Nel Pori Urundai and Aval Pori Urundai

With the onset of karthigai ,the city buzzes with lights and ayyapan swami poojas.I am always fascinated by the Pori Urundai recipe because this was the first recipe which I tried with jaggery syrup in the soft ball consistency .my favourite one is Aval Pori Urundai as aval Pori is very crunchy .But the Nel Pori though soft has to be made on the Thirukarthigai festival as it is  a very auspicious offering to the Lotd Muruga.My mil told me that if we dry roast Nel Pori then it will be not soft as it would be otherwise .I am providing the recipe of the Nel Pori Urundai in this and the same can be followed for Aval Pori Urundai though dry roasting of Aval Pori is not necessary.

Makes :15 urundais approximately

Preparation time :45 mins

Ingredients :

Nel Pori/Aval Pori-4 cups

Jaggery-3/4 th cup ( or 1 cup of you are sweet toothed)

Chopped coconut pieces-1/4 cup

Ghee-3 tbsp

Cardamom powder-2 tsp

Dry ginger powder-1 tsp

Water -necessary to make jaggery syrup

Procedure:

1.Dry roast Nel Pori in slow flame till its gets heated up and light without changing its colour.If using aval Pori skip this step.

2.Powder the jaggery and keep it ready . 

3.In a pan add a tbsp of ghee and roast the coconut slices till it is golden brown .

4.Heat a wok and add the powdered jaggery and water just enough to soak it and dissolve the jaggery in slow heat.once dissolved switch off the flame and strain it to remove impurities .

5.add this strained jaggery mixture back to the wok and heat it till you get a syrup which thickens and reaches a soft ball consistency.

6.To identify  out soft ball consistency keep a bowl of water nearby and add a small amount of syrup into it and check whether you are able to make a soft ball out of it.this is possible when the syrup boils like the above picture .

7.Once This stage is reached add the Pori immediately and stir well immediately keeping the flame low.Add the cardamom powder ,dry ginger powder and the fried coconut pieces and switch off the flame .(Some people add a spoon of rice flour here to get firm balls or urundais ,but I didn't use it).

8.Mix everything well fast and switch off the flame .apply some ghee to your palms and take a small amount of the mixture and make small balls out of it by pressing hard.

9.Repeat the process for the rest of the mixture and make it quickly as it will be difficult to make firm balls if the mixture cools off completely .

10.The delicious Nel Pori urundais are ready  as an offering to Lord Muruga and later to us.Store them in an air tight container and stays fresh at room temperature for upto a week.

Aval Pori Urundai

The process of making Aval Pori Urundai is the same as that of the Nel Pori except that dry roasting of the pori is not necessary as it is already crispy in texture.So they can be made using the above procedure .