Nuchinunde | Steamed Toor Dal Dumplings

Nuchinunde recipe –  Nunchinunde are steamed toor dal dumplings, a traditional breakfast or snack recipe from Karnataka. Its a healthy gluten free recipe, served with coconut chutney or majjige huli.

In Kannada, Nucchu means broken bits and unde means ball, which translates to broken dal dumplings. Nuchinunde is usually made during Ganesha Chaturtji or Naga Panchami.  It is not one of those common dishes you find in a restaurant. Its an age old recipe made by our grand parents and parents. I just hope this whole some dish is not for gotten in the years to come.

What makes Nuchinunde so special?

In addition to being  a healthy and steamed recipe, nuchinunde is packed with protein and fiber. Its a good way of incorporating protein to your diet. Healthy and steamed doesn’t have to be bland, the addition of green chily, ginger,coconut and herbs (dill and coriander) make this dish extremely flavorful.

How do you make Nuchinunde?

The preparation of nuchinunde is very similar to masala vada . They do taste like steamed masla vada/ambode.

I have used toor dal in the recipe. You can also use a combination of toor dal and chana dal. The dal is soaked for few hours and the water is drained and  coarsely ground. Green chilly, ginger, onion and herbs are added to the mixture and steamed.

The addition of herbs like dill ( also called sabsige soppu in kannada), curry leaves and coriander leaves make nuchinunde very tasty.

How do I serve Nuchinunde?

Nunchinunde can be served with coconut chuntey, majjige huli (spicy yogurt gravy). You can also serve it with sambar.

Few more recipes form the cuisine of karnataka –

Vangi bath 

Bisi bele bath

Dill leaves dal

Kesari bath

Ragi jowar rotti (video)

Nuchinunde | Steamed Toor Dal Dumplings

Nuchinunde are steamed toor dal dumplings, a traditional breakfast or snack recipe from Karnataka. Its a healthy gluten free recipe, served with coconut chutney or majjige huli.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: Indian

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 22 minutes minutes

Total Time: 32 minutes minutes

Servings: 15 dumplings

Author: Madhavi

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup toor dal
• ▢ ⅓ cup freshly grated coconut
• ▢ 4 green chilies
• ▢ 1 inch ginger
• ▢ 3 tbsps dill, finely chopped
• ▢ 3 tbsps coriander leaves, finely chopped
• ▢ 2 sprigs curry leaves, chopped
• ▢ salt to taste
• ▢ oil to grease the plate

Instructions

• Wash the toor dal with plenty of water.
• Soak the dal in water for at least 3 hours.
• Drain the dal and leave the dal in the colander for few minutes. Its important that the toor dal doesn’t have any water in it.
• Transfer the dal, ginger and green chilly to a mixer or food processor. Pulse it few times to get a coarse mixture. Do not make a puree. It’s OK to have few big chunks of the dal.
• Transfer the coarsely ground dal in to a big bowl.
• Add the remaining ingredients like onion, dill, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt.
• Mix well.
• Take a small portion of the lentil mixture and make a oval shaped dumpling.
• Grease the idly stand and place the dumplings in it.
• Steam the dumpling for 11- 12 minutes.
• Wait for ten minutes before you open the steamer.
• Serve the nuchinunde hot with chutney or majjige huli.

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step by step pics on how to make nuchinunde?

• Take one cup of tuvar dal/toor dal. Add the dal in a large bowl, rinse thoroughly.
• Soak the dal in plenty of water for at least three hours.

• After three hours, the dal will become soft as shown in the picture. Drain the excess water and place in a  colander for few minutes.
• This will help remove the excess moisture from the dal.

• Prep and chop all the ingredients.

• In a mixer or a food processor add the dal, green chilly and ginger. Pulse few times to get a slightly coarse mixture. Do not make a puree. Scrape the sides and pulse as required.

• Transfer the dal mixture to a bowl and add coconut, dil, coriander leaves, curry leaves, onion and salt.

• Mix all the ingredients well. You can taste the mixture little to check for salt.

• Make oval shaped dumplings. You will get about 15 dumplings with this quantity.

• Transfer the dumplings in to a greased idly stand.

• Add some water in the idly stand or any vessel you are using. Place the dumplings inside the steamers and cook for 11-12 minutes in high flame.

Let stand for few minutes before opening the steamer.

Enjoy these healthy nuchinunde with chutney or a spicy yogurt gravy.