Mandas is a traditional Indian recipe (from Mangalore) for a classic snack of a ground rice batter in coconut milk with cuccumber that's traditionally steamed in banana leaves. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Indian version of: Mandas.
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Mandas is a traditional Mangalorean breakfast. It is sweet in taste. You can also call it cucumber & rice cake. Though it is not soft like cake it has a dense texture. It is made by grinding rice, cucumber, coconut and adding jaggery to the batter then steaming it. You can even bake it if you want.
Ingredients:
500g Rice
250g Cucumber
1 Coconut
300g Jaggery
pinch of Salt
Method:
Place the rice in a large bowl, cover with plenty of water then set aside to soak for 3–l4 hours. Grate the cucumber into a bowl. Crack the coconut open, extract the flesh and grate into another bowl.
Drain the water from he rice. Transfer to a blender and add in the grated coconut and cucumber. Pulse to chop then add water as needed and process to a smooth paste. and water as required. The consistency of the resultant batter should similar to dosa batter. Scrape the mixture into a bowl.
Add water to an idli cooker and allow this to heat up. Now add the salt and grated jaggery to the batter and mix until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Take a baking tin or a plate and grease with oil or ghee. Pour in the batter then steam it in the idli cooker for about 30 minutes.
If you don't have an idli maker, you can wrap the batter in banana leaves (or in greaseproof paper parcels covered with foil) then steam in a steamer basket.
Once steamed, turn off the heat, remove the lid and allow to cool in the idli maker (or steamer basket).
Once cooled cut into your desired shape and serve.
Traditionally this is served for breakfast, but it also makes a great sweet treat for Diwali.
