Sunnundalu | Urad Dal Ladoo

Sunnundalu is a classic Andhra sweet. I am not sure if people from other states actually do it. When I told some of my friends about this sweet, they were not aware of it. Sunnundalu are made of urad dal (yup! its urad dal). Urad dal, sugar and ghee are the only three ingredients you need to make this sweet.

When i was a kid, my mom used to make these often. Kids and also the pregnant women are often given this sweet. I guess the reason is it has dal (which gives protein) and ghee which has the fat content is good for the growth of the fetus and the growing kids.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

(makes about 17 med laddoos)

1.  Urad dal – 2 cups
2. Sugar – 1 ¼ cup
3. Ghee – ¾ th cup
4. Cardamom-2 (optional)

Procedure:

• Roast the urad dal in a low heat till golden brown. Stir continuously, it takes about 20 minutes. (My hand did hurt because of the continuous stirring, but was worth it). Let cool of completely
• Mean while, melt the ghee and let this cool also.
• Now take the roasted urad dal and grind it to a smooth powder using a mixer or a food processor. (First I used the mixer, some how it wasn’t doing the job. So, I switched to the food processor). Make sure the dal when ground is  nice and smooth. It’s very important that the mixture is smooth and super fine. Keep it on the side.
• Now add the sugar and grind it to a fine powder. Now return the urad dal mixture to the food processor and grind again. This helps the sugar and the urad dal mixture to incorporate well. At this point you can also add some crushed cardamom.
• Remove this mixture to a skillet; little by little add the melted ghee till you get a consistency where you can mold them in the form of laddoo.