A simple and humble snack when munched makes me feel content and homely…
There are literally hundreds of snacks that are just dear to Kerala. In most of the homes (well in the olden days I must say) different types of snacks were made from scratch and are stored for a long time, so that it can be served to guests and to hosts in the evening along with a cup of hot tea. Nowadays, we don’t make an effort to make traditional snacks at home as we can easily grab them from any nearby Indian stores.
When it comes to making and storing snacks, grandma’s dedication and expertise are unbeatable. My grandma used to prepare many varieties of snacks ahead of time when she gets the news of our arrival. And our holidays were spent mostly by munching and crunching delicious snacks.
Ariyunda is a snack that has been favorited by almost all Keralities. Ariyunda is the malayalam word for Rice balls (Ari=Rice and Unda=ball). It’s such a simple and easy snack which can be prepared in just a matter of minutes using the ingredients that are always seen in the pantry. In fact the recipe calls only for 3 main ingredients: ground red rice, grated jaggery and grated coconut. One specialty about this rice balls is that you need to use Red rice or Rosematta rice, to me red rice is the most delicious among rice. Red rice imparts an earthy and rustic flavor to this snack.
In North America, Red rice or Rosematta rice is available in most of the Indian stores.
Ariyunda or Red Rice Balls
Ingredients:
- Red rice or Rosematta rice (Chemba rice)- 1 cup
- Grated Jaggery- 3/4 cup (adjust the sweetness to your needs)
- Grated Coconut- 1/3 cup
- Whole Cardamom- 2 no’s
- Water- 3 tbsp
Instruction
- In a skillet, roast the red rice over medium heat till it starts to give out the roasted smell about 5-7 minutes. Don’t over roast or burn the rice.
- In a blender or a coffee grinder, grind the roasted rice to a fine powder without any grains.
- In a blender, pulse the grated jaggery, grated coconut and cardamom, this is just to combine them together.
- Don’t grind them into a paste.
- In a large bowl, using your hands combine the ground rice, jaggery, coconut and cardamom together. Crush any jaggery lumps in the mixture using your hands.
- Add water to the mixture and combine well so that you could make small balls out of it.
- Make small balls out of it and keep aside.
- Rice balls would turn little harder as it sits for a while.
- You could even add nuts, raisins, dates, sesame seeds etc to the ground mixture.
- You could store the rice balls in an air tight container, it stays for a couple of weeks.
Tips:
- You could adjust the sweetness to your needs.
- If you want you can add cashew nuts, raisins, dates etc.
- Red rice or Rosematta rice (Chemba rice)- 1 cup
- Grated Jaggery- ¾ cup (adjust the sweetness to your needs)
- Grated Coconut- ⅓ cup
- Whole Cardamom- 2 no's
- Water- 3 tbsp
- In a skillet, roast the red rice over medium heat till it starts to give out the roasted smell about 5-7 minutes. Don't over roast or burn the rice.
- In a blender or a coffee grinder, grind the roasted rice to a fine powder without any grains.
- In a blender, pulse the grated jaggery, grated coconut and cardamom, this is just to combine them together.
- Don't grind them into a paste.
- In a large bowl, using your hands combine the ground rice, jaggery, coconut and cardamom together. Crush any jaggery lumps in the mixture using your hands.
- Add water to the mixture and combine well so that you could make small balls out of it.
- Make small balls out of it and keep aside.
- Rice balls would turn little harder as it sits for a while.
- You could even add nuts, raisins, dates, sesame seeds etc to the ground mixture.
- You could store the rice balls in an air tight container, it stays for a couple of weeks.
If you want you can add cashew nuts, raisins, dates etc.
