25 January 2012

Ari Unda / Kerala Rice Ladoos

Ari Unda/ Rice Ladoos are one of the traditional sweets of Kerala. It is prepared during festivals and even when there are sudden guests at home. In the earlier days it used to be prepared in the 'Ural' the traditional stone mortar. The pounding stick is called as 'Ulakka'.I still remember my mom pounding the rice and jaggery in the stone mortar. And she used to do it with so much ease. The way she used to do as if in a musical motion. I remember giving it a try and my it was heavy indeed. As I don't have a stone mortar, I made it in a grinder. Do give it a try.

So here is my mom's recipe to make soft and yummy Ari Undas.



INGREDIENTS
Rice ( Matta rice/ Red Kuttari/Par Boiled Rice) - 1/2 kg
Jaggery - 700 gm
Scraped Coconut - 2 1/2 cup (tightly packed)
Cardamom - 8 pods



METHOD
Pick stones if any in rice and wash.
Strain the water well.
Divide the rice into 3 portions.
In an aluminium (thick bottom) kadai roast the rice, one portion at a time. Keep stirring on medium flame.Roast it till the rice breaks. Bite the rice to see if it cracks easily. The rice pops up.
Transfer to a wide plate or lid to cool a bit. Roast the other portions in a similar way.
When the rice is cooled a bit and still warm add the cardamom and powder it real fine.
Pass the rice powder through a strainer and keep aside.
Transfer the scraped coconut into a grinder and grind it for 3 minutes before adding jaggery.
Pound the jaggery into very small pieces*.
Add this slowly into the grinder.
Grind the mixture into very fine paste.
Now add the rice powder slowly into the grinder.
Grind till everything is well mixed.
Roll it into balls and serve.




Tips:
Use a mixture of dark and light coloured jaggery.
The secret to soft ari undas is the right level of roasting the rice. It has to be very well roasted. The rice breaks and pops up. It cracks easily in your mouth. And the rice powder has to be strained to remove any husk.
*Make sure the jaggery is pounded into small pieces else it will be difficult to grind in a grinder. Add slowly.
In the same way add rice powder slowly. Do not be tempted to add all of it at one go as the grinder stone will get stuck and become messy for you to handle.
The mixture will be very soft. Not to worry the ladoos harden the next day.
Consume it in 2 days if kept at room temperature. Else refrigerate it and consume in a weeks time.





37 comments:

  1. wow, they look so yummy...wonderful presentation :)

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  2. Those laddoos look delicious. They remind of ragi laddoos made by my mom. Nice clicks.

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  3. very yummy ladoos !! loved them !!

    Ongoing event CC-Chocolate Fest

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  4. My mom used to make it and she used to hide them bcoz we used to finish them off and left none for the guests :D

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  5. Hmmm they look so crunchy and yum. Perfect looking laddoos...

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  6. Your pictures are beautiful Rinku. The laddoos look great, and moreover as they don't have ghee it makes them even more desirable.

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  7. my favorite :)................i dont have a grinder but shd work in a food processor i guess ! how r u? long time no see ;)

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  8. really an authenic sweet...............now how life have become so easy....How our parents struggled...and now we r so lucky

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  9. Kanditto vaayil vellam varunney:-(( Ayyoo...reminds me soo much of my summer holidays at my Grandmom's place..We used to gobble a lot of this!

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  10. Super duper laddoos Rinku!! Was waiting for your next post - thanks for not disappointing me :) By the way the pictures have come out fantastic!!

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  11. Yummy, authentic recipe!!! And fantastic clicks!!
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  12. cute n perfect ladoo!!nice pics rinku!

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  13. I wish i could magically grab few of tjose delicious unda from my screen,i lov elove them every time when i go back home i eat them .

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  14. when I was pregnant with my kids I used to make these ladoo & eat in 1 sit ............... I just love these Ladoos ..............

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  15. Fantastic Rinku! Love the pictures too! Donna

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  16. Delicious Urundai,want to taste this rite now:) All urundai are perfect...

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  17. Wow look delicious. Your instructions are quite detailed too.

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  18. Seriously feel like grabbing some and having rite now,such a beautiful rice laddooss..

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  19. my favorate sweet rice laddoo....ariyunda.perfect presentation

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  20. Nice presentation.....new variety of ladoo's to me...looks yum...

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  21. Crunchy and yum.....my all time fav

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  22. Ahh, I miss this a lot. My grandma used to make really good ones.

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  23. At hostel we used to have this and avolose podi as mid nite snack...;)..Ithu nanayittundu..

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  24. My hubby's fav. I love it too :-) Usually my mom-in law sends us a big bag of this whenever we visit :-)

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  25. Aiyooo.. Rinku I miss mummy more.. Reminds me of her ari unda.. looks so yumm :)

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  26. wow...delicious rice ladoos.....gr8 clicks dear :-)

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  27. Very nice ladoos , beautiful presenatation

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  28. woww..superb snap Rinku.. i had posted this last year.. snap assalaayittundu.
    den, i tried you rva iddly recipe.. but i did a mistake.. i roasted the rava in between by thinking im goin to make uppma.. so wen i added curd it became less.. so i addded curd again and it was very sour after coooking.. :)

    i was on roaming for long time.. so missed ur posts..
    belated blog \anniversary dear

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  29. instead of matta rice can ordinary raw rice b used

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    Replies
    1. Hi Anonymous reader
      Thanks for writing in. No, it cannot be made with raw rice. Matta rice is used as it makes really soft ari undas.

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  30. I love this, Rinku! My Keralite friend would bring lots when her mom made and we would polish it off during tea-time.:) We make poruvalanga orundai similarly but it is a multi-grain treat. This one is on my must-try list.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot Harini! Yeah will wait to see you post on Ari Unda.

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  31. This is healthy - no ghee or butter at all! Is it the sticky jaggery that binds?

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  32. I tried it... really mouth watering. Thanx a lot for the traditional kerala receipe.

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