Mundhiri Kothu – a traditional Diwali special Sweet

Mundhiri Kothu is a tasty sweet which is popular in the Kanyakumari district of Tamilnadu. Made with Green Gram, Rice Flour, Maida etc, it attains its name since this sweet is made in bunches of three ball shaped sweets. Kothu means bunch. Try this popular sweet for the upcoming Deepavali festival, you will love it. It is very simple to make. You can store it in air tight containers for a week also.

Ingredients:

For stuffing:

Green Gram -1/2 cup

Green Cardamom – 2

Grated Coconut – ½ cup

Sesame Seeds – 1 tsp

Jaggery (Gur) – ½ cup

Water – 2 to 3 tbsp

Cardamom Powder – ½ tsp

For batter:

Rice Flour – 1/3 cup

Maida – 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder – 1 pinch

Salt

Other requirement:

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Dry roast Green Gram till it turns golden brown. Just before transferring the roasted Green Gram to a plate, add the 2 Cardamom and roast for few seconds and then transfer everything to a plate.

When it cools down, grind them to a semi coarse powder and transfer the powder to a bowl.

Dry roast grated Coconut till it turns golden. Add Sesame and roast them together for 30 to 40 seconds. Transfer it to the bowl containing the Green Gram powder.

Heat a pan. Add Jaggery to the pan. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of water. Heat them together till it turns to a single thread consistency. Switch off the flame. Strain this Jaggery syrup, if it contains any impurities. Take the strained Jaggery syrup back into the pan.

Add ½ tsp Ginger Powder, if you prefer. Add the mixture of Green Gram Powder, Coconut and Cardamom mix which we made. Mix them gently till all the ingredients combine well.

When it is still warm, grease your hands with Ghee and make small sized balls out of the mixture. Stick three balls together. The name of the sweet which we are making is Mundhiri Kothu which means bunch of grapes. So, we are making bunches of three balls each.  Keep these bunches aside for 30 minutes. Let them cool down also.

Now, let us make the batter for the outer covering of the sweet. Take Rice Flour, Maida, Turmeric Powder and Salt in a mixing bowl. Add water little by little and mix them without forming any lump.  Make a batter of Dosa Batter consistency.

Heat the Oil in a pan for deep frying. Dip the bunches of balls (which we made) one by one into the batter, ensure that the bunch is covered with the batter evenly and drop the coated bunch into the Oil. (Do not overcrowd the Oil). Fry them till the bunches turn golden brown on all sides evenly.  Transfer to a paper napkin. Fry the balance bunches also.

The yummy delicious Mundhiri Kothu is ready. Make this delicious sweet during this Deepavali and enjoy the festive season.

Notes:

1. If you allow the Jaggery syrup to cool more, the balls which you make will turn hard. Make the balls when the mixture of Jaggery and other ingredients are still warm.