These lentil stuffed dumplings are a festive treat and made to offer the deities during Ganesh Chaturthi, Varalakshmi puja and Navratri.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 11 · 11 poornam kudumulu
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: Andhra, Indian

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup rice flour ((very fine flour))
  • ¾ cup water ((little more or less, depends on the quality of rice flour))
  • 1 teaspoon ghee
  • ½ cup channa dal
  • 1 cup water ((more if required))
  • ¾ cup jaggery (grated)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons raw coconut (grated (optional))

Method

Make poornam

  1. Add jaggery to a pan with 1½ to 2 tbsp water. Heat it on a low flame until completely dissolved. Strain this to a bowl and keep aside. This step can be omitted if your jaggery is clean.
  2. Cook chana dal with water until fully cooked and not mushy. To test mash a few lentils in between your fingers, they should get mashed easily. Cool down and grind to a coarse mixture or simply mash it.
  3. Add back the dal, jaggery and coconut to the same pot and cook until thick and becomes a mass. Stir in the cardamom and cool down. Divide to 6 to 7 portions and roll to balls. They should be dry and not sticky.

Make outer covering

  1. Pour water to a pot and add ghee and salt. When the water comes to a rolling boil, turn off and add the flour. Mix well with a spatula and cover it. It is dry and crumbly at this stage.
  2. Let cool down a bit and grease your fingers. Knead to a smooth dough. Divide to 6 to 7 portions and shape to balls.

Shape poornam kudumulu

  1. Make a dent in the center of the ball. Dip your fingers in water and spread the dough to make a flat puri. Flatten them to as much as the size of your palm.
  2. Place a poornam ball and bring the edges together gently. Shape them off to a round ball. Do not squeeze or apply pressure on the ball, they may break.
  3. Pour water to a steamer or pressure cooker, bring it to a boil.
  4. When the water begins to boil, place these balls in a wide greased basket and keep it in the steamer or cooker. Close the lid and steam on high for 8 minutes if steaming in a smaller cooker and for 10 minutes if steaming in a larger cooker. Steaming them for longer can make the outer covering harder.
  5. Cool poornam kudumulu and offer to Ganesha.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.