For piping hot 'holige'

Every year when Ganesha habba comes around, people excitedly prep their kitchens to make traditional dishes like kadabu, karjikai and holige. Although making holige is a tedious process, which involves cooking the dal with jaggery and covering it with maida dough and heating it evenly, people religiously make it.

But over time, because of time constraints, the sweet has started to decline its presence in households. It’s at times like these that ‘Holige Mane’ in Malleswaram comes as a sinful saviour. Opened just six months ago, on the popular Sampige Road, the small store caters to the local cravings for the savoury dish.Throughout the day, piping hot holige are flipped on the large stove. Passers-by can’t help but stop and salivate at the thin chapati-like sweet.

A sweet aroma rises from the stove as a variety of holige are heaped together. Jayakar, who started the store because of his love for experimentation, says, “We have many varieties and some of them aren’t even listed on the menu. When I’m not working, I’m thinking of new recipes to try.

While most people in the City make dal and coconut holige, we make a variety.” ‘Holige Mane’ has over a dozen varieties of holige - dates, carrot, tutti-frutti, almond, kova and more. He adds, “The dal and coconut holige get spoilt after two days but the dates and badami ones last for almost 10 days.

When people are buying it in bulk, we warn them about this.” The first thing people associate with holige is holige saaru, especially now that Ganesha ‘habba’ is here. Jayakar says, “We don’t make holige saaru because we aren’t experts at it. We don’t want to send the customer away with something that we aren’t sure of.

But if people come in the night, we are willing to give away the dal water to them.” For the festive season, they are making karjikai as well.   ‘Holige Mane’ is located between 3rd and 4th cross, on Sampige Road, Malleswaram.