Ulundu Kali

Tirunelveli pudding of roasted whole black gram and rice ground and stirred with palm jaggery and gingelly oil until it gathers into a glossy dark ball

Origin: Tirunelveli & the Tamil Country, India

From the journey of Black Gram.

Ulundu kali is a thick, dark, glossy pudding from the south of Tamil Nadu, made from whole black gram with its skin on, karuppu ulundu, roasted and ground with a little rice, then cooked with palm jaggery, karupatti, and a generous quantity of gingelly oil until the mass comes cleanly away from the pan. It is shaped into balls while warm. Ulundu is the Tamil name for black gram, and kali means any food stirred to a thick, set consistency. It is a food for particular moments in a woman's life. In Tirunelveli, Madurai, and Thanjavur households it was traditionally made for a girl at her first puberty ceremony, manjal neerattu vizha, and for women during pregnancy and after childbirth, in the belief that it strengthened the back, the hips, and the womb. The belief is a matter of tradition rather than of demonstrated medicine, but the food itself is rich, sustaining, and made with care, which is what the tradition is really expressing. The skin of the black gram gives the pudding its dark colour and much of its flavour, and the palm jaggery and gingelly oil are what make it Tamil. It is not sweet in the way of a confection: it tastes of roasted pulse, smoke-dark jaggery, and sesame.

Ingredients

Flour

  • 120 g whole black urad (karuppu ulundu), skin on
  • 2 tbsp raw rice

Syrup

  • 200 g palm jaggery (karupatti), grated
  • 400 ml water

Cooking

  • 100 ml gingelly (untoasted sesame) oil
  • 1 tbsp ghee
  • 0.5 tsp ground cardamom

Method

  1. Dry-roast the black urad and rice in a heavy pan over a low heat, stirring, for eight to ten minutes, until the urad smells nutty and the rice turns pale gold. Cool, then grind to a fine flour and sift.
  2. Dissolve the palm jaggery in the water over a low heat, then strain it to remove any grit.
  3. Put the flour in a heavy-based pan, pour in the strained jaggery water a little at a time, and whisk until completely smooth before it goes on the heat.
  4. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, adding the gingelly oil a tablespoon at a time as the mixture thickens.
  5. Keep stirring for 20 to 25 minutes, until the mixture turns glossy, leaves the sides of the pan, and a little rolled between wet fingers no longer sticks.
  6. Stir in the ghee and cardamom, cool slightly, and shape into balls with oiled hands. Serve warm.

Notes

Karupatti, palmyra palm jaggery, is sold in Tamil and South Indian grocers. Dark cane jaggery works but gives a different, sweeter flavour. Use gingelly oil, the untoasted cold-pressed sesame oil of South India, not the toasted sesame oil of Chinese cooking, which would overwhelm it. Ulundu kali keeps for two days at room temperature and is traditionally eaten warm.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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