Sunnandalu recipe – with sugar or jaggery. A classic Andhra sweet made using urad dal that is usually prepared during the festival sankranthi and most other festivals too.
In our family these minapa sunnundalu are very commonly prepared during the kids vacations too as it is considered to be very nutritious, high in calcium and is believed to make the bones stronger, especially in growing kids and women. A very tasty sweet but needs oodles of ghee and sugar.
Method 1 – how to make sunnundalu with sugar
Dry roast urad dal till they turn fragrant. Cool it completely. Powder to fine or coarse based on your taste. Powder sugar and cardamom powder. Mix all three and pour melted ghee and make balls. For detailed instructions please refer the recipe posted at the end. You see powdered urad dal, sugar, cardamom powder and ghee, used to make sunnundalu with sugar shown in the first image.
As I know, these urad dal ladoos are prepared with white sugar and using jaggery was something experimental to me, hoping it will help me to reduce the amount of ghee that goes towards the binding. So I tried these with palm sugar during sankranti festival, but this time I did it with jaggery and of course as I thought it did not require much ghee like the one with sugar. Sunnundalu with jaggery below.
In the earlier days, cows were grass fed and the ghee and other milk products were considered to be healthy as these had lot of easily digestible nutrients (which were predigested by the cows eating greens). But today’s cows are more on harmful feed and steroids , harmful for them as well for us. So using ghee in moderation is very important even for kids.
I try to reduce the ghee in these sweets, as a good amount of it goes with rice or roti.
Method 2 – how to make sunnundalu with jaggery step by step pictures
1. Wash urad dal several times till the water runs clear. be quick do not let the dal soak up.
2. Drain the water and spread it on a clean, thick cotton cloth and pat dry or rub the cloth against the dal.
3. Immediately heat a heavy bottom pan and roast this dal on high for 4 to 5 mins and then on a medium flame till the dal turns crunchy. keep stirring to prevent burning. if burnt the ladoos do not taste good.
4. once cool, powder dal in the mixer to as smooth as possible.
5. Add jaggery, cardamom powder and run the mixer till all blends well.
6. Heat the ghee and pour over the powder, mix well and make ladoos immediately. Do not pour the ghee at once; add little by little as and when needed and warm up if it is not warm as it helps to cut down the ghee.
I do not know the shelf life of the ones made with jaggery, but if you use sugar, it stays good almost a month or so
1. if you desire to make this in large quantity, you can mill the roasted dal to flour and store it in an air tight conatiner, When needed just add sugar and ghee and make the balls
2. if you are conscious to use ghee, you can make balls using milk.But must be consumed immediately
3. This can be used to prepare a cereal for babies above 1 year old. soak the flour in water for atleast 1 hr and cook till fully done.add jaggery and ghee at the end.
If you are looking for more easy ladoo recipes check out my pesara sunnundalu , badam ladoo , raisin nut ladoo , oats ladoo, coconut ladoo
Find sunnundalu recipe with sugar or jaggery below
Sunnundalu recipe with sugar or jaggery (minapa sunnundalu)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 1 cup urad dal / minapappu
- ½ to ¾ cup sugar or jaggery
- 4 to 6 green cardamoms
- ¼ to ½ cup ghee
Instructions
- Wash urad dal in lot of water twice and drain it off in a colander.
- Dry it on a clean cotton cloth. Spread it evenly and dry, pat it with the cloth to remove excess moisture
- Immediately add it to a heavy bottom pan and dry roast till you get a nice aroma. Do not over fry or burn.
- Cool it completely
- Powder sugar and cardamoms to fine powder if using sugar. Transfer to a plate. If using jaggery grate it and set aside
- Powder the dal, you can do it slightly coarse or smooth.
- Mix the powdered sugar with powdered dal. if using jaggery add grated jaggery to the dal powder and blend well.
- Heat ghee and pour little by little to the ground flour and roll them to 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
Madhavi says
Hi Swasthi, happy diwali! How ru? I made these laddoos using jaggery sweetness and all was good but the laddoos are like sticky inside the mouth. friends said this is because i added more ghee. Is there a way i can repair it?
swasthi says
Hi Madhavi
Happy Diwali! I am doing good. Thank you so much.
I don’t think it is due to more ghee. If the urad dal powder is very fine the ladoos will stick to the mouth.
The other reason can be blending the ladoo mixture for long time. I think adding some roasted semolina will help.
Rani says
Thanks for your recipes Swasthi, I check and trust your recipes that always came out well.
I also like that you are health consious and avoid ghee and white Sugar as much possible. So I check your website for sure to replace sugar in my sweets.
Keep it up IndianHelathyRecipes (you keep up to the name) 🙂
swasthi says
Hello Rani,
You are most welcome. Thank you so much for the trust.
I have moderated your comment and moved your recipe to my personal notes. Will surely try it and share on the blog. Thanks again and sorry for the delay.
🙂
Rohith says
Thanks for the recipe, looking forward to making it today. Can say this after trying many other recipes on the site which came out very well.
swasthi says
Welcome Rohith
Thank you! Hope you like them
Srikanth tallapalli says
Hii Madam,
Thank you so much for guiding us with your easy n delicious recipes. Whenever I wanna make a new dish I just search for your site. I was never dissaapointed and every dish I made came out to be Delicious..
Thank you so much..
@indianhealthyrecipes🥰🥰
swasthi says
Hi Srikanth garu
You are welcome! Glad the recipes are helpful. Thank you very much!
Dr.Gayathri Praveen says
I tried the recipie for the first time today….as far…looks good..can i use butter instead of ghee?does it effect shelf life of ladoo?
swasthi says
Dr.Gayathri
Thanks for trying. Yes it does affect the shelf life and even the taste.
Suba says
Hi Swasthi,
I tried Sunnundalu for first time today..I followed all Ur instructions by adding jaggery..once I’m done, when I tasted its so sticky inside mouth..can u guide me where I went wrong..
swasthi says
Hi Suba
I guess dal is not roasted enough. I know that urad dal if not roasted or cooked fully then it will be sticky. If you have done it till the color changes to light golden, then it must be the quality of jaggery. Not sure why?
Yamini says
Thanks so much for the recipe! The laddoos came out quite nice
swathi says
excellent recipes.all my family members appreciated for nice urad dal ladoo
supriya reddy says
Hi swathi I tried sunundalu . It came out so good . Tasty ladoos .usually I dont like much sweets but ur sunundalu made me to love sweets. Ur atta ladoo all my friends tasted .they r asking me to prepare it once more .seeing ur block making sweets have become easy for me. Thank u soooooooo much for the lovely recipes .
swasthi says
Welcome Supriya
Glad to know you liked them. Thanks for the feedback
Amrita Vishal says
I love traditional recipes and this one is such a winner!!<br />
Ruxana Gafoor says
looks delicious and perfect..explained well..
Kaveri Venkatesh says
Delicious laddus…looks very inviting
Sona S says
nice clicks, looks yummy!
Sireesha Puppala says
tooo good swasthi..super unnai clicks..:)
Priya Suresh says
One of my aunt's signature dish,lovely and nutritious sunnundalu.
Shruti Dhingra Wahi says
Mouthwatering !!! Perfect Ladoos 🙂
Shree Kanneppady says
this laddoo looks super yummy swasti..<br />and pics are so tempting..
divya says
looks so delectable.. And nice clicks too…
Shailaja Reddy says
Healthy and send me some ladoos.
PT says
like ur presentation swasthi.. looks beautiful..
Hari Chandana says
Wowwww… Chala Chala bagunnayi sunnundalu.. Love the presentation too :)<br />