Sunday, October 01, 2006

Jihva for Ghee and Butter - Sunnundalu

sunnundalu for Jihva for Ghee and Butter

Butter and Ghee are integral ingredients of Indian cooking. They are not only used in cooking but also in a lot of religious Hindu ceremonies. Ghee is considered a "sacred" ingredient.

Ghee is used more extensively than butter atleast in my home. During most of my childhood days, my grandmother always made ghee and sent it to us. My grandparents had farms and they had buffaloes(not the American buffalo) and cows among other animals. So the ghee was pure, fresh and unadulterated, always. I remember my grandmother, meticulously skimming off the cream that forms a layer after boiling milk. She would then save the cream for some days, then churn it, extract the butter. That butter would then be turned into ghee. Then in my teenage years, my mom started making her own ghee which was because of the fact that grandmother wasn't keeping well.

I never ever remember seeing a package of the Amul butter or any store bought butter or ghee in our house. Even now, my mom makes her own ghee. In fact, the first time I used a "stick butter" in my life was when I came to the U.S.

So as you can all tell, I am very happy to host this month's JFI as ghee does hold a special place in my heart.

With ghee, I made an Andhra favorite, "Sunnundalu". This is also one of the specials I made today hence it is Dushera tomorrow. These are so simple to make but it still is so very delicious.

Software
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  • 1 measure urad dal
  • 1/2 measure sugar
  • Approximately 1/4 measure freshly made ghee
  • Caradamom powder
Hardware
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  • One frying pan
  • One mixing bowl
Method
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  • Dry roast the urad dal on low heat until golden brown, toasty. Stir often while doing it.
  • Powder the urad dal until very fine in your favorite grinder.
  • Powder the sugar until very fine.
  • Mix the roasted urad dal powder, the sugar and the caradamom powder with your hand until well combined.
  • Add ghee slowly in installments and mix the flour, sugar mixture while doing it until it the ghee is absorbed so that you can make balls with it.
  • Make round balls of the laddu and savor as dessert!
PS: The urad dal flour and sugar mixture (without the ghee) can be stored in an air tight container in the refigerator for a couple to three months. When ever a sweet tooth hits you, put some ghee in it and make the laddus :).

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Sunnundalu are mouth-watering L2C...wonderful entry to JFI and the perfect sweet-tooth quencher. I bought some ready made Urad dal flour on my last visit to the grocers, and so cant wait to try them out. Will probably make them tomoro for Vijayadasami :-) Thank you soo much.
A Very Happy Dasara to you and ur family :-)

Luv2cook said...

Priya:

Thanks. I am not so sure about how they would turn out if you make it with ready made urad dal flour. Since the flour is not made with roasted urad dal, I don't think the taste would be the same. The sunnadalu made with freshly roasted and ground urad dal, and freshly made ghee are hard to beat!

Good luck!

Prema Sundar said...

Sunnundalu looks tempting.. Haven't tried with urad dal but tried with besan.. thanks for the recipe.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Ur Sunnundalu looks yuuuuummm!! I am facing a problem with my laptop, it crashed a few days ago and i lost ALL my stuff, I want to send in my entry for JFI, is it ok if i send it in a day or 2? Please?

wheresmymind said...

Ghee is a primary ingredient...no!! ;)

Luv2cook said...

Well...Jeff, I do not know of anything that could be made with just ghee as a primary ingredient and I assumed people would do the same - use it as an ingredient hehe and believe me, with sunnundalu you can tell that there is ghee in them..pretty prominent :).

Manasi:

Yes. Please send it to me in a day or two. It will probably be the weekend by the time I do the roundup!

Anonymous said...

Oh, these look fascinating. What do they taste like?

FH said...

WOW!! Never made Urad dal sweets!! Look at them!! Perfect!! NIICE!!!:)

Anonymous said...

Looks really delicious, Sam, and a nice story you told too. Looking forward to your roundup and all these taste treats.

Anonymous said...

the sunnundalu looks yummy...thanks for sharing.

Krithika said...

Looks delicious !

Lakshmi said...

wow, such a nice choice for jihva

Anonymous said...

wow. those are amazing looking laddoos.its getting to be sweet season everywhere.

KA said...

Sunnundalu look delicious L2C

DivSu said...

Hi!

I got the modeling clay at Michaels. You should check out that store. They have a wide variety of clays too actually, you can choose one based on what fits your project requirements:) You blog looks yummy! and I am a food freak:) So will mark you:)

Deepu said...

yumm yumm... sunnundalu all over my mind :D

deliciously written

Ishrath said...

Hi... I love those laddoo too. My childhood favorite and I love the way my mom makes them. The recipe does not vary too much from what you have written. Its all in the roasting and grinding that brings out the flavours.