Malar Unda/ Pori Ladoo

I still remember the first time I ate Pori Ladoo. One of the peon uncles from my father's office has asked to come to their home and it being a chance for us as kids to see the farms and the crops they cultivate etc., my father took us one day. They served us with these pori ladoos. Those were huge in size. I was glad that they were huge, because we were taught to be decent and just pick one when offered and don't just hog over the entire plate of it when served. So the huge one was equivalent to eating three actually :). Ever since we returned, I used to nag my mother to make it at home. And then one day my mother made it.

The other day, me and Jordan stepped into an Indian store to grab some rusk and tea biscuits for Big J, being down with fever. I was in a hurry to get back home and my lil guy kept on checking out everything kept in the isle and asking me what it is. When he landed on the pack of pori ladoo he was like "Mama, can I get it?" Immediately, I had the flash back of my childhood when I asked my mother to make it. We didn't get the pori ladoo though but I promised I shall make it for him and we made it the same day. Seeing him relish, I was assured he has my genes too :D. Anyways, coming back to Pori Ladoo, if you love these ladoos and crave for them, try making it at home. They can be made in no time.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup of grated jaggery
2. 1/4 cup of water
3. 3 cups of poha / puffed rice
4. 1/4 tsp of dry ginger powder/ chukku podi
5. Ghee for greasing hands

Method

• In a pan, add the grated jaggery and water. Keep it on heat and let the jaggery melt. Once melted continue to heat it on medium heat, untill the jaggery thickens to soft ball consistency. To check for the right consistency, pour a drop of the melted jaggery into a bowl of water. Melted jaggery shouldn't dissolve but should be easily molded into a soft ball of jaggery. When such a consistency is attained, switch of the heat. Add the dry ginger powder and puffed rice and mix it well for the puffed rice to get coated in the jaggery syrup.
• Grease your hands with ghee and start forming balls out of the puffed rice. If the mixture seems to be too sticky to work with, add bit more of puffed rice and mix it well.
• You need to be quick while making the balls. Divide the entire mixture into improper balls first and then go about shaping them into proper balls later.
• Let it cool down completely before you store them in air tight container.

Tips

1. Always keep every ingredient ready before you start with the making of pori laddu. This will help to add the ingredients on time and make the balls out of the mixture quickly.
2. Once the right consistency of the jaggery syrup is attained, immediately switch off the heat and remove it from the fire.
3. You could dust your hands with rice flour to make the balls. However, to get the shine on the laddu ghee is recommended.
4. You could add cardamom powder to make it more flavourful. My family doesn't prefer the taste of cardamom and hence I have skipped it.