Holige / Obbattu / Puran Poli

Hello ! had taken a long break, would try to put atleast one recipe once a month.  

Holige a popular dish in Dakshina Karnataka, for any festival, special occasions, Holige is prepared.  It is called by different names in Maharashtra as 'Puran Poli', in Andra Pradesh as 'Bobbattlu', in Karnataka in Kannada as Obbattu or Holige in Tulu. I would say Holige is very easy to make but need a very good practice, it does not need much of ingredients but yet it has a special significance of its own. The method of making Holige is divided into two parts the outer covering that is called as Kanaka (Kannada) and inner filling is called as Hoorna (Kannada). My son call's it Sweet Chapatti, how much I tried to make him call it as Holige but still he is happy with his Sweet Chapatti.

Ingredients:

For Kanaka (Outer covering)

Maida / Plain flour - 450 gm.

Turmeric - a pinch

Salt to taste

Rice Flour - 1/4 cup

Hoorna (inner filling)

Chana Dal - 250 gm

Jaggery - 250 gm

Cardamoms - 10 Nos.

Oil - 10 tsp

Method

Hoorna (inner filling)

Hoorna should be prepared first (one can make it other day and keep it in fridge)

Wash and soak chana dal for 4 hours, once soaked cook it in a cooker for 3 whistles with little water.

Grind grated jaggery and dal without adding water.

Now boil / cook the ground paste (it is cooked again because after adding jaggery it would be little watery), keep stirring otherwise it will stick the bottom of the pan.  Add Cardamom powder and mix well. This hoorna should be semi solid / firm so that we can easily shape it in to a ball. Once done keep aside to cool.

For Kanaka (Outer covering)

Take Maida add salt and a pinch of turmeric and knead to a soft dough add oil and knead it again cover this dough with wet cloth while making Holige.

Take a lemon size hoorna ball and a maida ball of 3/4 size of hoorna.

Grease your palm and flatten the dough to small Chapatti, now stuff the hoorna ball in maida Chapatti and cover it well

Roll it with the rolling pin by rubbing little rice flour, taking proper care that it does not breaks, one can even rub the oil on this ball, keep it between a plastic / aluminum foil sheet, and roll over with rolling pin like chapatti.

Place this holige on the griddle / tava with medium flame, turning this holige within regular interval.

It is fried on both sides. Take it out on a plate, rub it with ghee generously, and serve it hot.

Can preserve this for 7-10 days well covered in fridge or outside but take care it should be free from moisture and air.

Things to be taken care:

Would suggest if you are preserving this please don't apply ghee after cooking, if one wants to then warm it up just before eating and rub the ghee, one can feel that it is just made.

Ukadiche Modak / Modhaka

Ukadiche Modak means steamed Modak in Marathi.  I tried my hands on preparing Modak - one of the favourite dish of Lord Ganesha.  It is said he loves to eat sweets. 'Modak' is the most famous and most typical food preparation of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in the state of Maharashtra.  The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chathurthi is considered incomplete without offering Modak (called as Modaka in Kannada) to the Lord.   There are two ways of preparing Modak one is frying and other is steaming, this is the steamed.

Ingredients:

For the covering:

1 cup Rice Flour

1 cup Water

1 tsp Ghee

A pinch of Salt

For the filling:

1 cup Coconut, shredded

½ cup Jaggery, grated

1 tsp Cardamom Powder

*Extra ghee while making the covering.

Method :

For the filling :

Add jaggery and coconut in a heavy bottom pan and cook on medium flame, stirring in between till jaggery and coconut mixture becomes homogenous.  Add powdered cardamom just before removing from fire. Keep this mixture aside for cooling.

For the covering :

Take 1 cup of water in a pan and boil it add salt and ghee.  Once it boils add rice flour while stirring the mixture in other hand (you can take somebody’s help if required).   Take care no lumps should be formed. Immediately cover properly for 2-3 minutes so it cooks in its own steam. Remove the dough and knead it well with hand or press it with the bottom of any bowl while its still hot so that all lumps are removed.   Divide the dough into small balls.  Pat the ball slowly with the help of fingers of one hand keeping the ball on other hand in such a way that it takes the shape of a small cup (smear the palm with little ghee or water to keep the dough moist), now fill ¾th part of this cup with the coconut filling, make a pleats of the edges of the cups and gather all the pleats together to the top.  Repeat the same procedure for balance dough. Take care the modaks should not be left out as it will get dry, keep it covered with wet cloth.  Place this modak in the idli vessel or cooker (without whistle) for steaming approximately 15 minutes.

Serve hot with ghee. Yummy………

Things to be taken care:

Rice powder prepared at home is better, for this rice should be washed and soaked in water for 1 hour.  Dried well and then grinded to fine powder.  This gives nice white colour plus texture to the modak.

Sieve the rice flour well, atleast twice before the preparation for covering.

Use freshly scrapped coconut.

Keep the gas in sim while adding rice flour.

The dough should be neither too sticky nor too dry.

Deep the base of the modak in water and place it on wet cloth or banana leaf in steamer.

Modak can also be kept on turmeric leaves in the steamer; it will enhance the flavour of the modak.

Dry fruits, food colour, kesar can be added for tastes and colour.

Pancha Kajjaya / Panchakajjaya / Sihi Avallakki

Pancha Kajjaya is a speciality of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka This naivedhya (an offering to God) is a favourite of God Ganesha and a must for Gana Homa i.e. Ganesha Pooja.  This panchakajjaya is prepared as prasadha or an offering in Tulsi pooja also.  Sugarcane pcs. are required to be added in this panchakajjaya for Tulsi Pooja. This prasadha is prepared for other pooja’s also.   Pancha means five and Kajjaya means sweets, a naivedhya which is prepared with five ingredients i.e. Beaten Rice, Coconut, Jaggery, Black Sesame seed and ghee are most important one and rest are optional. A very easy to make recipe…

Ingredients:

Paper Beaten Rice (Avallakki / Bajil) – 1 Kg.

Coconut – 3 Nos.

Jaggery / Bella – 850 gms.

Black Sesame seed / Yellu / Kapu yedme – 100 gms.

Ghee / Thupa – 50 gms.

Cardamom – 10 Nos.

Puffed paddy powder (Aralu hudi)/ Podhol pudi / Rajgira – 100 gms. (optional)

Sugar cane / Kabbu / Karmbu pcs. – 100 gms. (optional)

Method:

Clean and sieve beaten rice well so that any powder or dust is removed.

Clean and roast black sesame seed till you get a nice aroma.

Powder cardamom, grate coconut and jaggery.

Take a deep vessel; add coconut, jaggery, cardamom, ghee and mix well till jaggery melts a little add beaten rice and mix well till all beaten rice are well mixed with jaggery and coconut. Add sugar cane pcs. and mix again.

The offering is ready.

Things to be taken care:

Can increase the quantity of coconut, it gives further smooth texture to beaten rice.

Always use black sesame seeds for extra aroma and flavour.

Either or both sugarcane or puffed paddy powder can be excluded.  

This can be kept for 3-4 days in fridge.

Manjoldha Eeretha Gatti/Arisina Ele Kadubu/Patholeo

Manjoldha Eeretha Gatti means 'Turmeric Leaf Dumplings', one of a tradional recipe of Mangalore and also my all time favourite recipe. This gatti is prepared during different festivals in Karnataka i.e. Nagrapanchami, Ganesh Festival & Deepavali.  I just wait for ‘Shravan Month’, as per the Hindu calendar this month is highly auspicious and Hindus do observe fast and perform different types of pujas. Therefore, locally grown vegetables like Ladies finger, Cucumber, Drumstick leaves, Bitter gourd, Turmeric Leaf, Plantain leaf etc. are easily available.

Turmeric leaves is very well known for its mesmerizing taste and its unique flavor.  The rice used for making this gatti in Mangalore is ‘Brown Rice’. I used both steam rice/ short rice and brown rice. I remember even my grandmother used to love this recipe. We sisters used to relish whenever amma, or dodama (grandmother) used to cook this.

Ingredients :

For covering :

Turmeric leaf - 12 to 16
Brown Rice - 500 gm.
Steam rice/short rice/sona masoori rice - 250 gm.
Salt as per taste

For stuffing :

Coconut – 1 big
Jaggery - 250 gm (as per taste)
Cardamom - 7 (optional)

Method :

Covering :

Run Brown Rice and Steam Rice under water till the water comes clean. Soak these rice for 4 hours and grind thick, adding less water, if it turns watery it is hard to apply it on the leaf. Add salt as per taste.

Stuffing :

Scrape coconut and jaggery and mix well add powdered cardamom. Jaggery can be increased or decreased as per taste.

Now, clean the leaf well under running water, pat them dry, spread the dough (we call it as bandha in tulu) evenly with hand taking little dough at a time all over the leaf. Spread the jaggery mixture on half part of the leaf leaving a bit of corner all over the sides so jaggery won’t come out when it get melted while cooking. Fold it well on the halfway of the leaf.

Place this gatti in the idli vessel for steaming approximately 20-30 minutes (depends on the size of the vessel).

It tastes very good if served hot with ghee!

Things to be taken care :

While grinding rice add little water at a time so that the dough doesn’t get watery. I grinded this rice in wet grinder.

After folding, I trimmed both the end part of the leaf for two reasons, one being the leaves had to set properly in my small idli vessel ( thondur/steamer) other being trimmed leaf gives fresh aroma while being cooked (one can experience this practically).

These gatti’s should be arranged in such a way that the steam passes through each and every gatti’s while cooking.