Undi / Oondi is a popular and regular breakfast in a Konkani household and are steamed seasoned coconut rice dumplings.
They are also called Pundi gatti in Tulu and Oondi / Undi in Konkani.
They are served hot with coconut oil drizzled on top and with spicy coconut chutney, or with any vegetable curry or with pickle.
These Undis can be easily made at home in less time and needs no fermentation.
INGREDIENTS :
(1) 500 grams of Rice (Sona Masuri rice or Kolam rice or Basmati rice or any medium grained rice will do)
(2) Grated Coconut (I grated half of the Coconut, remaining half I used for making chutney) – 1 cup
(3) 1/2 teaspoon of Methi / Fenugreek seeds
(4) 1 small piece of Jaggery / Gud as shown in the picture.
(5) 1 teaspoon of Mustard seeds / Rai
(6) 1 teaspoon of Split Black Lentils / Urad dal
(7) 1 sprig of Curry leaves / Kadi patta
(8) Oil, preferably Coconut oil
(9) Salt as per requirement
(10) 550 ml Water (For grinding and for forming Oondi / Undi dough)
Course : Breakfast, Main
Cuisine : Konkani
Serves : 7-10 persons
Yields : 28 rice dumplings
Time : 2 hours
METHOD :
Soaking rice grains and grating coconut:
(1) Take 500 grams of rice grains in a large bowl and wash thoroughly under running tap water and drain all the water completely.
(2) Then fill water again and soak the rice for 1 hour. While soaking, also add 1/2 teaspoon of Fenugreek seeds / Methi.
(3) After an hour, drain all the water to get soaked Rice.
(4) Grate the coconut. I used one half of the coconut that yielded 1 cup of it. Coconut adds the desired softness to Undi.
(5) Take a 2 inch sized piece of Jaggery / Gud as shown in the picture.
Grinding the soaked rice and grated coconut :
(6) First take the grated coconut in the jar of the mixer grinder, add 50 ml of water and grind it to form a coarse paste.
I don’t have the picture of this step.
(7) Then also add the soaked rice and a piece of jaggery (Gud) to the ground coconut paste. Also add Salt (As required). Use 200 ml of water while grinding. Grind it to form a coarse paste of rice. Do not make a fine paste.
Preparing Undi dough :
(8) Heat 4 tablespoons of coconut oil or any cooking oil in a Kadhai / wok. I used coconut oil as it gives the desired flavour in the Undi and any South Indian item taste best when prepared using the traditional coconut oil.
(9) Add Mustard seeds to the warm oil.
(10) Add the Urad Dal.
(11) Add Curry leaves and stir for a few seconds.
(12) Stir for a few seconds till the Urad dal turns golden brown.
(13) Add the rice batter to the tempering.
(14) Mix well with the tempering.
(15) Add 1 glass or 300 ml of water and keep stirring over a low flame to mix the ingredients well and to prevent the rice batter from sticking to the bottom of the wok. We cook on a low flame so that the rice batter cooks at least half way through.If we cook on a high flame, all the water will evaporate fast and the rice batter may not cook through. So cook on a small to medium flame.
(16) Keep mixing until most of the water evaporates and you get a dry mixture / dough. You will get the dough semi thick like this. It took 8-10 minutes of stirring to form this dough.
Here is the video of the Undi / Oondi dough forming.
(17) When you touch the mixture with your fingers, it shouldn’t be sticky. If it does, cook for another few minutes till you get a non sticky dough.
Note:
Make sure the rice mixture isn’t runny, at the same time it should not be too dry. We need a dry mixture but with little moisture in it so that we are able to form rice balls or dumplings with hands.
(18) The Undi dough is ready. Cover and keep aside for 5 minutes so that the dough continue to cook in the residual heat and slowly cools down.
Allow them to cool slightly but not completely. If they cool completely, that will harden the rice dough and there will be clumps in them and will not form smooth rice balls later in the next step.
Forming the rice balls or dumplings :
(19) Once the rice dough / mixture is cooled slightly to the point where you can bear the heat, start forming tennis ball sized balls. While forming the balls, a small depression is to be made using your finger tip on each of the balls. It is a traditional belief to not make them totally round as such round dumplings are served only to the dead during death anniversary / Shraddh.
(20) Here is a video showing the formation of rice balls or dumplings from the dough we made and the picture after forming the balls. I could form 28 rice balls from the dough prepared using 500 gms of rice! The picture below shows few rice balls and not all 28 that could be formed.
Steaming the rice balls :
I steamed the rice balls in a idli steamer.
(21) Take a idli steamer and fill it with water upto a level as shown in the figure.
Grease the moulds of the smallest idli stand with oil. We use only one stand and not all three.
Cover the lid of the steamer and heat the water inside it till it boils. Then open the lid.
(22) Place the rice balls on the greased stand and cover the lid of the idli steamer and steam them for about 10 minutes. Check out the video to know how to place the rice balls in the steamer.
(23) At the end of 10 minutes, when the rice balls are cooked, turn off the gas flame. Open the lid of the steamer. Our Undis are ready!
Serving Oondi / Undi :
(24) Serve hot Undis with Coconut Chutney or a spicy curry of your choice. You may even drizzle some coconut oil over the Undis and eat with spicy pickle. Even that tastes great.
(25) Click on the link below for the recipe of Coconut Chutney.
Coconut Chutney (For Idlis and Dosas)
(26) Undis are best had while they are piping hot. Store the remaining ones in an air tight container or else they will harden and get dry with time.
(27) Whenever you want to eat the Undis later, you may reheat it in a microwave or steam again using the idli steamer.