HD is a huge fan of Tik Tok. He can continuously keep watching videos on it at any time. I do not seem to enjoy it much and I get irritated when I see him wasting his time on it. At times, he shares videos to my Whassap. There was this video which had two dogs. One was constantly barking on the other, the barking dog was referred to as ” the wife” and the silent dog “the husband”. :/ Then, one comment below it from the Mr., “Don’t they remind us of ourselves?” Yeah, right… At times, he would send me some interesting cooking videos he would see, and among one of them was the Sughiyan.
I was in the kitchen, when he screamed out, “I have shared a video, watch it!”. I usually don’t watch all that he shares. I am not an avid video watcher and try to avoid spending time watching them. Sometimes, he questions if I had watched what he sent and I would just put down my head. 😀 Of course, he would get angry but somehow I can’t seem to change myself. Hehe… Since he had asked to watch, I did and as suddenly transported into nostalgia. Coincidentally, I had soaked whatever little moong dal was in the pantry, wondering what I should process it into. I walked up to him and asked, “Are you craving for Sughiyan?” He only smiled, and I assured him I would make it the next day because the moong needs time to soak, and then cook. I kept my promise and made it the next day.
As life moves on in its own course, your favorites change and gets forgotten. When we were just married, our rounds for weekly grocery to Lulu would always include a Sughiyan for him and a cutlet for me. We would get a cup of chai each from the cafeteria in a corner, and munch it along with it silently while gazing out of the car windows. I always would wonder how he eats it. I would take a bite but never because I liked it, but just because I wanted to figure out what he liked it in. I never could. Then we moved locations when I started studying my Masters and those evenings over the Sughiyan and cutlet ceased. After that, I don’t think we ever ate this snack together… Even though we still had our together time in the form of walks and drives during that time, the snack eating had ceased. When he shared the video, I was in a trance of those sweet little memories, that were asleep somewhere inside my head…
If you are still wondering what a Sughiyan is, it is a snack with sweetened mashed moong dal filling, fried in a floor topping. The snack is quite popular in Kerala, though it is more of a South Kerala speciality than north. I haven’t seen it much in abundance among the “chaayakadas” in our vicinity or in Calicut, but yes, as you move southwards, you do get it in every nook and corner. I remember having them from a tea stall when we had gone for a boat ride to Kuttanad when Rasha was small. I love to eat from tea stalls, since they have very homely and authentic flavors, but B and HD get very fidgety when it comes to eating from places like that. The maximum they allow is tea, and then we have to literally beg and prod, with a promise that if anything happens to our tummy, sole responsibility is on us. Hehe…
The recipe is actually very simple. The filling is cooked moong dal, mashed and sweetened with jaggery, coconut and some cardamom. I used powdered jaggery to avoid the mixture from getting soggy. If you are using regular jaggery that needs melting, then do make sure that there is hardly any liquid in the moong dal. Since it is mashed, you may cook the mixture down, till there is hardly any liquid left. I keep the mixture in the fridge for sometime so that it becomes easier to roll and dunk in the batter, though this step is optional. The snack is best enjoyed warm with a cup of sulaimani. Like I mentioned, I am no fan of this snack, but once in a while when I do eat it, it makes me miss those honeymoon days… 🙂 Off to the recipe…
Sugiyan / Sukhiyan | Green Gram Jaggery Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup green gram mung beans
- A pinch of salt
- 3 tbsp grated jaggery
- 3 tbsp grated coconut
- A pinch of cardamom powder
- A pinch of dry ginger powder chukku - optional
- FOR THE BATTER:
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- A pinch of turmeric
- A pinch salt
- Water to mix
Instructions
- Soak the mung beans in lots of water overnight or for 6-8 hours. Drain.
- Add into a pressure cooker and add water an inch level up of the dal. Add salt and pressure cook for several whistles on low to middle flame. Switch off and allow the pressure to go by itself.
- The moong dal would be cooked well and would be of mashed texture. Using a potato masher or a spoon, muddle the dal to completely mash it. If there is excess water, keep on low flame and cook, stirring occasionally till almost dry.
- Add in the jaggery, coconut, cardamom and dry ginger powders and give a good mix. Allow to cool completely.
- Roll into small balls - makes around 10 - and set aside.
- Whisk all the ingredients for the batter and add water just enough to make a thick batter, which will coat on the mung bean balls and not drippy.
- Heat oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot, roll one ball at a time into the batter, till coated and drop into the hot oil.
- Fry 2-3 at a time without overcrowding the pan. Fry till golden brown. Drain onto a kitchen towel.
- Enjoy warm with some tea.
Oh my god I hate Tik Tok! cant stand it at all. these look delicious, by the way.
These look fingerlickingly delicious! I have never used mung beans this way…so interesting and delicious.