ERETA ADDE

MANJAL ERETA ADDE (RICE DUMPLINGS)

When I hear the word ‘Nagara Panchami’ or as they say in Mumbai, ‘Nag Panchami’, a festival celebrated in the honour of ‘Serpant Gods’, the first thing that comes to my mind is ‘Manjal Erata Adde’ !!!!! That’s how these delicious, mouth-watering dumplings are called in my native place – Mangalore, India.

This festival is widely celebrated all across India.  If you want to learn more about this festival, here is the link to Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_Panchami

Coming back to my experience of this festival – During this festival, apart from visiting temples and offering pooja, we also prepare my favourite – ‘Manjal Erata Adde’, a delicacy made of rice flour dough, coconut, jaggery and cardamom powder.  This is first offered to God as ‘Prasada’ to invoke blessings, and then consumed by family members.

I look forward to this festival every year, and luckily enough, even during corona crisis, we managed to get turmeric leaves. 😊 Hence could prepare this with same amount of excitement.

I will be sharing the recipe shortly, for now sharing the process in brief

Process in brief – Rice dough is spread across the turmeric leaf and coconut mixture is then applied over it. The leaf is then folded, in a way that the rice dough encloses the said mixture like a sandwich and steamed. That’s it… now just wait for the magic… the flavors and aroma of turmeric leaves blend in making this a delectable delight!!!! (I know the recipe is very brief and does not really give away the method of preparing the dumplings, but I promise to come back with a detailed video and explanation on how this beauty is actually prepared).

Take Care & Happy cooking!!!