Ganesha habba…a festival to celebrate!!

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi a very popular festival. It’s been a busy day with friends and the Ganesh pooja, now I finally got time off to update you all on the feast we had today.

My husband and his friend did the Ganesh pooja today while me and the friend’s wife got busy in the kitchen. It is always a pleasure having someone over especially during festivals, makes a big difference here in the US.

Steamed food is Ganesha’s favourite. Modakas also called Kadabus, Idlis, more steamed stuff…all form today’s habbada adige platter.

Steamed Kadabus

You will need:

2 cups Rice Flour
3 cups Water
½ tsp Salt
2 Tbsps Oil

For the filling:

2 cups Grated fresh coconut
1 ½ cups Sugar
½ tsp Cardamom powder

Bring water to a boil. Add salt and oil. Add the rice flour and DO NOT stir. Cook on low flame for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and immediately stir the mixture to form a soft dough without any lumps. Knead well while hot and keep aside.

Place a wet cloth on top of the dough at all times between uses because this dough tends to dry up very fast.

Mix coconut gratings, sugar and cardamom powder on low flame till incorporated well. Let cool.

Make small balls out of the kneaded dough. Roll into small puri size flats, place this in a kadabu mold, place filling on one side, close shut tightly. This helps mould the kadabu, remove excess by running your fingers on the edges of the mould.

Unmould kadabu and place on idli plates or steamer in a pressure cooker. Drizzle with oil and pressure cook for 6-7 minutes.

Idlis

To make the Idli batter:

2 portions Rice
2 portions Par boiled Rice (kusubalakki)
½ portion Poha
1 ¾ portions Urad dal

Saok overnight the first three together and urad dal separately. Next day grind to a fine paste with as less water as possible. The finer the batter the better the idlis. Let ferment overnight. The batter should rise well when the temperature outside is hot, if it doesn’t rise then you can add ¼ tsp Cooking soda which helps in fermentation. Use as required and refrigerate remaining batter.

This is how the batter looks when it is fermented

Pour batter into idli plates and place in pressure cooker. Close lid,cook on high and when steam rises, reduce heat and cook for 10 mins and then turn off heat. Let sit for a few minutes before opening the lid. With the help of a spoon, remove idlis and serve with Capsicum gojju.

Capsicum (Bell Pepper) Gojju

This is a great combination with idlis and a good change from the regular chutney and Sambar.

You will need:

4 Green Bell Peppers
1 cup grated coconut
3 tbsps Fried Gram (Hurgadle)
6-8 Green chillies
2 tbsps Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 Tsp Urad dal
½ tsp Chana dal
Few curry leaves
Salt to taste
½ tsp tamarind paste

Cube bell peppers. Grind coconut, chillies and hurgadle to a fine paste. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, chana dal and urad dal. Saute for a minute. Add the curry leaves and cubed bell peppers. Saute till bell peppers are soft. Add the ground paste, bring to a simmering boil. Add the tamarind paste and salt. Bring to a good boil. Add water if required to make gravy consistency. Serve with idlis.

This is also my entry to Asha's RCI:Karnataka

More Steamed goodies

Make as many kadabus as you wish and with the remaining dough you can make tasty sides.

Roll dough into small tubes, flats and balls. Steam in pressure cooker and these can be sauted in oil with mustard seeds, salt and green chilli paste. This makes a good spicy dish to go along side the sweet kadabus.

Finally the platter

Ganesha habba is a festival of joy and a good time to get together with family and friends to offer our humble prayers and wishes to the great Vinayaka.

Ganesha Habba platter is my entry to Latha's Festival Cooking Series