Paala Undrallu & Kudumulu - Vinayaka Chavathi Naivedyam
Today is Vinayaka Chavithi aka Ganesh Chaturthi festival, dedicated to Lord Ganesha, God of Wisdom and Prosperity. It is celebrated on the Suddha Chavithi day (the fourth day after the no-moon day) of the lunar month Bhadrapada maasam (August/September).
This is a special festival which evokes memories that are very dear to me. Vinayaka Chavithi is one festival I always looked forward to during my childhood. We siblings, my younger brother and sister would go shopping the earlier day with our parents and buy all the pooja saman (material), a cute clay idol of Lord Ganesha and a book narrating the story of the Lord and the significance of conducting this auspicious puja.
We would wake up very early and get prepared to adorn the Paalavalli (which is made from bamboo and is tied with strings to make a roof over the idol) with fruits and flowers and place the clay idol of Lord Ganesha below it and place our school books before the idol, along with fruits and naivedyam as its believed that the Lord would help us do well in our studies and overcome all obstacles in life and bless us.
Amma would prepare the naivedyam and Naana would read the life story of Lord Ganesha (which explains the significance of performing the pooja) and chant the mantras while we would sprinkle akshatalu (raw rice mixed in turmeric pwd), patri (leaves) and flowers. We used to be impatient for the pooja to finish so that we could eat all the different varieties of undrallu and festives foods prepared especially for Vinayaka Chavithi..:)
Lord Vinayaka is said to be fond of “Undrallu” which is mainly prepared from rice flour. Hardly any ghee/oil is used to prepare undrallu as they are prepared by way of steaming which makes them low fat unlike most festive foods which are high in calories. Different varieties of undrallu both savory (kudumulu) and sweet ones are prepared and offered as naivedyam/prasadam to Lord Vinayaka.
Paala Undrallu are sweet flavored and prepared from rice flour, milk, grated coconut, seasame seeds and sugar. Very simple to prepare with a subtle sweet flavor.
Paala Undrallu Recipe
Recipe source: Amma
Cooking Time: 30 mts
Cuisine: Andhra
.
1 cup rice flour
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar (you can reduce the quantity)
1 cup grated coconut
1 cup milk
1/2 cup seasame seeds (dry roast for a mt and grind to a coarse pwd)
¼ tsp elachi pwd (cardamom)
1 Bring 2 cups of water to boil and add the rice flour and immediately cover it with a lid without stirring and reduce heat. Let it cook for 4-5 mts. Turn off heat and cool. Make small balls and keep aside.
2 In another vessel add the sugar and water and bring it boil. Reduce heat and add the grated coconut and stir for a few seconds. Add the rice flour balls and mix.
3 Add the milk and let the balls cook in this syrup for 3-4 mts. Now add the ground seasame seeds pwd and combine well. The consistency should be a slightly thick syrup. Turn off heat. Sprinkle ground elaichi pwd.
Kudumulu or Undrallu are savory rice balls made from rice ravva and bengal gram dal. Very simple to prepare and absolutely healthy as its steamed.
Undrallu/Kudumulu Recipe
Recipe source: Amma
Cooking Time: 15-20 mts other than soaking rice and grinding to a coarse pwd
Cuisine: South Indian
.
2 cups raw rice, washed, dried completely and ground to a coarse pwd similar to sooji
4 cups water
1/4 cup Bengal gram / chana dal (soak in water for 5-10 mts and drain)
½ tsp cumin seeds (optional)
1 tsp ghee
1 Heat ghee in a pan and add the soaked channa dal and fry the dal for a second or two.
2 Immediately add water and salt, bring to a boil. Once it reaches boiling point, immediately add the ground rice ravva and stir continuously ensuring that no lumps are formed and once all the water is absorbed and appears like a big lump, cover and cook for 4-5 mts. Turn off heat and cool.
3 Once cool, make big lemon sized balls of the cooked mixture. Undrallu are ready to be offered to Lord Ganesha as naivedyam.
Note:
These days rice ravva is available in most stores and all you need is to add this ravva to boiling water instead of the tedious process of soaking and grinding the dried rice.
Wishing all my readers and visitors a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi.
By sailu • Aug 27th, 2006 • Category: All Recipes, Andhra Recipes, Featured, Festival recipes, Flour Recipes, Naivedyam (Prasadam), Vegetarian Recipes
Hi Sailu,
Happy vinayak chaturthi, Presentation is very good, I wish i was in india to celebrate, you always bring us memories of India and thank you for that.
Happy Vinayaka Chavithi, Radha. I am happy that this post brought back memories of home..:)
Last couple of days I had been trying to access u’r site,but I always got the error message that site doesnt exist!! I ws confused whether u stopped the site!! It wd have been a great loss then….Happy Vinayaka chathurthi…and u have brought in wonderful memories as usual…love the festival and all those wonderful naivedyams!
Hi Sailu,
Happy Vinayaka chavithi to you and your family.
Pictures look great.
Vineela
Sailu, happy Vinayaka Chavithi and thank you for such an informative and beautiful post.
Hi Sailu,
Happy “Vinayaka Chathurti” to you and your family.
Good presentation. Thanks.
HAPPY GANESHA CHATHURTHI to you !!
They all look delicious!!
A colourful, festive post, Sailu. I am sure gonna miss Ganeshotsav this time.
That is a beautiful table you have set…such colors
Happy vinayaka chaturthi sailu… Nice pictures
Sailu–I could celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi from here seeing your pictures–Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to you and your family:)
Vinayaka Chaturthi Shubhakankshalu Sailu. It looks like you had a grand celebration. Our version of Kudumullu is comepletely different. It is made from purnam (chana dal and jaggery). Will post pics of it soon.
Sailu,Happy Ganesh chathurthi to you & family.
Hi Sailu,
Vinayaka chavithi subhakankshalu to u and ur family,undrallu bhale chakaga chesaru sailu,
u reminded me of my childhood days sailu, happy vinayaka chavithi. hope u enjoyed.
Hi Sailu,
Happy vinaayaka chathurthi.Great photographs and nice presentation.Missing india a lot.We do celebrate here, but we miss family and that great celebrations all over india.Thanks for sharing!!!
Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi sailu, lovely spread of prasadam..im sure lord ganesh must have enjoyed everybit of it..
Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi sailu! that is a very cute spread!!
Your blog is great! I love Indian food, and I love the pictures you post. I can’t wait for my husband to try some of the recipes!!!
Sailu
Vinayaka chavithi subhakankshalu
Sailu,
Happy Vinayaka Chavithi!
Have been learning so much Indian food from your blog. Your Paalau Undrallu is very similar to the sweet rice pudding in the west, sound very delicious too!
Thank you all for your wishes and am glad you liked the food spread..:)
Hi Sailu,
Your post is so lovely. And the food looks so delicious! I miss my home and India the most during festival times!
Cheers
Latha
aaaha Sailu, malli color change…ee color kuda bagundi…kaani green ki koncham alavatu paddayi kallu
and music chaala bagundi. Nenu lab lo kurchuni me site open chesanu…kaasepu ardham kaaledu sound ekkada nunchi vasthunda ani :-p, meeru oka manchi radio host cheyavachu emo inka 
Sailu,
Meeru radio pettalsinde 
If possible could you also display the name of the currently playing song in your tuner. The song selection is great, I’ve heard all the 3 songs and I loved them
Priya, I am working on the playlist as I am still in the processing of adding more songs. Radio, eh?-:)
Hi Sailu!
I have recommended your blog for Blog Day 2006 at my blog.
Thanks for the mention, Chandrika..:)
It is absolutely beautiful with all those colors… they bring so much joy. Very nice recipe!
Ciao.
Hi Sailu,
I tried out Paala Undrallu during Ganesh Navarathrulu and the naivedyam was very tasty. Your site is very nice. Also I tried Butter Paneer Masala and Bhindi masala with whisked curd as the ingredient. Your recipes not only look awesome but also taste delicious. Yummy! Also a good collection of music. This site is really rocking! Keep it up. Nice to know you.
Bye.
Haritha,
I am glad the undrallu came out well for Vinayaka Chavithi as well as the other recipes. Appreciate your kind words on my blog. Thank you!
sailu, could u please let me know what all dishes to make for vinayaka chavithi
thnaks,
Sridevi
i love u sailu
i love u so much sailu
hi,
sailaja ur doing a nice job by making us remember andhra throught out the world. hats off to u. nice job by creating a nice web site for andhra people who reside outside andhra and india.
thank you
hai
Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi sailu,
hai sailu
happy vinayaka chathuthi. thanks for ur greate recipe.i tried palla undralu & kudumulu.it worked well.good pictures.i tried bobattu.it came good.thanks for everything.
bye
Hi sailu garu,
I will surely try these recipes tomorrow.
Looks mouth watering..
thanks for the wonderful recipes here
Wish you happy vinayaka chavithi!!
Very nice Sailu….
rgds
Hi sailu gar thx for ur nice recipes……….today I tried these recipes its really really tasty……..usually I dont like these two but after preparing these items all bowls are empty. Especially sweet is really good.
Hi Sailu,
greetings to you and your family…
just a small correction for one of your recipes… Kudumulu and undrallu are two different items… we are telugu brahmins from visakhapatnam and we prepare both Aviri(vapour) Kudumulu and undrallu for vinayaka chavithi….
Kudumulu would be prepared as follows:
make a smooth batter with Minappapu.. consistency similar to that of idlis… instead of mixing idli rava.. we mix rice rava… and heat the mix in small baskets made of Panasa akulu… these are called Kudumulu…
Hi Sailu,
I keep visiting your site very often. The other day when I went to hyd. to my mom’s place I saw a telugu magazine “Andhra Bhoomi” (monthly magazine) and it featured various recipes related to Kudumulu/Undrallu. What caught my attention was the pic of undrallu on the cover page. It is exactly same pic which is shown on this page.(the one with undrallu/kudumulu recipe.)
I am not sure if you had copyrighted your images or if the magazine people have contacted regarding the usage of your photographs, but wanted to inform you.