Kayi Bellada Anna / Coconut Jaggery Rice

Kayi is coconut in Kannada. Bella is Jaggery or palm sugar in Kannada. Anna is rice. This concoction of coconut, jaggery and cooked rice is the dish today here on Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen. Not many people know about this dish. That is what prompted me to write this up.

I am from Mysore. I know my username is bangalorebaker. I made it up like that since everyone knows where Bangalore is. My mother's traditional cooking and hence my Indian cooking (when I am not making up the recipe myself) has a big influence from that region. There are many daily cooking recipes that I use which, I thought are Iyengar recipes. But, if you ask Iyengars from Tamil Nadu about these, they either have their own version of them or they don't know about them. Since cooking is colloquial just like accent of a language, I believe my mother's cooking is what it is due to influence of Mysore region.
Coming to the point of today's post, my mother's one of the cousins used to make this rice a lot. Per my mother, it is this cousin who makes it best. I do not know how true it is since I had not eaten this anywhere else but her place. This is a very simple dish and there isn't anything that you can mess up here.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup cooked and cooled
Jaggery - powdered and measured 1 1/2 cups - 2 cups (I used 1 1/2 cup and it was not too sweet, just right)
Coconut - Grated and measured 1 cup (You can use more of this too)
Ghee or Brown Butter - 4 TBSP (You can use way more than this if you like it to be rich)
Cardamom - 6 - 7 pods crushed into fine powder
Cashews - 3 TBSP
Raisins - 3 TBSP

Method:
In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat jaggery with some water (Just enough to cover the jaggery). Stir occasionally to melt all the jaggery. Once it starts boiling and the raw smell of jaggery is gone, add coconut. Let them simmer for couple of minutes. When the mixture is bubbling, lower the heat and add the cooked, cooled rice. Mix well so that there are no lumps. In another small pan, heat ghee. When hot, add cashews, raisins and roast them. Add the entire mixture to the rice jaggery mixture and mix well. Add cardamom. Let them all stay on low heat for about 2 - 3 minutes. Turn off the heat. Serve warm.

Enjoy!! Pin It