Madgane/Chana Dal Payasam or Kheer

Madgane is a traditional Mangalorean Konkani style sweet jaggery based dessert with creamy coconut milk and split chana dal/Bengal Gram and some cashew nuts for extra texture. Flavored with exotic and aromatic crushed cardamom powder, it is a scrumptious and mouthwatering finale dish enjoyed during most festivals and social gatherings in our community!

Once again it is time to share my contribution to our Facebook gourmet group HealthyWellthy Cuisines where we share a theme-based dish twice a month. This month, the first theme is Makar Sankrati dishes.

“Makara Sankranti” refers to a festival of Hindus (dedicated to the Sun God, Surya) normally observed in the month of January when the sun transits to “Makara” or Capricorn which indicates beginning of end of winters and start of longer days (you can find more about this here).

It generally always falls on January 14^th and Hindus all over the world celebrate this joyous occasion under different names; Pongal in the southern part of India (specifically, Tamilnadu), Lohri in the north etc.

Being from the southern part, we normally prepare Sweet Pongal ( a sweet rice-lentil risotto like porridge sweetend with jaggery) and sometimes, along with that, a savory version; Khara Pongal.

As I have already shared both the sweet and savory versions of Pongal in  my blog, I decided to make the go-to dessert of my community (the Mangalorean Hindu Konkanis or GSBs or Gowda Saraswat Brahmins as we are called), Madgane or as we normally call it “goddi”; a jaggery based chana dal kheer/payasam or thin porridge made with a creamy, rich coconut milk base.

Once the coconut milk is ready (either freshly made or canned coconut milk) and you have powdered jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) ready, all you need to do is cook the chana dal until tender and soft along with some tender cashew nuts (mostly available in the regions of Mangalore and Goa).

If you can get these tender varieties of cashewnuts, nothing like it! All you need to do is soak them in some water for a couple of hours, peel the skin and use them in the kheer. But, if you cannot get them, you can use the regular raw cashew nuts available and cook them along with the chana dal to get  a similar texture.

Mix the coconut milk, cooked chana dal, cashew and jaggery and bring to a boil, flavor with crushed cardamom seeds and your south Indian Madgane is ready!

So, do try my version of Madgane this Makar Sankrati and enjoy with family and friends!

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Madgane/Chana Dal Payasam or Kheer

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Serving Size: 8

Madgane is a traditional Mangalorean Konkani style sweet jaggery based dessert with creamy coconut milk, split chana dal/Bengal Gram and some cashew nuts for extra texture.

Ingredients

• 2 cups chana dal
• 2 large coconuts (4 to 6 cups of grated coconut)
• 2 cups powdered jaggery (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp cardamom powder/elaichi powder
• ½ cup regular cashew nuts (or tender cashew nuts)

Instructions

1. Heat a large pressure pan and roast the chana dal on medium low heat for 3 to 5 minutes or until aromatic.
2. Wash well and pressure cook the dal and split cashew nuts in 4 cups of water for 3 to 4 whistles or until the dal is just tender. If you are using tender cashew nuts, soak them in water for 2 to 3 hours, peel, split and then use in the madgane.
3. Meanwhile, grate the coconuts and adding some hot water to the gratings, grind in a blender to extract the thick milk using a muslin cloth. Keep this aside. You might have to do this in batches.
4. Add more water to the coconut gratings and blend again; extract water again and this is the thin coconut milk.
5. In a large saucepan, add the thin coconut milk along with the powdered jaggery and bring to a boil, stirring continuously on medium heat, until the jaggery has completely melted.
6. At this stage, if you feel the jaggery may have some dirt or unwanted particles (sometimes, the jaggery is not so pure and clean and warrants this step), strain the coconut milk-jaggery mixture to remove the stones or dirt.
7. Pour back into a clean saucepan and stir in the cooked chana dal and cashew nuts. Taste and see if you need more jaggery.
8. Bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, stir in the thick coconut milk along with crushed cardamom powder and simmer for a few minutes stirring constantly.
9. Remove from heat and serve mouthwatering Konkani style madgane or sweet chana dal jaggery kheer cold or hot!

Notes

For additional flavor, you can roast some more cashew nuts and/or raisins in some ghee and add to the madgane.

If you feel the madgane/kheer is not thick enough, you can made a paste of rice flour with some water or thin coconut milk (if you have leftover) and add to the boiling madgane and stir until thickened.

As an alternative, you can soak 3 to 4 tbsp of rice in water for ½ hour and blend this with the coconut gratings when you extract the coconut milk.

When you have jackfruit in season, you can use chopped and ripe jackfruit pieces in this payasam instead of chana dal or in addition to it!

If you cannot get fresh coconut or coconut gratings, you can make this madgane the easy way, with canned coconut milk.

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Enjoy and Happy Makara Sankranti or Happy Pongal!!

For more similar festive recipes you can make, do try:

Sweet Pongal

Ven Pongal/Khara Pongal

Cracked Wheat Pongal

Sweet Chana Dal Khichdi

Instant Suji Appe

I am sharing this for the theme #MakarSankranti with our gourmet group HealthyWellthy Cuisines where you will find other festive dishes to make : Pongal,  Pal Pongal, Puran Poli, Bengali Style Rice Pudding/Nolen Gurer Payesh and Date Palm Jaggery Pudding/Nolen Gurer Payesh.

Join the part at: #RecipeoftheWeek  | #FiestaFriday along with co hosts Diann @ Of Goats and Greens and Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life

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