Ari Unda ( Rice Laddoo )

Ari Unda is a sweet snack served with evening tea, mostly popular in Kerala . Of the many types of this sweet, the one I mention here is prepared with double boiled rice and jaggery. Though all these types are prepared with rice, how the rice is boiled, fried, whether sugar/jaggery is used… gives the variant to tastes. It’s very easy to prepare and can be stored in air tight containers for almost a week without refrigerating.

Ingredients

• Matta Rice powder 3/4 cup
• Freshly grated coconut 1 _^1/2 cup
• Jaggery ** 250 gm
• Lemon Juice 1 ^_1/2 tsp
• water 3/4 cup
• cardamom 8-10 powdered

Preparation

Wash the rice thoroughly to remove dirt and particularly handpick any stones in rice. Keep it in a sieve to drain off the water. In a thick bottomed pan, add the rice and fry it continuously until it fully pops up. Now transfer it to a wider plate and let it cool. In a dry blender/ mixer, grind it fine and transfer it to an airtight container.

Add water to jaggery and get it refined**.

Add the refined jaggery in a shallow cooking pot and on low flame add the grated coconut and continuously stir. When slightly caramelized add the lemon juice and cardamom powder.After turning off the flame immediately add the fine rice powder and blend well with a spatula. Roll it to balls while its hot and finely shape it before it gets cold. Enjoy the Ari Unda. Once its cold these can be stored in air tight containers for almost a week. 🌾🌾

Full video can be availed in following link

Notes

• Rice can be roasted/ fried in extra measures and ground rice can be stored in airtight container for even months.
• Similarly the jaggery also can be refined in extra measures and can be refrigerated for future use.

**Jaggery is refined by adding water (500gms : 1 cup of water) to blocks and bringing to boil, when the lumps are completely dissolved sieve in linen to avoid tiny impurities. Bring this to boil until it acquires the preferred consistency on low flame continously stirring. Any further impurities bubbled up can be removed using a spatula.

Tips

Jaggery and rice powder measures can be slightly adjusted to reduce the sweetness. Rice powder can be substituted in small measure for a variant taste with powdered roasted cashew nut.