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Sunday, April 12, 2009

Undurallu

Late afternoon yesterday, we were having a casual talk and one led to the other and I realized that we were talking about our childhood, food and what not??? Kris told me that he likes Undurallu... I was confused whether I heard it right or not so I asked him again "yeah Undurallu!!!" he said, I sincerely felt ashamed and confessed that I havent heard of such a name, he was shocked... He did tell me how to make the dish but I felt so bad that I havent heard such a word, cos I was the better of the two in Telugu and everyone says I speak good Telugu and I use more Telugu words while conversing, which many of us in Tamilnadu dont do (We use more of Tamil words as its comfortable and mingle with people speaking in Tamil more)...



I was desperately waiting for night fall so I could call Mom, to find out about Undurallu... I did recollect Ammamma mention the dish but no idea about the name... Finally it was 8:30P.M. (6:00A.M. IST) tring tringgggg

"Hello!!!" my Dad answered.
"Dad, do you know what Undurallu is???" I asked not even a hello, no how are you, nothing at all...
"What???" he asked confused.
"Undurallu" I said.
"I understand you are talking about some stone" he said laughing (rallu means stone in Telugu)
"I wanna speak to Mommy" I said... My Mom was watering the plants in morning...
"Hello!!!" she said... I asked her the same question
"I dont know!!!" she said laughing and confused I did brief her about the dish she said Ammamma used to make it but she said she hasnt heard of the name... Next it was my Nannamma's turn... My Mom was hesitant to wake her in the morning but I did insist on talking to her finally, even she dint know the name... There was a triumph of victory on my face and a green light flashing in my head and a voice echoed "I Pass" ;)

I waited another hour to make another call, this time it was my Mother-in-law, she told me how to make the dish, I immediately made up my mind to make Undurallu the next... Later I realized that I liked the name and I did include it in my dictionary ha ha ha... Now to the recipe... Again its called as paal kozhukattai in Tamil...

Ingredients

For the balls:

Boiled Rice - 1 1/2 cups
Water as required
Cooking Oil - 1 tbsp

For the Syrup:

Cane Sugar - 3/4 cup
Dessicated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Water - 3 cups
Salt - a pinch
Cardamom - a few pods
Dry Ginger - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Wash and soak the Rice in Water for 7-8 hrs and grind it to a smooth paste, by adding little Water at time. Heat a non stick pan and add Oil pour the dough and mix with a spatula (medium flame). We do this to make the dough pliable when the dough forms a ball moving away from the walls of the pan is the right time to remove from heat. Roll them into small balls, again do not press them too hard they will become hard.



Meanwhile prepare the syrup by heating Water in a large heavy bottom vessel, when it comes to a rolling boil add the Cane Sugar and let it dissolve. Now powder Cardamom along with its peels and drop it in the syrup, also add a dash of Dried Ginger and Salt let it come to a rolling boil. Now filter the syrup, this removes the Cardamom Peels and Ginger skin along with any dirt in Cane Sugar. Bring the syrup again to a boil adding Salt and Coconut, when it comes to a rolling boil drop the balls slowly and cook until the balls are soft. Do not cover the vessel while cooking... Serve warm...



My Mother-in-law learnt about this recipe from her Mother-in-law, who was from Ramachandrapuram, a small village close to Madurai. R'puram is a very serene and a lovely place with lots of fields and trees all around. There are only a handful of families living there and they are a very closely knit community. The village has a small temple and a school to educate the kids... No tar roads, rather filled with gravel and some are just the rut of the wheels...

Day starts very early for people there and ends early too, people are very helping and innocent... Many families have their sibblings and kids in UK, US and other parts of the world and ofcourse many have moved away from the place for education and work, but still they get along once in a year during the ceremonies held at the temple.

This goes to Shama's Grammathu Kaimanam / Village Special Recipes Event --- April 2009

33 comments:

Unknown said...

Lovely entry Ramya. i love paal kozhukattai. Craving for some now!

Pooja said...

Looking Lovely..we used to have them on vinayaka chavithi..

Christo Gonzales said...

what a unique dish - I know I can always count on you to introduce me to new and exciting things- I will be trying to make this in the next few days....

Gita Jaishankar said...

Wow, they look so delicious, this is my grandma's special, it has been a long time since I had these, now I have to try these out after seeing your awesome pics :)

chef and her kitchen said...

looking lovely...n nice pics as well

sharada said...

Nice entry...the snaps have come very good..first seeing the photos i mistook it for rasgullas..he..he

Unknown said...

oohh wow simply superb i can say superoooo super post ramya we make this for vinayaka chaviti perfect for the event

Jaishree Iyer said...

Sounds intersting..I think it is pal kozhukattai. Looks so delicious ramya..Nice snap..

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow they looks gorgeous. Nicely shaped.....Cane sugar and rice....dying to try it...

Priya Sriram said...

Hi Ramya, thanks for stopping by my blog!!
I enjoyed reading the story! :D
My version of milk kolukkatai is different. But how come it is yellow in colour? 'coz of ginger powder? Those undurallu look so cute and perfect!! :)

Priya Suresh said...

Paal Kozhukattai looks gorgeous...love reading the story...

Chitra said...

woo,lovely paal kozhukattai, i want to taste it now:)

Purva Desai said...

This is one unique dish....the ingredients sounds interesting will try this...thanks for sharing

FH said...

We call those rice balls Sanna Kadubu and served with spicy gravy. I love it. Making dessert is unique, looks delicious! :))

Trupti said...

lovely photos.. lovely story :) Rice balls looks delicious. Ramya. Thanks for visiting my blog. Keep visiting.

AnuSriram said...

Paal kozhukattai looks lovely! Nice entry and a nice write-up!

Vikis Kitchen said...

Nice write up bout undarallu . (Have I spelled it right?).on contrary I love Telugu foods a lot. In TamilNad, they make a similar one and soak in milk...called paal kolukattai.
Enjoyed reading about Ramachandrapuram. Its very true dear.I too admire people in small villages very much. Nice post.

About the Palm leaves : They announce the date to return the dry leaves 10 before Ash Wednesday.

Varsha Vipins said...

Thats a yummy dish ,that came out from an instant cooking drive..:)

Vibaas said...

I thought that looked like paal kozhukkatai and i got confused seeing the name :) LOL! Looks yummy and my best friend is a mallu, but grew up in chennai and is more comfortable with tamil too:)

Saritha said...

Happy tamil new year.
My mom makes this believe me i dont know the recipe but i remember she never dipped that in the syrup.

Uma said...

They look amazing Ramya! So tempting. Enjoyed reading the conversation on the phone. :)

A small correction: They are called "Undrallu", not "Undurallu". Sorry for correcting. :)

Cilantro said...

We make Pal Kozhukottai with jaggerry instead....Looks delicious.My family`s favorite.

sathya said...

These looks lovely, love paal kozhukattai !

Unknown said...

Looks cute & lovely.. we make pal kozhukattai..

Malar Gandhi said...

Thanks a lot, you did mention finally 'paal kozhukattai'...even I was wondering what it is all the while...as even I talk both Telugu and Tamil. In telugu its pretty much common to mention this word, right...it didnt specify exactly!! Good job, buddy...it luks awesome!

sowjanya said...

Delicious dessert ramya. Mouth watering pics too.

Lakshmi said...

such an authentic recipe Ramya. I enjoyed reading 'rallu' conversation.

Uma said...

Thanks for taking my correction in positive sense Ramya! You don't have to correct your entire post for this! You're so sweet :)

suvi said...

these look yum! my first time here...you have a very neat space:)

Chutneytales said...

Hi Ramya,
Thanks for dropping by..
I'm glad that i visited your blog..
I love palkozhukattai..Looks delicious..love the name undurallu :)

Unknown said...

hai ramya.......lovely kolukattai....yummy..thank you dear...my hometown is madurai

Laavanya said...

That looks perfect - love the pics Ramya and it was so funny to read your conversation. I'm sometimes like that when I want to find a recipe... :)
This version sounds a bit different from the ones i've heard where jaggery and coconut milk form the base.

Sharmila said...

This is indeed new to me! am going to try it soon. :-)

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