Vella Seedai / Sweet Seedai recipe with jaggery ( updated with video and step by step photo) is a must and should neivedyam recipe for Gokulashtami in Tamil nadu houses. I never knew about vella seedai till my marriage and now this has become my favourite. Every year I follow my MIL’s traditional and authentic recipe for vella cheedai and uppu cheedai using homemade rice flour. It comes out very well without bursting.
Please refer the “Note” section for tips to avoid bursting. Usually we make the size of this sweet seedai bigger than uppu seedai. We also make 2 “Seepaankuzhal “ (small rod shaped) in each variety which is specially meant for baby Krishna. I give this to my daughter every year. Every year I make seedai with homemade processed rice flour . This year , for a change I tried with store bought rice flour which I use for making idiyappam. I followed same recipe for both and I didn’t find any big difference in taste and color. Deep frying part is important to get a nice color and uniform browning. I have given in detail under “Method”. But cracks are unavoidable.
First picture is with home made rice flour and the second one with store bought rice flour . I have made a full video on how to make vella cheedai just for beginners. Please watch it before you start doing. Hope you find it useful 🙂
Do check out my traditional uppu seedai recipe too !
If you want to make seedai using store bought rice flour, please check THIS POST !
Vella seedai recipe / Sweet seedai with jaggery
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Vella seedai recipe / Sweet seedai with jaggery for Gokulashtami / Krishna jayanthi festival
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Sweet
Serves: 30
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 30 Minutes
1 cup – 250ml
- Processed rice flour OR Store bought rice flour – 1 cup
- Roasted urad dal flour – 2 tsp
- Soft butter at room temperature – 1/2 tbsp (optional)
- Grated jaggery –1/2 cup
- Grated coconut – 1 tbsp
- Sesame seeds – 1 tsp
- Salt – a pinch
- Cardamom – 2
- Water – just to cover jaggery ( around 3-4 tbsp)
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HOW TO MAKE VELLA SEEDAI
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Dry roast the processed rice flour for few minutes. Cool down and add urad dal flour. Sieve twice to avoid bursting.
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Add cardamom powder, sesame seeds, powdered coconut and soft butter. Mix well.
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Boil and melt jaggery adding little water. Strain the syrup. Add to rice flour gradually.
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Make thick dough. Make small balls roughly. Dry in a cloth for 10 minutes.
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Heat oil to deep fry in batches. Drop 5 seedai and cook in low to medium flame till golden in color.
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Seedai turns crispy after it cools down. Store in a box and enjoy!
HOW TO MAKE VELLA SEEDAI – STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Click this LINK for processed rice flour
- In a pan dry roast the flour till vapor comes out lightly. Do it in low to medium flame. Do not over roast the flour. Sieve and set aside.
- In a bowl , take 1 cup of roasted rice flour and 2 tsp of urad dal flour. Sieve them once or twice. (This step is very important to avoid bursting) . Grind the grated coconut finely to a coarse powder.
- In a pan take the grated jaggery & add little water to cover it. Heat & melt it to make a thin syrup. No need to boil it. Remove & filter the syrup to discard the impurities.
- Strain & add this syrup to the flour , cardamom powder, sesame seeds & grated coconut, softened butter. Mix well to make a dough. Make sure the dough should be not be sticky. It should not have cracks. It should be thick. Add syrup accordingly. Sometimes syrup itself would be sufficient to make the dough OR you may have to add little extra water to make the dough.
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- Make small balls out of the dough. Prick the balls with a needle or toothpick to avoid bursting. This is for additional safety. Allow the balls to dry in a cotton cloth or paper for 15-20 mins before frying.
- Before deep frying check the heat of oil by dropping a pinch of dough. If it rises immediately, oil temperature is just right. Lower the flame to low & drop the seedai 4 to 5 at a time.
- After you drop the seedai , do not disturb it for few seconds.( stand 2 feet away from the kadai for safety, luckily it didn’t burst for me so far). If you start to stir immediately, seedai may break and dissolve in oil. After few seconds, turn it once to prevent sticking. (For beginners, try to fry one or two seedai with little oil in a mini tadka kadai to check if it disperse or burst. Then you make in large batches.)
- Always deep fry in low to medium flame to get a nice color. Keeping the flame high turns the seedai black & inside portion will not be cooked properly. U don’t have to wait till all the bubbles cease. Once the seedai turns golden brown, remove & drain in a tissue paper. Cracks are normal in vella seedai. Don’t worry.
- Initially sweet seedai tends to be soft, but it hardens & becomes crispy when it cools down.
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Crunchy Sweet seedai is ready !
NOTE
- First important thing to avoid bursting is to “SIEVE” the flour once or twice. U should sieve all the flour ( urad dal flour , rice flour & gram flour if u use). Sieving the flour properly reduces 90% of bursting..
- U must roast the flour slightly for few minutes in low flame if you are using homemade rice flour.
- Secondly u should not roll the seedai very tightly. U should roll it to a loose ball using three fingers.No problem if its not a proper round.
- One more tip is to prick the seedai with a small needle or toothpick to avoid bursting. Dry the seedai in a paper or towel for 20 mins before frying..
- Beginners can try deep frying few seedai in “small tempering kadai” . If it comes out well, proceed in a big kadai. Color variations may be there slightly. But you can check whether it bursts or disperses in oil.
- If sweet seedai breaks or dissolves in oil, it means jaggery may be more or oil temperature is too high or too low.
- If Seedai bubbles too much after you drop into oil, it shows the fat ( ghee or butter or oil) content is more. So add more rice flour to the dough & make again.
- The color of seedai depends on the color of urad dal flour. If you roast the dal to golden brown, seedai will also turn brown.
- Uniform heating is also important. In my observation, I feel low to medium flame is enough to get a nice color and crispy seedai.
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