It’s almost Ugadi again! This festival marks the new year in states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and calls for a special dish holige.

Also known as obattu, holige is a thin-crust pancake made from flour, stuffed with dal, jaggery or coconut, and then slathered with ghee on top.

If you are wondering if the dish might have too much ghee and carbs to disrupt your diet plans, then Bhat’s Holige Mane, a 35-year-old shop located in a small lane of Bengaluru’s Ramakrishna Nagar is the answer.

The shop makes healthier versions of holige by using multigrain atta instead of maida, organic jaggery instead of sugar, and zero preservatives.

“Five years ago, we noticed that customers were curious to know if we had a sugar-free version or a millet-based version. They wanted to eat traditional sweets, but stay healthy at the same time,” says Srinivas Bhat (55), the second-generation owner of the store.

Srinivas learnt to cook from his father, who migrated from a small village in Sringeri to Bengaluru to work as a chef.

Before taking over the ropes of his father’s business, Srinivas was working with Mysore Lamps for 17 years. The company shut down and he decided to join the business.

After a few trials and errors, he was able to crack the code and develop a healthier version of holige, which he says tastes the same as the traditional one.

To meet competition from other sellers, he took his niece’s help and made a website. “Not only did she create the website, but she also handles the orders and deliveries,” says Srinivas.

His holige has a comparatively shorter shelf-life as there are no preservatives in them.

Srinivas’ business has grown exponentially ever since he moved online. The sales have gone up by 30%, shipping his products to Delhi, Chennai and even the USA.