Undi – Steamed Rice Dumplings

If you are one who feels breakfast is one of the most difficult meals to plan…read on. This dish from the Mangalore Konkan belt does not require any pre-soaking, grinding or preplanning. When you find yourself lost as to what to dish up for breakfast and like to stir clear or packaged breakfast items, you can rustle this up fairly soon. This is almost a beginner’s recipe using just a few ingredients.

This is my first try at this dish and next time round I will serve it with a coconut based chutney as I think it will taste best with that.

So let’s get down to the recipe…

 Ingredients

1 cup rice rava or idli rava,

½ a cup of grated coconut,

1 or 2 chopped red chillies,

1 tsp of mustard seeds,

A pinch of fenugreek seeds,

Some finely chopped curry leaves (optional),

1 tsp urad dal,

1 tbsp coconut oil,

Salt to taste

Method

Clean the idli rava to ensure there are no impurities.

Boil about 3 cups of water in a pan.

Heat oil in another pan and add the mustard seeds, when they start popping add the fenugreek seeds, urad dal and chopped red chillies. When the urad dal is light brown in colour add the chopped curry leaves and the idli rava. Fry this for about 3 minutes.

To this add the salt, grated coconut and the boiling water. At the same time keep stirring in one direction. Be careful at this stage to ensure there are no lumps. If you change the direction there is a possibility of lumps being formed.

Let the heat be low and continue the stirring till the paste is cooked and it reaches this consistency.

Let it cool a bit till it is easy to handle, do not let it cool completely. Form small balls on this mixture. You can also make a small depression in the centre like you see in the photograph.

Steam these in a steamer for about 15 mins. It is advisable to line your steamer with a cotton cloth so the undis do not become soggy.

This tastes best with a spicy coconut chutney.