“Kalingana Saali Godi Idly (Watermelon Rind Sweet Idly)” … best out of otherwise waste … watermelons are back in season and there is always an issue of that white rind portions after emptying the tasty juicy red part of the fruit … some chuck it off too, are you doing the same?? Please don’t; remember food saved is food earned, there are plenty of dishes like dosa, curry, beverages, steamed dishes like Idly, muddo etc. that can be prepared using them … here is a simple sweet idly that can be savored with loni/ butter or toop/ ghee … definitely a must try for those with sweet tooth and those who hate wastage of food … Yummilicious …
** Wastage of food is something I detest and I try my level best to never chuck off food. My motto is always to cook that much how much is necessary or recycle them if inevitable and God forbid if I am sure the excess food will not be consumed or cannot be stored for any reason then I give it away immediately when fresh to avoid chucking it out. This is one lesson I learned first after my marriage and settling in Mumbai.
** Coming to watermelon/ kalingana I always used the white rind part in making dosa as that was the only dish I knew when I was new to cooking. Those days we learned dishes from parents, aunts, cousins or referred to magazine and rarely cookery books. I have always been fascinated about trying to prepared new dishes and I did own over 600 cookery books, which due to termite issues I had to dispose off a few years back.
** Technology is the best thing that happened, with all network and mobile communication the world is now at our fingertips and these days we are just spoilt for choice. At one time it was dilemma as to what can be cooked while now the dilemma is how much or when to cook as there are too many recipe to be tried out. I have posted sweet- spicy watermelon rind muddo in banana leaves and will share link at the bottom of this recipe.
** This Idly is sweet and prepared same as muddo recipe with minute difference. I used bansi rava that is barik lapsi/ gavuncho rulavu ie thick textured rava for that recipe while here I have used just ordinary bombay rava. This time, I have prepared only the sweeter version but with a tinge of pepper which does bring out the taste in Idly and it tastes awesome. You can check out and prepare any version that you desire as both are tasty.
** Here is my own recipe for “Kalingana Saali Godi Idly (Watermelon Rind Sweet Idly)” … my style … definitely a must try for those with sweet tooth …
** I have used only the white rind part of the watermelon/ kalingana/ bachanga for the recipe. In all I have roughly used about 2 heaped cups of small sized cut pieces. Check out picture shared for watermelon rind view.
** To be Ground : Add one cup of freshly grated coconut (soyi/ nariyal) in a mixer grinder with watermelon/ kalingana/ bachanga white rind pieces (portion near the outer skin) and grind to a smooth paste WITHOUT water. There is enough water in watermelon pieces so you will not need any extra water while grinding.
** Add 2 cups of grated or powdered jaggery (goda/ gud/ bella) and further grind until all are evenly ground to a fine paste. Remove and add this into a wide stainless steel bowl/ vessel. Add in approximately about 2.5 to 3 cups of Bombay rava/ Rulavu and mix well taking care to see that there are no lumps whatsoever.
** Add ½ tsp cardamom (yellu/ ellaichi) powder, 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper (kali miri/ mire) powder, black salt (kala namak/ meeta) to taste and mix all together adding in more water if necessary to get a soft bhakri textured mixture. Cover and keep it aside to rest for a minimum 20 minutes. This helps the rava to soak in the moisture and get softened, a must and necessary step.
** Check out prepared watermelon rind mixture, if you find it has soaked up all water, turned dry, you can sprinkle some more water and if you find that the mixture has excess water, then you can add in some rava and mix well. The texture should be that of soft bhakri consistency, should be able to form a soft ball when rolled in hand.
** Grease the inside of Idly vati/ molds/ donno with ghee (do not use oil, the taste is enhanced with application of ghee for sweet idlies). Place a half cashew nut (kajjubi/ kaju) and 2-3 raisins (dry grapes/ sukkale draksha/ kishmish) and then add handful of batter in each vati leaving a gap of ½ inch on the top for proper steaming.
** Bring water to heat in Idly steamer/ pedavana, place the prepared vati in layers depending upon how the case of your pedavana/ steamer is, mine is of three tires with 4 on each. Cover the lid tightly, steam on high heat for 5 minutes or till you see steam escaping through the lid, then lower the heat to medium and steam for 15-20 minutes.
** Note : Steaming time depends upon number of Idly molds an their size as used and also the size of steamer etc. However, maximum steaming time is 30 minutes and does not really need more time than that. Also, excess steaming turns the Idlies hard textured as the water content within them gets over dried, so be careful, and steam accordingly. If still unsure you can check by inserting a knife or wooden stick just like how we check out the cooking of a cake, if it comes out clean its done.
** When steamed and done, remove molds immediately from steamer with the help of tongs, keep them aside and let cool a bit, say for 5-10 minutes. Run a blunt knife through the edges on inner side of molds and gently flip it over in one go, they come out beautifully intact. Idly is ready and done, you can follow the same procedure with remaining batter if any or you can use the batter in preparation of Idlies only.
** “Kalingana Saali Godi Idly (Watermelon Rind Sweet Idly)” is done and ready to be served. Always serve these sweet Idlies with loni (butter) or melted toop (ghee) for best taste. In GSB Konkani Saraswat homes we serve them either for breakfast or tiffin in the evening especially when children come home hungry from school, it tastes wonderful, is very healthy and filling too and children just love them. Above all you will also be teaching coming generations against wastage of food.
** Do try these out and enjoy with your family and friends when watermelon is in season. You can carry them in your lunch box or on short travels too. In case of lack of time, you can either prepare and keep the mixture in fridge and steam whenever required as it stays good overnight too or you can steam it and put it in airtight container in fridge and microwave and serve them whenever needed. Steamed ones remain good for 48 hours, which does really save on time for working people.
** Sharing link to “Sweet-n-spicy watermelon rind muddo”, a similar recipe prepared in banana leaves but with bansi rava/ barik lapsi/ gavuncho rulav … there is lot of info in that post which you may like to browse through too ....
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