Saturday, May 23, 2009

Ariyunda - The simple sweetened rice balls from Kerala




Ariyunda, the simple snack of God’s own country is one among my favourites. Still being in my home town,I could easily get hold of Kuthari (the red rice) and the sarkara(jaggery).This dark coloured jaggery (I wonder why these exact ones are unavailable in other states of the country!!) gives the unique flavour and colour when blended with the pretty fibre packed Kuthari ,the one extremely preferred to make this delicacy.


Traditionally the roasted rice was hand pounded in Ural and its wooden pestle, the Ulakka, those days , imparted the right fresh flavour and consistency to the done snack.As the Mixer is being replaced as any other machines,the roasted rice gets in there and makes the work much easier, but for sure not that enriched taste as the former…

Get ready with:

Rice-Kuthari preferred- a cup

Jaggery-200 gms-broken to lumps

Water-1/4 cup(to melt jaggery)

Freshly grated coconut- a cup

Cardamom-3-4-powdered

How to..

1. Wash Kuthari well.Remove stones if any. Heat a heavy bottomed kadai .Drain the rice and directly transfer to the kadai.

2. Dry roast the wet rice stirring all the time so that the grains are browned in a uniform way.This takes 10-12 minutes or continue till you hear mild cracking sound of the rice getting roasted.Pop a few grains into your mouth and they crack well between your teeth or will be brittle.This is how we can know the right stage of the roasted rice.

3. Cool and powder in a mixer.Neither too coarse nor too powdery.Sift the powder using the sieve for fine rava or make sure the mesh is in the right size just to allow granules down like that of fine rava.Mix in the powdered cardamom.

4. Melt the jaggery lumps in 1/4 cup of water. Strain to remove impurities, return to the stove and bring to a boil.Add coconut at this stage and keeping the flame low, simmer the mixture until the syrup gets sticky; takes 5 minutes more or less.Take care not to boil this syrup mix is boiled too much as the final Ariyunda tends to be hard.Turn off flame once the right consistency is reached.

5. Stir in the rice powder.Mix well taking care that no lumps are formed.Take a fistful and shape into balls. This measurement would yield upto 15 balls.Don’t worry if the they are soft as they turn harder the next day.Consume while fresh or else refrigerate, even if they have a shelf life for a week.

6.This is referred to as 'Poor man's sweet' and hence the traditional Ariyunda requires no ghee or cashews.If you love the combination ,feel free to add both and enjoy the richer delicacy :)



For my sister who hosts Monthly Mingle-‘Ravishing Rice’, an event started by Meeta.

16 comments:

  1. I never tasted this very interesting recipe urundai looks delicious

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  2. Just back from a trip to Kerala, and had some of this and thin banana chips and "chakka" chips too. :)

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  3. They are so perfectly shaped... I'm sure they taste wonderful!

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  4. Perfectly shaped Ariyunda!!! Nice entry for Nag's event!!!

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  5. I've never had this before. They look so perfect!!

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  6. wow!! look at those balls!! Did amma shape them? :D thanks a ton for the lovely entry sis. I am so reminded of Radha and her yummy, soft, extra-sweet (cuz I like them that way) ariyundas. Perfect for this month's Mingle! :)

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  7. This one is very new to me Bharathy! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

    Looks like ur sis has a lotz of confidence in you in shaping the balls ;D

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  8. Never tasted rice urundai. Looks interesting and delicous.

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  9. woww..its perfect in shape..my mom makes it for me when i go to thrissur.. Miss her and this yummy ariyunda's...Its perfect in color and shape..and wonderful snap...

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  10. One of my favorites. Well shapes ariyundas..

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  11. I follow your and your sis's blogs religiously :) That's a 'sweet' recipe out of rice. From the look, I assume it's crunchy and nice!

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  12. this is new to me..they look so perfect..mouth watering..wanna grab one :)

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  13. Really mouth watering bharathy will try out soon

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  14. this looks mouthwatering. ari unda urundu vayilekku vannallo ennu thonni poyi:)
    nice entry for the event

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  15. Hey am so surprised to see this. Kolis make Tadlacha god pith which simply means, sweet rice flour exactly same way with ghee and it is eaten with milk or as is. You guys make ladoos! The whole west coast has such similar food traditions.

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