Traditional Haalubai

Haalubai/ಹಾಲುಬಾಯಿ is one of the traditional yummy sweet dish From South Canara.
It is quick, simple and delicious.

Once upon a time people of South Canara People used to grow lots of paddy those days. Even jaggery used to stored in Big Tins. Coconut groves used to taken care and coconuts were used in plenty. People knew to make use of the ingredients available at home. So the Halubai came into existence I feel.
Since I grew up with my doddamma still remember that the paddy fields, people sing while they planting paddy plants  in field. Doddamma used to make this sweet for coffee time in the afternoon and the people were happy to get a piece of it. The rains pour, cold weather, hot coffee, sweet haalubai its all memories now.
Even in this part of Karnataka people do prepare Halubai. It is mouth watering sweet dish and they do use more coconut milk. The slice of halubai dances in our hand. (Means its soft and smooth and yummy to have).
There are varieties of halubai, prepared using different grains like ragi, millet, rava wheat etc.
Here is a traditional Halubai which is prepared using raw rice, coconut, jaggery, cardamom and ghee.
It is always better to use dosa rice. The Halubai turns lovely and the experience speaks here. Use of ghee can be limited and added while eating. But I love to pour ghee while preparing it self. It is super delicious and just melts in the mouth.
Eating jaggery helps to boost our energy, helps in easy digestion.
Let us see the recipe now :
It is very simple, easy, delicious traditional dish and you can make it quickly.

Ingredients : 

Raw rice : 1 Cup
Coconut : 1/2 Cup
Jaggery : Powdered : 1/2 Cup
Ghee : 2 to 3 Tbs
Cardamom : 5 to 6 Pods.

Method :

1. Soak raw rice for an hour and grind it with 1/2 cup of coconut. Use little water to grind. The consistency should be bit thicker than neeru dosa.

2. Powder jaggery and keep it aside.
3. Now keep a pan and put ground rice and coconut mixture. Add a pinch of salt to it.
4. Add powdered jaggery and stir on low flame.

5. Powder cardamom and keep it aside.
6. Stir continuously till the batter thickens.

7. Add a tbs of ghee and keep stirring till the whole rice mixture turn as one ball and it starts to leave the edges and comes to middle.

8. Add remaining ghee and cardamom to it and keep stirring for another 5 minutes.
9.Check with by touching the halubai. It does not stick. So it is done. You can also see that shiny texture.

10. Greece the plate or banana leaf with ghee and spread the mixture evenly.

11. Cut it when it is little cool.

12. Serve for lunch or snack time.

Note :

You can add more ghee. It adds to the taste. Adding more jaggery is optional.Do not make the mixture very thin or very thick. It should be thicker than neer dosa. 1 glass rice, 1 glass of water.
Time : 20 Minutes

Serves : 25 Small pieces.

Nendra baale Sheera/Kesari Baath

Nendra Baale /Nendra Bananan is a type of Banana, and is fiber rich, filled with Vitamins, Minerals and other healthy sources. I have tried Sheera /Kesari Baath using this Nendra Banana.

We from Dakshina Kannada make use of this banana. We do eat this banana, when it is fully ripen, steamed Nendra Bale is good for health. Preparing varieties of dishes like payasa/kheer, dosa and jamoon, just shallow fry in ghee. The ghee fried Nendra banana is good for kids and the people who suffer from anemia. It is full of energy and provides vitamins and minerals.
I have already tried shallow fried bananas, mild spicy dosa, jamoon and now this time it is used in Sheera/Kesari baath. Kesari baath is well known dish for every one in India. Some call it as Sheera.

Let us see some benefits of eating Nendra Banana in our diet.

Nendra banana is provides energy and people do steam and have it for their breakfast. It is also given to small children with honey or sugar.
Nendra Banana is full of vitamins and minerals as I said earlier. It is a rich source of Vitamin C, potassium and other vitamins and minerals. They do help to maintain good health. The fruit's sweetness is balanced with fiber and helps to maintain healthy blood glucose level.
I have used medium sized Rava/Rave/ Semolina / Sooji, sugar, ghee, 1 Nendra Banana, cardamom and dry fruits like cashews, raisins and Saffron.
Let us see the recipe Now :

Ingredients :

Rava /Sooji /Semolina :  1 1/2 Cups
Sugar : 1 1/2  Cups
Ghee : 3/4 Cup
Nendra Banana : 1 Big size
Cashews : 2 Tbs
Raisins : 2 to 3 Tbs
Cardamom : 5 to 6 pods
Saffron : 5 to 6 Rakes
Boiling Water : 3 Cups

Method :

1. Powder Cardamom and keep it aside. Peel off Nendra banana skin and cut into circle shape.
2. Keep a pan on the fire and put 2 to 3 tbs of ghee to it. Let it melt.
3. Add cashews and raisins and fry till the raisins get fluffy.

4   Fry Nendra banana pieces in ghee separately and keep it aside.
5. Add rava and fry till the raw smell disappear.

6.. Now add fried bananas and mix rava nicely.

7. Add boiling water and mix it slowly. Keep the flame very low while you pour boiling water.
8. Stir continuously till it turns thick.

9.  Once Rava gets thick, add sugar and mix it slowly. It turns as liquid.
10. Stir slowly and increase the flame to medium.

11. Sheera gets thick. Stir and add powdered cardamom, saffron flakes and remained ghee.

12. Stir slowly and leave it for a minute. Shift the ready Sheera/Kesari baath to a serving dish. We had this sheera with Coconut Uppittu.

Note :
Fry on low flame to get good texture. Fry rava till the raw smell disappear. Adding more ghee to kesari is optional. Adding kesari colour instead of saffron is optional. Fry Nendra bale nicely in a tsp of ghee before you add it to rava.
Time : 30 Minutes
Serves : 4 to 5 .

Rice Flour - Moong - Urid chakkuli

Chakkuli ..chakkuli yummy yummy chakkuli. Crispy Chakkuli, Crunchy Chakkuli .

Oh, chakli, chakkuli, muruku, is one of the fried fritters from Karnata since ages. We have read about the pregnant women wants to have chakkuli, the kid wants chakli in her snack box, when the son in law arrive, there will be loads of snack but he likes chakli very much. We want to pack chakkuli while travelling to touring, picnic or even International visit, where son or the daughter waiting to see what all snacks are sneaked and traveled so far.
I am writing all this above because Chakkuli has so much importance in our Indian culture. For Gokulastami /Shree Krishna Janmastami we prepare chakkulis, Ganesha Festivals we do prepare and How can we forget our Deepavali, festival of life has to be have chakkuli. It is easy to prepare and pack, yummy to have and it has a long shelf life.
In Olden days or the days gone, chakkuli used to prepared with using urid dal and rice flower only. Days have gone and so much experiments, different ingredients also used for making chakkuli. Rava chakkuli, Same /little millet chakkuli, palak chakkuli, potato chakkuli, cashews chakkuli, Aval/Poha chakkuli, ragi chakkuli, jolada chakkuli, so the list goes on.
For the festival I have tried here one of the yummy chakkuli recipe and I am sure you too will surely like it, prepare it and enjoy it. It is soft, crispy, crunchy and of course easy.

Just remember you do not use much of roasted chenna, only 2 tablespoons.
I have used rice flour, cooked moong, urid dal, sesame seeds, roasted chenna, little jeera and butter.
The butter also should be minimum or chakkuli might absorb more oil while frying.
No need to roast any thing. Just cook dals separately and then mix it nicely.

Here is the recipe :

Ingredients :

Fine Rice Flour :  3 1/2 to 4 Cups
Urid dal : 1/2 Cup
Moong dal : Little less than 1/2 cup. 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Roasted Chenna /Huri Kadale /Pottu Kadale : 2 Tablespoons
Butter : 2 Tablespoons
Red chilly Powder : 1 Teaspoon
Jeera : 1 Teaspoon
Sesame Seeds : 1 Tablespoon
Oil : 2 Cups (To Fry)
Salt : As Required
Chakli Mould

Method :

1. Wash and cook urid dal and moong dal separately with required water. (Pressure cook).
Let it cool.

2. Dry grind Roasted Chenna / Huri Kadale / Pottu Kadale and keep it aside.
3. Put cooked dals in a big bowl. Smash it nicely. Add salt, rice flour, jeera, sesame seeds, chilly powder and butter.

4. Add dry ground Roasted Chenna and mix all the ingredients nicely.
5. Now add required water and prepare chakli dough. (Add water little by little).

6. Divide the dough into small portions.
7. Take a handful of dough and insert it inside the chakli mould.

8. Press the chakli on the clean cloth.

9. Keep Oil on the fire and heat.

10. Fry chakli in hot oil on medium flame. Fry on both sides.
11. Remove from the hot oil and put it on a kitchen tissue.

12. Repeat the same with remaining dough and prepare the remaining chakkuli.
13. Keep it in a big bowl and let it cool.

14. Store crispy chakkuli in a airtight box or bottle.

15. Serve with a cup of coffee/tea/juice anything of your choice.

Note :

Remember the chakkuli will be so soft while preparing./pressing. Do it carefully or it might break while leaving in oil.
Moong dal adds to the taste. You can dry roast a little and then use it. I have not done it. Let the moong be lesser than urid dal. Adding roasted chenna is optional. Adding hot oil (2 to 3 tbs), instead of butter is optional. Keeping more oil for frying is optional. Adding  more red chilly is optional.
Time 40 to 60 minutes.
Serves : As per your desire

Shelf life : Nearly 2 Weeks.

Hayagreeva

Hayagreeva is one of the sweet dish, that is normally prepared for Shree Krishna Prasada / Naivedyam. Hayagreeva is prepared using Channa dal, lots of ghee, coconut and jaggery.
There is a story behind it about this sweet Hayagreeva.

My Mother used to tell this story to us and we would listen to her.
Guru Thirtha Vyasarayaru used to prepare this sweet praying Lord Vishnu and used to take it for Naivedyam. But the bowl used to be empty when it is kept in front of the God. Guru Vyasarayaru used to feel very sad but still continued preparing Hayagreeva and taking all the way to Naivedya. Guru always thinking of Lord, Lord Vishnu used to come in the form of horse and eat all the prasada, whitle walking behind Shree Vyasarayaru while he is taking the prasada bowl on his head. Lord used to eat and disappear. This sweet is arpitha for Lord Vishnu. Since Lord Vishnu used to come as Horse faced animal / Haya means Horse, Vadana means the face and since He came in the form of  Horse and ate all the sweet prepared by his bhakta, the sweet got its name as Hayagreeva.
We people from Udupi call this Hayagreeva as Maddi. Maddi means is mixed. Hayagreeva is prepared using Channa dal, ghee, coconut, jaggery and cardamom. Lots of cashews and raisins are used on the top. It is heavenly to eat. It is a must for Naivedya for  Lord Krishna in Krishna/Vishnu Temples.
Let us see the recipe now :

Ingredients :

Channa Dal : 1 Cup
Fresh Grated Coconut : 1 Cup
Jaggery 3/4 Cup
Ghee : 1/2 Cup or little more.
Cardamom : 3 to 4 Pods
Cashews and Raisins : 2 to 3 Tablespoons

Method : 

1. Wash and cook channa dal in pressure cooker with required water.
2. Powder or crush cardamom seeds into small.
3. Grate coconut and keep it aside.

4. Now put cooked channa dal in a big pan and add jaggery. Take out the extra water from cooked channa dal before adding jaggery.

5. Jaggery starts to melt and mix dal nicely with jaggery.

6. Let jaggery turns as 1 string consistency.

7. Stir in between and add coconut and a tbs of ghee. Stir nicely.
8. Stir till all the moisture disappear. Fry cashews and raisins in a tbs of ghee and keep it aside.

9. Now add the remaining ghee and powdered cardamom and mix it well.

10. Shift the ready HAYAGREEVA to a serving dish and add fried raisins and cashews. Mix it nicely and serve.

Note :

You can also cook channa dal in a big bowl. (Without using pressure cooker). Optional.
You can add more /less jaggery according to your requirement.
Adding more/less ghee is optional.
See that coconut and jaggery is mixed well with channa dal to get a good taste.
Time : 30 Minutes

Serves : 4 to 5.