Pori Urundai is a very famous sweet made during Karthigai Deepam festival Festival. Karthigai Deepam is celebrated during the Tamil Month of Karthigai. During the entire month of Karthigai, we light lamps at the entrance of the house every evening. There are a lot of childhood memories tangled with this Karthigai Deepam. Some of the crackers and sparkles are always left behind from Deepavali for Karthigai Deepam.
Karthigai Deepam embarks the mythological beliefs and is celebrated for Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva proved himself as an endless light before Lord Vishnu and Brahma when they fought for supremacy. It is also believed to be the birth month of Lord Muruga – the son of Lord Shiva. On this Karthigai Deepam day, we light our houses with clay lamps or Agal Vilakku and prepare Pori Urundai, Karthigai kozhukkattai and Maavilaku. This Pori Urundai can be made with Arisi Pori and Nel Pori. In this recipe, I have used the regular arisi pori. The recipe also explains the key steps to be followed to make this correctly. Do try this simple Pori Urundai and let the Lord bring in light to every one of us.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat a heavy-bottomed pan, and add a teaspoon of ghee to it. Add finely chopped coconut pieces and roast them till golden brown. Set aside.
- Add one cup of jaggery to a pan. Add water to cover the jaggery. Heat it until the jaggery dissolves. Strain them over to remove impurities. Add the dissolved jaggery again to the pan and heat to make syrup.
- Let the jaggery turn to a softball consistency when placed in a bowl of water.
- In this stage, add three cups of puffed rice to the jaggery syrup along with roasted coconut pieces. Keep mixing the puffed rice together until they begin to thicken. Set the flame to medium-low while doing this.
- Once the puffed rice gets a string consistency with the jaggery syrup, switch off the stove and add cardamom/ dry ginger powder.
- Grease both the palms with ghee and pinch out a portion of puffed rice. Keep transferring them from one palm to others and gently roll to balls. Make sure to make the balls while the puffed rice mix is warm still. Store in an airtight box once it cools down.
Notes
- The key step in making pori urundai is the consistency of jaggery syrup. Jaggery syrup should be in a softball consistency.
- If the puffed rice is not crispy, make sure to dry roast it for a minute or so before making pori urundais.
- I have added finely chopped coconut pieces in this pori urundais. You can also add roasted Bengal gram to it. Dry roast them before adding to the jaggery syrup along with puffed rice.