Pala Munjalu

Pala Munjalu

Ingredients

Rice flour - 2 cups (if store bought)
Milk - 1 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - for greasing while preparing the balls
Oil for deep frying

For filling:

Chana dal - 1
Sugar - 1 cup OR Jaggery - 1 cup, grated
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - pinch

Method

1. Boil the milk. Add salt and sugar and allow the sugar to dissolve. Now slowly add the rice flour and keep mixing till it forms a lump. Mix thoroughly and turn off flame. Place and lid and keep aside.
2. Pressure bengal gram with a cup of water upto 3 whistles. Once the pressure eases, remove the dal, strain any left over water and transfer the chana dal to a heavy bottomed vessel.
3. Heat the vessel which has the cooked chana dal, add sugar or jaggery and mix. The sugar will dissolve, keep mixing till the liquid evaporates and it appears like a thick paste. Use a masher to mash the mixture. Keep mixing continuously as the dal tends to stick to the vessel. Add cardamom powder and salt and mix well. Turn off flame and allow to cool.
4. Shape the sweetened dal mixture into small bite sized balls like shown in the picture above.
5. Pinch off lemon sized balls off the rice flour dough. Grease your palm with ghee and flatten the dough. Place the dal filling/poornalu in the middle fo the flattened rice flour dough and enclose on all sides and shape into a round ball. Prepare balls with rest of the dough and dal filling.
6. Heat enough oil in a wide heavy bottomed vessel for deep frying the balls. Once hot, reduce flame to medium and gently place 4 to 5 balls in the oil and deep fry till golden brown and crunchy. You can deep fry a batch of four to five balls depending on the size of the vessel.
7. They taste best while still warm. Once cool, store in an air tight container as they last for two to three days.