Poornam kudumulu recipe – sweet stuffed rice balls or dumplings that are prepared during varalakshmi puja and vinayaka chavithi in most karnataka & Andhra homes. These are called as kadubu or sihi kadubu in kannada and are prepared for ganesh chaturthi.
In some parts of Andhra, kudumulu means a sweet stuffed ball while in few other parts a rice ball without stuffing means the same. In few other regions it a sweet stuffed inside rice flour covering in the shape of kadubu something like kajikaya. Got to know all these from my Telugu friends in Singapore who belong to different regions of Andhra. I was surprised at how the same dish is termed differently.
Poornam kudumulu are made in the shape of balls or kadubu or modak. For the outer covering, I referred this kadubu recipe, excluded the maida. For the poornam I use my boorelu recipe.
Preparation for poornam kudumulu
1. Melt jaggery on a low flame with 1 ½ to 2 tbsp. Water. Off the flame. Strain it through a filter to a bowl and set it aside. I skipped this step since my jaggery was clean, free from debris and stones.
2. Wash and cook chana dal with water in a pot until just cooked. Ensure it does not turn squishy. I cook half cup dal with 1 cup water and evaporate excess water at the end.
3. Mash few grains with the spoon to the sides of the pot, it must get mashed easily. Drain off the water completely or evaporate.
4. I cooled the dal and blended it in a blender. If you have a masher you can mash it to smooth.
5. Add the dal , jaggery or jaggery syrup back to the same pot . Add cardamom powder and coconut. Mix well.
6. Begin to cook poornam till it looks dry and comes down to a mass. Keep it aside to cool.
7. Take small portions of the poornam and roll to balls if you want to make sound balls. The balls have be non-sticky and hold good round shape else it means the purnam is not cooked yet. Put it back to the pan and cook for few more minutes until it dries up and becomes a mass. Make the balls and set aside.
Making dough for outer covering
8. Add ghee and salt to hot water.
9. Bring it to a rolling boil. Switch off the stove.
10. Add flour to the water.
11. Mix it well. It will be crumbly.
12. Cover and set aside to cool for a while.
13. Knead well to get a smooth dough. If needed sprinkle some water and knead.
14. Divide to 11 equal sized balls.
Method 1 – poornam kudumulu
15. Grease your fingers and make a thin puri out of the dough. Place little poornam in one half of the puri leaving the edges.
16. Join the edges to seal the poornam. If needed dip your fingers in water and press the edges. You can also make a design with your fingers or use a greased fork to press lightly on the edges.
Method 2 – poornam kudumulu
17. You can also make balls, by rolling the dough around the poornam ball.
18. Bring a pressure pan or cooker or steamer to a boil with enough water.
19. The water must begin to boil rapidly, then place all the balls in a wide bowl and keep that in the steamer. Steam for 8 to 10 minutes depending on the size of your steamer. Refer the recipe below for more detailed instructions.
More Vinayaka chavithi recipes
Kudumulu / undrallu
Teepi undrallu
Kobbari undrallu
Chalimidi undrallu
Undralla payasam
Pulihora
Banana sheera
Rava appalu
Easy poornam kudumulu or sihi kadubu recipe
Poornam kudumulu recipe | Sihi kadubu recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
Outercovering
- ¾ cup rice flour (very fine flour)
- ¾ cup water (little more or less, depends on the quality of rice flour)
- 1 tsp ghee
Poornam
- ½ cup channa dal or senaga pappu
- 1 cup water
- ¾ cup jaggery grated or bellam
- 1 to 2 tbsp coconut grated (optional)
Instructions
Make poornam
- Add jaggery to a pan with 1 ½ to 2 tbsp. Water and heat it on a low flame and melt it. Switch off the stove. Filter to a cup and keep it aside. If your jaggery is clean and has no stones or debris, you can skip this step
- Cook chana dal with water until just cooked. Do not make it mushy or squishy. When mashed it must become soft. Drain off the dal to a colander.
- Mash or blend the dal in a mixer to smooth.
- Mix the mashed dal and jaggery syrup. Add cardamom powder and coconut. Mix well.
- Cook till the poornam looks dry and becomes a mass set aside to cool. You can even add cardamom and coconut at this step.
- Make 6 to 7 balls out of this poornam. The balls must be non sticky and hold round shape well otherwise it means the poornam is not cooked well. You can put it back to the pan and cook for few more minutes till it looks dry.
Make outer covering
- Now Make outer covering. Heat water, add ghee and salt. When the water comes to a rolling boil Off the stove.
- Add flour to the water and mix it. Cover , when cooled down a bit, knead to a smooth dough.
- Grease your palms and knead this very well.
- Make 6 to 7 rice balls.
How to make poornam kudumulu
- Make a dent in the center. Dip your fingers in water and spread the dove tomake a flat puri. Flatten them to as much as the size of your palm.
- Place a poornam ball and bring the edges together gently.
- Shape them off to a round ball. Do not squeeze or apply pressure on the ball, they may break.
- Add water to a steamer or pressure cooker, bring it to a boil.
- When the water begins to boil, place these balls in a wide greased bowl and keep it in the steamer or cooker. Close the lid and steam on high for 8 minutes if steaming in a smaller cooker and for 10 minutes if steaming in a larger cooker. Steaming them for longer could make the outer covering harder.
- Cool poornam kudumulu and offer to Ganesha.
Notes
If you want to give them a kadubu shape, then I suggest you to use a tsp. maida so that dough becomes slightly pliable and can be rolled to puris on plastic sheets. Place the poornam in the center and seal the edges, if needed you could moisten the edges to seal well.
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
Hello ma’am…. can I use store bought rice flour….I have made last year with Store bought flour….but when we were eating sticking to mouth..that too I have boiled almost 45 mins still it was very soft
Hi Srivani,
Yes you can use store bought flour. The outer covering becomes that way (sticks to the mouth) if more water is used while making the dough. Overcooking the kudumulu can also make them more chewy and sticky. Hope this helps
I made these for vratham. Came out very nice. Thank you
Welcome Rani
Happy to know they came out good
Very easy methods and explained very detailed.thank you soooooooo much
looks great swasthi
One of my fav kolukattai
Hi Swasthi,
I have tried this recipe for Ganesh chavithi as naivedyam to Lord Ganesha.
All of our family loved the receipe.Thank you for your detailed explanation of every dish. Tried some of your other receipes too…. really yummy …thank you..
Welcome Krishnaveni
So happy to know the recipes were useful. Thanks a lot for the comment.
🙂