Layyi/layya (Konkani) or araLu/hodlu (Kannada) is a kind of unsalted popcorn. Two types of popcorn are usually available. One variety is made from corn and the other one is made from rice(well, I can’t call these popcorns because they are not popped corns, but they look similar to the corn versions). The rice variety is readily available at my native. The coarse powder of these popcorns can also be found ready made in market. But here I got the corn ones and I ground them to a coarse powder.
Layya (popcorn) piTTo (powder) is one of the offerings – prasad , made on the Janmashtami at my home. My aayi makes it in a big batch and this is distributed among neighbors and servants the next day. The coarse powder of popcorn is sweetened with molasses ( paTTal gooD – the black colored liquid jaggery) or normal jaggery, fresh scraped coconut and a big dollop of ghee . Whoever offers this to god, puts 1-2 leaves of tulsi – holy basil into it, signifying god has accepted the offering. The whole procedure takes this simple dish into a amazingly tasty sweet which is hard to resist.
Here I make this dish once in a week or so, since both my husband and I are absolute fans of this dish. I usually serve it for evening snack, after we return from office with a hungry stomach but in no mood to cook some elaborate dishes and eat.
Ingredients: 2 cups unsalted popcorn powder ( layya pitto or juwar dhani ) 2 tbl spns jaggery 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1 tea spn ghee 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder
Method: Coarsely powder the unsalted popcorn. Mix jaggery and coconut well using your hand. Now add ghee , popcorn powder and cardamom powder. Mix very well with hand. Serve.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 10mins
As I had explained in one of my old posts , the next day after Janmashtami is also very special for us. One of the special dishes offered to god on this day is this colocasia-chana cooked in coconut base. VenTi or aLva panna is the stem of colocasia. Some of the leaves are tied into knots and added to the dish. Others are chopped and added. When these leaves and chana are cooked, it gives and amazing taste and a unique aroma. Whenever I eat this dish, the picture of aayi cutting these leaves comes to my mind.
Almost all the festival foods are somehow associated with seasonal vegetables that are available at that time. Janmashtami comes in rainy season, when the colocasia leaves grow in abundance. So that might be one of the reasons for this dish being offered to god on this festival. In our Indian store here, we are finding colocasia leaves a lot these days. But for the first time, I saw some really tender parrot green leaves – which are assumed to be non-itchy. So I made this dish and once again, fell in love with it.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup black chana 2-3 tender colocasia leaves with stems 3/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1/2 tea spn coriander seeds 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 4-5 curry leaves 4-5 red chilies A pinch asafoetida Oil Salt
Method: Soak chana in water overnight. Tie 4-5 long pieces of leaves into knots(I have no idea what these signifies). Cut all remaining leaves into pieces. Chop the tender stems into pieces (like you do with green beans, cut a small pieces and pull it down to remove the outer skin as much as possible).
Cook chana and leaves-stems separately in cooker. In cooker, use lowest vessel for chana and upper most one for the leaves & stems. Heat a little oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind these with coconut, red chilies, tamarind into a paste. Mix together chana , leaves-stems, paste and salt. Cook for about 7-8mins till the dish boils well. Heat a little oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add asafoetida, curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the ready dish. Serve as a side dish with rice. This goes very well with cheppi kheeri (sugerless rice pudding).
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
