Ganesh Chaturthi is in two days and everyone must be looking for recipes to prepare on this festival to offer to Lord Ganesha. Most of the people have a tradition of offering modak to Lord Ganesha on this special day. People mostly keep the Ganesha idol at their home for 5, 7, 9 or 11 days and offer food along with prayers everyday till they perform the immersion of Lord Ganesha. This 9-11 day festival of Ganesha is a very grand affair for us Indians. We enjoy cooking different prashad to offer to Lord Ganesha and seek his blessings.
Back home, in Hyderabad where we used to live, we always had a 5-7 day celebration in our community. A week before the festival started, there would be a clay activity arranged at our club house, where kids would participate and make their own eco-friendly clay Ganesha. Kids would get excited while making the Ganesha, and we’d get to see the community kids’ creative minds at work during that time. While some kids would surprise us with their sophisticated creations, some would make us laugh with their innovative creations. :’) At the clubhouse, we’d always set up a Ganesha statue and offer prayers twice a day, every morning and evening. Residents who wish to offer the special prayers would give their name in the list and as per the availability they’d get to perform the puja. Every morning and evening we used to gather at clubhouse; honestly most of us would go for the prashad that is offered to Ganesha and later distributed to us residents who attend the puja. Residents voluntarily send prashad for the puja with a lot of love and devotion. And on the last day we had cultural activities where the children from the community would participate- perform skits, sing and dance to devotional songs. It’s such a gala with friends and family! Sigh, I miss all those wonderful times I had back in Hyderabad.
While making recipes for the festival, I tried my hands on making this delicious and juicy Madatha Kaja, which is a very famous South Indian or Andhra Sweet. And I’m glad it turned out so well that I couldn’t stop myself from sharing this immediately with y’all! If you’re looking for any sweet recipe other than modak or peda to make during this festive season, I’m sure you would like to give this Madatha Kaja a try! Madatha in the language Telugu means ‘fold’. As this sweet is rolled into many folds it is named as Madatha Kaja. It is very easy to make, in fact, if you know how to make plain bread (roti) and a simple sugar syrup, you’re all set to prepare this. Today, my eleven year old daughter prepared the dough and sugar syrup for this sweet dish. All I did was flatten the dough and roll it into kajas, and deep fry in the oil which took not more than 15-20 minutes. It’s that simple! So, give it a try when you want to make something traditional or new for your special, festive day!
Click below for the recipes to prepare on festive days.
Mango Pulihora Kalakand Dahi Poha Poha Ladoo Kaju Kathli
Madatha Kaja Recipe:
Take a large bowl and combine all purpose flour, melted butter (you can also use ghee), baking soda, and just a pinch of salt. Though we are making a sweet dish, adding a pinch of salt is recommended to give a better taste to the dough. Add enough water to prepare the dough. Knead it well till it becomes soft and elastic. Cover the dough with a wet paper towel or cloth and leave it to rest for at least half an hour.
While the dough is resting, prepare the sugar syrup in which you have to dip the kaja. You can also use jaggery in the place of sugar, if that’s what you prefer. Today, as it was my first attempt, I tried it with sugar to make it simple. Take sugar in a thick bottomed vessel and add water to dissolve the sugar. Mostly for 1 cup of sugar, we need to add 1/2 cup water. Add some powdered cardamom for extra flavor and let it boil till it comes to a 1 thread consistency and turn the heat off.
Knead the dough well and roll it into a roti as big and as thin as you can. Use flour lavishly while rolling the dough to help it not stick to the pan. Fold it into 1 inch inside and drizzle some flour, and repeating the same with every fold, roll it into a mat. Use some water or rice flour and water mix to seal the edges.
Cut them into the desired size. Cut them slightly in an angle to give a diamond shape. Press it gently to flatten the kaja. If you want to make the kajas thin and long then you can do that using the rolling pin. Heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry the kajas. Keep the heat in medium and fry the kajas till they turn light golden in color. Remove them from the oil and immediately drop them into the sugar syrup. Repeat the same procedure with rest of the kajas. Just keep a check on the temperature of the oil for every batch to avoid burning them. If your sugar syrup has become cold, then warm it up slightly before you drop the kajas into it.
Let them soak in the syrup for at least an hour, so that the kaja can be more juicy from the inside. Transfer them to an airtight container or box and store, though I doubt your family will let it last that long, haha! Mine got over even before I finished writing this recipe! The sweetness in my kajas was so perfect that it wasn’t overpoweringly sugary, and I think that’s what made us dig in for more. The crispy outer crust of the kaja drenched in a deliciously sweet, thick sugary syrup with the flavors of cardamom is just a heavenly bite! I can’t wait to make it again, doesn’t matter if I need to run a few more miles to shed those extra calories, it’s totally worth it! :’)
