Vennai Puttu - For Indian Cooking Challenge !

This month's Indian Cooking Challenge is something very unique-a traditional sweet from Tamil Nadu-Vennai Puttu.This is an authentic recipe shared by Priya ,which she inherited from her beloved Grandma.Made of Rice and Jaggery,this humble sweet has nothing to boast off .On to the recipe...

Ingredients

1 cup raw rice,soaked for 3 hours
1/2 cup grated jaggery
handful of chopped coconut
1/4 cup cooked chanadal
half tsp cardamom powder
water,ghee/oil as required
handful of cashew nuts

Method

Grind the soaked raw rice into a fine paste adding enough water.The batter should be of Idli consistency.Prepare jaggery syrup adding 1/4 cup of water.Strain and keep aside.Now in a heavy bottomed vessel boil two cups of water.Add the rice batter to this stirring continuously.Reduce the heat to minimum for sometime and stir well so that lumps will be less.Cook this till the raw smell of rice disappear.Now add the jaggery syrup,cooked chana dal and cardamom powder.Mix well and roast till the entire mixture turn to a ball.At this stage add the chopped coconut and switch off the stove. Shift this to a greased plate and decorate with cashew nuts.Let it cool completely.Cut the Vennai Puttu into shapes and serve with tea.