Kadalai Urundai – Verkadalai Urundai

Kadalai Urundai – There are a few moments in our life when we are truly and completely happy.  Simple pleasures , innocent feelings, good old days.. What pops in your mind?? Verkadalai urundai (kadala mittai) is one street side snack which reminds me of those kind of happy days. This is the treat most of us must have enjoyed during school days and sure will have have some kind of sweet memories attached.  I still remember th0se childhood days when I would run down to the nearest  teakadai / tea-stall with little pocket money to buy this after school snack. Did you????

Some Karthigai deepam recipes to try…

1. Sweet Appam
2. Red Aval Kesari
3. Pori Urundai

Lets see how to make this kadalai urundai…

What do we need??? Roasted unsalted skinned peanuts, jaggery, little rice flour, cold water and some oil + definitely a lot of patience. Usually they include little powdered cardamom and dry coconut flakes which I personally don’t prefer but you can include if you prefer.

Making the syrup is one of tricky portion of this recipe. Here’s how I made, lets go step by step. Take a heavy bottomed pan like a pressure pan and start melting the jaggery in water. Caution: The whole recipe has to be done under medium flame. Do not rush.

Once the big chunks melt, remove and strain the content into another bowl. Jaggery is known for its impurities so always filter before proceeding.

Once done back to stove top.

Let the syrup thicken, meanwhile get a cup filled with cold water and keep it ready.

After about 5-6 minutes the syrup will come to a rolling boil like this.

Do not panic !! Well, I did….bcos with camera on one hand and spatula on the other just waiting to capture the consistency.  Let it boil and in next 3 – 4 minutes it will come the desired  Ketti Paagam / soft ball stage.

Spoon some syrup into the cup filled with cold water. The jaggery should not melt instead it should go and settle in the bottom. Now switch of the stove. Slowly drain all the water in the cup.

Gather the thick syrup sticking to the bottom. Roll it with your fingers, it should form a nice soft ball.

Here’s the gem stone that we were looking for.. just kidding.

Ok, this is the right consistency for mixing the peanuts. Go ahead and add the peanuts to the syrup and mix.  You may add cardamom powder at this stage.

While its still hot, gather few items.  A bowl filled with water, little oil and rice flour for you may not know what you would really want. Let the mixture cool for 2-3 minutes only not more than that. Dip your fingers in water and start making little balls with the peanut mixture. You may apply little  Oil/ghee  or even dust your palm with rice flour.

Finish  entire batch  by making balls orelse you will never be able to mould them into balls. It will be hot and thats why we have water, oil and rice flour for help.

For the first few minutes water worked then oil was helping me to mould. Managed to make 15 pieces quickly and the rest about 3 turned out crumbly. Here, help yourself with one…

Notes

Yields 15 (1″ diameter balls)