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Owing to the fact that every family was large in those days each having at least 8-10 children and their parents and a few more adults thrown in for good measure, Mandas was prepared in bulk. Since rice was a crop grown in their own paddy fields, people could afford to make several dishes out of rice including sweets to feed an army of a family (usually a joint family). So it is little wonder that if you look through some old recipe books written by your mom or grand mom you will find quantities mentioned in bulk – 2 kilos of rice, 1 kilo of cucumbers, 1 kilo of jaggery and so on which in today’s age is probably enough to feed your entire building society! Nuclear families living in cities don’t have the luxury of eating a Mandas made the traditional way (with live coals & all) and they also need to scale down the ingredients drastically. Which is what I’ve done. I did post a recipe of Mandas earlier, but this recipe is a better one as it is made from lesser quantity of ground grated coconut which packs more flavour into it than coconut milk (it takes more coconuts to extract thick milk/first extract)
Although the process may seem lengthy, it really is a simply, delicious and nutritious snack – best eaten on Sunday mornings for breakfast. Do try it and let me know how you liked it!
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About the dish
Mandas is a traditional pudding cooked for over an hour over slow fire or live coals. It has a pudding like texture and a great aroma thanks to the fragrance of firewood. Since I have baked it in an oven I have called it a ‘cake’, but don’t expect a fluffy sponge cake – you will be sorely disappointed. Since it makes no use of yeast or baking powder (although you can add some if you wish) it will be dense. Be generous with the ghee which provides all the moisture it needs in an oven. Towards the end of the baking time you may change the oven setting to ‘Broil/Grill’ to get that browned surface – just in case you like it made the traditional way. However, be watchful and don’t let the surface burn like I did!See the picture above – it was my first attempt which resulted in a lovely brown – the second attempt is the picture below – perils of being forgetful and not keeping a timer 🙁
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To make a steamed version, reduce the jaggery a bit (see notes). You will also need a idli / dhokla / sanna steamer (tondor). Place sufficient water in the steamer and place sufficient banana leaves to cover the entire plate (shelf inside the steamer). Grease the leaves with ghee and then pour in the batter. Steam on a full flame for about an hour. Do the knife/skewer test to check doneness. The thickness of the Mandas will depend on the diameter of your steamer – a larger diameter will result in a thinner Mandas and vice versa.
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Baked Mandas (Rice & Cucumber Pudding/Cake)
Prep time: 30 mins + soaking time: 3 hours | Baking time: 1 hr 15 mins (approx) | Servings 6-7
You Need
- 1 cup (200 grams) parboiled rice /Idli rice / Mutambo *see notes
- 1 cup (2 medium sized) cucumber roughly chopped
- 1 cup freshly grated coconut
- 1 cup jaggery (150 grams) * see notes
- 1/2 cup ghee * see notes
- 2 cardamoms
- a fistful cashewnuts roughly chopped * see notes
- salt to taste (approx 1/2 teaspoon)
Method:
1. Wash the rice a couple of times till the water runs clear. Cover it with enough fresh water and keep aside for 2-3 hours.
2. Wash and peel the cucumbers and cut them vertically, scoop out the pith (seeds) and then chop into small cubes. Grind the chopped cucumber and grated coconut to a fine paste. If using a mixer grinder, add very little water only if required.
3. Add the soaked rice and grind to a fine rawa like grainy texture. The consistency of the batter should be thickish like dosa batter. Use water sparingly to grind. Add the powdered jaggery, cardamom pods and salt to taste and continue to grind until all the jaggery has dissolved and there are no lumps. Finally add the ghee and pulse for just a few seconds till well mixed.
4. Grease a 7″ round cake tin with ghee or butter. Line it with baking parchment and grease the insides again. Preheat oven at 220 degrees C for about 10 minutes.
5. Pour the ground batter into the prepared tin and stir in the chopped cashew nuts. Decorate the center with whole cashewnuts. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 180 degrees C and bake for approximately 1 hour 10 minutes (see notes) or till the knife, skewer inserted comes out clean.
6. Remove the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Invert the tin and allow the mandas to cool completely.
7. Peel off the parchment paper, cut and serve.
Notes:
1. If you do not have par boiled rice, you can use a mix of boiled rice & raw rice.
2. You may substitute ghee with coconut oil, but it wont taste as good. Alternatively you can mix the two if you wish.
3. Depending on the size of the tin and oven used the baking time may vary between 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. If you want a brown surface you can change the oven settings to the ‘Broil/Grill’ mode for the last 5 minutes (if you have a small oven). A brown surface will add to the taste.
4. Adjust the jaggery to taste. 150 grams will not be too sweet if you are wondering just that. However if you are making the steamed version, reduce the jaggery to about 3/4th cup instead of 1 cup (or adjust to taste) or else it may taste too sweet if you intend to have it for breakfast.
Tip:
Lightly fry the chopped cashewnuts in ghee before adding them to the batter – this enhances the taste of the Mandas
This is something very new to me..liked everything about this dish!
did the above dish all at once in the mixer n baked it. it turned out excellent with half the time. try it.
For how long did you bake it and at what temperature?
I have had steamed version before… Baking sounds good..
wow, love such authentic and special traditional recipes. Looks awesome.
Wat an authentic and beautiful traditional cake, i want to have few slices that the steamed one is very tempting.
Mandas look too good. It looks similar to the kalathappam. Loved the clicks. The banana leaf makes it look even more good. 🙂
What a co-incidence! Bought cucumbers a few days ago planning to look up this recipe on the internet to try and voila.. saw a mail in my mailbox mentioning this as the latest recipe.. 🙂 already made it and loved eating it! Thank you..
Wow this is something i never heard off…will be trying this..
Thanks everyone for your lovely comments!!
Hi Shireen,
Do you know what I need to do to substitute rice with rawa(cream of wheat)? Do I need to add eggs?
Thank you!
@ Nina: Sorry for the delayed response. If you are making this recipe with rawa you can add eggs to make it more delicious although the result may be a lot like a dense cake. I have never tried it with rava so no idea!
Hi Shireen, Prepared the mandas based on your recipe. Came out delicious. Thank you very much for posting this special sweet item.
@ Chitra Vaz: Thanks so much for your feedback! So glad to know that you enjoyed it 🙂 Do stay tuned for more recipes!
Hi Shireen, will this recipe work with jackfruit, instead of cucumber?
@ Lydia Doha: I am sure you can substitute cucumber with jackfruit but it may taste a lot like patholi!
i love this dish. But why do i get heartburn after eating it each time?
Hi,
Cucumber doesn’t agree with a lot of people and causes indigestion. In Mlore we call it as ‘peenth’. Not sure if it’s applicable to a cooked form of cucumber though. It may be the same case with your or something else so it is always better to consult your doctor. I don’t have any medical advice to offer. Sorry!
Hi Shireen, my mother used to make this on coal fire upside down in my childhood days. Since I feel steamed version is easy & safe I make it in the tondor regularly as evening snack.
Hi Pramila,
Yes, the traditional way was using coals but since modern kitchens don’t permit it, my mom used to steam the batter too! Glad to know that you have kept the tradition alive. Do try it the baked way too!
to make it more traditional
fry fine sliced onions with half a cup of ghee and fry till golden brown
add the above batter and cook it with low flame for 30 minutes ( closed lid )
will email you the picture 🙂
Hi Lionel,
As far as I am aware, the version where fried onions are used as a garnish is typically borrowed from Bunt cuisine and is not traditionally Catholic style. However, I bet it tastes awesome and I am yet to try that version too! Please do share your picture! I’d love to hear from you!