Happy Yugadi! Yugadi is celebrated as the beginning of a new year in India (but through different names). In Bangalore, we start this festival by eating neem and jaggery. Neem denotes the bitterness we face in life, and the jaggery represents all the sweet things of life. By eating the neem and jaggery together, it is a symbol of promising ourselves to face the bitterness and sweetness of life with confidence.
In Mangalore, we celebrate this festival by savouring a kadle Bele (Bengal gram or chanadal) and gerubeeja (raw cashew) Payasa. It is a delicious dessert which is made more delightful because of the cashew nuts which are present in every spoonful.
We will see the procedure –
Ingredients:
Chana dal/Split Bengal gram – 1 cup
Whole raw Cashew – 1 cup
Coconut milk – 1 tetra pack
Jaggery – 1 ½ block (used Organic jaggery blocks)
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp.
Salt – ½ tsp.
Method:
-At first we have to remove outer cover of the young cashew. Take one bowl, put all those young and raw cashew kernels into it, pour boiling water and keep it aside for 10 to 15 minutes by closing the lid.
-When outer cover of the kernels swells, remove the outer cover and keep aside.
-Wash chana dal and cook this in a cooker by putting sufficient water for two whistles.
-Cook dal till it is perfectly cooked. Dal should be well cooked and easily crushed. Doneness is very important, after adding jaggery, dal becomes little stiff and firm.
– When its pressure relieves add cashew kernels and cook. After one whistle, switch off the gas and cool this.
-Now add salt and jaggery and boil till you get a nice aroma and till the raw smell of jaggery disappears.
– When it is done, add one tetra pack of coconut milk and give one boil. That is it. Garnish with powdered cardamom and enjoy.
Note: –
– If you don’t have access to raw cashew kernels, you can use regular cashew and you can cook this with Chana dal for 3 whistles and proceed by adding jaggery.
– If you are using fresh coconut for extracting milk, take grated coconut (from one coconut), add one cup of water and grind, and extract milk. (This is a thick extract and should be added at the end)
– Once again add little water and grind, to take out thin milk and you can add this while boiling jaggery.
– If you are using regular jaggery, at first self-boil this with little water, make a liquid and sieve this before adding to the kheer, to remove impurities.