Vella Cheedai/ Jaggery Seedai/

in Festival recipe, festival special, Prasadam/ Neivedyam, Sweets

 

This is a Janmashtami special . Its a traditional sweet made in the Tamil Brahmin community , especially during the  Krishna Jayanthi. The mix of rice with jaggery is indeed very heady and mouth melting .

Ingredients

Ingredients

  1. Rice 2 cups
  2. Jaggery (Molasses) 2 cups
  3. Urad dal Powder 2 tablespoons
  4. Sesame seeds 2 tablespoons
  5. Cardamom Powder 1 teaspoon
  6. Coconut  (chopped into small bits)   1/2 cup
  7. Coconut Oil   half to three fourths of a litre

Method

Method

  • Soak the rice for an hour . Drain and and dry for 20 to thirty minutes .
  • Powder fine in a food processor or Mixie.
  • Roast the flour  and sift . Take a little of the flour and see , if you draw a line from it . Keep aside .
  • In a deep bottomed thick Uruli / Kadai , add a quarter cup of water and add Molasses/ Jaggery.
  • Let it dissolve and make a syrup. When it starts boiling , add a drop of the jaggery into a bowl of water . the jaggery should’nt dissolve in the water.
  • It should stand firm in water but should’nt roll  . if it reaches this consistency ,  remove from fire and   immediately filter the syrup.
  • Add the Rice flour , Coconut bits Sesame seeds , Cardamom powder and Urad dal powder .
  • Mix well and knead to thick dough.
  • Heat oil in a Deep kadai to sizzling hot temperature .
  • Make small balls (marble size ) spread over a muslin cloth . Do not make the surface  of the Cheedai ,very smooth  .
  • Deep fry them , few at a time  to deep  reddish brown. Cook them in medium high temperature of oil .
  • Drain in a tissue paper  with a slotted ladle and  store .

Note

Note

  1. If the jaggery propotion is more or the syrup consistency is not correct the Cheedai may break in the oil , while deep frying.
  2. If you have mistakenly added more Jaggery , add more Rice flour and knead the dough.
  3. The dough can be prepared a day before   and stored . The next day , add  urad dal flour , sesame seeds , cardamom powder and coconut pieces.
  4. Sprinkle some hot water to the dough, if its hardened. Knead the dough and proceed as above.
  5. Rice flour is available readymade in most cities, so one can use the rice flour too to make the Cheedai .
  6. Make sure the flour is fresh.

Method 2

  • Alternately , Jaggery can be boiled in equal quantities of water and filtered . Add Rice flour to the boiling Jaggery  syrup and stir till it becomes a thick mass. The whole mixture should roll as one .
  • Remove and  spread on a big plate. Add rest of the ingredients  and knead.
  • Now pinch small marble size  balls of the dough and roll roughly and spread on a muslin cloth or Veshti.
  • Deep fry in hot oil till deep reddish brown. Drain with a slotted ladle .
  • Offer to the Lord and relish .