Thursday, July 10, 2008

Undi - Rice balls

Undi(Rice balls) is a famous Mangalorean breakfast item.
It is steamed in a traditional vessel called "Pedavan” in konkani. In some of the hotels this is served with Ghashi(thick coconut gravy) or Dalithoy.
When I saw a steamer in a supermarket here in Shanghai the first dish that came to my mind was Undi. Unfortunately I did not find rice rava here. I did not know that rice could be used directly. When amma suggested I was scared to try as rice available here is sticky in nature. Plus I did not have grater to grate coconut. So I decided to try only after she came here. In the mean time I even got Ponni rice in Indian stores and my mom in law sent me a small tool to grate coconut when my parents visited here. Last week we had Undi for breakfast. So here goes the recipe:


What's needed:
Rice - 1 1/2 cup
Coconut - 3/4 cup
To Season:
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Methi - 1/4 tea spoon
Urad Dal - 1/4 tea spoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt to taste
Oil to season.


Method:
1)Soak rice for 4 hrs and grind it with coconut to coarse paste. Make sure that it is not fine it should have granules like structure.
2)In a large pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. when they splutter add urad dal and fry until pink. Add Methi seeds and fry until slightly red. Add Curry leaves and fry for sometime.
3)To this pan add the Coarse rice and coconut paste. Add salt to taste and mix well.




















4)Keep the flame on medium and keep stirring the mixture, slowly the mixture thickens. To check if it is ready, dip fingers in a bowl of water, and check if the mixture is thick enough to roll into balls. If the mixture doesn't stick to your fingers, the mixture is supposed to be done.
















5)Make small balls of it and place it in a steamer that is pre heated for 10-15 mins. Steam it until knife inserted comes out clean. Takes around 15- 20 mins in my steamer. You can check once you get a nice aroma.
















6)Serve hot with Coriander chutney or Pickles topped with coconut oil.

Variation:
You can use Rice rava instead of Rice. If Rava is used then after seasoning switch off the gas and add water 2.5 times the rava. Add rava,grated coconut and salt to it. Keep it soaked for 10 mins. Then continue from step 4 as given in the recipe.

2 comments:

Srivalli said...

Ujwal..all the entries are looking so lovely...thanks a lot!

Anonymous said...

These look gorgeous, I am hungry just looking! What did you serve them with? I usually make coconut chutney, but sometimes I make rasam and then they are perfect for dunking! Please see pictures of undi on my blog, if you are interested: http://mangosoup.blogspot.com/2009/08/steamed-rice-and-coconut-balls.html