Ganesha Chaturthis Special

Ganesha Chaturthi is here and this marks the start of the festive season. It’s a time where the Lord Ganesha or Vinayaka is bought home. And one of the famous sweets that is offered is the Modak as it know in most parts of India.

South India has many versions of this sweet – Kozhukattai in Tamil Nadu, Jilledu Kayi In Andhra Pradesh and Kadubu in Karnataka.

Traditional Sweet recipes are included here plus a bonus snack (Sundals) to serve your family members and for guests. Try these at home and make your Ganesha Chaturthi something special. 

We’ve got the traditional Kozhukattai and a sweet & sour variation, Poori Payasam, Coconut Milk Payasam and Navdhanya Sundal. Other useful recipe links are given at the end of the page

Note: If you are in the main page of the blog, click on the continue reading link at the end of this post to read the full story.

1. Kozhukattai / Kadubu / Jilledu Kayi

Ingredients:

• Rice Flour – 2 cups
• Oil – 1 teaspoon
• Water 2 cups
• Salt – a pinch
• For the Coconut Filling or the Pooranam:
• Freshly grated coconut – 1 cup
• Grated Jaggery – 1 cup
• Ghee – 1 tablespoon
• Cardamom Powder – a pinch

Method:

Heat the water in a deep vessel (kadai) with salt and oil. As the water starts to boil, reduce the flame and put in the rice flour. Close the Kadai with a lid with a little gap for the water to evaporate.

Leave the rice flour and water mixture to cook for about 10 minutes in low flame. After that turn off the stove and stir the dough quickly but firmly so that it doesn’t form lumps.Allow the dough to cool a bit until it becomes lukewarm.

Knead it well till it becomes smooth. Use water to assist in the kneading if necessary. Also use a drop or two of oil while kneading at the end so that the dough doesn’t stick.

Roll the dough into small balls (lemon-sized). Using the fingers, start to flatten the dough; first the edges and gradually shape it like a cup. Apply pressure uniformly.

Keep a fingerful of the filling and fold it to stick the edges well. Press the edges so that it forms a wave-like design.

Arrange many such Kozhakattais on greased idly plates. Steam this for about 10 minutes.

The Kadubus are ready to be savored.

How to make the Coconut Pooranam / Filling:

Grate a medium sized coconut using a standard grater. Run this in a mixer so that large pieces are grated finely. Mix this with grated jaggery and heat it in a pan. Keep stirring till the jaggery dissolves completely. The mixture should now acquire the color of the jaggery and the texture should now have a layer of liquid (from the jaggery). When the mixture becomes thick, add cardamom powder. Remove the pan from the fire and allow it to cool before using it in the Kozhukattai

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2. Sweet and Sour Dhal Kozhukattai (Katha Meetha)

You could try this variation in case you want to have something special other the normal variety.

Ingredients:

• Urad dhal: 1 cup
• Green Chillies-3
• Lemon juice- 1 tsp
• Mustard- 1 tsp
• Little oil for frying
• Salt, Asafetida and Coriander leaves as per taste.

Method:

Soak urad dhal for an hour in clean water. Grind this with salt and chillies. Steam the batter for about 10 minutes.  Let the whole thing cool down. Loosen the dough add garnish it with  fried mustard.  Add Asafetida,  finely cut coriander leaves. 

Make small cups using the dough. First flatten the dough and shape it round into a cup. You can now fill  about 1 tbsp of  Coconut poornam into the cup.  Join the edges by pressing together the sides.  Now steam these cups for about 10 minutes.  Kozhukattai is now ready which has a wonder taste of katta and meetha.

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3. Poori Payasam

This is another savoury dish that you can make with your Kadubus. Usually served on many Indian festivals, this can be a tasty addition to the lunch menu.

Ingredients:

• Roasted soji: 1 cup
• Milk 2 cups
• Sugar- 1 cup
• Ghee-2 tbsp
• Roasted cashew, 
• ½ pinch of raw camphor (menthol), Kesar and cardamom -as per taste

Method:

Mix ghee with soji and knead it into a dough adding little water. Take care not to add too much water. Make pooris out of this and deep fry in oil. 

Cut the pooris into small pieces. Add roasted cashew, camphor, kesar and cardamom to milk and mix well and bring it to boil. Add the cut pooris to the milk mixture immediately and serve hot.

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4. Coconut Milk Payasam

How can any festival be complete without a Payasam or a Kheer. You can serve this at the end of a meal or in the beginning as a refresher.

Ingredients:

• Gram dhal- 1 cup
• Moong dhal-1 cup
• Jaggery-1 cup
• Coconut-1
• Rice-1 tsp
• Ghee as required

Method:

Roast the dhals, one by one and put it in a cooker and cook. Mix coconut gratings with the rice and take out coconut milk in two stages. 

Boil jaggery with water.  

Add cooked dhals, some  finely cut coconut  pieces. 

Add the coconut milk. Use the second stage milk first and as it thickens, add the first stage milk and allow it to boil for a little while only.  Remove from fire and serve.

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5. NavaDhanya Sundal

Sundals are snacks served in small cups (usually made from areca nut) or plastic cups. These are more of a mixture of different pulses that are given to guests during this festival. A lot of Sundal varieties are available. Featured here is a Navdhayam variety ( 9 different grains). This is a symbolic of lord Ganesha and is said to bring good health and fortune.  

Ingredients:

• Horse gram, Karamani (Halsandi), Moong gram, Dry cow pea, Rajma, Red gram,, Dry peas,  Bengal gram (black channa) , Kabul channa- each ¼ cup. The grains  should be full and not de-husked.
• Roasted and powdered Till seeds-2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp,  Green chillies-3 to 4 fine cut
• Grated coconut, curry leaves, coriander leaves  for garnishing
• Lemon juice- 2 tsp
• Oil for frying
• Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the above grains well. Thereafter cook it in a cooker. Add salt before cooking. 

After well done, drain.  Heat some oil. Fry mustard, green chillies, Till powder, curry leaves.

Remove from heat. Mix gated coconut, and finely cut coriander leaves and mix well. Add lemon juice and mix well.

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Other Sweets and Ganesha Chaturthi dishes that you can try are:

The Modak (North Indian sweet similar to Kozhukattai) 

Karjikai  – Another Sweet similar in shape to Kadubu, but with a crispy outside and a dry filling. 

Karanjia  is another sweet variety from western India.

Different Idli Varieties

Kosamabari or a Cucumber salad

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Photo Credit – Sowmya