruits, dry coconut, haldi-kumkum, bangles, etc. The speciality of this custom is that she has to give 5 bananas in the first year and increase it by 5 every year till the fifth year! So, in the fifth year she will actually be giving 25 bananas to each of the 5 ladies!
Preparation of Ellu and Sakkare acchu does take quite an effort, but after it’s done, it does give a satisfaction too :)

Ellu Bella

Ellu Bella

Ingredients: Sesame seeds Jaggery Peanuts Fried gram Dry coconut Method: • Jaggery and coconut are separately cut into small pieces and dried in sunlight for about a week to get crispness • Peanuts are roasted and the husk is removed, and only neat, evenly sized ones are picked • Sesame seeds are slightly roasted • All the ingredients are mixed, when they are crisp enough • Optionally, sugar balls available in market can be added to give an enhanced taste.

Sakkare Acchu

Sakkare Achhu

Ingredients: Sugar Milk Curd Method: • Sugar is melted in a little water • A little milk and curd are added and heated continuously stirring • Once the syrup starts turning whitish, it is poured into wooden moulds of various shapes and sizes • The extra spilled out syrup is cleaned with a knife • If the consistency of the syrup is right, it hardens in a minute • After a couple of minutes, the candy can be removed from the mould