NEER URUNDAI | UPPU URUNDAI | STEAMED RICE BALLS

Neer urundai aka uppu urundai is my Mil’s traditional breakfast/dinner recipes. Its a Thanjavur special recipe. We usually prepare this neer urundai whenever Sendhil needs easy to digest dinner recipes. U can easily prepare neer urundai by reserving some rice batter while you make idli,dosa batter. You can either make sweet neer urundai or savory ones by adding pepper and cumin seeds powder like the one I did here. I have used idli rice / boiled rice in this recipe. You can also use ration rice. It comes out well. 

In this recipe, we cook rice balls in water and we drink that water / kanji adding jaggery or salt. My mil says this kanji/porridge is very good for stomach. Its procedure is very similar to ammini kozhukattai but no need to roll it very small. Over to the recipe,

Neer urundai/Steamed rice balls

Neer urundai/Steamed rice balls Neer urundai – Our traditional dinner recipe. Tastes yummy and easy to digest too.

Cuisine: Indian
Category: Dinner recipes
Serves: 4
Prep time: 2 hrs
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

To soak and grind

  • Boiled rice/Idli rice –1.5 cups
  • Salt – as needed

To add in the batter

  • Grated coconut – 1/2 cup

To make kanji

  • Grated jaggery or salt – as needed to taste

FOR PEPPER BALLS

  • Pepper corns- 1.5 tsp
  • Jeera/Cumin – 1 tsp
HOW TO MAKE NEER URUNDAI – METHOD
  • Wash and soak the rice for 2 hours. Grind it to a smooth,thick batter. Do not add more water while grinding. After removing the batter , add grated coconut and mix well. neer urundai step by step
  • Make balls of small gooseberry size. Spread them in the newspaper or cotton cloth / veshti for 10 minutes. Excess water gets absorbed by the paper.
  • Now boil 3-4 cups of water. When the water comes to roll boil, add the balls altogether. Balls will get separated after they cook.
  • neer urundai step by step 1
  • Let it cook for 5-8 minutes. Do not cover the pan. To test whether the balls are cooked, take one ball with a slotted ladle and drop it in a plate. It will not stick to the plate instead it bounces. If the balls are not cooked, it will sit in the plate instead of bouncing.
  • neer urundai step by step 2
  • Remove all the balls and set aside. Coarsely powder the pepper and jeera.
  • For tempering, heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan and add the powdered pepper, jeera seeds. Saute for a minute. 
  • Add the balls to the pan. Mix well till all the balls are coated. Remove and serve hot immediately. neer urundai step by step 3
  • To make kanji – Add either jaggery or salt to the water in which the balls were cooked. It would be slightly thicker and white in color. Add the required jaggery and boil for sometime. Add cardamom powder for sweet kanji. For salt kanji, add salt and buttermilk if needed. Drink immediately.
    NOTE
  • If you feel, you have used excess water for grinding, cook the batter in a hot kadai and mix till all the excess water is absorbed and it turns like a thick dough OR roll the batter in a thick cotton towel, it will absorb excess water. Cooking the batter in a kadai helps to absorb water quickly and balls will also be much softer. This step is completely optional. We use it only for troubleshooting.
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    25 thoughts on “NEER URUNDAI | UPPU URUNDAI | STEAMED RICE BALLS”

    10. Priya

      Its called neera urundai because u boil in water just curious ..Def adding pepper ,jeera will give a diff taste to urundai …Worth trying ……

      Reply
    15. Rajani

      These used to be made by my grandmother long ago, and I had forgotten about them until now…The kanji is very healthy and those pepper balls look so cute.

      Reply
    16. Gita Jaishankar

      This is my favorite evening snack. Our preparation is a little bit different from yours. Your pictures are so good, very tempting uppu urundais 🙂

      Reply
    17. Kaveri Venkatesh

      I remember my mom making these kozhukattais…but I haven't tried making them myself…feel like having some

      Reply
    18. Sangeetha M

      One of my fav, its been long time since i made this healthy n yummy urundai 🙂 neat pictorials n you have explained it very well…well done chitra 🙂

      Reply
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