Name: Sunnundalu recipe with sugar or jaggery (minapa sunnundalu)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 1 cup urad dal ( / minapappu); ½ to ¾ cup sugar ( or jaggery); 4 to 6 green cardamoms; ¼ to ½ cup ghee

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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. Sometime ago I prepared these walnut sunnundalu and it was a great idea and the recipe is a keeper.

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