Navratri, the Festival of Nine Nights is here again (“Nav” meaning nine and “Ratri” meaning night). This festival lasts ten days and reveres and celebrates the nine forms of the Hindu Godess Durga or Shakti (energy of the universe). The festival is celebrated according to the traditional Lunar calendar and starts on the new moon day falling between September 15thand October 15th every year. Special food for Neivedhyam or ritual offering is cooked for each day. Today I’m posting the recipe for Pottukadalai Urundai/ Laddoo.
There are different legends associated with the celebration of Navratri. They all celebrate the triumph of everything good over evil. One such legend tells of Godess Durga who destroyed the demon Mahishasura after a battle lasting nine nights. Another says that Navrthri celebrates the victory of Lord Rama over the demon king Ravana.
Different states and communities in India celebrate the nine days of Navratri and the tenth day of Dussehra differently. Navratri in Goa is celebrated in very few Hindu households and most of the festivities happen in the Shanta Durga temples. I have only seen public celebration of this festival here by non-Goan communities.
Navratri is celebrated with the Garba or Dandiya Raas dance by the Gujrathis, Ram Leela performances in the North, and Durga Puja in West Bengal, Orissa and Assam. We celebrate Navratri for ten days in my South Indian community of Palakkad Iyers. It is a religious, social and cutural celebration centred around women and is celebrated largely by them.
Traditionally we start celebrations by cleaning the home, and decorating the Puja area with a “Bomma Kolu/ Golu”. Of course, there’s a lot of food involved and every evening, the women and children visit other houses in the community. Prayers are offered, the Kolu arrangement is admired, and the evening’s “neivedhyam” or ritual food offering is offered and received.
Every evening for nine days, some item of food is cooked in large quantities to be offered to Goddess Durga after which it is shared with friends and family who drop in for a visit. This “neivedhyam” is usually taken back home. Young boys often accompany their mothers and sisters on their visits to other homes during Navratri. The menfolk tend to stay back home and look forward to sharing the neivedhaym brought back from other homes.
In my home, we alternate between sweet and savoury offerings with sweet Neivedhyam on the Friday (considered particularly auspicious) during this period. The ninth day of Navratri is “Saraswati Pooja or Ayudha Pooja” and the “neivedhaym” tends to be a little more elaborate. On the tenth and final day, we offer “Panakam” as part of the neivedhyam and the festivities come to an end.
All the food cooked traditonally for Navartri “Neivedhyam” is simple and requires very little time and effort. This does not detract from the flavour. The common savoury dishes are varieties of “Chundal/ Sundal” made with lentils or dried beans and lentil fritters. Sweet dishes include sweet versions of Sundal, Kesari, and Payasam. There is a predominant use of lentils and beans during this period.
I usually make for “neivedhyam” during Navratri is Pottukadalai Urundai or Laddoos. Pottukadalai is the Tamil word for dry roasted chana or whole black gram. These are dark brown/ blackish coloured smaller chickpeas and not the regular big Garbanzo beans. They’re known as “Daliya Dal or Chana Dalia” in North India and the dry roasted version of this is a very popular snack in India.
Pottukadalai is also used to make sweets, added to savoury and spicy snacks like “Mixture/ Chivda” (the Indian version of trail mixes), or in chutneys. Pottukadalai is used whole or in its split form. It can be roasted and also milled into flour depending on the recipe it is used in.
Here it is used in its split form. This is a simple recipe using just 5 ingredients but cooking the jaggery syrup to right consistency is important. If the syrup is not thick enough, you cannot shape the mixture into candy balls. The candy balls will become very hard if the syrup gets cooked too far. The candy balls must be shaped while the mixture is still quite hot. Otherwise the mixture can be allowed to cool without shaping and can be also eaten as a sort of crumble which is also fine.
Pottukadalai Urundai/ Laddoo
Ingredients
- 2 cups pottukadalai roasted split gram
- 2 tbsps finely sliced and chopped pieces of coconut (optional)
- 3/4 cup powdered jaggery the darker coloured kind is preferable but not a must)
- 4 or 5 pods cardamom powdered
- 1 1/2 tbsps ghee
Instructions
- You don't have to do this but I find that pan roasting or toasting the Pottukadalai/ gram always increases the flavour of the Laddoos. So put the gram in a frying pan over low to medium heat and toast it (without any oil) until an aroma emanates. Do not let it brown. Immediately remove from the pan and transfer to a dry bowl. In the same pan toast the coconut pieces (if using) until they turn a golden brown. Put in the same bowl as the gram and set aside.
- Put the powdered jaggery in a pan and add 2 tablespoons of water to this and stir. Let this cook on medium heat until it comes to a rolling boil, starts thickening and forming a syrup. Cook it until the soft ball stage. To test if the syrup has reached the soft ball stage, drop a bit the syrup in a small flat plate of water. You should be able to quickly shape it into a soft ball that holds, with your thumb and forefinger.
- At this point turn down the heat to low and add the roasted gram and coconut to the syrup. Mix well quickly so the syrup coats the gram well. Add the powdered cardamom and the ghee and mix again. Take the pan off the stove.
- Let the mixture cool down a bit so that it is still quite warm but can be handled easily. If it cools down too much you won't be able to shape the mixture into balls. If this does happen put the pan back on the stove and warm the mixture until it loosens up a bit.
- Take small amounts of the warm mixture in your palm and close your fingers over it (make a fist) to compact it into rounds. Then roll that gently between two palms to make it evenly round into "Urundais" or "Laddoos".
- Let them cool further and they will harden a little. Store them in an airtight container.
I'm Aparna and My Diverse Kitchen is my ovo-lacto vegetarian food blog where you'll find recipes, food stories & photography. I've been blogging since 2007 and believe the kitchen, and the dining table (by extension) is really the heart of a home. 
Leave a Reply