Friday, April 17, 2009

Hayagreeva - A Bengal Gram dessert

It was the Tamil New Year a couple of days back and we'd almost forgotten. Last year, being our first New Year together, we made Vadai and Payasam and celebrated it by going to the temple. Being good kids, basically. This year around, we were way too lazy. And I didn't want to make payasam. Or Vadai. I was venting my problems to my friend and she spoke of Hayagreeva. Initially, I didn't remember it. Then, it came back to me. I'd eaten this ages ago in Bangalore when I'd been to Rayara Matha with my grandmother. I loved the idea and A loves Karnataka food and we are always game for something new. So, the sweet was Hayagreeva and then I decided to make Cham's Kuzhi Paniyaram as the savory component of the Naivedyam. I couldn't take pics of the Paniyaram because we were way too hungry and we ate it as soon as we were done! I took the Hayagreeva pics the next day to post it. The pics aren't great, because I'd lost interest by then, but the dish surely lived upto its name. I followed her recipe to make Hayagreeva. I didn't use as much ghee as her and reduced the recipe by half. Also, I ran out of jaggery, so I used some brown sugar too along with the small amount of jaggery I had. It came out wonderfully, much to my surprise and I loved the consistency too! Here it is.


Ingredients

1/2 cup Chana Dal

1/3 cup brown sugar/jaggery
1-2 cloves
1 tbsp cinnamon/nutmeg
1 tbsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp Khus Khus/Poppy seeds
4 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1/8 cup coconut/coconut milk
1 tsp cashewnuts
1 tsp raisins

1. Fry the Chana Dal in 1-2 tbsp of ghee and once its brown and the aroma wafts through your kitchen, pressure cook it.

2. Melt jaggery/brown sugar with some water to make a syrup.

3. Add the spices - cardamom, cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg to the jaggery/brown sugar syrup.

4. Meanwhile, dry roast the coconut and poppy seeds or, alternately you may fry them in ghee. I preferred to dry roast it. Once its done, add this mixture to the syrup.

5. Let cook for a minute or two and then add Chana Dal. Mash it a little before adding it. It should not be totally mushy, but at the same time, it should not be whole Chana Dal.

6. Let this mixture simmer for a good 15-20 minutes, until the consistency is such that it becomes gooey, and the Dal has 'almost' absorbed all the liquid. The mixture will also turn a dark brown.

7. On the side, fry some cashewnuts and raisins in 1 tbsp of ghee and add this to the Hayagreeva just before taking it off the gas.

8. Just before taking the Hayagreeva off the gas, add the rest of the ghee - around 1 tbsp is remaining and mix well. Serve hot.

The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of ghee. I reduced this and it
still tasted pretty good. This is a fairly simple dish to make. Temples in Karnataka serve this gooey and almost liquidy and with a lot more ghee than even the original recipe asks for!


I'm sending Hayagreeva to MLLA-10, a brainchild of Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook, and hosted this time around by Courtney of Coco Cooks. This also goes out to Srivalli's Mithai Mela. Congrats on the remarkable achievement, Srivalli! :) You have every right to binge on every Mithai that comes your way!

45 comments:

FH said...

Slurp! look at that dark color, so delicious. I have never made this at home but seen in many blogs including your's now. Must try once.

I am so fed up with deep frying now too, just fried one dessert today. Kids are home for Spring break, they keep asking me for desserts!:D

Hopefully, I won't fry again for at least for few weeks. Have a great wonderful weekend, hugs!:)

Cham said...

Delicious and something new for me N. For all festivals we make the same sambar, vada, payasam, as we keep the tradi way, get a fear of skipping and say that I am lazy! Glad to know u like the paniyaram and enjoyed it! Have a great weekend!

Indhu said...

yummy :)
and this reminds me of chakkara pongal... that is also served with wayyyy more ghee than is necessary!

Chitra said...

its looking great,i've heard abt this , but never tried or tasted.tempting to try!!

Priya Sriram said...

Hi A&N, I have shared an award with you in my blog.. Pls accept it :)

Btw, dessert looks so delicious!! :)

Manju said...

mmm..this looks like a chana dal katti payasam - thick payasam :D. Love it, very delicious!!

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

sounds super delicious.. would love to try.

SJ said...

Argh!!!!! You know about hayagreeva too? You are more kannadiga than I thought!!!
amm...I am not very fond of this sweet tho'!
But I am so happy to just see its name on your blog- brings back so many good memories sniff..sniff..WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I want my mummy!!!!

Malar Gandhi said...

Looks great, cinnamon and nutmeg are real twist here, right. Yummy.

Pooja said...

yummy sweet...looks great

Deepa Hari said...

Looks great and completely new to me...want to try it.

I used Gold medal all purpose flour (unbleached) for the parathas.

maxdavinci said...

chalo yor frnd is finally of some use!

Varsha Vipins said...

oh..wow..I loved the first pic..am new to this dish..but I can see that its total yum..:)

Laavanya said...

I love the nutty taste and texture of channa dhal.. looks great. Hayagreeva, i thought was a God's name - now i know it's a sweet dish too.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

I've never eaten dal in that way! An interesting dessert! Surely delicious...

cheers,

Rosa

Uma said...

This name Hayagreeva sounds familiar to me! But not sure where I heard it! Looks so delicious just like chakra pongal!

Cakelaw said...

Cashews, brown sugar and coconut - sounds devine!!

glamah16 said...

Thank youi for rising to this challenge with a great dessert!

Raaga said...

This is very nice... I must try it. Am sure S would love it too.

Happy New Year, good children :)

Donna-FFW said...

This is somting totally new to me, but it looks delicious..

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

New to me. Looks wonderful and delcious.

Savi-Ruchi said...

I prepare this dish very often, it is our family favorite.., your pictures are reminding me to prepare them again :)
lovely click..

sra said...

I find the name fascinating! Don't think I've ever had this, though!

Jaishree Iyer said...

Delicious and name is something new for me.. Looks nice..

jayasree said...

Looks delicious. I have seen it in other blogs too and wanted to try it. Am bookmarking yours. When it comes to festivals, i aways tend to stick the traditional fare.

NKP said...

Looks great! So.. are they chick peas? I am not up on all my international terms!

Red Chillies said...

We love this at home, reminds me that I don't make this often though. Looks delish!

Elyse said...

Mmm, looks delicious. What a perfect celebratory meal.

chef and her kitchen said...

Looks delicious dear,even we make this..Sometime back i have also posted this in my blog

Shah cooks said...

happy new year!! We make a similar payasam but much looser in consistency.

Anonymous said...

this looks...so...freaking delicious. I seriously have not even begun a single FOOT into indian cuisine! so many delicious foods I've never even heard of!
how do you eat this? just plain or with naan?

Soma said...

That Looks very very delicious.I have never even heard of this before.I has all good things in it:-D. pass on some to me.. can u mail it?

Vibaas said...

I have heard of this, but never had this. This looks so yummy.Sounds similar to pooranam that we stuff into modakams.

Sig said...

OH yum, this is making my mouth water... you guys cook up some unusual dishes here!

Vegetarian Zest said...

Oh! This looks decadent.

tuki said...

Was it the weekend when it was happy?

Vani said...

Hayagreeva looks great! When I was a kid, this was the only form I'd have chana dal in! :)

AnuSriram said...

Looks delicious! Never heard of this before.. Gotta try this!

The Caked Crusader said...

What I love about your site is that I so often see things I've never heard of and ingredients I'm ignorant of. This looks and sounds great!

A_and_N said...

Thank you, everyone!

Soma: Address? :) This is over though ;)

Priya: thanks man! Will pick it up

Shama Nagarajan said...

really a new different recipe...yummy

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Never heard this name before, though the "payasam" looks delicious.
The only Hayagreeva I know is a slik saree shop in Chennai! :)

Dori said...

This really sounds good, I'm adding it to my long list of bookmarks!

kusublakki said...

Awesome ya!! I cant wait to eat this...Sadly I used to hate this sweet when I was at home. Only realised what I was missing when I left home :(

& max, I am always useful!!!

Srivalli said...

Thanks for the lovely entry!..looks so inviting..