Easy Kadale Panchakajjaya (video recipe)

Kadale Panchakajjaya – Naivedyam step by step recipe with a quick video tutorial.

If you are looking for festival prasad, a glutenfree dessert from South India, this is the post you should be reading! These coconut-based dessert neivedya (offering to gods) are perfectly sweet, crunchy and completely glutenfree and refined sugar free!

Chickpea panchakajjaya is simple yet delicious dessert that’s perfect for a festival celebration.

Today’s recipe is a popular dessert or sweet from Karnataka, South India made of 5 main ingredients – brown chickpea, coconut, sesame seeds, jaggery and ghee with little water.

We call this as Kadale panchakajjaya in Kannada. This recipe is Karnataka style kadale kaalu panchakajjaya.

This is Karnataka style traditional prasad recipe served in temples along the coastal regions.

This Mangalore sweet recipe is nutritious and healthy when eaten in limited quantities.

I am sure all of you will like this easy, simple and quick fuss free South Indian festive dessert.

Brown chana panchakajjaya with jaggery recipe can be served as Ashtami prasad and ganesh chathurthi prasad

Check a quick video of making temple style Kadale Panchakajjaya and try this in your kitchen. If you have enjoyed the video do subscribe to Dice n Cook Youtube channel for more food videos.   

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What is panchakajjaya?

Panchakajjaya is naivedyam for Ganesha festival and as the name says Pancha in Sanskritmeans 5 and kajjaya is prasad or sweet from these five ingredients.

Lord Ganesha is worshipped as first God before worshipping any other god and this is offered to Ganesha. There is also belief that this sweet is one of the favorites of lord Ganesha. It is later distributed as prasad to people.

It is common prasad served to devotees across famous Udupi-Mangalore and North Canara Ganapathi temples. This is jaggery panchakajjaya recipe for Ganesha. This is Udupi kadale panchakajjaya recipe.

Recipe I learnt from my mother-in-law passed on to her from her mother-in-law. So, it’s an ancestral family treasure recipe that I am documenting in the blog today.

Actual preparation of this prasad takes a while because we need to dry roast dark chickpea until we get a nice aroma. It’s a great recipe for many festivals as naivedyam. This dish is part of Ganesh Chathurthi and other Indian festivals like Krishna Janmashtami.

So, if you are looking for traditional authentic coastal Karnataka prasad, then try this recipe in your kitchen. I am sure you will love and enjoy it!!

This is a healthy version of prasad as it is made of jaggery compared to refined sugar prasad. You can also taste the difference between the two.

This dessert is quite fragrant, and the sweetness can be adjusted as you want.

I have included a quick video tutorial and it also includes panchakajjaya ingredients in Kannada.

In this dish, kadale, dry coconut and sesame seeds are roasted, powdered and these are mixed nicely. This is then mixed with jaggery syrup and mixed well and served as prasad.

There are no dry fruits, or any masala added to this prasad. The aroma is purely from fried chickpea and coconut along with nutty flavors of roasted sesame.

All you need is about 40 to 45 minutes from roasting, powdering, and mixing of panchakajjaya.

Everyone at home enjoys eating this as snacks or a mid-day dessert. That’s the reason I make this every month and enjoy with a glass of milk.

Types of Panchakajjaya

There are number ways of making panchakajjaya with five ingredients.

1. Panchakajjaya using kadale and jaggery or sugar
2. Split chana dal and sugar or jaggery is also used
3. Poha or avalakki with jaggery and banana is used in panchakajjaya
4. Roasted chana and sugar is also used
5. With puffed rice and jaggery

The recipe given in this post is how to make panchakajjaya using kadale and jaggery.

You can also find panchakajjaya in two forms, one is powdered form and the other is seen as lumps. My today’s recipe is first one.

Do check out important points to be noted while you plan to make this prasad. No fail recipes always a welcome, just like this one!!

What is kadale kaalu or brown chickpeas?

Kala channa or Kadale kaalu or black channa or brown chickpeas makes for the important ingredient in this recipe.

Black chana or brown chickpeas also known as kala chana in Hindi. It is Cicer arietinum belonging to Fabaceae family an annual legume. They are called as garbanzo bean in Spanish language.

These are small, darker with a rough coat. Brown chickpeas are nutty and firm in texture. They remain firm even after cooking but soft from inside.

High in protein and a great replacement for meat and vegan option. They are used in hummus, falafel, Indian desserts, curries and flatbread.

We use these brown chickpeas to make kadale panchakajjaya.

Why make kadale panchakajjaya at home?

There are many panchakajjaya recipes out there. But most of them are sugar-based recipes. Here are few reasons to make this full proof prasad recipe at home

• Glutenfree recipe
• Healthy dessert
• Few ingredients
• Easy to make
• High protein dessert
• Jaggery based dessert
• Refined sugarfree dessert
• Perfect sweet for naivedya
• Sweet that can be made in advance
• Long shelf life
• A delicious sweet for festive gatherings
• Packed and served for long journey.

Next, we will see what are the key ingredients that goes into panchakajjaya

Ingredients notes

In this recipe, you will not need many ingredients to make this prasad. And most of these ingredients are not hard to find them and all are from your pantry.

This recipe has five important core ingredients and one secondary ingredient. We do not need any exotic ingredients to make this.

Kadale kalu or Black chana or black/ brown chickpeas – This is the main ingredient used in making Panchakajjaya. Good quality, pest free, kadale should be used in this recipe. A classic traditional temple style panchakajjaya uses black chana.

Dry coconut – I have used dry coconut or kobbari as we call in Kannada. We are using unsweetened coconut in this recipe. You can either remove the outer skin of dry coconut or keep them as it is and then grate them.

If you have grated them big, you can powder and use them in the recipe. However, you can use fresh coconut but panchakajjaya stays good for only 2 to 3 days.

Sesame seeds – These are til in Hindi or ellu as we call in Kannada. These are natural oil source and have many health benefits. Roasted sesame seeds have nutty flavor and crunchier in texture.

Jaggery – I have used liquid jaggery in this recipe. This is semi solid, rough textured jaggery. Its easily available in most of the organic stores. They are dark colored than other store brought jaggery blocks.

However, you can use any kind of jaggery. You can use jaggery powder or grated jaggery to make this recipe. This helps to easily dissolve jaggery in water compared to blocks of jaggery which takes more time to dissolve.

Ghee – this is the fifth main ingredient; it is used only for flavor. I have used homemade ghee in this recipe. Store brought ghee can also be used.

Water – this is secondary ingredient other than main five ingredients. It is mainly added to dissolve jaggery.

Equipment

High speed blender or mixer grinder

Thick bottomed pan or wok

Ladle

Induction cooktop

How to make kadale panchakajjaya?

Here’s how to make this simple yet delicious prasad in simple steps.

Before beginning the recipe, some preparations we should be making.

We must use clean kadale in this recipe. Two ways to clean them

First method is taking kadale on a cloth, remove any stones, fold the cloth and wipe them to remove any dust from surface.

Second method is add water to kadale, wash them thoroughly and use them to fry. Do not soak them in water. This way you can remove any dust.

I have followed the first method of cleaning.

Frying:

To begin making this recipe, heat a thick bottomed wok or pan. Since we are frying the ingredients for long time and to prevent burning them, we use thick bottomed wok.

Pro tip: Fry the ingredients on medium to low heat to prevent burning.

Add kadale or brown chana to pan, fry them well on medium to low heat. As you begin frying the colour will be dark brown but as the frying continues, the colour of kadale becomes light brown, slightly swollen and the skin of few become black. Skin of few kadale also break open while frying.

You get nice aroma at this point of frying. This takes approximately 20 minutes. (This frying time vary as per your heating element). This indicates they are fried well from skin to inside.

If we fry on high heat, kadale becomes black from outside and are not fried from inside.

After frying them to perfection, make sure to cool them. Pour them on a plate and cool them.

The next ingredient we are frying is grated dry coconut. Roast this on low heat, as coconut gets burnt very easily on high heat. They slightly change colour, do not make them too dark, you will get burnt aroma. It took approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Keep this on a plate and cool them.

Next, we will fry sesame seeds, you have to dry roast this on medium heat with continuously frying otherwise they get burnt. They start spluttering as we fry. At this point we have to stop, it took around 4 to 5 minutes.

Keep this on plate and cool them.

Grinding:

Here we are grinding the fried cooled kadale or brown chana. Take a high speed mixer or spice blender and add the cooled kadale. You can make fine powder. If there are slight coarse particles, its fine you can use the same to make panchakajjaya.

Mixing:

Take a bowl, mix the powdered kadale, roasted cooled dry coconut and sesame seeds. Mix well and keep this aside until we make jaggery syrup.

Making jaggery syrup:

Take jaggery in a thick bottomed pan, add water and mix well. If you are using big jaggery blocks, then you will need more water. I have used liquid jaggery, so not much water is required to dissolve the jaggery.

Dissolve jaggery and boil the syrup well. Boil on medium heat, the syrup starts boiling well. Now check the consistency. We should get the soft ball jaggery syrup consistency for making panchakajjaya.

There are two ways to check the jaggery syrup consistency

1. First method is wet your fingertips and take a drop of syrup in between the fingertips and pull them apart. If we get thick strings, then its perfect jaggery syrup.
2. In this method, take a bowl with a spoon of water and add few drops of boiling jaggery syrup. The syrup should not dissolve and form soft ball when we bring it together.

Here in this video recipe, I have shown the second method.

You can see in the first photo (A) how syrup dissolves when added to water. In the second photo (B) we see how soft ball of jaggery syrup is formed as we bring them together.

This is perfect jaggery syrup. Now switch off the heat, do not boil for more. If you boil for more time, it will reach hard ball consistency, panchakajjaya becomes hard.

Add ghee to the syrup, mix well and continue with next step. If you wish, can add another 1 or 2 tbsp of ghee. We add ghee at the end to retain the aroma of panchakajjaya.

Mixing of syrup and powder:

After the syrup is ready, keep the heat on low and add panchakajjaya dry ingredient powder. Start mixing on low heat for 2 minutes. The panchakajjaya mixture will be semi-liquid in the beginning and as it starts absorbing the syrup it dries up.

Switch off the heat, remove the wok from heat, keep on the kitchen counter and break all the lumps of panchakajjaya.

At this stage if you want the panchakajjaya to be like small lumps, you can keep them as it is. However break only large lumps.

There are different ways you can break the lumps

Here in the video, I have shown how to break the lumps in panchakajjaya. We have to do this quickly when the mixture is warm in the hot wok. If it cools down, they become hard and cannot break them.

Another way is pouring out the entire panchakajjaya mixture on a thick cloth. With one end of the cloth rub on the panchakajjaya powder to remove any lumps.

There is one more method, you can powder the lumps using a clean washed spice blender or mixer grinder. However, the drawback of this method is we will be grinding even the sesame seeds and dry coconut as well.

Kadale panchakajjaya is ready.

Storing and serving suggestions

Kadale panchakajjaya can be stored for 10 to 15 days. It must be stored in airtight container to retain the freshness. The storage container should be clean and dry. Use a clean dry spoon while serving the panchakajjaya.

This prasad is usually served as it is in its native form. However, you can choose to top it with some ghee.

Recipe variations and substitutes

1. Chickpea can be ground into coarse powder instead of fine powder.
2. Fresh coconut can be used instead of dry coconut or kobbari.
3. We can add more ghee for extra aroma of ghee in panchakajjaya
4. If the chickpea is dusty, wash them once and use them for frying.
5. The other method of making panchakajjaya is mixing powdered jaggery with fresh grated coconut and then adding other ingredients. This way you are avoiding making jaggery syrup. However, this stays good and fresh for only one day. It spoils very fast due to usage of fresh coconut.
6. Jaggery powder can be replaced with sugar powder in making this panchakajjaya. You can directly mix the sugar powder with fresh coconut and other ingredients. In this method also we are avoiding syrup preparation however the shelf life is very low. This is easier simple way.
7. White sesame seeds can be replaced with black sesame seeds
8. Avalakki panachakajjaya: here we use poha or flattened rice or avalakki instead of whole chickpea.
9. Chana dal panchakajjaya: we use chana dal in place of brown chickpeas with jaggery or sugar.
10. Puffed rice panchakajjaya: In this recipe we use puffed rice to make the prasad.
11. Moong dal panchakajjaya: here we are using roasted moong dal with jaggery to make the neivedyam.  

Flavor variations or Add-ons

Cardamom can be used here to make it more flavorful.

We can add 2 or 3 spoon more quantity of ghee to get nice aroma in the panchakajjaya.

Ghee roasted dry fruits like almonds or cashew nuts can be added while mixing.

Black sesame seeds can be added for more earthy flavors.

Recipe notes

Always fry the ingredients on low medium heat to avoid burning.

Avoid over roasting desiccated coconut. Since this will alter the taste and it gets easily burnt and becomes bitter.

This recipe can be easily scaled up or down. Either can doubled or halved, depending on the requirement change the quantity of 5 ingredients.

Do not over boil the jaggery syrup after it has reached soft ball consistency.

Mix quickly and break the lumps in panchakajjaya powder when it is still warm.

If you like this festival recipe, have a look at some of other easy traditional recipes for Ganesha Chathurthi from South India

Moong Dal Chakli

Karnataka style Nippattu

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Frequently asked question?

Can I freeze them?

Yes it can be stored in airtight container or ziplock covers for 20 to 30 days. Please do thaw them and bring it room temperature before serving. As this prasad stays good for 10 days at room temperature, you can always prepare fresh batch whenever required.

Is this glutenfree?

Yes this prasad is naturally glutenfree.

Can I make them dairy-free / vegan?

Yes you can make it dairyfree by avoiding ghee. However, ghee adds a mild aroma of freshness to panchakajjaya so I would suggest to add it as per the recipe.

Can we make this recipe in advance?

Yes it can be made in advance for any festive pooja or functions as offering to god or as prasad.

Can we use desiccated coconut?

If you do not find dry coconut, you can use desiccated coconut.

Can we use fresh coconut?

Yes fresh coconut cane be used, however the panchakajjaya gets spoilt within 2 to 3 days.

Can we refrigerate this?

Yes it can refrigerated and used whenever its required.

Can we add cardamom?

Yes cardamom powder can be added, however traditionally it is avoided.

Why roast sesame seeds?

Roasting brings out the natural nutty flavor making it crunchier. So we dry roast them without adding any oil. This also helps in retaining the freshness of prasad for long time.

How to roast sesame seeds on stovetop?

Dry roast sesame seeds on medium heat, fry until few are golden and they slight swell in size. Do not leave on stove because they can burn very easily. Few of them start spluttering as we roast them. This indicates its done.

Can we add sugar powder instead of jaggery?

Yes refined sugar can be added instead of jaggery to make panchakajjaya

Can we use Kabuli chana in this recipe?

No kabuli chana cannot be used in this recipe, its very hard and powdering becomes difficult. Make usli using kabuli chana and enjoy.

Can we add dry fruits?

Yes, ghee roasted dry fruits can be added however, traditionally it is not added while making panchakajjaya.

Can we use condensed milk?

No condensed milk cannot be used and it doesn’t suit the recipe. So avoid using condensed milk.

Why am I having difficulty in powdering panchakajjaya?

The first reason is if the jaggery syrup is hard ball consistency, then the mixture turns hard immediately, and you cannot break the lumps.

The second reason is if you want a lump free panchakajjaya then we have to mix well or break small lumps when the mixture is still warm.

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