This Kadalai urundai is also made during the Karthigai Deepam festival as a part of neivedhiyam. Gearing up for the Karthigai deepam festival, I started preparing Pori Urundai along with this verkadalai urundai this year. Kadalai urundai is one of my husband’s favorite sweets. These are found in a couple of different forms. They are available in chikki (bar) form and in the ball form. The key to making this verkadalai urundai is getting the jaggery syrup in the right consistency. Peanuts or groundnuts as they call them in India are poor man’s Almonds. These are found in abundance in India and are very common in street-side stores. I remember those days when I used to take change (a few coins) from my mother and used to go to the nearby store to buy a couple of kadalai urundai. The crunchy kadalai mittai would satisfy my sweet tooth all the way back home. I am so glad to see my kids love Kadalai Urundai and I couldn’t be more happy to be able to make these for them.
Why make this kadalai urundai?
In between all the sophisticated dessert options available these days, we miss out on the flavor of simplicity. This peanut jaggery ball is the perfect example of that. Made with just peanuts and jaggery, the flavor these urundais bring out is amazing. Among all the energy bites and bars, this Kadalai Urundai is the best for that purpose. It is a great after-workout snack. They are easier to carry and also way cheaper than commercial bars. Kadalai urundai is made with easily available ingredients. Just peanuts and jaggery. They both can be found in the Indian stores or online. These are kids and adult-approved. In fact it was one of my favorite snacks as a kid. These can be made vegan by skipping the little ghee we use to grease our palm to shape. We could use coconut oil instead to shape the kadalai urundai.
Different kinds of Brittles
This traditional Kadalai mittai is made with jaggery and roasted peanuts. I would say this is the basic of all the recipes that I have made of this kind and is the hardest to make. I have made the Lonawala Chikki, which is a mixed nut brittle that is shaped like a bark or bar. Apart from this one of my other favorites is the Old fashioned peanut brittle made with white sugar instead of jaggery. This has a very porous and different bite to it when compared to the brittle made with jaggery. When talking about different brittle recipes, check out the Chinese peanut sesame and ginger brittle.
Ingredients needed
Peanuts - I like to use peanuts that are smaller in size. I buy peanuts from the local bulk market like Sprouts and I buy the Spanish peanuts as they are smaller in size. We can also buy peanuts from the Indian stores. Sometimes, I also end up buying unsalted roasted peanuts and that makes it even easier to make the kadalai urundai. Jaggery - I buy the jaggery from the Indian stores. It is important to get a good quality of jaggery as they make better syrup. These days I buy the jaggery that comes in a red bucket. They are amazing at making brittles. Water - Just a small amount to melt the jaggery and make syrup Ghee - Just a little to grease our palms when shaping the kadalai mittai. We could use coconut oil instead to make it vegan. Candy thermometer - I own one but don’t really use it unless I am making something new. If you have one and/ or a beginner, then use it.
Step-by-step process
If using unsalted roasted peanuts, just remove the skin and keep it aside.
If using raw peanuts, we need to roast them. We can roast them on the stove top, in the oven, or in the air fryer.
Roasting peanuts in oven - Preheat the oven to 350 F and place the tray of peanuts in the oven. Bake them for about 15 – 20 mins, rotating the tray twice or thrice in between. Remove the peanuts after about 15 minutes and leave them out until it cools down to room temperature.
Roasting the peanuts in the air fryer - Preheat the air fryer to 325 F for a couple of minutes. Place the raw peanuts in the air fryer basket and roast it for 5 to 7 minutes. Shake the basket well every couple of minutes for even roasting. Once roasted remove it and let it cool to room temperature.
Roasting the peanuts on the stove top - This is one of my least favorite ways to roast the peanuts. They roast very unevenly when roasted on the stove top. If you are roasting on stovetop, make sure to keep shaking the pan for even roasting. Roast on low flame so the peanuts don’t burn.
Once the peanuts are roasted and cooled down, rub the peanuts in between your palms and remove the skin. We could also place the peanuts between a layer of kitchen towel and rub it well to remove the skin.
Blow the skin away and keep the skinned peanuts in a bowl. If preferred you could also crush the peanuts slightly to break it into halves.
To make the jaggery syrup
Heat jaggery and water and let the jaggery melt. Strain it to remove the impurities and then heat it again. I usually don’t strain my jaggery as I hardly find any impurities in this.
We need to allow the jaggery to come to hard ball/candy stage. This is the trickiest part of the recipe. If you have a candy thermometer, go ahead and use it to determine the candy stage of the syrup.
If not keep a shallow plate filled with cold water. Add a drop of syrup to the water and then slowly try to make a ball out of it. If it forms a ball without disintegrating, then the syrup is ready. The ball when dropped on a plate should make a noise.
Pour this syrup on the roasted peanuts or add the peanuts into the syrup and mix it using a wooden spoon. Let it cool slightly.
Grease your palm with a little ghee and then start making round balls. Make sure you start rolling it out when the whole thing is still hot otherwise, the peanuts will become hard and it will be unable to roll them.
If the syrup crystallizes before making balls, then slightly heat the tray/plate. This will start dissolving the syrup and then make balls out of the remaining.
Cool the kadalai urundai in a single layer (to prevent sticking with each other) and then store it in an airtight container.
Expert Tips
Use roasted and skinless peanuts to make verkadalai mittai. I also like to use peanuts halves instead of whole peanuts as they are easier to eat. Make sure to use good quality and fresh peanuts. Old peanuts have a stale flavor. Getting the jaggery syrup to the right consistency takes a little bit of practice. There are many many times that I have made mistakes and still make mistakes. My most common mistake is taking the syrup off too soon and that causes the kadalai urundai to be slightly soft and chewy. Work with the peanut jaggery mixture quickly. They become very hard to roll once cooled. Keep mixing the peanut in the jaggery syrup until cool to handle. This ensures even coating of the jaggery syrup. Otherwise, the jaggery syrup tends to settle in the bottom.
Frequently asked questions
More candied nut recipes
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | twitter
Recipe Card
Recipe
