Celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with these regional family recipes

Gunda and Padengi Gassi by Sajini Shetty
 

Who: Sajini Shetty is a Bangalore-based interior designer and weekend gourmet home chef behind the handle With Love, Saj. She also happens to be a former athlete and national record- holder in women’s swimming—so she knows her way around a balanced plate!

The dish: Mangalorean cuisine brings to mind spicy prawn sukka, fiery chicken ghee roast and puffy biscut roti—rich, indulgent, and not for the faint-hearted! But the cuisine also has plenty of vegetarian options, like the gunda and padengi gassi below. Gundas (quite similar to idlis) are rice, lentil and rava dumplings, steamed and served in jackfruit leaves for an extra layer of flavour. Ingredient-wise, it’s a humble dish, but it can be time and labour-intensive, given the soaking, roasting, grinding and delicate construction of the ‘kotte’, which is why it tends to make an appearance during the festive season. The recipe below is simpler than most but just as delicious.

Gunda and Padengi Gassi

Ingredients: Gunda

• 1 cup idli rice (soaked)
• 1/2 cup urad dal (soaked)
• 1/2 cup rava (unroasted)
• Jackfruit leaves to make the gunda (you will need 4 palm-sized jackfruit leaves for each gunda)

Ingredients: Padengi Gassi

• 1 cup green moong dal, soaked for 6 hours, drained, and left to sprout for 12 hours.
• 5-6 Bydagi chillies
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp jeera
• 5-6 fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• A few drops of oil
• 2 cups freshly grated coconut
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• Tempering: 1/2 onion, finely chopped and fried in oil
• Coconut oil as a final touch (optional)

Banana Sheera By Pooja Kulkarni
 

Who: Pooja is a Hindustani classical vocalist and food enthusiast who splits her time between Mumbai and Dharwad. She chronicles what she’s cooking and eating on her minimal-but-colourful handle @the_sambar_girl (but you’ll find a lot more than sambar on her grid, including her lovely collection of ceramic ware!)

The Dish: The banana version of sheera is made for Ganesh Chaturthi as an offering, primarily because bananas are Ganesha’s favourite fruit. According to folklore, Lord Ganesha, the ever-dutiful son, married a banana tree to assure his mother that she would never go hungry and be always well looked after. Pooja’s recipe is richer and more indulgent than regular sheera, as the rava is cooked in milk rather than water, giving it a creamier consistency.

Banana Sheera

Ingredients:
•    1/2 cup ghee + 2 tbsp ghee
•    1/2 cup rava/semolina
•    1 cup whole milk (hot)
•    1/2 cup sugar
•    1 large banana, chopped
•    1/4 tsp cardamom powder
•    1/2 cup dry fruits of your choice

Sundal By Sreya Vittaldev

Who: Bangalore-based Sreya Vittaldev heads social media at payment gateway services provider Razorpay. She may work for a financial services company, but her true love is food, cooking and conversation, which she shares on her eclectic grid @darthdevi and via her newsletter, Chilled Thoughts. (The newsletter is her “keeping it real” creative outlet, with witty takes on food and life. A welcome break from highly styled social media pages!)

The Dish: Sundal or soondal is one of the most common varieties of prasad placed before Lord Ganesha during Chaturthi in South Indian homes. Made with white or black chana, grated coconut and a simple tadka, the dish comes together quickly. While most recipes on the internet follow the no onion-no garlic rule, Sreya’s version has two kinds of alliums for some welcome bite and pungency. She also adds an acidic element, with lemon juice and raw mango, making it a sundal that’s far more flavourful and textural than what you’re used to.

Sundal

Ingredients: Chana mixture

• 1 cup dried black chickpeas (soaked overnight and pressur cooked till tender)
•   1 cup groundnuts (soaked overnight and pressure cooked till tender)

Ingredients: Tadka

• 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon urad dal (split skinned black gram)
• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
• 2 dry red chillies
• 2 tbs each minced ginger, shallots, minced garlic, and green chillies (skip garlic and shallots if you prefer)
• Coconut oil as needed (2-3 tbsp)

Ingredients: Finishing touches

• 10 to 12 curry leaves
• Lemon juice and sea salt (as much as needed)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh grated coconut and grated raw mango

Jaggery Modaks by Averil Gouria

Who: Averil Gouria is a “PR girl” by profession and home chef by passion. Averil bakes gorgeous cakes and makes healthy, whole-food, preservative-free versions of Indian mithai on a pre-order basis. (You can always get in touch with her on Instagram for your celebration). A true-blue Mumbaikar, she was born in the city and grew up celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi with shop-bought modaks each year. Now, she makes them herself!

The dish: Modaks are Ganesha’s favourite sweet, and everyone has their own family recipe, like Averil. She approaches her modak-making with a deep spiritual reverence and careful ingredient selection. The recipe is exceedingly simple and relies on whole ingredients with no refined sugar, only jaggery. She also adds a pinch of salt at the end to bring all the flavours together and make the cardamom stand out.

Ukadiche Modak

Ingredients:
•    2 cups boiling hot water
•    2 cups basmati rice flour
•    ½ tsp salt
•    1 tbsp desi ghee

Ingredients: Filling

•    2 tbsps desi ghee
•    1 whole coconut (grated)
•    1 cup jaggery
•    ½ tsp cardamom powder
•    ½ tsp salt (optional)