Roasted gram / Fried gram / Pottukadalai / Porikadalai / Udacha Kadalai is rich in proteins, low in calories and is good for bone health. We use a minimal amount of this in chutneys. Daily intake of fried grams help growing kids.. This healthy snack using jaggery adds iron content as well. Easy to make and tasty to munch on.. Click here to watch my 2 other soft laddoos video using fried gram/pottukadalai.
Roasted gram balls Recipe – Stepwise pics follow the below printable description:
- Roasted gram / Fried gram - 1 cup
- Jaggery - ½ cup tightly packed
- Water - ¼ cup
- Cardamom powder - ⅛ tsp
- Ghee - ½ tsp to grease
- Pick the outer thick brown skin, if any as it might be hard to bite and also might loosen the firm balls. Fry 1 cup Roasted gram in a dry pan in low flame for 2 to 3 mins or until hot to touch. Fry without changing the color. Once done, immediately transfer to a plate and let it cool down.
- Add ½ cup jaggery along with ¼ water to a pan and let the jaggery dissolve completely, in medium flame.
- Once jaggery dissolved without any bits, filter it to the same pan that we used to fry roasted grams. Switch on the flame after adding the filtered syrup.
- Add ⅛ tsp cardamom powder and let the syrup boil in low flame until thickened.
- Once thickened, pour few drops of jaggery syrup into a bowl of water. If it is easy to gather and able to roll it into a firm and hard ball, then drop it over a plate. If you hear a clear & loud "dong" sound, then the syrup consistency is right.
- Immeidately add the roasted gram to jaggery syrup and mix well until the syrup coats on all grams. Do this as quick as possible.
- Once coated, gather all the roasted gram to one side of the pan and pile up. This is to retain heat as scattered grams will cool down quickly. Grease your hand with ghee to handle heat. Pinch out equal portions using hand or a spoon.
- Palm is too sensitive to heat. Try to shape ball using fingers first. Then, finally use palms and fingers to tighten it hard.
- Make balls as quick as possible as you can make balls only when it is hot or warm. Air dry for 20 mins to harden. Then eat or store in air-tight container and enjoy for 2 weeks.
2.Do not add jaggery or jaggery syrup directly to hot pan as it might burn the jaggery. Switch on the stove after adding jaggery or syrup.
3.Cardamom powder can be replaced with Sukku/dry ginger powder.
4.Instead of ghee, you can dust your hand with dry rice flour as it helps in handling heat, better. But ghee greasing gives shiny balls.
5.Finally, there are chances for few roasted grams to stick to the pan if it is not warm. In such case, slightly heat the pan in sim. Jaggery melts and you can easily move the grams using spoon, gather them and shape into balls.
Preparation – How to make Pottukadalai urundai ?
1.Pick the outer thick brown skin, if any as it might be hard to bite and also might loosen the firm balls. Fry 1 cup Roasted gram in a dry pan in low flame for 2 to 3 mins or until hot to touch. Fry without changing the color. Once done, immediately transfer to a plate and let it cool down.
2.Add 1/2 cup jaggery along with 1/4 water to a pan and let the jaggery dissolve completely, in medium flame. 
3.Once jaggery dissolved without any bits, filter it to the same pan that we used to fry roasted grams. Switch on the flame after adding the filtered syrup.
4.Add 1/8 tsp cardamom powder and let the syrup boil in low flame until thickened. 
5.Once thickened, pour few drops of jaggery syrup into a bowl of water. If it is easy to gather and able to roll it into a firm and hard ball, then drop it over a plate. If you hear a clear & loud “dong” sound, then the syrup consistency is right.
6.Immeidately add the roasted gram to jaggery syrup and mix well until the syrup coats on all grams. Do this as quick as possible.
7.Once coated, gather all the roasted gram to one side of the pan and pile up. This is to retain heat as scattered grams will cool down quickly. Grease your hand with ghee to handle heat. Pinch out equal portions using hand or a spoon. 
8.Palm is too sensitive to heat. Try to shape ball using fingers first. Then, finally use palms and fingers to tighten it hard. 
Make balls as quick as possible as you can make balls only when it is hot or warm. Air dry for 20 mins to harden. Then eat or store in air-tight container and enjoy for 2 weeks. Do read the tips below for more clarity.
Tips/Tricks in making Roasted gram balls:
- Do not skip frying roasted grams as it ensures the crispiness of the balls. But do fry without any brown spots or color change.
- Do not add jaggery or jaggery syrup directly to hot pan as it might burn the jaggery. Switch on the stove after adding jaggery or syrup.
- Cardamom powder can be replaced with Sukku/dry ginger powder.
- Instead of ghee, you can dust your hand with dry rice flour as it helps in handling heat, better. But ghee greasing gives shiny balls.
- Finally, there are chances for few roasted grams to stick to the pan if it is not warm. In such case, slightly heat the pan in sim. Jaggery melts and you can easily move the grams using spoon, gather them and shape into balls.
- For more clear view, watch my video on making these Roasted gram balls by clicking here.
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