Soft Goan Sannas With Yeast

Easy Goan Steamed Rice Cakes

Here are two easy recipes for soft Goan sannas with yeast. Sannas are pillow-soft, spongy, traditional Goan steamed rice cakes. Read on to find out more about how to make the regular mildly sweet Goan sannas and the sweet sannas. Both recipes don’t include toddy, the special ingredient used in Goa for fermenting the sanna batter. We’ll use yeast instead as a fermenting agent. Mine is an easy sannas recipe. Follow all the steps and tips correctly, and you won’t go wrong.

No festive meal in Goa is complete without soft and tasty sannas. The mild sweetness of regular sannas goes well with spicy gravies and so these spongy delicacies are usually relished along with pork sorpotel or other meat curries. Sweet sannas, that have a delicious coconut-jaggery filling, can be had at teatime or as a dessert.

For Goans, sannas are a must-have for celebrations of all kinds. Non-Goans could think of Goan sannas as the Goan version of idlis. But sannas have a subtle difference in taste. Do make them following my easy Goan sannas recipe to find out the difference for yourself.

For those who have never tasted sannas before, I urge you to give making these delicious Goan steamed rice cakes a shot. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.

And if you enjoy the Goan sannas, you’ll surely enjoy checking out how to make Goan polle, the soft Goan rice crepes. and Goan Koiloreo, Goan rice pancakes.

Ingredients

1 cup parboiled rice (200g)

½ cup regular rice (100g)

½ cup grated fresh coconut

¼ cup + 1 tbsp pohe (flattened rice)

¼ cup + 1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

¾ tsp instant yeast (or 1 tsp active dry yeast)

To activate the yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 -3 tbsp lukewarm water

For the sweet filling

½ cup grated coconut

¼ cup grated jaggery

Procedure

1. Rinse both varieties of rice separately thrice with plenty of water, and then soak them in water overnight or for at least 5 to 6 hours.
2. Drain the soaked rice.
3. Next, rinse the pohe in water at least twice and then soak it in water for around 15 minutes. Then drain it.
4. Add both the kinds of drained rice to a mixer jar along with the drained pohe, grated coconut, sugar and salt. Grind well with around ½ a cup of water first and then after adding an additional ½ cup of water to the mix. Grind it till it is only slightly grainy and almost smooth. Then transfer the batter to a large bowl. Adjust the batter consistency with some water (around ¾ cup) till it’s neither too thick nor too thin.
5. Activate the yeast by mixing it with the sugar and luke warm water and setting it aside for 10-15 minutes.
6. Once the yeast is activated, stir the bloomed yeast into the sanna batter. Mix it well, and then cover and let it ferment for around 2 to 3 hours.
7. By now the batter will have risen well to about twice its original volume.
8. Prepare the filling for the sweet sannas by mixing the grated coconut and the grated jaggery.
9. Pour a little of the batter to a depth of around ½ inch into an oiled 6″ round cake pan. Sprinkle the sweet filling all over this layer. Then pour an equal quantity of batter as before over the first layer.
10. After that, pour the remaining batter into oiled vatis or small bowls or ramekins to about ¾ of their capacity.
11. Steam the sanna cake for around 20 mnutes and the individual sanna moulds for around 15 minutes. No need to cover them with foil while the sannas are steaming.
12. Next, cover the sanna cake and the smaller sannas with a kitchen towel and let them cool down for around 25 – 30 minutes. Finally, run a knife around the edges of each and unmould the Goan sannas and the sweet sanna cake.

Enjoy!