So many memories…….
This post is long overdue. Its been 13 years since I began blogging, yet simple but nostalgic recipes like
this were always eluding me.
I felt I HAD to preserve this recipe (which is actually not JUST a recipe, but so many memories) before it
vanished away from the dimming contours of my brain 😀 .. Without mom around this year, I wasn’t even sure I would make it, but when I spoke to her, she explained the nuances and tips/ tricks to make them perfect. It looks great now, am sure it would taste good when we partake it after the Sankranti Pooja.
beware :: long post alert !!
Sankranti Ellu Bella is a traditional, heirloom trail mix of sesame seeds, peanuts and jaggery made for auspicious festival of Makar Sankranti in the state of Karnataka, India.
Hailing from Bangalore, I was wondering why I didnt take the effort all these years after the marriage, when Pongal festivals / Sankranti only meant making different varieties of Pongal and this was pushed to the backburner !!
Am glad however I could make it this year….
During Sankrant / Pongal / Bhogi, many more dishes are made from across India – like Undhiyoo from Gujrat or pongal varieties from Andhra Pradesh / Tamilnadu
Some of the dishes made during this festive season are:
Importance of Til / sesame seeds during Uttarayan
Uttarayan (aka Tula Sankramanam or Sankranti or Pongal festival) marks the beginning of the harvest season. Sun God is worshipped, and Til (sesame) is one of the prominent offerings to the God. Be it in the form of Gajak, Till Ladoo ( Ellu Urundai) or today’s post – Sankranti Ellu Bella – is offered to
visitors and also friends / relatives.
Til is considered to be sacred in Hinduism and naturally, each region has its own concoction of using
this oil seed in its offerings.
What is Ellu – bella, and some memories…
Coming back to the recipe – which is almost like a trail mix of various nuts and sesame and jaggery. When I think about this, I see two women slaving over the kersosene stove late into the night (cooking gas was expensive then) and labour intensive stuff like these had to be made on kerosene stoves.
Mom and Pati (my maternal grandmom) finish their daily cooking, and in the dim light of the red oxide – floored kitchen, make this trail mix not by grams or pounds – but by the bucketful (literally!!) .. Preps began atleast a week before Sankranti, and the best of the ingredients were sourced, cleaned – all by hand, and untouched by
the rest of the family till it was offered to God.
Giving and sharing this eLLu Bella was considered to be partaking of others’ happiness and “eLLu Beerodhu” (that is sharing these packets from house to house) accompanied with the piece of cut sugarcane, Sakkare Achchu (Sugar candy dolls), a piece of betel leaf and a few coins. These offerings (or Tamboolam) covered with a handmade round crochet made by mom taken from house to house, where it was exchanged for a similar set of tamboolam from the neighbour.
We used to put this away and rush back to the next neighbor till we covered the entire stretch of road. And then the real happiness of munching on these…J
As kids, my sister and I (along with cousins who had dropped in that day) looked forward to munching on these once they were distributed : so much so that once we went back to school the next day, classmates also exchanged their homemade versions of these..
And lunch breaks (we didn’t have any snack break back then) were devoted to chomping on these once the
lunch dabbas were done with, and the hard jaggery, the slightly bittersweet bits of coconut, the nuttiness from the roasted sesame and peanut transported us to a heavenly experience….
Who heard of vegan, gluten free, nut allergies back then ??
Perhaps the guilt-free snacking and healthy eating led us to appreciate simple pleasures of making ,
distributing and snacking on this trail mix..
I wish my kids would appreciate these simple pleasures of life, and fervently hope that they
take it forward.
It’s a labour of love. Period.
Prep time :1 hour + 2 days of sun drying | Cook time : 15-20 mins |
Makes: approx. 400 gms of trail mix
Ingredients to make Ellu Bella
- White Til (sesame) – dehusked – ½ cup
- Peanuts – ½ cup
- Copra (dry Coconut) – 100 gms (or 2 small halves)
- Fried Gram / Hurigadale / Pottu Kadalai – ½ cup
- Jaggery – 150 gms
How to make Ellu Bella:
- Day 1 : lightly scrape the outer covering of copra, with a heavy sharp knife, make longish strips and then stack the strips together and cut into small bits.
Sun dry this on a metal plate for 1-2 hours (take care to sun dry them in a dust free place) - Day 2 : Chop jaggery with the sharp knife into slightly bigger pieces and similarly sun dry them for 1-2 hours
- Day 3 : In a dry skillet, roast the peanuts on a very low flame till the skin starts to come off and they brown
a bit. Transfer to a plate. Cool. Rub these peanuts In a burlap sheet / coarse clean towel and rub together till the skin peels off and all peanuts are broken into half. (You can completely skip this roasting and peeling if using good
quality readymade unsalted roasted and shelled peanuts). - In the same pan, on low heat, pop the sesame seeds (as they are dehusked they wont splutter), but just warm them for 20-30 secs without burning them. Cool into a plate
- Similarly dry roast coconut slivers till just warm. Transfer to plate. Dry roast fried gram for 10-15 seconds till just warm, transfer.
- In the end,switch off the stove and dry roast the jaggery for 10-15 seconds (this is optional, but recommended to remove any residual moisture)
- Cool all 5 ingredients. In a large clean bowl, mix all of them.
- Store them in airtight containers. They keep upto a week on the countertop.
Tips to make this delicious Ellu Bella:
- If you have any elders / kids who are unable to consume these as such, powder a handful and shape into ladoos with a tsp of ghee. But then the shelf life is only for 1-2 days for the ladoos.
- Use best quality ingredients to get great results
- Use dry jaggery (or achchu vellam / Achchu Bella) for jaggery component. Paagu Vellam (or the softer variety) will melt even as you are chopping them.
- Scraping copra makes the cutting process very simple. Else its really hard to chop the same into bits. If you have an adike kathri (betelnut cutter), make sure you use them to chop the jaggery and copra finely.
Sankranti Ellu Bella, and so many memories….| ಸಂಕ್ರಾಂತಿ ಎಳ್ಳು ಬೆಲ್ಲ | Heirloom Recipes |
Equipment
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Bowl
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup White Til sesame – dehusked
- 1/2 cup Peanuts
- 100 grams Copra dry Coconut,or 2 small halves
- 1/4 cup Fried Gram / Hurigadale / Pottu Kadalai
- 150 grams Jaggery
Instructions
- Day 1 : lightly scrape the outer covering of copra, with a heavy sharp knife, make longish strips and then stack the strips together and cut into small bits. Sun dry this on a metal plate for 1-2 hours (take care to sun dry them in a dust free place)
- Day 2 : Chop jaggery with the sharp knife into slightly bigger pieces and similarly sun dry them for 1-2 hours
- Day 3 : In a dry skillet, roast the peanuts on a very low flame till the skin starts to come off and they brown a bit. Transfer to a plate. Cool. Rub these peanuts In a burlap sheet / coarse clean towel and rub together till the skin peels off and all peanuts are broken into half. (You can completely skip this roasting and peeling if using good quality readymade unsalted roasted and shelled peanuts).
- In the same pan, on low heat, pop the sesame seeds (as they are dehusked they wont splutter), but just warm them for 20-30 secs without burning them. Cool into a plate
- Similarly dry roast coconut slivers till just warm. Transfer to plate. Dry roast fried gram for 10-15 seconds till just warm, transfer.
- In the end,switch off the stove and dry roast the jaggery for 10-15 seconds (this is optional, but recommended to remove any residual moisture)
- Cool all 5 ingredients. In a large clean bowl, mix all of them.
- Store them in airtight containers. They keep upto a week on the countertop.
Notes
Tips to make this delicious Ellu Bella:
- If you have any elders / kids who are unable to consume these as such, powder a handful and shape into ladoos with a tsp of ghee. But then the shelf life is only for 1-2 days for the ladoos.
- Use best quality ingredients to get great results
- Use dry jaggery (or achchu vellam / Achchu Bella) for jaggery component. Paagu Vellam (or the softer variety) will melt even as you are chopping them.
- Scraping copra makes the cutting process very simple. Else its really hard to chop the same into bits. If you have an adike kathri (betelnut cutter), make sure you use them to chop the jaggery and copra finely.
Lovely post Kalyani. So many memories are associated with food and it was really nice reading your post.
Ellu bella is such a nutritious and healthy snack.
I always feel food with memories is the best kind. Good to read about your memories 🙂
Ellu bella looks very healthy snack and perfect to munch on in cold days.
Omg, wat a post and lovely memories, seriously enjoyed reading.. Ellu bella is definitely a healthy snack.
wow loved all the clicks. Where did you get the serveware from?
just now saw this comment, Vidhya. lugged the serve ware from Hyderabad :-))
I remember enjoying this ellu bella but sadly, I no longer make this here.
Makes me nostalgic. Used to love ellu Bella as a kid.
Love to read the different traditions and absolutely gorgeous clicks!
Love your write up Kalyani. I lived in Karnataka for nearly 8 years and your post is bringing back beautiful memories.
what a nostalgic and well written post – really loved reading it
Hi, do u hv recipe for sarkkare acchu (i think kannadigas prepare these too during sankranti)? TQ
Kalyan what a lovely nostalgic post! You took me back to the time when cooking on the stove was the norm and grandmother was incharge of the kitchen. I have never made ellu bella like this before your recipe will be my guide. Thanks.
Thanks Archana.. I got carried too while re-writing the post, relieving the lovely memories..
Brings back childhood memories when a similar preparation was made at the temple and offered as prasad. The only difference is that instead of jaggery, rock sugar was used. This gives me an idea what to make for this Makar Sankranti.
that sounds interesting, Mayuri. Would love to read all about the festive dish you mentioned…
I agree that some heirloom recipes are more than just recipes. They bring back memories of the past- are reflections of our culture and traditions. We have to preserve such recipes. Ellu bella as you rightly mentioned is somewhat like a trail mix. Will try it out. It is healthy and good snacking option. Loved the post.
Thanks so much Neha. Do try making it when possible
Lovely post, our generation has done and seen all these traditions. Eating the sugarcane pieces would be the hardest thing of all. II am yet to make my Ellu Bella. Happy festivities…Kalyani.
Thanks so much, Jayashree. Happy Sankranti to you too!
When beleobbattu is there at home, everthing else moves aside and makes place for the star. I still am a long way from perfection of this recipe, but will keep trying till I get there.
I so agree of it being the star. I am also miles away from perfecting, this is amma’s making and like i mentioned in the post, I only captured it 🙂
Lovely memories kalyani! Good food always has great memories. We are blessed to be part of such beautiful pockets of life. Ellu bella looks super inviting, this is one trail mix i cannot stop myself with just one serving. A rainbow of textures.
Thanks so much, Priya. Rainbow of textures = so beautifully said !
I am a huge fan of ellu Bella. The healthy snacking option is so delicious and I can never say No ..loaded with the best of healthy and nutritious ingredients ellu Bella recipe is a treasure that our ancestors have left for us. The modern day trail mixes and protein bars come no where close to this .
absolutely .. heirloom recipes are the best !