Rice Laddu / Ari Unda

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Ari unda is made throughout Kerala, and on special occasions. This is a part and parcel of the gift of sweets the related families exchange when there is an expectant mother in the picture. I have seen this being made by a group of neighborhood ladies in my childhood, with few puffing the rice, and then grinding it in traditional grinding mortar(the kind Yashoda tied Krishna to, for the mythology obsessed). Nowadays, we can easily use mixer-grinders but feel free to try it the old way if you get a chance and the muscle power.. 🙂

Puffing of rice is very important in this preparation. It has to be right consistency and shouldn’t be browned. Use freshly grated coconut for the perfect taste, and make sure you get tasty dark coloured jaggery.

Ingredients:

Boiled rice (Red rice) : 1.5 cup

Fresh grated coconut : 2 cups (or slightly more as per the juiciness)

Jaggery : 1 cup

Rice powder : 2 cups

Preparation:
Step 1: Wash rice and keep aside for drying.

Step 2: Keep a pan on high heat. Once it is very hot, add a handful of rice in it. It puffs up and its texture changes as shown in the picture. Once it is done, takeout from the pan and keep in a separate bowl. Repeat this till the entire rice is over.

Step 3: Grind the above puffed rice in a mixer grinder. Sieve this powder using sieve with small holes. This powder can be kept for many days and can be used whenever we need to make rice laddus.

Step 4: In a mixer grinder, powder jaggery. Add grated coconut into the powdered jaggery and do few pulses in a mixer grinder.

Step 5: Take this out and keep in a big container. Add powder from Step 3 little by little and mix thoroughly. You can use electric mixer if you are lazy :-). It would be slightly sticky. Don’t make it too dry as the laddu wont taste good and also will be very dry after sometime..

Step 6: Take small portion and make small balls.

This can be stored for a week in an air tight container.

Enjoy!