pala munjalu recipe – An easy alternate to making poornam boorelu. Most women find it difficult to make burelu or poornalu, since it requires the batter (used for outer cover) to be in the right consistency. This recipe is almost like boorelu but the outer covering is made of rice flour cooked in milk.

Do try these very simple to make dish on any festive or special occasion, no soaking, no grinding of batter, absolutely easy.
These can be offered as naivedhyam for varalakshmi vratam, dasara, Diwali, sankranti and ugadi too.
The taste of pala munjalu entirely depends on the kind of rice flour we use. Back home in India, rice flour made from aged sona masuri is used as it is less sticky. But I prepared with store bought flour, yet they came out perfect.
This is the first time i prepared these, and got them perfect. So novice cooks can try this without any hesitation.
how to make pala munjalu with step by step pictures
1. Wash and pressure cook channa dal with little water for 1 whistle or can cook in a pot till soft but not mushy.
2. Drain the water. cool it. blend this dal in a mixer to get a dry mix.
3. Add jaggery and begin to cook again till the mix becomes dry like shown in the pic. takes around 5 to 7 mins.
4. Let it cool completely and make balls and set aside. you must get non sticky dry balls
5. Now mix milk and rice flour well, remove any lumps
6. Begin to cook on a low flame till the dough becomes dry and a single mass
7. Cool it completely. Add 1 tbsp oil and knead well to a smooth dough. Kneading well helps to get them right without turning hard. Remove any lumps.
8. Take small portions of this dough and make small thin puris in you palm.
9. Place a ball from step 4 and cover it from all the sides, removing off excess dough.
10. Roll the ball to get an even shape. do not overdo it
11. keep them covered with a moist cloth till you fry. Heat oil till smoky, reduce the heat and fry these till golden.
12. Repeat in batches till you finish all.
13. Fry again to keep them crisp for longer.
If you are looking for similar easy andhra festival recipes on this blog, take a look at
Rava appalu
paramannam
chakkara pongal
bellam paramannam
senaga pappu payasam
pala munjalu recipe below

pala munjalu recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
poornam ingredients (inner stuffing)
- ½ cup channa dal or toor dal
- ½ cup jaggery or palm sugar (can use sugar too, I have never tried) (adjust the quantity)
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
Outer covering
- 3 cups rice flour fine (I used store bought, whatever you use it must be fine flour)
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- 1 ½ cups water
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Wash channa dal and cook in a pot till soft but not mushy. It can be pressure cooked with little water for 1 whistle
- Drain the dal in a colander to remove excess water. When cooled, add it to a jar and blend till smooth.
- Add the ground dal and jaggery back to the pot or pan. Mix both well and cook again till mix looks dry and becomes a single mass
- Cool completely and take small portions and make balls. Keep these aside
- In a pan, add rice flour and pour milk. Mix well to remove lumps.
- Cook on a low flame till the dough becomes a single mass
- Cool it. Add 1 tbsp. oil and knead well to get smooth dough.
- Take small portions of dough, if needed, knead well, press each ball to flatten and make puri in your palm.
- Place a ball in the centre of the rice puri. Cover it from all the sides, remove off excess dough.
- Roll the ball to give a nice shape.
- Keep the balls covered with a moist cloth till you fry.
- Heat oil till smoky hot, reduce the flame to medium
- Drop few balls at one time and fry evenly till golden
- Repeat frying till you finish all the balls.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Sharmila says
Yummmmmm mmmy its puran fried modak balls!!!
swasthi says
Thanks Sharmila.
Yes they are fried modak balls
Jo says
i skipped the milk in making the dough as I did not have milk. The munjalu came very hard. How to soften them please help
swasthi says
pala munjalu as the name says, they are made using milk. I suppose milk lends that softness to the munjalu. i don’t think there is a way to fix it, i suggest you check burelu using the poornam.
but if you have already finished making munjalu, try this
heat a heavy bottom pan. Let it turn hot. Switch off the stove. put all the munjalu in it and cover for about 5 minutes. This way they may soften though im not sure
hope this helps
mounika Rajender reddy says
very very tasty dish yummiiiiii recipi
swasthi says
Hello Mounika,
thank you
🙂
Sanoli Ghosh says
Loved the filling inside Swasthi. Very new to me. Yummilicious!
PT says
very festive presentation.. happy ugadi swasthi..
Amrita Vishal says
Looks so amazing esp the filling
Saranya Balaji says
New recipe to me..Bookmarking this
Poornima Arun says
nice recipe..
Phong Hong says
Swasthi, I have never eaten these pala munjalu but looking at the ingredients and the fact that it is fried, I know I will love it!
manju nardas says
Looks yummy…….. perfect pala munjalu.
Kaveri Venkatesh says
The outer covering sounds very interesting…Looks delicious..Happy ugadi Swasthi
Premas Culinary says
<br />perfectly made fritters,yum!!!<br />
Medeja says
The filling sounds just divine!
Priya Suresh says
Eventhough its deepfried i dont mind munching some anytime, very tempting fritters.
Kitchen Queen says
never had this one, but looks delicious.
divya says
looks mouthwatering dear..yummy & fab clicks!!
Nabanita Das says
Nice recipe..