Ariyunda - Sweetened rice balls or Sweet rice Ladoos

Ariyunda or sweet rice ladoo is a traditional Kerala sweet made of rice, coconut and jaggery. Ariyunda arises a nostalgic feeling always. It has been prepared by  mom in my childhood days.

Ariyunda is traditionally prepared by roasting the rice, which is then hand pounded and grounded into fine powder using traditional large motor and pestle called ural and ulakka. This ground rice flour is then pounded with jaggery and grated coconut and then shaped into small lemon sized balls. Now a day, we can make this sweet easily with a mixer grinder and it took hardly less than thirty minutes.

One of the key ingredient in this dish is grated coconut which should be fresh and moist. We are not adding water while kneading. Grinding of freshly grated coconut enables the juice and oil to ooze out and helping all ingredients to hold together.

Ariyunda recipe Author: Anju Aneesh Recipe type: Sweet, Snack Cuisine: India, South India, Kerala Preparation time: 10 minutes / Cooking time: 20 minutes / Total time: 30 minutes Ingredients 1 cup boiled rice / Kerala red rice ( puzhukkalari) 100 to 150 grams shredded or grated jaggery 1 1/4 cup grated coconut 4 cardamom Direction of preparation Roast the boiled rice on medium-low  fire in a wok with continuous stirring until it pops and changes its colour and the texture. The texture of the roasted rice should be very crunchy. Spread it on a paper and powder in a dry mixer grinder. Grind the shredded jaggery with grated coconut to form a thick mixture. Transfer into a bowl and add  cardamom powder and roasted rice flour. Mix well. Take a small fistful of this mixture and make small lemon sized balls. Delicious ariyunda is now ready to serve.

Let us go to the step by step preparation of ariyunda recipe

1. Heat a wok or kadai in medium-low flame.  When the wok became hot, add rice and roast it with continuous stirring until it pops and changes its color and texture.  The texture should be very crunchy.
   
   
   
2. Make very fine powder of it along with four cardamom in a mixer grinder and reserve.
   
3. Grind shredded jaggery and grated coconut until form a thick mixture.
   
4. Transfer into a bowl and knead everything well, so that it forms a nice mixture. 
   
5. Take a small fistful of this mixture and make small lemon sized balls.
   
6. Delicious ariyunda is now ready to serve.