Hayagreeva Maddi - Chana Dal Halwa from Udupi Cuisine

Hayagreeva Maddi is a traditional Udupi dessert prepared with Bengal gram ( chana dal) cooked with jaggery and coconut. It is a popular sweet in the South Indian state of Karnataka and serves as an offering (Naivedhyam) to Lord Haygreeva. The basic ingredients and technique of preparation of this chana dal halwa may sound like that of "Puran", a sweet stuffing of Puran Poli ( a traditional Maharashtrian dish), but taste-wise, Hayagreeva maddi is different both in taste and texture. It has a prominent flavor and aroma coming from the tempering of ghee fried almonds and raisins and from the desiccated coconut which is lacking in Puran. Hayagreeva maadi is a sattvic, gluten-free dish that can be easily made at home and makes up for a delectable sweet to mark any special occasion or festival.

What is Udupi Cuisine?

Udupi Cuisine is the Cuisine of South India. It forms an important part of the Tuluva-Mangalorean Cuisine. It comprises dishes made primarily from grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits. The variety and range of the dishes are wide and the hallmark of this cuisine involves the use of locally available ingredients. It adheres strictly to the Satvik tradition of Indian vegetarian Cuisine, using no onions or garlic, as well as no meat, fish, or shellfish. However, the cuisine may also be adapted for those who consume these restricted items.

A more about Udupi Cuisine

Udupi Cuisine takes its name from Udupi, a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is one of the fastest-growing cities and top tourist attractions in Karnataka. It is notable for Krishna Temple and also known as the temple city. The Udupi is synonymous with vegetarian food now found all over the world. But do you know that the origin of this Cuisine is linked to the Krishna Matha (Mutt)? The Cuisine was developed by Shivalli Madhwa Brahmins who cooked food for Lord Krishna. Here Lord Krishna is offered food of different varieties every day.

Udupi restaurants serving Udupi cuisine can be found all over India and many parts of the world. In the past, these restaurants were run by cooks and priests trained at Krishna matha in Udupi. With rising popularity, many others have entered this business claiming to serve authentic Udupi Cuisine.

As mentioned above authentic Udupi Cuisine is a purely vegetarian Cuisine and serves Saatvik food. It is believed that the innovation of different varieties of dishes of Udupi Cuisine accounts to the following of the tradition of Chaturmaasa vrata, which is a restriction of certain food ingredients in the period of 4 months (during monsoon). Pumpkins and gourds are the main ingredients of Sambar. Dosa has its origin s in Udupi, according to P.Thankappan Nair. Saaru, spicy water, is another essential part of the menu, and so are Jackfruit, colocasia leaves, raw green bananas, mango pickle, red chilies, and salt.

Here are some recipes from my fellow bloggers from Udupi Cuisine 

• Mangalore Buns - Banana Puri by Mayuri Patel - A soft fluffy banana puri that can be served at breakfast or as a tea-time snack
• Udupi Saaru by Aruna Saras Chandra - An Udupi style aromatic and flavorful tomato rasam.
• Rose flavoured Bonda Sherbet by Priya Iyer - A refreshing drink made from tender coconut and lemon
• Biscuit Roti Kachori by Sujata Roy - a crisp fluffy, spicy, and mildly sweet deep-fried Kachori that can be served at breakfast or as a snack.
• Bendekayi Ajethna by Preethi Prasad - An Udupi style Okra stir fry.
• Soft Idli with Idli Rava by Swaty Malik - Soft fluffy idlis from Instant pot fermented batter

What is Hayagreeva Maddi? 

Hayagreeva Maddi is an authentic Udupi style dessert made using Bengal Gram (chana dal) and jaggery that is traditionally served as an offering (Naivedhyam) to Lord Hayagreeva. In Hinduism, Lord Hayagriva is considered as an avatar of Lord Vishnu. He is worshipped as a God of knowledge and Wisdom with a human body and a horse's head, brilliant white in color, with white garments and seated on a white lotus. There is a story as per Wikipedia that is more than 500 years ago. A devotee from the Daivajna Brahmin community was casting an idol of Lord Ganpati when it shaped itself in the image of Lord Hayagriva. Sarvabhauma Sri Vadiraja Guru Swami had a dream about this legend which inspired him to approach that devotee and take the idol from him in reverence. He then installed it in Shri Sode Vadiraja Mutt. Since then it has been worshipped there as the originating God of the Daivajnya Brahmin community. It is believed that since Bengal Gram is a favourite with horses, SriVadiraja, made an offering of chana dal cooked with jaggery and coconut. This mixture of lentils and jaggery is called maddi in Kannada, hence the name of this dish. 

                     

What goes into my Hayagreeva Maddi?

As this is a chana dal halwa, the first and obvious ingredient of this Hayagreeva maddi is Bengal Gram(chana dal). Chana dal is rinsed in water and pressure cooked until soft. The cooked lentil is then transferred to a heavy bottom pan and crushed jaggery is added to it along with cloves. The mixture is allowed to cook on medium flame until all the jaggery melts and gets incorporated well with the Bengal gram. Next, cashews and raisins are fried in ghee and this tempering is poured over the halwa. Finally, cardamom powder is added and the haygreeva maddi is garnished with scrapped or desiccated coconut and served warm. I have referred the recipe from here. The color of the Hayagreeva maddi depends upon the color of the jaggery used. Also the consistency can be adjusted as per liking. The dish solidifies and thickens further on cooling so switch off the flame a little before the desired consistency is reached. 

Related Event:

It is month-end and the time to post for my Facebook gourmet group, Shhhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge. This group was started by Priya's versatile recipes and taken further to date by Mayuri di. Mayur di's Udupi style Mangalore Cucumber Curry is on my to-do list. The theme for this month was suggested by Jayashree Trao, a talented food blogger. I have bookmarked her Instant Ragi Dosa , a healthy and nutritious breakfast recipe. In this group, each member takes turns to propose the theme for the month. All participating members are divided into pairs and both partners exchange a set of secret ingredients using which both have to prepare a dish as per the theme. The other members of the group then take turns to guess the two secret ingredients just by looking at the pic of the dish. Doesn't all this sound interesting? If you are a food blogger and wish to join this group, do let us know in the comment section below. My partner for this month was Priya Vijay Krishnan. She gave me ghee and jaggery and i made this delectable Hayagreeva Maddi using it. In return, i gave her mustard seeds and curry leaves and she made Majjige Huli a Udupi style yogurt-based ash gourd curry.

                                 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Bengal Gram
• 1 cup jaggery, crushed or grated
• 1/2 cup fresh coconut scrapped ( use desiccated coconut if fresh not available)
• 2 tablespoon ghee
• 8-10 cashew nuts, halved
• 1-2 tablespoon raisins
• 4 cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

Method:

1. Rinse 1 cup Bengal gram in water and allow it to soak for at least 30 minutes. This soaking time is optional but it saves the cooking time and fuel. Pressure cook the soaked dal for 2-3 whistles such that it cooks well but still holds shape.

2. Open the lid of the pressure cooker once all the pressure has been released. Drain the water from cooked dal and reserve it. This nutritious water can be used in making rasam or soup.

3. Transfer the drained dal to a heavy bottom container and add cloves and crushed or grated jaggery to it.

4. Allow the mixture to cook on medium flame. Keep stirring occasionally so that it does not catch the bottom of the pan. Cook until all the jaggery melts and incorporates well with the dal.

5. In another small wok or tadka pan heat ghee and add halved cashews and raisins to it. Fry on low to medium flame until golden brown in color. Take care not to burn the nuts and raisins. Pour this over the chana dal and jaggery mixture.

6. Next, add coconut and give a good mix. Lastly, add the cardamom powder, give a good mix, and put off the flame once the desired consistency is achieved.

7. Offer the delectable Hayagreeva Maddi as Naivedhyam to diety and later distribute as prasadam. If not making as an offering to God, serve the Hayagriva madii in individual bowls and enjoy with your loved ones while it is hot !

Recipe Notes:

• The color of the Hayagreeva maddi depends upon the color of the jaggery used. 
• The consistency of Haygreeva maddi can be adjusted as per liking. The dish solidifies and thickens further on cooling so switch off the flame a little before the desired consistency is reached. 
• The dish tastes best while it is hot. 
• You can store Hayagriva maddi for 2-3 days in an airtight container in a refriegerator.

I hope a few of you would love to try out this recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the comment section below this post. All your suggestions are also more than welcome. If you like my work and feel it is worth following, do hit the follow button at the top right corner of this blog. Your appreciation means a lot to me. For more recipes and new updates follow us on social media.

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