Sukrunde is a very popular sweet among Konkanis. At our place, there is a tradition to make these for the baby showers (Guruvari Javan). We also have a tradition of inviting pregnant woman to home and feed them this sweet. They are also served as prasadam for Anant Chaturdashi at our temple.
Sukrundes are prepared in two ways. One with chana dal and the other with whole moong. Chana dal version is more popular at our place. Here I am posting chana dal version. Whenever this is made at home, the water used for cooking dal is saved to make a delicious saru .
Sukrundes taste better when we eat them fresh and with ghee.
Ingredients: 1 cup chana dal 1 cup jaggery 1 cup besan (gram flour) 2 tea spn maida or all purpose flour 1/2 tea spn salt 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder Oil
Method: Cook chana dal with enough water. Drain water(Save the water to make saru). Take chana dal in a thick bottomed pan and cook it with jaggery. When the mixture gets dry, grind it to a smooth paste. Add cardamom powder. Make small balls using the mixture. Mix besan, maida, salt and water to make a paste of dosa batter consistency. It should not be too thin or thick. If batter is too thin, sukrundes break. If it is too thick, sukrundes become hard. Dip the prepared balls one by one in this paste and deep fry them in the hot oil. The balls should be fully covered by the paste. Otherwise they break open and the inner sweet contents go into the oil. Serve with ghee.
Makes about 12 Preparation time : 45mins
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Puran polis and Sukrundes need a very dry stuffing. The water from cooking the chana dal is not used for these preparations. So instead of wasting this nutritious water, it is used to make some delicious dishes. Everyone has their own version of recipe to use up this water. Here is the version I usually make at home. It is very simple and delicious.
Check here for another recipe for this saru.
Ingredients: 2 cups water that is drained from cooked chana dal 1/2 cup tomato 3-4 green chillies 2 tea spn jaggery Ghee 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 5-6 curry leaves A pinch of asafoetida 1 tbl spn chopped coriander leaves Salt
Method: Add tomato, green chilies to the chana dal water and cook. When the tomatoes are cooked, add jaggery, salt. Heat ghee and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves, asafoetida. Pour this over saru. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 10mins
PS: Also add the water used to rinse the mixer/blender/grinder after grinding the chana dal for puran poli/sukrunde. This gives a little thickness. If you like thick saru, add 1 tbl spn of ground chana dal. This can be eaten with rice like a rasam or can be had like a soup.
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