steamed rice, coconut milk cake from the Konkan region of Maharashtra.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Keyword rice coconut milk steamed cake, Saandan
Prep Time 8 hourshours
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Total Time 8 hourshours25 minutesminutes
Servings 4people
Ingredients
2 cups rice (preferably Kolam or Ambemohar)
1 fresh coconut / 3 cups of scraped coconut
¼ cup powdered sugar
salt to taste
Instructions
Wash and drain the rice.
Spread the washed rice on a plate or a cloth and dry it in sun or under the fan for 3 to 4 hours.
Once the rice is dry, transfer it to a mixer jar ad grind it to a coarse powder.
Sieve the rice powder to get two different textures of rice powder Keep aside. - the sieve will contain the coarse powder and the finer rice powder will collect under it.
Grind freshly scraped coconut with ¾ cup of hot water to a smooth paste.
Strain this using a muslin cloth or a strainer to get the first, thick extract of coconut milk.
Keep the first extract of coconut milk aside.
Blend the coconut remains again alongwith ¾cup of hot water.
Strain and get the second extract of coconut milk (thin coconut milk).
Transfer thin coconut milk to a pan.
Bring this to a gentle boil.
Now, add the coarse rice powder.
Mix well and cook on low flame until the coconut milk is fully absorbed.
Take the pan off the heat and allow the mixture to cool completely.
In a separate vessel/mixing bowl, add the fine rice powder, powdered sugar, salt and thick coconut milk. Mix well.
Add the cooked, cooled rice mixture into this and mix well.
The batter should be thick like idli batter. You can add water to adjust the consistency of the batter.
Cover and keep aside to ferment for 7 to 8 hours
Once the batter is fermented, grease idli moulds, or small steel bowls or shallow plates with little oil.
Pour the batter and steam for 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from the steamer and let it cool for some time.
Unmould the saandan and serve with meat curry or Malvani Kaala vatana usal
Notes
Some people use yeast or baking soda for fermenting the batter. But I have not used any fermenting agent. The batter has fermented well naturally. The coarse rice powder cooked with coconut milk which is added to the batter helps in fermentation.