What’s cooking this Ganesh Chaturthi?

Bengalureans share recipes of their favourite festive delights

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most auspicious festivals, and the festivities are incomplete without Lord Ganesha’s favourite food. A few Bengalureans shared with Metrolife about what they’re rustling up this year.

Khara kadubu

Sharada Ramaswamy, a 60-year-old homemaker, says Ganesha is a foodie and the festival is incomplete without his favourite dish aka Kadubus. These are steamed dumplings made from coarsely-ground rice.

“These can be made either sweet or savoury. At home, we really like the savoury ones. We have been following this recipe for generations,” she says.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 cup rice flour

1 cup water

1 tbsp oil

Pinch of salt

For the filling:

1 cup split Bengal gram soaked overnight

8 to 10 curry leaves

5 green chillies

1 inch fresh ginger

Few sprigs of dill leaves

Salt to taste

Method

For the dough, bring water to a rolling boil. Add in the oil, rice flour and salt, and mix until incorporated. Take it off the heat and keep mixing until a smooth malleable dough is formed. Let the dough rest while you are making the filling.

For the filling, grind all the ingredients together into a coarse mixture. Transfer it to a bowl.

To form the kadubus, take a golf-sized amount of dough and flatten it into a circle. Place 1 tsp of filling in the centre and close the dough to form a half-moon shape or roll into a ball.

Place all the prepared kadubus on a greased plate and steam cook them for 10 minutes.

Once cooked, let them cool for five minutes before serving.

Gond ke laddoo

Sixteen-year-old Tanika Todkar is just as big a foodie as Ganesha is considered to be. “That is one of the reasons he is my favourite god and this is my favourite festival. I love every single food that is made during Ganesh Chaturthi. But my favourite is the laddoos,” she says.

Tanika prepares Gond ke laddoo with her mother every year. “This is not a traditional Marathi preparation. It is a family-favourite and it’s a must on the breakfast thali every year during the festival,” she adds.

Ingredients

6 tbsp ghee/clarified butter

½ cup gond

1 cup jaggery syrup

2 tbsp cashews chopped

2 tbsp almonds chopped

2 tbsp raisins

1½ cup dry coconut

2 tbsp poppy seeds

¾ cup seedless dry dates

¼ tsp cardamom powder

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

2 tbsp water

Method

In a tawa, heat ¼ cup ghee and roast ½ cup gond in batches. Once roasted, transfer the gond to a bowl and crush it using your hand or with the help of a rolling pin.

In the same pan, roast dry fruits, dry coconut and poppy seeds on a low flame.

Transfer it to the same bowl and add cardamom powder and nutmeg powder and mix well. Keep aside.

Pour jaggery syrup over the dry fruit mixture and mix well.

Grease hands and start forming laddoos while the mixture is still hot.

Once cooled, the laddoos can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month.

Sweet modaka

One of Ganesha’s most favourite delicacies, this sweet treat is a must on every table during the season.

Shwetha Rajashekar co-founder of India Sweet House, Malleswaram, who also runs an organic dairy farm, believes nothing can beat recipes that are passed down generations. “Using rich, organic ingredients and sticking to traditional recipes is the true essence of these festivals,” she says.

Ingredients

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ kg chiroti rava

a pinch of salt

1 tablespoon ghee

3-4 tablespoons milk

2 cups grated coconut

11/2 cups jaggery

1 cup dry fruits of choice

1/4 tsp elaichi powder

Oil for frying

Method

Make a dough of chiroti rava, ghee, milk and flour and knead well. Keep it aside for some time while you prepare the stuffing for the modaka.

In a pan, add freshly grated coconut and jaggery in equal quantities. Add 2-3 spoons of ghee and mix. Keep stirring on a medium flame and turn off when the mixture doesn’t stick to the pan and separates as a whole lump.

In a small kadhai, add a few spoons of ghee and fry small pieces of cashews, almonds and raisins. Add this to the stuffing.

Make small balls of the dough and roll it into poori-size chapatis. Place the stuffing and close the chapati from all ends to give the shape of modaka. Deep fry this on a medium flame to get crispy modakas.