Cooks Joy

Festival season starts this month and I almost missed Krishna Jayanthi (Gokulashtami). Only yesterday I realized that it was round the corner and decided to make the vella seedai for the same. The savory version (uppu seedai) has already been posted here. I did not know that a sweet version existed because my mom has never made it, but my MIL makes it every year. Of course we have not visited India during festival season and I have not seen her make it. I followed the cookbook by Mrs. Vedavalli Venkatachari that K brought with him when he first came to US.

Without knowing how the seedai should taste or look, it was hard the first time and I was worried that there were tons of cracks on them. Later, I heard from K that those were normal and that the seedais tasted the way it should. All this happened last year during my first attempt and my second attempt this year went like a breeze . The consoling part for me was that these seedai’s do not burst as much as the savory ones. But, still take care that there are no impurities since we never know. Off to the recipe.

Vella Seedai (Jaggery Seedai)

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By Vardhini Published: August 5, 2012

Yield: 30 seedais
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Ready In: 40 mins

Deep fried Indian snack made during Krishna Jayanthi.

Ingredients

1 cup rice flour
2 tsp urad flour
3/4 cup jaggery (soaked in 1/2 cup hot water)
1/4 tsp sesame seeds (Ellu)
1 tbsp coconut
Oil (to deep fry)

Instructions

Dry roast rice flour and urad flour and sieve well.
In a little ghee fry coconut and keep aside. Next fry sesame seeds in the same pan. Add the coconut and sesame seeds to the flour.
Add hot water to the jaggery and stir until the jaggery dissolves well. Strain to remove impurities. Add this jaggery water to the flour little by little and make a stiff dough.
Make small balls of the dough and deep fry until they turn a light brown.

Cuisine: Indian
Course: Snack
Skill Level: Moderate

My Notes

Store bought rice flour and urad flour can also be used. I have used store bought rice flour for this recipe.
Roast the flour to remove moisture and to avoid bursting of the seedais.
Cracks on the seedai are normal.
Cardamom powder can also be added.
Keep the heat at a medium level to allow the balls to cook all the way through.
Vella seedais are slightly bigger than the uppu seedai.

Pictorial

Take rice flour and urad flour in a vessel and dry roast.