Qadbu - A to Z Maharashtrian Sweets
The entire credit for today's dish goes to Pradnya for suggesting this recipe. I know I must have pestered her so much and this post was the main reason. There was no way I could find something even remotely starting with Q and since I was making sweets, it was even tougher.
The first time she told me about this Qadhu, I thought she meant Kadubu. I checked online and could only find Kadubu listed as something that we make for Ganesh Chaturthi, mostly with rice flour outer layer and steamed with channa dal stuffing.
Seeing how tough it was to get hold of Pradnya, I sent in an email and a WhatsApp message. She must have thought it was better to write back or else I will never leave her alone..LOL..Anyway on the whole I was so happy that she made tasks easy for me, by suggesting this recipe, which also turned out to be such a simple recipe to make.
To quote her, "Qadbu is a sweet offered to palkhis - palkhis are Yatras of Ganapathi or Sai Baba which people travel with carrying the Lord in a palkhi on shoulders". Ok, I once again confirmed if the puran was the same as the Puran poli puran and if this has to be steamed. Also she said I could get creative with the shapes like momos.
While I consider myself to be relatively creative, my creative abilities take a beating at times and this proved to be that time. As with this series, I had just about 3 weekends to cook and I booked all the weekends for the Mega Marathon Cooking.
Since my family is well aware of my overloaded weekend cooking, they weren't surprised, the only surprise was the sweet dishes that were coming out. My boys were puzzled about why Amma was not baking any chocolate for them. Konda was surprised at why she was asked to eat so many sweets. Hubby dear was puzzled on what to mark for each meal. On top, I had to sneak in something without daddy's knowledge to Amma. I also had to take for my colleagues. So the result was, each one was asking what happened to the other sweet that they didn't get to eat.
Anyway, I was happy that each and every dish that I cooked for this marathon was a super duper hit and not even one hit and miss case. Or I hope so, I still have two more to make.
While I get ready for the rest, you check out this simple dish that you can make for Q
Pradnya wrote about how this is made, not a rocket science recipe that requires measurements. So I hope this works out fine when you decide to make it yours.
Qadbu
Ingredients Needed:
For the outer layer
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Salt a pinch
Water to knead
For the Puran
Channa dal - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1/2 cup (increase if needed)
Salt a pinch
Cardamom a pinch
Idli maker for Steaming
Ghee for serving
Roasted Nuts
How to make the Qadbu
Knead the chapati dough and let it rest.
Wash and soak the channa dal for atleast 2 hrs. Change water and pressure cook with enough water.
Once the channa dal is soft and mushy, add the grated jaggery and cook till the water evaporates. The puran should not be very fine.
If needed, saute the mixture in a nonstick pan, add cardamom and salt. Grind coarse.
Let it cool down.
Assemble the Qadbu
I used the cookie cutter to cut out small discs. You can also roll out small puris.
On the rolled out pooris, place a spoonful of stuffing and seal the other ends. You could try out different shapes used on Momos.
Repeat with the rest. Place these on a greased moulds, steam for 10 mins.
Serve with ghee poured on top
Recipe
Qadbu | How to make Qadbu - Steamed Puran stuffed Wheat Dumplings
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Srividhya Gopalakrishnan says
Q is one difficult alphabet to crack.. But you did it. Interesting know about yatris and this recipe. Great share
Usha Rao says
Lol, poor boys. You are punishing them for not liking sweets ????. Lol for family not getting to taste all the sweets and where the other one went or got finished even before they tasted. ????. Qadbu looks delicious.
Suma Gandlur says
Good that you could come up with a Q recipe. Wow, you are a super woman, cooking mega marathon worth of recipes in 3 weekends.
Valli, I think they are a version of kadubu and my MIL used to make this. We call them kudumulu since we are not Kannadigas.
Srivalli says
Thanks Srividhya
Usha, it sure was fun when it was on the table..:)
Suma, thank you...I guess the thought of Mega Marathon does push us to limits...I realised about Kudumulu when I was drafting this post and thought Pradnya was smart enough to suggest the spelling with Q...I would never have come up with that myself..:)
Gayathri Kumar says
Wish I was there in Chennai to taste some of your sweets. You are doing an amazing job on this BM. Love the steamed qadbu. These look more like sweet momos..
The Pumpkin Farm says
Valli - aww...i dont think i was taking ur worries that seriously..i do take u for granted u see, i know you can find ur way...these qadbus have been treated much better than the normal simple recipes they are meant to be..glad to hear your fammily enjoyed it
Pavani N says
Q is definitely a tricky letter and you nailed it. A very interesting dish with an even more interesting name. Love the shape you came up with.
Amara Annapaneni says
Lovely Qadbu Valli, nice intro. As they are steamed, it's a guilt free snack:)
Priya Suresh says
Qadbu looks fabulous and such a healthy snack , prefect choice for Q as well, u rock Valli.
Harini-Jaya R says
A very clever pick, Valli. They look delicious.
Smruti Shah says
Q would have been pretty difficult in Maharashtrian cuisine. I am glad to read your post, it looks so amazing. Perfect pick for a letter like q!!
Nalini's Kitchen says
Such a nice pick for the letter,qadbu sounds healthy and new to me..
Sapana Behl says
Q was the tough one for everyone.Right ?? You have made such interesting and beautiful dish with the letter.Kudos to you.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
What a lovely pick for the alphabet. They are like the dumplings and I just love the sweet filling. Cooking in full form is the time when we need more and more people around us to eat everything quick enough for us to make the next one 🙂
Chef Mireille says
what a lovely treat and delicious filling..Pradnya is indeed so knowledgeable a great resource to have. I learned so much about culinary history in India the few days I was with her
Ruchi Indu says
very good choice for Q. Kudos to you...