Munch on the 'obbattus'

Choices aplenty

Also bulk orders for it have begun well in advance.

Obbattu has many varieties such as that made from jaggery, coconut and Bengal gram with a tinge of elaichi added to it. ‘Ace Iyengar Home Products’, a small shop in Jayanagar that makes different kinds of sweets, has received a huge order this year. “Although we sell obbattus on a regular basis, the orders for Ugadi start pouring in five days prior to the festival. We prepare about 50 to 60,000 Bele and Kai obbattus just for the festival. People come from different parts of the City only to buy it from here,” says Hema, who looks after the catering unit at the shop. This place also offers sweets like gasagase and shavige payasa.

Pradeep, the owner of Halli Thindi, an eating joint in Hanumanth Nagar says that they make nearly 15-20,000 obbattus for Ugadi which is sold in huge numbers on the eve on the festival. “We usually make kai obbattu, bele obbattu, sakkare obbattu and kharjura (dates) obbattu,” says Pradeep. The other sweets such as gasagase and ragi halubai also sell within no time. Bele, kai and kharjurada obbattu cost Rs 10 per piece and sakkare obbattu would cost Rs 18 per piece at Halli Tindi. Obbattus are made in large quantities at ‘Thakur Peda’ and ‘Uttara Karnataka Food Stores’ in Gandhi Bazaar.

Thimmanna Hosur, the owner of the shop says, “We get our orders from Hubli, Dharwad and other places and make nothing less than 70,000 obbattus.

We also prepare different varieties such as yellu obbattu (til and jaggery) and shenga obbattu (made from groundnut and jaggery), which is also preferred by many people.” The other sweets include Karadantu, Dharwad Peda, Kunda and Mandige.

Apart from the regular sweet shops, there are caterers who also orders in bulk. Shashikanth, a cooking contractor, a specialist in bele obbattu and kai obbattu makes 5,000 obbattus during the festival and charges Rs 8 per obbattu. He says nearly 300 coconuts and 65 kgs of jaggery are required for the process,” he says.

Obbattus are a great option for the festival since they needn’t be made them at home. “The whole process of making obbattu on the day of the festival is a laborious task and  buying them saves time,” says Savitha, a young professional.