K square for Ganesha

Ganesha banda

Kayi kadabu thinda

Chikka kereli bidda

Dodda kereli yedda

Ganesha is such a cute God! Nobody thinks twice about teasing Ganesha or about using funny Ganesha similies in daily life. He seems to exude a certain tolerance for mere mortals :). V actually loves to make a small Ganesha vigraha her play mate at times.

I couldnt pass up on an opportunity to appease his biiig tummy with some of my khara kadabu and Kosambri. So here's how I made them

What you need to make Khara Kadabu

• Split Yellow Chickpeas (Channa Dal /Kadlebele) - 2 cups (normal thali type cup)
• Water - 4 cups
• Green Chillies - 6-8 depeding on how spicy you would like it
• Coriander - a handful of leaves
• Ginger - 1 inch piece
• Salt
• Idli stand (or whatever mechanism you steam idlis in)

Preparation to make Khara Kadabu (Time : 4 hrs)

• Soak the Channa Dal in water for 4 hours (ensure water level is atleast an inch above the channa dal level)

Method to make Khara Kadabu (Time : 20 mins)

• Drain the water from the soaked channa dal
• Grind the soaked channa dal, green chillies, coriander, ginger and salt together

Ensure that you do not add any extra water while grinding
Grind slow and repeatedly to get a smoother paste (it does not have to be a fine paste)

• Lightly grease each idli cup in the idli stand with a drop of oil
• Take a small ball of this ground mixture in your palm, make your hand into a fist and press lightly to get a longish, chubby shape
• Place this on the idli stand in one of the cups
• You could even place two of these in one idli cup to save on time
• Repeat the previous three steps till the idli stand is full or your ground mixture is finished
• Place the idli stand in a pressure cooker. Remove the weight from the cooker
• Pressure cook it for 10 minutes. (The time is the same as Idli would take to steam in your cooker)

My fundas

• The actual Ganesha habba kadabu comes with the ground mixture filling inside of a rice flour wrap. I did not make the wrap because the kadabu is what my family loves :)
• Onion is also a good addition to this kind of kadabu. Chop onion into tiny pieces and add it to the ground mixture and continue as above
• Coriander could also be added chopped instead of grinding it.

What you need to make Kosambri

• Moong dal (Hesarbele) - 1 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Cucumber - 1
• Lemon juice - 2 tsp
• Coconut flakes - 1/2 cup
• Green chillies - 2
• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Oil - 2 tsps
• Salt

Preparation to make Kosambri (Time : 2 hrs)

• Soak the moong dal in water for 2 hours

Method to make Kosambri (Time : 15 mins)

• Drain the water from the soaked moong dal.
• Cut the cucumber lengthwise in the middle and remove the seeds and the rest of the gooey stuff.
• Cut the hard part of the cucumber into very small pieces.
• Mix the cucumber pieces, soaked moong dal, lemon juice, coriander, salt and coconut.
• For seasoning, fry the mustard and green chillies in oil till the mustard splutters out
• Add the seasoning to the Kosambri mixture.

My fundas

• You could replace cucumber with grated carrot and it would give you an entirely new salad