Every year, on the eight day of Krishna Paksha, the birth of lord krishna is celebrated in India, who is believed to be an eighth avatar of lord Vishnu. People acknowledge Krishna on this day by singing prayers, fasting, decorating temples, washing the idols of baby Krishna and placing them in a cradle.
Janmashtami is the day when you can not resist mouth watering sweets and they are an important part of celebrating Krishna's birth. It is believed that Krishna loves food and is also known as ‘Makhan Chor’ due his liking towards butter.even on today's date Indian households prepare special chappan bhog for lord krishna, which consists of delicious sweets.
Here are some sweets from different parts of india that you enjoy on Janmashtami :
GOPALKALA
This dish has a specific significance from the state of India ‘maharashtra’. Gopalkala is also a filling of dahi handi. Lord Krishna loved the hand churned butter and therefore this dish is prepared with butter, poha and some fresh fruits. Here is a perfect way of preparing gopalkala, which you can add in your bhog for krishna.
- Firstly wash the poha properly under running water and let extra water get drained out of it.
- Now roast the puffed rice ( sukhi fuladiya / murmura ) for 1 minute in a pan.
- Then wash, peel and chopped cucumber. Now mix it well with 1 cup curd, ½ cup milk and some white butter in a bowl and whisk it nicely till it turns into a smooth texture.
- Next add all the spices like salt, green chilli, cumin powder in the mixture, with this also add some finely chopped ginger, add more butter for extra creamy results.
- Now you can also add soaked chana dal into it, with grated coconut. Add soaked poha and roasted puffed rice to the mixture and mix everything well softly.
- Lastly garnish the dish with fresh coriander, pomegranate and other desired fruit.
NEI APPAM
You can enjoy this sweet dish with your family and friends during this festival season which is simply made up of raw rice. This traditional dish basically belongs to the southern state of India ‘Tamil Nadu’ and is enjoyed on janmashtami .
It is also recognised as unniyappam in Kerala. So here is the recipe of nei appam, which can be offered as a bhog to Krishna this year.
- Soak the rice in water for 2-3 hours.
- Now make a jaggery syrup by heating jaggery in water, after this strain the liquid and keep it aside.
- Now drain the rice water and grind the rice well with jaggery syrup to turn it into a fine paste.
- After this add mashed banana in rice and jaggery paste, and pour the mixture in a separate bowl.
- Keep checking the consistency of the batter. It should be a little thicker than the dosa batter. Now with this add grated coconut and cardamom powder in it.
- Now you can add baking soda to the mixture or a little amount of yeast in it. Later on keep it aside for 1 hour , for the fermentation process.
- Now heat the appam pan and add ghee in it. Now pour the batter in every slot of appam and flip it once it is light brown from one side.
- Cook until both the sides turn brownish and it is ready !
MATHURA PEDA
As you can guess from the name itself, this yummy dish belongs to north indian state ‘Mathura’. Mathura ke pede is the best feast of janmashtami that comes from the birthplace of krishna.
In India, janmashtami is incomplete without peda. People offer it to lord krishna and then break their fast. So here is how you can prepare the prashad of mathura ke pede.
- Take a pan and add water+sugar in it, now cook it over a slow flame and keep stirring the mixture, till it turns into a thick mixture and looks transparent.
- Now pour the milk in the sugar syrup and stir it well.
- After 5-6 minutes of stirring this mixture, you will see crystallizing sugar which is sticking to the pan and keep mixing it.
- Now after this add ghee, in the mixture and keep scraping it on medium flame.
- Finally sugar will reach the point when there will be no moisture in it, keep it aside and let it dry now. This is how you will achieve powdr sugar.
- Now add mawa in a pan on medium flame after a few minutes it will become dry add ghee in it and keep stirring it.
- Keep stirring it till you achieve light brown colour for 15-20 minutes.
- After this let the mixture cool down and then mix the sugar bura in it properly.
- Gradually, add milk in the mawa mixture little by little and mix it well. Once done with it add cardamom powder in it and kneeled it properly.
- Now use your hands and give it a shape of mawa and it is done!
MAKHAN MISHRI
This simple prashad is prepared in almost every state of India during Janmashtami. It is an offering for lord Krishna on this day specifically because the bal gopal was fond of makhan. Here is the recipe for makhan mishri .
- Add desi ghee in a large size bowl and drop some ice cubes in it.
- Now mix the ghee and ice cubes with a whisker and after a few minutes you will start noticing thickness in the consistency of ghee.
- Whisk it till you achieve a nice white thick mixture, for 5 minutes.
- Now add mishri in it , you can also use sugar in place of mishri. Give it a nice mix.
- Transfer the mixture in some clean bowl and garnish it with fresh mint leaves.
- Offer the favourite sweet of Krishna first to lord and then distribute it to all.
Try these amazing recipes and tell us your favorite recipes in the comments.