Thambittu Unde / Hurigadale Thambittu

So far in my 'A - Z' Karnataka Recipe Series,
Akki Halbai
Biscuit Roti
Congress Kadalekayi
Davanagere Benne Dose
Ellu Pajji
Field Beans / Avarekalu Payasa
Girmit
Hitakida Avarekalu Huli
Iyengar Bakery Style Masala Toast
Jolada Vade
Kumbalakayi Idli
Limbe Hannina Gojju
Mysore Pak
Nuchinunde
Oodhalina Bisibele Bhath

Panchakajjaya
Quinoa Oralu Chitranna
Rave Vangi Bhath
Sajjige Rotti

The first dishes I planned and drafted were for letters 'H' and 'T'. In fact those dishes were the ones that gave me the idea to start this series and I had them in my drafts' folders for the past two years. I promptly posted the H dish that happened to be hitakida avarekalu huli which is quintessentially Karnataka and this A - Z series would have been incomplete without it. And today's supposed 'T' recipe needed only pushing the publish button but I decided to discard it at the last moment and cook something else. 

I had the options of cooking one of the iconic breakfast recipes from the region, thatte idli. A idli which takes the name after the plate like container it is steamed in. There is thambli / thambuli which is a soothing, yogurt based dish from the Udupi- Mangalore regions and 'thellevu' a thin pancake as the title suggests, from the north Canara region. And thalia puttu, a steamed rice cake from Coorg and tachani unde, a semolina - chickpea flour  laadu / laddu from the north Karnataka region. And there is the humble thovve, a lightly seasoned lentil dish. I decided to go with thambittu, hurigadale thambittu in partcular which I had made today as part of Krishnasthami neivedyam. These are the dishes that are on top of my head when I think of "T' dishes but I am sure I might have missed some and there are others with Konkani names.

Some 'T' ingredients from kitchen:
Thaale hannu - palm fruit
Tharakari - vegetable
Thengina kaayi - coconut
Thengina thuri - grated coconut
Thogari bele - lentils / pigeon peas
Thogari kaalu - green pigeon peas
Thondekaayi - ivy gourd / tendli
Thuppa - ghee
Thindi - breakfast 
Thatte - eating plate

Thambittu pronounced thumb-it-tu is one of the traditional sweet dishes that is made in several versions using rice flour, wheat flour and so on though the method varies slightly from one version to another. The texture, looks and taste vary from one another as well. Thambittu or thambitttu unde is a part of celebrations and festival food ranging from being used as a naivedhya (offering to god) or as a base for deepa (diyas / lamps) to make aarati during worshiping to being apart of baby showers and weddings. I had made the rice based ones a couple of weeks ago but surprisingly, it didn't cross my mind to take pictures. The unde or laddu which I am posting today is made mainly with hurigadale or putani / fried gram and can be made for festivals like navratri or janmasthami. It is an easy and quick recipe and the humble laddus taste good. The jaggery that I used is so good that we felt these laddus were subtly caramel flavored. These are made with fried gram like a malaadu but taste different because of the addition of jaggery, coconut and poppy seeds.

Ingredients: (Yield 15 laddus)
1/2 tbsp. poppy seeds / gasagase
3/4 cup grated, dry coconut / ona kobbari
1 and 1/4 cups fried gram / hurigadale
Seeds from 2 cardamom pods / elakki
1/4 cup ghee / thuppa
3/4 cup jaggery / bella (I had sticky type of jaggery, firmly packed.)

Directions:
* Dry toast the poppy seeds on low flame, stirring continuously until they start to change the color. (Attention needs to be paid as they burn easily.) Transfer them onto a plate and let them cool.

* To the same pan, add coconut and toast on medium flame. Stir constantly until it turns crisp. (It takes about 2 to 3 minutes.) Transfer the coconut also onto a plate and let cool. 

* Grind together the cardamom seeds and fried gram into a fine powder.

* Powder the toasted coconut as well.

* Combine the ground fried gram, coconut and poppy seeds.

* Heat together ghee, jaggery and a tbsp. of water in a wide pan. (Adding water is optional but I find it easier and quicker to melt the jaggery.) 

 * Turn off the stove when the jaggery melts and starts to bubble. There is no need to form any syrup.
 
* Add the powdered mixture and stir well. 

* This is after a short time.

* Keep it aside for a short time and make laddus when the mixture is still warm. It hardens when allowed to cool down. 

* Store the unde in an airtight container once they cool down.

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Flax Seeds - Sesame Seeds Laddu

My mother had given me a few laddu recipes to try a while ago. The tempting protein laddus I posted a few months earlier was one of them. These healthy flax seed laddus are one more from the bunch that are simple and easy to prepare. The original recipe was called flax seed laddu as it used equal quantities of flax and sesame seeds. I have increased sesame seeds quantity when I made these laddus. Also the recipe had about 1/4 tsp. of ground cinnamon which I omitted favoring cardamom. 

Sesame seeds play an important role in some of the regions during Sankranthi festival. These laddus make a great choice if one needs to make a dish using sesame seeds. Or if one has some leftover 'ellu-bella' mix, transform it to some nutritious laddus which everyone can enjoy. These quick fix laddus can also make an opt choice for a 'mithai' platter or when one needs to make more sweets for festivals like Diwali and such.  

Ingredients:
1/4 cup flax seeds
3/4 cup sesame seeds
1 cup dates (More than 24 pitted dates)
1 /4  tsp. ground cardamom

Directions:
* Toast sesame seeds on medium flame until they start to lightly brown, continuously stirring all the while. Don't let them burn.

 * Toast flax seeds until they start to crackle and fly around. It takes about a minute or less to toast them.

* Let the toasted seeds cool down.

* Finely grind the toasted flax seeds in a blender and transfer it a bowl. (I saved a few seeds without grinding and added to laddus which I don't recommend.) Next finely grind the sesame seeds as well and add it to the bowl. 
* Lightly pulse the dates in a food processor or a blender until they appear coarsely ground. Next add the ground sesame and flax seeds, cardamom and cinnamon if using and run the food processor on pulse mode until the mixture comes together.  

* Transfer the contents to a bowl and shape into laddus. 

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Amaranth Flour - Pistachio Balls / Rajgira Ke Atta - Pista laddu

Here are some nutritious and healthy laddu for adults and kids alike. These are gluten free and are easy to make. I thought of using a millet flour for this week's theme and zeroed on amaranth flour. I added pistachios but any or a mixture of nuts can be substituted here. We felt that they tasted similar to the classic sunnundalu of Andhra which are made using husked black gram / sabut urad dal and jaggery and had a hint of milk powder texture.

Ingredients: (Yield 8 laddus)
3 tbsp. Ghee
1/2 cup Rajgira ke atta / Amaranth flour
1/4 cup shelled pistachios
6 to 8 tbsp. powdered jaggery
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom

Method:
* Heat a pan and add ghee. When ghee melts, add amaranth flour and toast it on low flame until you start to smell the aroma, about five minutes.
* Lightly toast the pistachios and keep them aside to cool.
* Add the pistachios to a food processor or a blender and grind them coarsely. Next add the remaining ingredients and pulse a few times to combine.
* Transfer the ingredients onto a plate or bowl. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, shape them into balls. Shape the laddus when the mixture is still warm.
* Let them cool and store them in an airtight container.

This goes to Blogging marathon #86, under the theme 'All that come round are laddus?'. Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.

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Poha Laddu / Sweetened Beaten Rice Flakes' Balls / Atukula laddu

 
Here are some delicious laddus which happen to be a quick preparation. These are very easy even for a novice and are apt sweet choice for festivals like Diwali, and Krishnasthami.

Ingredients: (Yield 10 laddus)
2 cups beaten rice flakes / poha / atukulu
1/2 cup sweetened desiccated coconut / grated dry coconut
3/4 cup powdered jaggery *
2 cardamoms
2 tbsp. ghee
1 tbsp. each - cashews and raisins
2 tbsp. melted ghee or milk at room temperature to shape the laddus
* Adjust the quantity of the jaggery depending upon it's sweetness
 
Method:
* Toast rice flakes on medium flame in a wide pan until crisp. Transfer the flakes to a wide plate and let cool.
* Toast cashews and raisins in ghee until the cashews turn golden and the raisins turn plump. Keep them aside.
* Grind the cardamom seeds finely.
* Grind the beaten rice flakes, coconut, jaggery and cardamom in a blender / food processor finely. Remember to grind the mixture fine since coarsely ground poha bits are hard to chew.
* Transfer the ground mixture to a wide plate and add the toasted cashews and raisins along with the ghee. Mix well and add extra ghee / milk as needed to shape the mixture to balls.
* Make lime sized balls using the mixture. Store them in a bottle or a container with a tight lid. Refrigerate them if milk was used to shape the balls.
 

This goes to Blogging marathon #73, under the theme 'Sweets prepared in less than an hour'. Check here to find out what the other marathoners are cooking as part of the BM.

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4 Ingredient Recipes ~ Date & Walnut Laddu

Less ingredients and less fuss. This is what going to be the theme of my posts this week and they are all going to be based on four  ingredients. Cooking with few ingredients automatically implies that less time and less work are involved in the process. These delicious date and nut based laddus here are a fine example for it.

Ingredients:
1 cup soft, pitted dates
1/2 cup walnuts or almonds
1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Method:
* Process walnuts / almonds into coarse crumbs and keep them aside.
* Finely chop the dates and also run them through food processor. There is no need to make them mush. Now add the coconut flakes, nut crumbs and cinnamon and pulse them a few times until the mixture comes together. 
Alternately, the coconut flakes can be left out while pulsing the mixture and later the laddus can be rolled in the coconut flakes instead.
* Transfer the mixture onto a plate and shape them into lime sized balls. 
 
These laddus are going to be a part of the Blogging marathon #69. Check the link to find out what the other marathoners are cooking.

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Horlicks Rava laddu

 
My daughter expects a chocolate cake and mysore pak which she calls as yellow burfi on her birthdays. It has become a sort of tradition in our home that those two items are a part of her birthday celebrations. She celebrated her birthday two days ago and as usual her birthday cake was a chocolate based one. She didn't get to pick her cake this time around and so, thankfully we didn't have to witness a riot of colors. Instead her dad brought a cake decorated with dainty, pink roses which was beautiful.

For a change, instead of Mysore pak, I decided to go with these rava laddu with a twist that I happened to see on a cook show. The chef had sneaked in a dose of horlicks to the rava laddu preparation to make it nutritious and kid friendly. For those uninitiated, horlicks is a nutritional malted milk drink.  I had a bottle of horlicks lying around for months now that was bought on my daughter's whimsy,  which she refused to drink later. These laddus seemed to be a great way to use up some of that horlicks. Don't go overboard while using horlicks in the recipe as it's flavor may get dominant. My daughter enjoyed these laddus better than drinking horlicks. She very rarely eats sweets and this must be her first time tasting laddus. A surprising feat considering that I have made loads of laddus in the past one and half decade and she hadn't bothered even to look at them so far.

Ingredients: (Yield 20 laddus)
2 tbsp. ghee
2 tbsp. raisins
1 cup semolina
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Horlicks powder
1/4 cup cashew powder
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
Ghee / Milk as needed to shape laddus

Method:
* Toast raisins in ghee, in a saute pan until plump. Transfer them to a wide plate using a slotted spoon.
* Next add semolina to the same ghee in the pan. Continuously stirring, toast it on medium flame  until it starts to change the color, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn off the stove and transfer the semolina to the wide plate (with raisins) to cool.
* When semolina is no longer warm to touch, add sugar, horlicks, cashew powder and cardamom to the semolina plate. Mix well to combine.
* Next add ghee or milk in tbsp. increments to the mixture until it can hold shape when fisted. (About 4 to 6 tbsp. liquid may be needed.) Shape lime sized balls out of the mixture.
* The laddus can be stored in a covered container and can be left on the counter if they are made with ghee since they stay good for few days. However if  not planning to finish them sooner, they can be refrigerated. Where as if milk was used to shape laddus, they need to be refrigerated since they don't store well beyond a day.

This is going to be a part of Blogging marathon #64 under 'Bookmarked Recipes' and check here to find out what other marathoners are cooking today.

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A - Z Andhra Recipes ~ L for Lauzu / Kobbari Lauzu

I am doing 'A - Z' recipes from Andhra cuisine this month, presenting dishes with regional names in an alphabetical order and it's time for the letter 'L' today. It is one of those alphabets that got me stumped, when thinking in terms of finding recipes with a Telugu name. When I mentioned about the same to the other adult at home a couple of months back, the following conversation ensued.

Him: Finished planning all the recipes for your marathon?
Me: Any ideas for the alphabet 'L'?
Him (glaring at me like I am going bonkers): Laddu??
Me: is not south Indian
Him: (looking at me this time like I have really gone batty) Not south Indian? They are in the region for generations and people prepare it for every special occasion.
Me: So? 
Him: Who told you that you need to post recipes which are specific to the region? Sometimes neighboring states share the recipes.
Me: The laddus are made all over India.
Him (trying to convince me some more): O..K.. How about Tirupati Laddu?
Me (Sitting straight now): They have a recipe for it?
Him: You are the blogger. Go look for it.
Me: I don't think so. I think they may have a secretly guarded recipe or something like that. On second thoughts, they might not, looking at the quality of the laddus they are churning out lately. I don't even want to try it.
Me (reminiscing some more): I used to love those, that used to be made decades ago and now I hate the quality and now I don't even feel like trying them.
Him: O.K, then. You have lehyam.
Me: What ??? Like that ayurvedic paste? They prepare it at home ? Your mom did?
Him (looking at the new crazy me): Why would she?
Me: Why would I ?
Him: You are the blogger and you need the post.
Me (sheepishly checking all over the web): All I see are posts by Tamilians
Him: So, now lehyam becomes a Tamilian recipe? Cook something with lavangalu (cloves) then.
Me: What was I thinking, asking you for ideas?
Him: Was trying to help here. 
Me: I had cooked the dish already. Was just checking to see if you had any better ideas.
Him: 😕

Obviously, the laddu my husband was referring to would be a glaring choice to any Indian and that idea instantly pops when looking for 'L' recipes. Not any laddus but the delicious, succulent ones prepared using chickpea flour and sugar syrup aka boondi laddu. The same when prepared with a fine sieved ladle would become mothi choor laddu. And the laddus made at Tirumala Tirupathi Temple in the state of Andhra Pradesh is the epitome of the kind. And of course my husband was on the right path and indeed I was going to post a laddu recipe though not the boondi one. Obviously I had to let go the option for the above mentioned reasons and look for the other Andhra variety laddus. The available choices were thokkudu laddu, sunnundalu and chimmiri undalu which have been done already to death on my blog. I think I have posted already 4 varieties of sunnundalu and 3 to 4 varieties of chimmiri here. 

And so I went with the remaining and obvious choice of kobbari lauzu which is also called lauzu, in short form. The freshly shredded coconut and jaggery are cooked until they hold shape and made into balls or laddus. The color of the jaggery used determines the color of this laddus. Usually the variety of jaggery I get locally is very pale in color and so my laddus are light colored. This one makes a quick and yummy dessert, redolent with cardamom flavor and comes handy when you have extra coconuts to use. Sugar can be substituted for jaggery in the recipe. We call the cooked mixture of coconut and jaggery lauzu but it seems in some areas it refers to not the laddu but the burfi and so I have provided the recipe for it too. 

Ingredients: (Yield 7 Laddus )
1 cup fresh / frozen shredded coconut
3/4 cup powdered jaggery or sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Method:
* Add all ingredients to a thick bottomed pan or a non-stick pan and start cooking on medium low flame until it thickens and is rollable. Keep stirring continuously to avoid the coconut mixture sticking to the bottom of the pan / getting scorched. Also do not let the mixture brown.
* Let the mixture cool. Grease your palms with ghee and make into balls. This lauzu can be refrigerated and stored for at least a couple of weeks. 
* If burfi need to be made, continue cooking the mixture until it starts to leave the sides of the pan. Grease a plate with edges and pour the mixture onto the plate. Flatten the mixture with the back of a spatula. Score into squares while the mixture is warm. Break down into pieces when cool and store it in an airtight container.

So far on my 'A - Z' Andhra Cuisine,
A for Alasanda Vada
B for Bellam Garelu
C for Chiyali
D for Dondakaaya Kaarapu Kaaya
E for Endu Kobbari Podi
F for Fine Biscuits 
G for Gongura - Mamidikaya Pappu
H for Halwa Holigalu
I for Idli Karam Podi
J for Janthikalu
K for Kobbari Koora

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

An InLinkz Link-up

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