Pori Urundai and kadala Urundai (Rice flakes balls and Peanut balls)

I wish you all a happy and colourful "Kaarthigai Deepam".

Kaarthigai deepam is a festival of lights celebrated throughout Tamilnadu, that fall in the tamil month of Kaarthigai on the full moon day. On this day, the houses are decorated by lighting oil lamps all over. The lighted lamp is considered an auspicious symbol and Its believed that it brings Joy and Prosperity. The sweet made for this day is pori (puffed flakes) urundai.. Some types of pori are Aval (poha) pori, Nel (brown rice) pori and Arisi (rice) pori. Today, i made this with puffed rice flakes. I added the hot jaggery little by little to the flakes and peanuts and so I'm not sure how much puffed rice and peanuts i have used. It yielded about 7 nos. of pori urundai and 9 nos. of peanut balls.

Ingredients:

Jaggery (Dark brown sugar) - 1 1/4 cupsPuffed rice flakesPeanutsCardamom powder - 1 /2 tspGhee - 2 tbsp

How to make it:

Pori Urundai:

Grease a plate with little ghee. Add 1 1/2 cups water to the jaggery and on a medium heat, stir continuously until it starts bubbling. Add the cardamom powder. To test if the jaggery is in the right consistency, add a spoon of it into cold water. Try making it into a small ball by draining the water. The jaggery is cooked to the right consistency, if you could make a ball out of it. Switch off the stove. Add the puffed rice flakes to the greased plate and add jaggery little by little and when its still hot, and with your hands greased with ghee make balls out of it.

Kadalai urundai:

Take skins off the peanuts. Follow the steps above, similar to making pori urundai. Add jaggery to the peanuts and make balls out of it.

Tip: Adding coconut pieces to the pori urundai enhances the taste.