Undu Walalu recipe /Pani Walalu "Golden Bangles" - Sri Lankan New Year sweets
Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka welcome this most prominent cultural festival known as Aluth Awurudda or New Year on the 14th of April annually. It is also known as the Sun festival, based on the astrological point of view that, Sun’s journey from the House of Pieces to the House of Aries is completed on this day.
The whole country gets together to celebrate this occasion on a grand scale by making many traditional sweetmeats, dressing up in traditional costumes, and playing traditional games.
These gold bangles are a very popular sweet during this time and I am thankful to my mum for passing this recipe on to me as I am now quite confident in making them myself.
I believe this is the easiest and the yummiest sweet that you can rustle up just before New Year’s Day. I am sure everybody will love to indulge in these, gladly forgetting their diet plans!
So let’s make them and pass them around to spread happiness and goodwill.
Ingredients needed;
| Undu seeds /Urind whole (white) | 1 cup |
| Rice flour (shop-bought) | 1/2 cup |
| Salt | 1/8 tsp |
| Fresh coconut milk or Maggi coconut milk | 1/4 cup |
| For the sugar syrup | |
| Brown sugar | 4/3 cup |
| Water | 2 cups |
| Salt | 4 pinches |
Let’s make ;
Soak Undu/Urind
- Soak Undu/Urind seeds in water overnight or at least for 6hrs
- Next day, drain the water and drop the soaked Undu/Urind into the blender jar
- Add salt, coconut milk, rice flour and blitz in high speed until it turns into a thick but very smooth consistency. Add more water little by little until the expected consistency appears.
- Cover and keep aside for 1hr
Make the Sugar Syrup
- Meanwhile, take a wide heavy bottom or a nonstick pan and pour in the sugar, salt and water
- Boil twice
- Simmer for 3-4 mins under medium flame until the liquid goes syrupy
- Give a good stirring and check the taste. If more salt or sugar is needed, adjust the taste accordingly. Simmer for another couple of minutes, close the flame.
Fry and soak in sugar syrup – Final step
- Take a freezer bag/piping bag/thick plastic bag and cut one of the bottom edges slightly
- Pour oil into a wide pan and heat under medium flame
- Drop a small ball from the batter to the hot oil and fry. check the taste. Add a pinch or more salt if necessary.
- Drape the bag inside a cup and pour the Undu/Urind batter into it
- Gather the bag from the top
- Carefully squeeze the batter into hot oil while making perfect rounds
- Fry both sides until golden brown. Take out of the frying pan and keep aside for a minute. Fry again for 30 seconds. This will make them go crispier.
- Drop the golden brown rounds into the sugar syrup
- Start frying the next batch
- Pick the batch that is already in the sugar syrup using a skewer and place on a plate
- Continue the same process until the batter is finished (remember to keep the sugar syrup always warm. If it goes cold, warm it up under medium flame for a few mins)
- You are now an owner of a tower of golden bangles!
- Serve around and celebrate the festive occasion in good spirit!
Important tips:
- If you have access to Kitual/Coconut treacle and Jaggary, add both or just one kind in place of sugar for a healthier and tastier version of these. You can combine either of those and sugar too.
- Remember to fry twice to make them crispier
- Choose a flat pan so that you can fry several of them at the same time
- Sugar syrup must be always hot. If it goes cold in the middle of the process, heat the pan again for a minute
- It is advisable to make one and taste it first and adjust the taste if needed, before starting the whole process
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