Pori Urundai or Murmura Nuts Ladoo is an authentic South Indian snack made during festivals. I call it the energy balls of yester years that grandma made. It’s healthy-ish, full of feel-good ingredients, and irresistibly delicious!
Diwali is around the corner. There’s a new meaning to festivals now versus festivals hundreds of years ago. Festivals in the golden days was a celebration of bringing the whole village together, a ritual of life. They pretty much partied fifteen days a year: simple events that involved simple food. Fast forward to the 2000’s and festivals mean holidays, rest days, and for lack of a better word, “an extension of a weekend”
Life can get repetitious if we don’t appreciate the joy around festivals. After all, making life thrilling is up to you. To be honest, staying away from India, it’s harder to feel festive, as festivity encompasses India as a whole.
I remember Diwali at my grandma’s would start two weeks before THE DAY. It would start with cleaning the home, and then the favorite part for us kids, the snacks. She’d alone make huge batches of murruku, nippat, ladoo and a variety of sweets. If I’ve seen my grandma get help, it was for rawa ladoos and for this, pori urundai or murmura ladoo.
Murmura Ladoo or pori Urundai has very few ingredients, but it has the right ingredients and is quite simple to make until it’s time to roll it into balls. It has to be done when the mixture is hot-ish. It has to be quick, if not you’ll have crumbles, which is equally great:-). As they say imperfection is only a path to perfection, reminding me of how crumbled the pori was every time I made it until I found the end of the path, perfectly round balls of heaven. Now I know why my grandma’s hands were rough and felt like hands of steel.
I call pori urundai/murmura ladoo the energy balls of India. Our grandmom’s were geniuses. The traditional Pori Urundai had raw jaggery mixed in with peanuts. My recipe is a fancier version, has a blend of nuts, saffron, cardamom and ginger powder. Here’s my version that uses exactly the same ingredients plus some more.
Pori urundai/murmura ladoo/Puffed Rice and Nuts Ladoo INGREDIENTS:
To make this pori urundai or murmura ladoo, you will need the following ingredients:
- Udupi Mysore Murmura: Using the right kind of Murumura or pori is important. It has to be the crispy thick kind.
- Jaggery: This is the most important part of this ladoo. Use dark jaggery and the sticky kind
- Nut: Which I highly recommend toasting — either briefly in the oven or in a sauté pan — you can do it along with the puffed rice
- Cardamom powder:
- Ground ginger: .This adds the flavor that works great
- Saffron: Crush the saffron and it brings the luxurious aspect to the humble ladoo
HOW TO MAKE Pori urundai/murmura ladoo
- Toast the murmura or pori
- Cook the jaggery to the soft ball stage or one string consistency on low heat. Drop the jaggery syrup in water and it should form a ball easily.
- Add the pori and nuts, mix well
- Roll into balls when the mixture is hot. If it gets cold and you can’t make ladoos, microwave for few seconds
- Keep in an airtight container
HOW TO MAKE JAGGERY SYRUP
TIPS
- The most important step is buying the right jaggery. The dark sticky kind.
- The stage of the jaggery syrup is the most important step in this ladoo. If cooked long, it it will crystalize and you wont be able to shape the balls.
- Use only dark colored jaggery.
- Get the jaggery to a soft ball stage by dropping a little mixture in cold water, it should form a ball.
- Like strike when iron is hot, you’ve got to make ladoos when the mixture is hot or you will not be able to make balls.
- If the mix cools down, microwave for 30 sec till the jaggery melts again, form the balls.
- If you’ve taken the jaggery too far and it’s crystalizing, add a tsp of water, and bring it back on the stove, stir for few minutes, the jaggery will coat the pori and you can try forming the balls and or have it as is. SO GOOD.
Pori Urundai/Murmura Ladoo | 1-MINUTE VIDEO
More Diwali treats:
https://www.foodfashionparty.com/2018/11/01/top-5-quick-diwali-sweets/
COCONUT-CASHEW-CHOCOLATE FUDGE/LADOO – QUICK 30 MINUTE RECIPE
BADAM ANJEER ROLL/ FIG ALMOND BURFI/ANJEER BURJI/ANJEER BARFI
- 4 cups thick Udupi style Mysore murmura, crispy thick kind
- 1 cup dark jagger(sticky kind), crushed
- 1 cup crushed mixed nuts: pistachios, cashews, peeled almonds, slightly toasted
- ½ tsp cardamom
- pinch saffron, crushed
- ⅓ tsp dried ginger powder
- 1 tbsp ghee
- In a large flat bottomed pan, add the murmura or pori and slow roast it for 2-3 minutes. Add the nuts that is very slightly toasted and fry for another 2 minutes. Take it out on a plate and let it cool completely.
- In the same pan add the jaggery. On slow/low heat, melt it. It will take only about 2 to 3 minutes. Have some cold water on the side. Drop a tiny drop and see if it forms a soft ball stage. You should be able to roll it in your hands. Once you get to that stage, add ghee. Add the cardamom, saffron, ginger powder and the pori nuts mixture. Mixed fast and really well.
- Form balls pressing the palms together, pressing hard to hold it together. Set it on a plate to cool and you can store this for a month.
If you make this Pori Urundai/Murmura Nuts Ladoo/Puffed Rice Nuts Ladoo, please rate the recipe and comment if you liked it and tag me on Instagram using hashtag #foodfashionparty.
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