Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Avalakki unde/Avalakki pundi gatti/Steamed flattened rice balls

I cook three times a day & I try not to keep the left overs from the previous meal. Even after making so many varieties of food, sometimes my family exclaim"not again" & I find it a challenging task to plan my daily menu. I keep looking for interesting alternatives every day & during one such days, the avalakki pundi gatti came to my rescue.
Quick language translation:
Avalakki (Kannada)/Poha (Hindi)/ Aval (Tamil & Malayalam)/Pohe (Marathi)/Flattened rice (English)


Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 50 mins


Ingredients: ( Got around 28 lime sized balls with this measurement)
Coarsely grounded flattened rice: 2 cups or 2.5 cups of thick flattened rice (Refer notes below # 1).
Water: 4 cups
Oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Urad dal: 2 tsp
Channa dal: 1 tbsp
Curry leaves: 6-8 nos
Salt: As needed


Special utensils needed:
A steamer or a pressure cooker without the whistle.




Method:

  • Coarsely powder the flattened rice.
  • Boil water in a sauce pan.
  • Meantime, add the oil to a broad vessel. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds followed by urad & chana dal. When dal turns golden brown, add curry leaves. When curry leaves wilt, add the boiling water to it. Add the salt. Reduce the heat to medium low.
  • Add the coarsely powdered flattened rice to the boiling water & start mixing thoroughly until the flattened rice is completely cooked. It will form a single mass & starts leaving the edges & the bottom of the vessel. (Refer notes below # 2). Mine took around 5-7 mins.

  • Add sufficient water to the steamer & keep the steamer on medium-high heat.
  • Grease the plate on which these balls will be placed.
  • Keep cold water next to you & start making balls using the hot dough ready. Dip your hands in cold water, take lime sized dough & form either a fist or a ball with that dough. Keep the ball on the greased plate & repeat the procedure for the remaining dough. 
  • Place the plate/thali in the steamer & reduced the heat to medium. Cook for 30-40 mins.
  • Let them cool for a couple of minutes & then serve them with a chutney of your choice.



Notes:

  1. For 2.5 cups of flattened rice, I got 2 cups of the coarsely grounded flattened rice. The idea is to use 1:2. For every 1 cup of coarsely grounded flattened rice, use 2 cups of water. 
  2. Gently wet your fingers & touch the hot dough. If the dough isn't sticky, then you are done.
  3. If you do not have a steamer, use a pressure cooker like I did !

10 comments:

  1. this is definitely a must try dish....simple ,also loved the ingredients u used...bookmarked !!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We make this one with rice rava, making with poha sounds nice and yum

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a nice looking dish. I like the fact that you have served it with an assortment of chutneys.

    I am never a poha fan but I might like it cooked in this form. I will definitely try this and let you know how I liked it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. all the ingredients are at home..I think I should try this sometime soon

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely twist, flattened rice balls looks super healthy and fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Simple & delicious......

    ReplyDelete
  7. yummy and very similar to rice rava upma balls.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kudos to you..three different meals each day! boy I get tired cooking just one meal every day, should take heart from folks like you.. Undes rock!I will try it sometime

    ReplyDelete
  9. woow ri, this is nice. Ade avalakki thindu bejaradaga variation chennagide :) Sure try madings

    ReplyDelete
  10. New use of Poha..this def caused me to crave Poha! :)

    ReplyDelete

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