Monday, March 22, 2010

Madagane (Sweet dish)

This mildly sweet dish is generally prepared during “Ugadi” festival in all Konkani households. In other south Indian states too, a similar type of dish is prepared and it is known as "payassam".


Even though, I enjoy this dish, I would always hesitate to prepare it as it involves a cumbersome process of breaking the coconut, grating it, grinding it and finally filtering it to remove the juice of the coconut.

Thanks to the coconut milk which is readily available in the market, now all this work can be completely eliminated and can be quickly prepared without hassles. Ofcourse not everybody would agree with me but I being slightly lazy would always opt for a litle short-cut method !!


In the market a wide variety of coconut milk or coconut milk powders are available. I would recommend the Homemade brand which comes in tetra packs of 200ml. According to me, these are (as the name suggests) quite fresh and does not give the coconut oil smell if you use it as per their instructions.



Madgane 32




Ingredients


Channa dal (Bengal gram dal)

1 cup

Tender Cashew nuts

15 - 20

Powdered jaggery

1 cup

Coconut milk

1 pkt (200ml)

Cardamom powder

1-2 tsps

Rice powder

1 tbsp

Water

3 cups



Method :


  1. Soak the tender cashew nuts in hot water for 15-20 mins. Then peel the skin and halve it and keep aside.
  2. Wash channa dal.
  3. Boil 2 cups of water. Add to it the washed channa dal and when it is almost cooked, add the halved cashew nuts.
  4. When dal and the nuts are cooked, add the powdered jaggery and mix well.
  5. Lower the flame and add rice powder. Stir well to prevent it from sticking at the bottom.
  6. Add coconut milk and stir again. If its very thick add a little water.
  7. Bring to boil and remove from flame.
  8. Finally add cardamom and mix well.
  9. Serve hot.

Serves : 6


Note :


You can substitute Moong dal (split green gram) or broken wheat or oats for Channa dal (split black gram) using the above method in which case the cooking time for each will vary accordingly.

Rice powder is added as a thickening agent. You may omit it altogether or use any other thickening agent of your choice ( like corn starch).




5 comments:

  1. Hmm.. I like this, personally I think its best had chilled, and yes - the more cashews, the better.. I think you could be more generous, amma. :)

    Full of flavour and mildly sweet,
    Madgane is a treat,
    Fast to cook and great to eat!

    Cardamom does a lovely fragrance impart,
    But go easy on the cashews,
    too many arent good for the heart!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree that chilled tastes best.

    But not everybody will agree as, if you remember our nursery rhyme, which says :
    "some like it hot, some like it cold and some
    like it in the pot nine days old. "

    I liked your poem too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. :D

    I don't think it will last as long as nine days.. If i remember right, it usually vanishes with in 24hrs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What I like about the madgane is that the cashew is not fried! But since I married a tamilian, it is believed that this dish is made with mung dal and the cashew is added at the end fried in ghee. It's ages since I prepared it this way!!

    ReplyDelete