“Ellu Bella thindu olle mathaadi” is the Kannada saying which means ‘eat the mixture of sesame and jaggery and speak good words’, which will be making rounds on the day of Makara Sankranthi in Karnataka.
Sankranthi is one of the big festivals celebrated in Karnataka. It is also the harvest festival when farmers celebrate the harvest of the season. On Sankranthi people wear new traditional dresses and distribute Ellu-Bella and goodies to each other.
Ellu Bella: Why Ellu-Bella distributed during Sankranthi?
Sankranti festival is celebrated in middle of winter, food prepared for this festival is such that it keeps the body warm and gives a lot of energy. Jaggery, Sesame seeds peanuts keeps the body warm and gives a lot of energy. This is the significance of distributing Ellu Bella.
Also read about the recipe of Koorka / Kook / Chinese Potato which is available only in the winter season
Why Makar Sankranti is Celebrated?
Ellu Bella – Karnataka Style Sankranthi recipe
Course: sweetCuisine: KarnatakaDifficulty: Easy10
servings30
minutesEllu Bella, traditionally, a mixture of white sesame and jaggery. There are few other ingredients added. It’s very simple to make and healthy too.
Ingredients
1 cup Fried gram Dal
1 cup dry coconut
1 cup Fried peanuts
1 cup sugar candies
1/2 cup jaggery pieces
1/4 cup sesame seeds
Directions
- Take a pan and heat it and dry roast the peanuts. Once the peanuts are roasted dehusk it and keep it aside.
- In the same pan dry roast the sesame seeds.
- With the help of a knife, shred the dry coconut into small pieces.
- Similarly, shred the jaggery into small pieces.
- Now in a bowl add all the above, fried peanuts, sesame seeds, shredded coconut and jaggery, sugar candies and fried gram Dal. Mix these ingredients well, the tasty Ellu-Bella mix is ready to serve.
