Karnataka Festive Food

Varamahalakshmi Pooja

Who wouldnt love festive feasts..We all do especially the color, the various rituals, new clothes, holidays and Food..Karnataka festive food is a delicious melange of various tasty dishes..

As the history goes Varalakshmi Vratam is an important pooja performed by many women in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and some parts of Tamil Nadu.The Hindu festival going by the name 'Vara Lakshmi Vrata' is celebrated on the last Friday of the bright fortnight in the month of Ashadha, also called Adi, which corresponds to the English months of July-August
This pooja came to be practiced year after year by women. Done with devotion, it is said that boons would be granted and thus many wishes would be realized.
This pooja can be done with no restriction to caste or creed. To this day, the faithful of modern times observe this tradition.

Some of the popular dishes prepared during this festival are

Hesarabele Payasa/Moong dal Payasam
Aaama Vade/Channa dal fritter
Kosambaris (Kadlebele kosambari/Hesarabele kosambari)/Dal salads
Seemebadnekai Palya
Thovve
Majjige Huli

For Hesarabele payasa/Moongdal Kheer
Grind to a paste (1/2cup coconut, 1tsp dry roasted poppy seeds, 2 cloves, 3-4 cardamom pods,3-4 almonds)
Dry roast 1 cup of moong dal with a tsp of ghee and pressure cook till soft.
To make:
In a thick pan, add the pressure cooked dal, mix with 11/4 cup jaggery and the ground paste. boil till all the ingrediants mix well and jaggery fully melts. Add a cup of milk (optional)..Serve hot or cold..

For Aama Vade/Channa dal fritters
Soak 2 cups of channa dal/kadlebele. Drain and pulse this with a cup of fresh grated coconut, 4 green chillies. Do not overgrind.
To this mixture add chopped mint, chopped coriender leaves and a tsp of jeera.
Flatten small rounds of the mixture into your palm and drop it in hot oil and deep fry till crispy and brown..

Seemebadnekai palya/Chayote Palya
For Take 2 Chayote/Chow Chow and chop into small pieces. Microwave them for 5-6 minutes with little water till soft.
Now in a pan, season with oil, mustard, green chillies and a tsp of turmeric. Now add the boiled chayote. Add salt and fresh grated coconut and serve with hot rice.

Majjige Huli
Please refer to my previous post using Taro leaves. Instead of Taro leaves, I have used a mixture of drumsticks, white pumpkin and okra.

Majjige Huli

Majjige Huli it is....
A typical south indian meal includes Majjige Huli which is a tangy curry made with curd & ground channa dal(kadlebele)..This is very similar to the Gujarathi Kadhi which again has curd and chick pea flour.. It takes in water based veggies like cucumber, white pumpkin, squash or snake guard.. Okra is an excellent vegetable for Majjige Huli as well. Here is a East Karnataka version which takes a unique vegetable (rather a leaf) which is the "Taro Leaf" which is also called Colocasia/Patra/Kesuvu/Chamaaku..
My vegetable garden this summer gave me fresh Taro plants with bright green tender leaves and I couldnt wait to make this Karnataka speciality..

You need:
3-4 tender Taro leaves
2tbsps besan
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut (use frozen coconut if available)
3 dried red chillies, 2 green chillies
4-5 strands of coriender leaves /cilantro
1/4tsp black pepper
1/2tsp jeera
1.5cups curd/yogurt

Grind all the above ingrediants except the taro leaves..

For tadka: 2tsp oil (use coconut oil if you like since this gives a very unique flavour), 2 small cinnamon sticks, 1tsp mustard, 1tsp jeera, a strand of curry leaves and hing..

To make:
clean the Taro leaves under running water. Chop the leaves into very thin filaments. In a pan, heat oil. To this add hing, mustard seeds till they crackle. Now add jeera, curry leaves and cinnamon sticks and mix for a minute. To this add the Taro leaf filaments and fry them for 3-4 minutes till the leaves turn dark green and cook well. Now add the ground paste and mix well. Close the lid for 2minutes till the flavours incorporate. Now finally add well beaten curd and salt and mix well. Turn off the heat..
Serve this with any rice dish or roti...