Tuesday, November 20, 2012

(Amma Cooks) Munthiri Kothu / Roasted Green gram balls ~ Diwali Sweet Recipes

Munthiri kothu is a festive sweet that finds its roots in the kitchens of Kanyakumari district. Back home, any festival or grand occasion is not complete without this authentic sweet. Why this name, I am not sure. I know that kothu means group and this is made in groups of three but munthiri (which means cashews) I just can't understand why that was put in there. BTW, no cashews are added. Anyone who knows why do tell me.
My association with this sweet is right from my childhood, right from days as old as my memories can take me. Amma makes this sweet for every Diwali and I still remember the Saturdays and Sundays when me and bhaiyya used to roll the green gram balls that makes the stuffing. The soft and sweet stuffing and the contradictory hard shell is a pleasure to much on. Whenever I go to my mom's native my ammamma (grandma) makes it a point that we return back laden with these sweets. Having a bite of this sweet brings back good old memories and is love in every bite for me.
P.S. This sweet even has a wikipedia page on its own. Check what they tell here.

Traditional recipes should never die and we need to keep the ball rolling and so I jot down all the recipes from amma. Some day down the lane, I might try this and my kid might get a chance to taste them. And so here is one...

~*What U Need*~
Green gram - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Water - 2-3 tbsp
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Ground ginger - 1/8 tsp
Cardamom - 2

Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Salt - a pinch
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Water - 1/4 cup (or to bring to idli batter consistency)

Oil

How I Made it:
Wash and dry the whole moong dhal. Heat ghee in a wide pan and roast the dhal till you get a nice aroma and it turns brown in color. Remove and cool. Grind to a coarse powder and set aside. In a sauce pan, heat jaggery with 2 tbsps of water until jaggery melts. Remove from the fire and strain to remove the impurities and set aside. Dry roast the coconut till golden brown. Return the jaggery syrup to the heat and reduce for another 3 mins. Add coconut and powdered green gram and mix well. Remove from heat. When the mixture is cool enough to touch, make lemon-sized balls and set aside. Now place this in a paper with enough space in between the balls, keep under the fan and dry for 1 day. This procedure gives long shelf life. When you are ready to fry them, mix rice flour with salt, turmeric powder, salt and water till you get an idli batter consistency. Heat oil in a deep pan and when hot enough, dip each ball into the batter and fry in the oil. This is usually done in group of threes and hence the name kothu (..means groups). Once evely fried, remove and drain in a tissue paper. Store in air tight containers.

Serve with tea!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

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42 comments:

  1. I have read about this in Ramani Chandran stories, but never tasted it! :)

    Looks good...thanks for sharing the traditional recipe!

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  2. How wonderful that you're keeping family recipes alive!!! What a yummy sweet!

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  3. We love this delicious and yummy snack..

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  4. yumm.. We use chana dal instead of moong dal.. I love them.

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  5. I have never made this on my own but have tasted in my in laws place...

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  6. same i have never tasted and tried this before... looks so cute...

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  7. this is my grandma's speciality...... crispy coating and yummy sweet filling...looks so
    delicious....

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  8. Delicious munthri kothu, my favorite.

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  9. I haven't come across this one before. Nice filling.

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  10. Very innovative...looks awesome!

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  11. Looks very yum Vimitha....Like you said traditional recipes should not be lost

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  12. Love your quest to preserve traditional recipes!!! looks so yum!!

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  13. Nice snack! I'd love to gobble them up!

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  14. we prepare it little different.. delicious snack :)

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  15. wow inviting recipe dear,wanna taste them...

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  16. Our neighbour aunty makes this one. Very nicely done and love to taste this now

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  17. you are right, we have to stick to our original recipes and roots. love laddos.
    http://realhomecookedfood.blogspot.com

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  18. 10 years ago, My landlord made it for diwali and shared it with us. It was so good. Love the name :-)

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  19. We make this for xmas ,We make it with palm jaggery(karupati).I love it.

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  20. Someday your child (children!) may want to make this treat and pass it on to his/her children. A family of memories. Lovely post, Vimitha.

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  21. Munthiri kothu is one of my grandma's signature dish too,we never celebrated any festival with these cuties at grandma's place.Makes me nostalgic.

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  22. One of my favorite,seems it long since I had these,tempting

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  23. uuuh my... u know how i miss this.. going to make it this weekend..reminds me of my grandmother.

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  24. Such a traditional and delicious recipe.. thanks for sharing!

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  25. wonderful recipe hv heard abt it but not tasted.. it.. shd try..

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  26. i completely agree with you...traditional recipes should never die and continue to be forwarded to future generations!
    i haven't had these before but they sure look delicious :)

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  27. Nice recipe, we make sukiyans for Diwali, sort of similar to this I guess..

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  28. vimi i love this...my ammachi used to make this wen we came home on holidays

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  30. My mother used to make this often. We call it Payitham Panniyaram. We, in Jaffna call grapes as Munthirikai or Thiradchai. We call Cashew in Tamil as Mara Munthirikai. I wonder whether Munthiri Kothu came from this. Which means a Bunch of grapes in Jaffna Tamil.

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  31. thankyou for the recipe.. will try!!

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