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.

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).

Happy & Properous Yugadi( New Year ) to all !

A New Year Begins

Happy “Sanvsar Padvo” or Yugadi as we Konkanis or GSB’s greet each other on this day which is falling on 16th March 2010.

The Kannadigas and Andhrites call it “Ugadi” while the Maharashtrians call it “Gudi Padwa” and the Sindhis, “Cheti Chand”.

Each community celebrates this day with certain specific rituals but one “ritual” common to all is preparing exotic varieties of food and eating them !!

It is supposed to mark the beginning of the Hindu Calendar. From this day onwards a new "Panchang" ( Hindu astrological almanac which follows traditional Indian cosmology, and presents important astronomical data ) is to be followed till the coming of the next Yugadi.

As per my knowledge, we Konkanis do not have any special religious ritual as such (correct me if I am wrong) except eating all the yummy food that is prepared on this day !!

Ofcourse, we have an early morning bath and we do clean and decorate our homes and wear new clothes. It is said that the husbands should bring their wives a new sari on this day. I do not know if this is said in jest. I am sure all the wives will agree with me that they do deserve a new sari for the yummy food that is being prepared on this special day!

The special dishes that are done on this day are : Tendle & Bibbe Upkari (Gerkins & Tender cashew curry), Chana Ghashi with Kadgi (Chick Pea curry with tender jack-fruit), Madagane (sweet dish prepared out of Split chick pea and coconut milk), Dali-Thoy etc. These are the main ones that are prepared in every household.

Watch out for the “Padvo” recipes in my next post.

Source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudi_Padwa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchangam

For more details on customs and rituals:

http://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/festivals/gudhipadwa/