Monday, August 30, 2010

Kakara



"Well how do you call yourself a cook when you do not know how to make Kakara ?" That was Aai's (maternal grand mom) expert comment when she saw my blog. Yah you read it right .... Aai belongs to the cyber era. She knows it all - Orkut,Gmail,Blogging ! .... I hung my head low while talking to her over the phone. She tried explaining me the recipe for Kakara ..... along with it came the gyan of why it is so important to Odiyas' and stories from mythology etc etc.

In short this is a traditional sweet from Odisha and is delicious. Talk about it to a fellow Odiya and you will know.

All these years I was only bothered eating .... never cared to ask anybody about the recipe.How can someone expect me to know such complicated stuff ..... I have the excuse of belonging to generation X ..... or whatever !!

Even after an hour long bashing I could not gather enough courage to prepare this dish all by myself.
I picked up the phone and called Sangeeta Bhabi. She lives a stone throw away. We share a special bond .... we both belong to the same place.
Frankly I felt a little awkward in asking her to prepare it, knowing the amount of time and effort it needs. But I did it ..... she was generous enough to give me a demo of it. I offered to help her with it so that I could learn along. I can't thank her enough for teaching me this wonderful recipe. Not to forget I had my share of eating it too :-)

Well with Kakara up on my blog, I hope Aai approves my cooking ! Thanks a ton to Sangeeta Bhabi, I know how to make Kakara :-)

With Janmastami around the corner, this is a great recipe to be tried out.

Preparation Time - 1 hour
Serves - 4
Ingredients
Semolina - 2 cups
Water - 4
Sugar - 1.75 cups
Salt per taste
Cardamon - 10
Fennel Seeds - 1tsp
Grated Coconut -1 cup
Whole black pepper - 10
Oil for frying
Method of Preparation
1 Take 4 cups of water in a deep vessel and bring it to a rolling boil.
2 Add sugar (1.5 cups) and salt to the water and stir well till they dissolve continuously.
3 Slowly add semolina. Stir continuously till the water gets absorbed.
4 Make sure there are no lumps formed.
5 Spread it to a plate.
6 When the semolina mixture cools down make a soft dough using very little oil and water.
7 Pinch out small balls. Roll between your palm to make smooth balls. Keep aside.
For the stuffing
1 Pour little ( 1 tsp) oil or ghee in a pan.
2 Add the grated coconut to it.
3 Also add remaining sugar, crushed cardamom powder, crushed pepper and fennel seeds.
4 Fry till golden brown.
5 Remove to a plate and let it cool.
How to do the stuffing
1 Grease your hands with some oil. Take a ball and make a deep depression in between ( make it like a cup) using your fingers.
2 Put a little of the stuffing and close the ball. (Something similar to the process of stuffing potato while preparing alu paratha.
3 Make it a bit flat.
Frying
Heat some oil in a kadhai. When hot, drop these stuffed balls one by one. Fry till brown. Remove on a kitchen towel.
Serving Tips
Serve at room temperature.
Notes
Do not make the dough extra soft, else it will be difficult yo stuff it.
Do not put more stuffing, else the crust may break and the stuffing may come out.
Make sure the oil is hot before you drop them in.
Variation
You may vary the sweetness, depending upon your taste.
Other Names
Semolina - Suji, Cardamom - Elaichi, Fennel Seeds - Saunf.

Sending this recipe as an entry for Priya's cooking with Fennel Seeds.








17 comments:

Suji said...

Satrupa..

Never had this before, looks delicious dear, love the decor a lot, You rock girl....

Kudos to u r aayi..

Satya said...

wow satrupa,these kakaras one of my favorite ...i love them ,even now also if i go to my friends place she will prepare these sweet dish for me ...yummy ...in my school days i used to have them on rojo n some other festivals too ..i brought up in Cuttack ,orissa ...thanks for sharing

Sulagna said...

Absolutely delicious !!

Aparna S Mallya said...

Lovely kakaras!

Unknown said...

Actually i m not the one who cook food........

But i inspired through your block...........

The way u describe is really nice........

I m much interested in that pre recipe things u describe........

Prema said...

wow luks delicious,thanks for sharing will try this...nice click.

chef and her kitchen said...

They look really delicious...lovely stuffed goodies..

aipi said...

Very new to me..looks interesting n delish..very cute presentation satrupa!!

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

wonderful recipe and trust me am craving some right now. looks so mouth watering...great presentation too. and hats off to your aayi.

Priya Suresh said...

Beautiful looking kakaras..never heard or had this before..

Deepi's World said...

WOW... looks lovely and will try it out...needless to say another amazing click!!

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

awesome... Hats off to you and your bhabi!

Satrupa said...

Thanks everyone for leaving those sweet words. Means a lot to me.

A big thanks to Sangeeta Bhabi for sharing this recipe.

Cheers,
Satrupa

Ronita said...

Ronita here:)...Love these and have been making them for few years...i guess cravings are seasonal too...these were on my mind for couple of weeks and 3 days back, at 9pm could not resist the temptation..though i tried the baked version for the first time and it did taste good..my preference still would be fried but watching calories for a change;)...baked were close in taste but lacked the crispy fried flavour a little...next time I am planning to add some butter to the dough..have a feeling that might get closer while still keeping the calories low...lot for the first comment but have to tell you are doing a great job...Aai was right:)..one of my favorites too...

Unknown said...

Totally new n interesting

Unknown said...

Looks very delicious !! Nice click dear !!

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Satrupa
I feel good reading your comment at my blog. In fact I have been planning to read your blog since I saw your comments at fellow bloggers.
But when I saw you have a Odisa connection, I decided to follow your blog and will do so. So many dishes to learn.
This version of kakera is bit different from the ones I used to eat..the poor man's wayside "Gurhia shop " Kakera, made from Atta and Jaggery and that typical aroma of Badam tela (refined oils were not known those days, except Dalda)
This was a rich man's Kakera of those days, i.e Sugar was used. But use of Suji is very new for me. I think Jaggery ones ( Arisha and Kakera both) have that unique flavor.
So I am going to try this as per your recipe. I think it is easer than Arisha pitha.
What is your Odisa connection? I was born and brought up in Athgarh, Odisa
Have a nice week ahead

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