Sunnundalu - A Healthy Bite

Sunnundalu or Urad Dal Laddu is a very healthy and nutritious Indian sweet dish. This sweet is usually prepared during couple of festivals like Diwali, Holi and others. This sweet is one of the traditional dish that is being made since ages. Sunnundalu is still being made in most of the houses because of its health benefits and the simple preparation steps involved. All the ingredients used for the preparation of this sweet are considered to be healthy. This laddu is made up of urad dal (as called in Hindi) or black eyed beans (English name for the grains), jaggery and ghee (clarified butter). Optionally white sugar can also be used instead of jaggery but jaggery is considered to be more healthier. Jaggery helps overcome constipation while sugar can cause cold for kids. The quantities of all the three ingredients can be adjusted as per our taste. Sunnundalu Recipe is as simple as the ingredients involved. The Urad dal is heated till it turns light brown and kept it aside to cool for a while. Later it is mixer grounded to sand like texture. This powder of dal is mixed with finely grated jaggery and ghee and kept aside. As per personal interest, cashew nuts are also fried and added to the mixture of jaggery and urad dal. Make small balls (minimum size of a tennis or ping pong ball) out of the mixture, after it gets cooled. Sunnundalu are ready! Why Sunnundalu is considered Healthy? This sweet is considered as a very healthy dish because of different reasons. It does not involve deep fry in oils. Sugar can be avoided as per personal interest. It does not involve besan kind of flours. Even the optional cashew nuts add its contribution to the nutritional values of the sweet. If one can't avoid sugar, add only sugar or use a combination of jaggery and sugar as per taste. Optionally black whole urad dal can also be used instead of regular urad dal. The skin of the black dal is again a store of health and nutrition. They add more protein and fiber to the values of the sweet. Sunnundalu calories are considered by the doctors while prescribing them to the kids and pregnant women for its nutritional values as is considered to be an instant energy booster. After completion of the preparation of the sweet, they can be stored for long periods by placing them in air-tight containers. They can be stored for a period ranging from 15 to 30 days.Preparation time takes around 10 minutes and cooking time takes 30 minutes. That's it! Sunnundalu are ready to eat.

Inika is fascinated by Indian veg recipes and thus puts religious efforts to share the best Indian recipes for the world.