Autumn in India is marked by celebrations. The season kickstarts with sharad (autumn) Navratri that spans nine days from October 3 to12 this year. Food is integral to the festive menu, and it's incomplete without sweets.
The recipes often signify the qualities of the goddess. In south India, a variety of sweets are made with rice, channa dal and coconut sweetened with jaggery. Here’s a list of some classics, with suggestions of places to buy them, and a recipe for Karnataka’s unique channa dal halwa, hayagreeva maddi.
Rava kesari
This comforting dish of semolina halwa tinted with saffron has a permanent place in the sweet platter during festivals and social occasions across communities. “The ever-popular rava kesari, containing copious amounts of ghee and sugar, nuts and aromatic cardamom, is prepared as naivedyam (offering to the deity) on the sixth day of Navratri which falls on October 8 this year. It is usually prepared to appease the goddess Navadurga,” explains Sudha Ramaswamy, a Madurai-based home-maker.
Available in Chennai at the restaurants Namma Veedu Vasanta Bhavan, Aachi Namma Kitchen and Sarvana Bhavan.
Arisi vella puttu or steamed rice flour sweetened with jaggery is traditionally prepared on Fridays, considered the most auspicious during Navratri. Although it shares its name with Kerala’s quintessential puttu, which is steamed in a cylindrical mould, the preparation process is different.
Arisi vella puttu is made with roasted rice flour, sprinkled with water, mixed with turmeric and salt and steamed in a cloth. Once cooked, jaggery syrup is added. It has a grainy texture, and is served like a dry-ish halwa topped with fried cashews .
Available in Chennai at the restaurant The Puttu Kadai.
On the ninth day of Navratri, which falls on October 11 this year, rice-based sweets are usually prepared and offered to the goddess Siddhidatri, to symbolise purity and abundance.
Home chef Sumitra Kalapatapu, who specialises in Andhra cooking, says paravannam is a traditional pudding–like dish of rice, milk and jaggery, flavoured with a dash of cardamom powder and mixed with ghee-fried dry fruits.
Order online from Hyderabad’s Vengala’s Caterers.
Another popular rice-based offering on the ninth day is poornam boorelu or poornalu, a sweet dumpling from Andhra Pradesh. Stuffed with a mixture of jaggery, chana dal paste, cardamom powder and dry fruits, it is coated in a fermented rice flour-urad dal batter, deep-fried and served hot with a generous drizzle of ghee.
Available in Hyderabad at the restaurants Kodi Kura Chitti Gaare and Palle Vindu.
Nei payasam—the ghee-laden, mushy, jaggery-based sweet dish—is the main naivedyam during Navratri in Kerala. It's made using Kerala's unakkalari raw red rice and is slow-cooked in a heavy-bottomed, brass vessel. “It is believed that offering jaggery-based sweets to the goddess brings prosperity, as it is one of her favourite ingredients. Hence, nei payasam is offered and eaten during Navratri,” informs chef Marina Balakrishnan of the Mumbai-based delivery kitchen Oottupura which specialises in food from Kerala.
Available in the multi-outlet restaurant Ente Keralam.
In Karnataka, the decadent badam halwa made with almonds and ghee, is offered as naivedyam on the first day of Navratri, setting the tone for the rest of the celebrations. It is considered an apt offering, as almonds are rich in nutrition, while sweets prepared in ghee are believed to please the goddess.
Available in Bengaluru at India Sweet House and SRM Sweets.
Genasale or kayi kadubu is a coconut and jaggery-filled rice cake, folded and steamed in banana leaves. Serving it at night is believed to invoke blessings of peace and prosperity, making it a fitting end to the day’s rituals.
The gooey rice and jaggery pindi payasam is prepared with generous amounts of ghee which impart a syrupy texture. It is a unique payasam recipe, because it doesn’t contain milk or coconut milk.
The halwa-like dish is made with chana dal, jaggery and coconut.
“On Maha Navami which falls on October 11 this year, the goddess Siddhidhatri is worshipped and people from Udupi offer this sweet to seek her blessings for wisdom and wealth,” informs Bengaluru-based home chef and food blogger, Rupa Ravi Chitloor, and shares a recipe for this unique regional delicacy.
Ingredients:
1 cup chana dal
1 cup jaggery
1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp dry grated coconut
2 tbsp ghee
2 cloves
Half tsp cardamom powder
3 cups water
8-10 cashews fried in ghee
A pinch of turmeric
Method:
Wash chana dal. In a vessel, pour in the water, channa dal and haldi. Bring to a boil and cook until the dal is semi-soft and retains its shape.
While the dal is cooking, dry roast poppy seeds with grated coconut and keep aside.
Take a kadai and place it on medium flame. Add the boiled chana dal and cook for two minutes, mix in jaggery and allow it to melt. Add cloves, cardamom powder, roasted poppy seeds, dried grated coconut and mix thoroughly.
Garnish with ghee-fried cashews and serve warm.
Mini Ribeiro is a food writer and consultant based in Goa.
