Charmure Undo.. A guest post by Manjula..

It’s been a while since I had gotten to know Manjula who is a fellow Konkana blogger.  She has a lovely blog called Lakshmi Canteen & she specializes in Konkani cuisine & has some amazing recipe’s. Since she lives in the US she has access to a wider variety of Indian vegetables & ingredients, so I could not help but ask if she was interested in writing out a guest post for me & the foodie spirit in her made her agree instantly even though she was in between moving houses.. So I asked her to take her time & send the post to me whenever she was ready.. ! 

Over to Manjula….

My name is Manjula Pai and I am from Udupi, now living in Atlanta, US. My blog – Lakshmi Canteen is focused on vegetarian recipes, mostly from South Coast of Karnataka. 

 

I was so happy when Anitha requested me to write a guest post in her awesome blog. This is my first ever guest post, so I decided to post a simple, healthy sweet – Charmure Undo (Puffed Rice Ladoo). I hope you all enjoy this recipe. 

I thank Anitha for giving me this opportunity. I truly love her space. Now let’s get back to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Puffed Rice- 4- 4 1/2 cups
Dark Jaggery / Antu Bella – 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder (freshly ground) – 1/2 tsp
Ghee (Clarified butter) – For greasing hands

Notes:

Puffed Rice – It has to be very crispy. If you feel that it is not crispy then dry roast it in a pan for few minutes. 

Jaggery – Jaggery used here has to be the one I have mentioned above. The regular jaggery doesn’t have the binding property.

Procedure:

Making these ladoos is very simple. It is a 3 step process – melt the jaggery, add puffed rice,  and finally form the Ladoos. 

The jaggery I used looked like this (This jaggery is very soft and is specially used to make ladoos, burfi, chikkis, it differs from the usual one used as a sweetener in coffee’s. This jaggery has good binding capabilities and has a distinct taste).

Take a big pot. Heat the jaggery on a medium flame along with 4-5 Tbsp of water. The jaggery begins to melt and starts to boil. It will look like deep colored caramel.

Continue heating till the end point. To know the end point, add 1-2 drops of melted jaggery in a small bowl containing water for every 2-3 minutes. The jaggery should form a firm drop. Once this consistency is reached, turn off the heat immediately. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Finally add puffed rice and mix until everything gets uniformly coated with the jaggery syrup.

Allow it to cool slightly (remember that the mixture hardens as it cools). Once you are able to handle the mixture, grease your palms with ghee. Then take small amount of mixture and form ladoos of desired size. Continue making ladoos, till you consume all the mixture.

Charmure Undo is ready!!

Thanks Manjula for this lovely recipe, perfect timing as Diwali is around the corner… 🙂 I always hesitate when it comes to posting sweet-dishes  since I don’t have  a sweet tooth. Been a while since I ate these, thanks for making me take a walk down memory lane with this post… I remember eating them when my grandmother used to make them. I had completely forgotten about these ladoos..  I remember my cousins used to have competitions on how quick you can eat these ladoos. These ladoos are so crispy & yummy you won’t stop at one… they are so light & you can indulge as it is made from jaggery & not sugar… 🙂

If you liked this recipe, you may also like – Madgane – one of the quintessential Konkani Payasam/sweet-dish…., Gaajar Halwa/ Carrot Halwa, Muhallabia.. a Lebanese sweet dish…. etc. 

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• Festival Recipes – Cous Cous Payasam, Easy Sundals, and Quick Ladoos (rozkakhana.com)
• Sweet Rice Pongal / Sakkarai Pongal (subbuskitchen.com)
• Sakkarai Pongal (umasvedantam2.wordpress.com)