Moong Dal Puttu
Nothing fancy at all, just a few simple ingredients. Tastes heavenly and very healthy too! My mom learnt to make Moong Dal Puttu from my grandmother and I learnt it from my mom.
Puttu is a traditional South Indian dish. It is made both in sweet and savoury varieties. This recipe is for a sweet puttu variety made with yellow lentils (split and skinned green gram), jaggery and coconut, and flavoured with exotic cardamom.
When I was young my grandmother made dishes like puttu, poLi, fire roasted sweet potato, boiled sweet potato with jaggery syrup, sundal and many more simple yet healthy snacks. These kind of dishes are definitely nutritious and can be a great option for after school/work snack.
Go ahead and make this protein rich Moong Dal Puttu and satisfy your sweet tooth craving anytime of the day.
Ingredients
Yellow moong dal – 1 cup
Ghee (Neutral oil or vegan butter for a vegan version) – 2 tbsp
Cashew nuts – 20
Raisins – 2 tbsp
Fresh grated coconut – 1 cup
Jaggery (powdered) – 1 1/2 cups
Salt – a pinch
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Yield
Serves 4
Prep time
2 hrs to soak moong dal
Cook time
45 mins
Method
1) On low heat dry roast moong dal for 5 to 7 mins until fragrant. (Make sure the colour of moong dal doesn’t change). Transfer to a bowl and let it cool down a bit. Then wash twice and soak in water for 2 hours.
2) After 2 hours drain the water completely and grind the soaked moong dal in a mixer. Add just enough water to run the mixer. The consistency of the moong dal batter should be thick and grainy.
3) Now grease a shallow pan with a few drops of ghee/butter and transfer the moong dal batter into this. Place this batter in a steamer and steam until an inserted knife comes out clean. Remove from heat and let it come to room temperature.
4) Now make rough chunks of the steamed moong dal using a knife and carefully pulse the chunks in a mixer. Don’t run the mixer continuously. Pulse until you get a breadcrumb texture. Set aside.
5) Heat a pan and add the jaggery powder in it. Add enough water to cover the jaggery and stir continuously. Add salt and keep stirring until the jaggery dissolves fully. Now strain the jaggery water through a fine strainer to remove any impurities.
6) In a wide, thick bottomed pan heat 1 tbsp ghee. Add cashew nuts and fry until golden. Then add raisins and fry until they swell. Add grated coconut and fry all together for 2 to 3 mins. Remove the nuts, raisins and coconut in a plate and set aside.
7) In the same pan take the jaggery water. Boil jaggery water on medium heat until syrup comes to soft ball consistency (refer video). When syrup reaches soft ball consistency, simmer and add the crumbled moong dal, fried nuts, raisins and coconut mixture to the syrup and mix fully.
8) The puttu will resemble wet sand texture now. To this add a tbsp of ghee and cardamom powder. Mix well. Simmer for 2 to 3 mins, then remove from heat and set aside. Your tasty Moong Dal Puttu is ready. Wait until it comes to room temperature to store in an airtight container.
9) Refrigerate leftover puttu and use up to 3 to 4 days. Heat it up a bit before serving.
Notes
- I’ve used good quality jaggery powder for this recipe. You can replace jaggery with brown sugar or country sugar.
- Pulse the mixer when processing the steamed moong dal. Running the mixer continuously will make moong dal stick to the sides of the mixer and you will end up with big lumps of steamed dal.
- I’ve used cardamom powder to add a nice flavour to this dish. You can use nutmeg powder too, as an alternative. If you are familiar with edible camphor, then add a pinch of edible camphor along with cardamom powder to enhance the flavour of this puttu.
- I’ve used only cashew nuts and raisins, but you can use any variety of nuts to add crunch to Moong Dal Puttu.
