Jan 13, 2015

Sukhiyan, sweet lentil fritters....a Kerala special snack!




When I think of Sukhiyan I remember Sreeja ammayi's mom. Vanaja aunty is always called as Shasthamangalathile aunty, she is so often called that that I sometimes have no clue what her real name is ;-) Shashthamangalam is a place in Trivandrum, Kerala and Vanaja aunty lives there with her husband. 
Her daughter, our Sreeja ammayi is Manish's mom's brother's wife....Well, anyways Manish's family have been family friends with them for a very very long time and later became relatives and the friendship still stands strong.

After Manish and I got married we had gone to their home several times and every time we went there aunty was ready with Sukhiyan. I love these sweet lentil fritters but these are so rarely made in my home and even in local bakeries it's a rare find these days. So whenever she made them for us with a cup of sweet hot tea, I couldn't resist enjoying myself to a good bunch of these!
Even if we go there unannounced in the middle of the day, she'll make something quickly and would never let us leave without eating and Sukhiyan was almost always her go-to palaharam to make, I just love such people who attracts you with food ;-)

Even though I really enjoyed eating them I never tried making them at home. When my sis-in-law, Malli came home for a vacation, she decided to make these. I was simply excited and went about clicking pics as she made them. So, these were technically made by her and they were super yumm! She even calls them Modakam, so apparently it has a lot of names :)


I have no clue of the origin of it's name but it is popularly called Sukhiyan or Suhiyan and it is a very simple and easy snack to make. Boiled green moong daal is mixed with melted jaggery that's flavored with a pinch of elaichi (cardamom powder), rolled into balls, dipped in batter and deep fried. I could just eat the rolled lentil balls as it is, but there's nothing like a crispy fritter :-) The batter is the same as the one used for Pazhampozhi (plantain fritters).

The ratio of Green moong dal to Jaggery is approx 2:1 respectively. We don't measure it exactly but just add enough melted jaggery that'll help the cooked lentils stick together and form a ball easily. Some like to flavor the jaggery with cardamom powder, dried ginger powder, cinnamon etc...but I prefer it simply flavored with a little cardamom powder. A cup of hot sweet tea and a bowlful of these Sukhiyan...aaah! Let me daydream for a moment :)



Sukhiyan, sweet lentil fritters

You’ll need
1 cup Boiled Green lentils (Moong daal)
½ cup melted Jaggery
½ cup fresh grated Coconut
¼ tsp cardamom powder
For batter
1 cup  All purpose flour (Maida)
1 Tblsp Rice Flour (Ari podi)
¼ tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Sugar
A pinch of Salt
¼ cup Water (more or less as needed)
Oil for deep frying



Directions
1. Cook the Green moong daal: Soak the moong daal in cold water for ½ hour. Add to a pressure cooker with enough water to immerse the daal and Pressure cook for 1 whistle. Turn off the heat after 1 whistle and let it cool down by itself. Once cooled open the lid and check if the daal is cooked. Drain off any excess water.
2. Melt the jaggery in a hot pan and add ¼ tsp cardamom powder for flavor. Add the grated coconut and mix well and keep aside to cool slightly. (If you feel the jaggery might be gritty, strain it and then add grated coconut)
3. Make the batter by mixing together all-purpose flour, rice flour, turmeric powder, sugar and salt with enough water to form a smooth batter. Batter should neither be too runny nor too thick.
4. Mix the cooked green moong daal with the melted jaggery and mix together gently. While still warm  start rolling them into equal sized balls .
5.  Heat oil for deep frying and once ready, dip each moong daal ball into the batter and immerse into hot oil. Fry until they turn golden brown.

6. Serve the Sukhiyan hot with a nice cup of hot tea/coffee :)



 

Hope you'll be tempted to try these someday. It's really good and despite the frying, I like to think I'm eating a protein rich snack ;-) My little son too enjoyed these and I want to try making more naadan palaharam for him to show him the food his parents grew up eating and enjoying :-)

-Manju

14 comments:

  1. wow such an healthy and delicious fritters :) I want to grab some suhiyan right away !!

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  2. HD just loves it... thanks for sharing the recipe dear, will surely make this for him some day... :)

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  3. Mouthwatering........and feeling nostalgic....Of course it is tempting me to make it ......I love the way u presented in chiratta..... n beautiful clicks...

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  4. Lovely presentation,Manju.. One of my favorite naalu mani palaharam.. Looks yummy :)

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  5. this one of my favorite fritter, Manju! Beautiful pictures!

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  6. Manju, I love Munthirikothu which is similar to this like I mentioned in fb, but that involves some roasting of the green grams and grounding. I have to get the recipe from my Mom to make it. This sounds simple and I can almost taste it similar to Munthirikothu. I have heard about Sukhiyan, but never tried it. Will give it a try on one of the weekends.

    Regarding the corn flake cookie - yes, I used plain corn flakes for the cookies and I buy them just to make the cookies. My lil one goes crazy about that cookie. I have to hide it from him to avoid the sugar hype he gets into after having all of them :). The flavor might be little different if you go with the flavored corn flakes, its all about experimenting, right....so give it a try and see.

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  7. I'll be daydreaming right along with you Manju. They look delicious! I have never been introduced to Sweet lentil Fritters before but I must say, I sure wouldn't mind trying them after "hearing" your excitement!

    Thank you so much for sharing, Manju...btw, I stopped by from Monu's blog. You also have a lovely place:)

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  8. I love these and mom made them so often. So tempting to try them right away Manju :-) lovely clicks

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  9. Wow, nice space. Love the stories. Are you using a DSLR or point and shoot? The picture composition is so nice.

    I have never had sukhiyan. A Vanaja aunty in my building also made sukhiyan for a function here, but they got over before I could get my hands on them. :( Love the step by step, really helpful since I had no idea how they were made.

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  10. Oh my goodness, this looks amazing! I just had breakfast, and am now wanting this :)

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  11. I always make dal savory... love this sweet treat. :)

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  12. Omg, what a day to visit your blog. I am a big big fan of these, we called it Soiyaan Urandai. I remember eating them in dozen(not anymore). Thanks for the reminder and Hope you had a great festive holiday my dear.

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  13. Very tempting fritters! Never tasted such fritters in my whole life but I want to! I'm not sure to serve them with tea, I think I'll serve them with a green salad for lunch, yum!

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  14. Hi Manju, I made them today for my Krishna. Thry turned out so lovely. My mum used to make this 'pasepayere urandai' so often. This was my first time trying it since loosing her. Your recipe was wonderful. My family enjoyed. Its really tasty.
    Btw, i replaced tge rice flour with tapioca starch.
    Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us all.

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