HAYagreeva – Bengalgram sweet

  HAYAGREEVA, is a sweet dish, a speciality from Karnataka. Hayagreeva is a sweet dish made with Bengal gram cooked with jaggery and flavoured with cardamom. Hayagreeva is specially made during Gowri festival and offered to goddess Gowri, mother of Ganesha. Hayagreeva is a super simple sweet dish that can be prepared in no time. Hayagreeva is one of the sweet dishes served along with the other festive preparations like Kosambari, Chithranna, Hesaru Bele Paayasa, Paayasa.  Just the smell of this dish is so festive.

Ingredients

1 cup – Bengal gram/ Chana Dal

1 cup – Jaggery

2 tbsp – Poppy seeds

¼ cup – Grated dry coconut

3 nos – Cardamom/ Elaichi

2 Tbsp – Ghee

Handful of cashew and raisins

Method

Soak the Bengal gram for half an hour and pressure cook it till the Bengal gram till it is cooked yet firm.

Till the pressure cooker lets out 3 whistles.

In a deep pan boil 2 cups of water along with jaggery. Strain it to remove any particles in it.

Pour the syrup back into the pan and boil it along with poppy seeds.

Boil it till the jaggery is dissolved completely and it gets syrupy.

Not one string consistency but syrupy.

Add the pressure cooked lentils into this syrup, cover it and cook it till the lentils soak up all the syrup and thickens.

Mix it occasionally very lightly.

Add cardamom powder and give it a good mix. Make sure you do not mash the lentils too much.

Add grated dry coconut and toasted poppy seeds and.

Heat ghee in a small pan. Add raisins and cashews and let them turn gold.

Add this to Hayagreeva and give it a good mix. Serve it hot.