Celebrating Blog's 13th Anniversary with Akki Haalubai / Akki Halbai

Wish you all a joyous new year ! Hopefully the new year will usher in health and happiness to everyone around us and my readers. I am back after a brief hiatus which was very much needed from a personal point of view. In the meanwhile, my blog completed 13 years this past month when I was away. A blog which was supposed to be an online recipe diary has somewhat turned into a hobby and habit of mine in the process. Also this turned out to be a pursuit that has lasted longer without me losing attention along the way. A big hug for those who follow and appreciate my posts and for people in my life who share and inspire to continue this blog. 

And now to the main event of this week. I am planning to do a vegetarian recipe series on Karnataka cuisine starting this month. Karnataka is one of the states in southern India where I grew up and is dear to me. The format would be in an alphabetical order, that is A to Z style though the alphabets in the local languages are different. I am going to post 3 recipes on the first week of each month. There are going to be 3 recipes this week that start with letters A, B and C. The next three recipes with names starting with D, E and F are going to be posted in February and so on. I am starting the series with a sweet recipe, also to celebrate my blog's milestone. 

Today's post is the first in the series featuring letter 'A'.  The first alphabet in the local language in the state of Karnataka or for that matter in most of the Indian languages sounds like 'au'. The words starting with that sound typically fall under 'A' recipes of Karnataka though I am not making a comprehensive list here. I am just noting down some of the common Kannada culinary terms, Kannada being the widely spoken and official language of the state. We will start with the basics like aduge, aduge mane (au-do-gay  ma-nay), and aduge bhatta which respectively mean cooking, the kitchen and the cook who cooks / caters for a group. In everyday usage, aduge becomes 'adige (ah-d-gay) most of the times. A also stands for the two staple and indispensable ingredients of the region, akki and anna. While Akki (pronounced uck-e) means the rice grain, anna (un-na) is the cooked version of rice. Coarsely ground rice is akki tari (tha-ri), finely ground version would be akki hittu and akki shavige is rice noodles. While avalakki is the beaten rice flakes, arka is kodo millet and aralu would be the popped grain. There are plenty of breakfast dishes made with avalakki / beaten rice flakes.

Aloo gadde would be the ubiquitous potato while amtekai is the hog plum. Ananas would be pineapple while arishina is ground turmeric which is an integral part of an Indian spice box. The roots (kombu) and leaves (ele) are used in cooking. Alasande is the black eyed peas while the most important beans of all for the region or at least for us, the Bangaloreans would be the fresh hyacinth beans called avarekalu. Anabe, the mushroom is not part of a traditional, vegetarian kitchen.

A also stands for a tasty snack aambode, the popular south Indian masala vada sans onions. Appe huli is the famous green mango rasam from the coastal and Malenadu regions. A ton of dishes are made with avarekayi aka hyacinth beans whose names obviously start with avarekayi. Similar in the case of akki aka rice. The famous one has to be the rotti, the flat breads that are mainly prepared in three different ways. Today's sweet is also made with rice and hence the name akki halbai.

The first one in the series is going to be a sweet recipe of the old era kind where grand mothers used to whip up a treat for the eagerly waiting grand kids. The kids of those times who didn't have a zillion number of calorie laden, ultra-processed snack options would have definitely found halbai alluring. It is a traditional dish from Karnataka and also called as manni in the coastal areas of the state, if I am not wrong. It doesn't need any fancy ingredients and uses the basic staples of a south Indian kitchen as many other traditional delicacies do. Kids of the present may or may not appreciate this old world 'sihi' (sweet) before the allure of the modern desserts but I certainly has a weakness for it. The ground batter of rice, coconut and jaggery is cooked until thickened, cut into bite shaped pieces and served. Don't be fooled by the burfi shaped halbai, It is basically a dish with a soft and literally 'melt in mouth' kind of consistency as that of a halwa. Haalu means milk in Kannada.

It is a festival dish, mostly made on Nagara panchami day though it can be made on other occasions too. Halbai can be prepared with wheat and ragi too instead of rice. I have noticed there are versions with fine semolina and even beaten rice flakes (Chiroti rave and avalakki). Halbai making actually doesn't need any other skills than stirring. However this is a recipe where one cannot ignore the proportions of the ingredients mentioned. The dish would end up being a disaster if one eyeballs the measurements as many Indians do with most of the dishes. The ratio of rice and water is always 1:3 in this recipe. The trick is to cook until the mixture is no longer sticky. 

The process appears tedious to many, especially during the first half part of the cooking as lumps start forming if not constantly stirred. I would recommend a non stick pan for this recipe. The whole cooking process took me about 20 minutes and I paid constant attention only for the first ten minutes. I was also preparing a small quantity and so the process didn't bother me at all. Besides I was trying a recipe that had been on my mind for more than two decades. I never got a chance to try this rice version though my mother and I have tried wheat and ragi versions before. I am not sure if it is an acquired taste but it is delicious for people like me who has a sweet tooth, especially biased towards traditional south Indian 'rice' based sweets. 

Cooking time: About 20 minutes
Yield: 8 - 9 pieces
Ingredients:
1/4 cup rice
1/4 cup fresh / frozen shredded coconut (I used 2 tbsp. more)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. jaggery
3/4 cup water (divided)
2 cardamom pods
1 tbsp. ghee (divided)
Cashews to garnish
  
Prep work:
1. Soak rice in water for about 3 hours. Drain the water after the soaking period and rinse with water twice and drain the water completely.
2. If using frozen coconut, thaw by heating it in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds.
3. Finely grind the cardamom seeds.
4. Grease a small rectangular or a circular plate with ghee. Choose a plate with some depth.

Directions:
1. Finely grind the soaked (and drained) rice and coconut adding 1/4 cup water. 

Add jaggery next and grind until it is incorporated into the batter. Grinding jaggery is optional. Jaggery can be added to the pan later too while the rice - coconut mixture is cooking. (See notes if the jaggery being used is not clean.)
2. Add the ground mixture and 1/2 cup of water to a pan, preferably a nonstick one to make the stirring job easier. Start cooking on low flame, stirring constantly. Add jaggery now if it was not added to rice and coconut while grinding. 

3. The mixture needs constant attention at the early stage as it turns easily lumpy if not stirred continuously. 
4. The mixture looks like this after about 10 minutes of cooking. Add cardamom and a tsp. of ghee and keep cooking on low medium heat, stirring continuously. 

5. The mixture looks like this after 15 minutes of cooking. 

6. Add one more tsp. of ghee and keep cooking on low medium heat, stirring continuously.

7. After 3 - 4 minutes, the mixture should start coming together and leave edges of the pan, forming a single mass like halwa. Add the remaining ghee and stir well to combine.

7. Turn off the stove when the mixture doesn't stick when touched with wet fingers. It means that halbai is ready. 

8. Transfer the mixture to the greased plate, level it with the back of a spatula, Cut into square or diamond shapes when it is slightly warm and garnish with cashews if desired and serve. (I forgot to take pictures for this step.)

Notes:
In case if the jaggery being used is not clean then skip adding it to the ground rice - coconut mixture. Add it to a separate pan along with 1/2 cup water and heat until the jaggery melts. Turn off the stove and filter the jaggery water to remove any impurities present. Add the filtered jaggery solution in the step 1 and omit the addition of water in step 2. The total water used in the recipe should not exceed 3/4 cup for this measurement.

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