Kadlekayi Unde - a failed attempt/ Godambi Unde - a success! (Peanut and Cashew Laddoos for Ganesha Chaturthi)

Whenever I’ve tried any new dish, it has failed.... almost every time! simplest of simplest dish has failed in my hands.. somehow I thought this time would be different. Also since I was making this for Ganesha habba, I thought God will shower his grace upon me and miraculously make it a success. Actually this is not the first time I’m trying a new dish for Ganesha habba. In the past, I have had tried couple of other sweets for Ganesha habba for the first time and they’d come out pretty well. I was optimistic... but alas! God had other plans!! 

I do wonder sometimes if God is doing this on purpose? To think about it, the general trend in my dishes is ‘success after failures’. So generally, before I get anything right, I’ve tried it so many times that I know what not to do, what I need to be careful about, etc...  And surprisingly, my failures are bringing traffic to my blog!! Like if someone is googling for ‘why such and such dish failed?’, they land directly in my blog!  :) May be I’m here to give solace to those, who are as troubled as me in this area! 

So Lord Ganesha, I will not question your infinite wisdom... I had planned to put up this recipe for Ganesha habba, so I will still do it! 

Ganesha habba season also marks the anniversary of my blog!!! yay!! 1 year of blogging this time :) !!

Coming to the part why it might’ve failed - I think I overdid the 'bellada paaka'(jaggery caramelization) part,  put too much peanuts to jaggery ratio, and also didn't crush the peanuts enough. 

My second attempt to make bellada paaka for goadambi unde(cashew laddoos) was successful. But I’m not sure why it came out right. So, hopefully I’ll put a detailed post on that sometime soon with all the warnings and tips (when I discover it) :)

The procedure for making peanut and cashew unde is exactly the same. Just replace peanuts with cashews, that’s all.

Successful cashew undes

Here is the recipe - 

Ingredients

Peanuts - preferably de-skinned ones OR Cashews

Kobbari/ Desiccated coconut (little less than Peanuts/Cashews)

Cardamom powder

Bella/Jaggery 

Method  

Roast the peanuts. 

If you have the skinned ones, de-skin them. To de-skin, roll the peanuts with a rolling pin and then “geresu”(put them in a shallow plate and just throw a bunch of peanuts up lightly with the plate, so that they fall back inside the plate. This way peanut skin moves to the edge and you can take it out from there). Or just buy the de-skinned ones(Archana, thanks for this tip!).

If you are using Cashews, roast and crush them with rolling pin.

Lightly roast desiccated coconut in very low flame with little ghee(optional) until you get a nice aroma. 

Mix this with roasted peanuts(or cashews) and some cardamom powder.

Make a “paaka” out of jaggery. “How to do it” will be coming soon(hopefully).. but until then I’ll pass on my amma’s notes.

Cut jaggery into medium sized pieces. Soak them for a while in some water. Then boil this. Jaggery will start to bubble up. When you are able to make a thin thread out of it with your two fingers(take it from the edge of your spoon and be careful while touching it as it’ll be very hot), it is done. Alternatively, you can put the hot jaggery in a bowl of water. If it forms a semi-lump it is done. After this turn off the stove. I think I screwed up somewhere here and over did it. Don’t worry if you screw it up too, you can eat them just as they are :)

This is not how a kadlekayi unde should be :)

Now add the mixture of peanuts(or cashews), desiccated coconut and cardamom powder to the paaka. Add only as much as needed. The mixture should be wet and sticky. I think I put more peanuts than necessary, like this -

Again, this is not how it should be :)

This is definitely not how it should be!

Mix and turn off the stove. Let it cool for a little while. Then grease your hands with ghee(Archana’s tip), or cover your hands with dalia powder(amma’s tip) to handle the heat, and roll it into balls.
 

Happy Ganesha and Gowri habba!!

Tips and notes(so far) - 

1. 7 jaggery small cubes(the kind that are available in US - sized like a sakkare acchhu) makes about 15 laddoos.
2. While soaking jaggery, add little more water
3. Archana's tip - roast around 2tbsp of godhi hittu(wheat flour) in some ghee and add to the peanut/kobbari/cardamom powder mixture - I'm yet to try this

Recipe Source - Shrimathi Vasudeva