I learnt this dish from my mother, Seethalaksmi Ammal. This dish was once a favourite dish among Tamil Brahmins while they were travelling. Those travelling would carry Poruvilagai and murukku on their journeys.
What you need
Raw rice: 250 gm (keep aside another 50 gm of raw rice powder)
Green gram dal: 300 gm
Long wheat: 300 gm
Jaggery: 1 kg
Dry coconut: 1 (to be cut into small pieces)
Dry ginger: 1 small piece (finely powdered)
Cardamom: 50 gm (finely powdered)
Cooking instructions
Step one
Fry the raw rice, green gram dal and long wheat individually till light brown. Keep it aside and allow it to cool and then grind them individually into a fine powder. Mix these powders together. Add the cardamom powder and dry ginger powder to this mixture and mix well. Keep aside.
Step two
Take 250 ml water and place the jaggery in it. Heat it over a slow fire till the jaggery melts. Filter the melted jaggery. Heat the filtered jaggery over a medium flame until it forms a paste-like consistency (like that of tomato ketchup). Add sliced bits of coconut to this. Stir well.
Step three
Place a measure of powdered mixture (step one) on a round deep plate and pour one and a half measure of the jaggery into the plate. Mix well with a spoon. When well mixed, make lime sized balls out of the mixture. Roll these balls in the extra raw rice powder. Keep these balls in a vessel and allow it to cool.
(S. Vijayalaksmi is a former Central Government employee. She enjoys reading and cooking.)
