Sri Lankan Unduwel (Panni Walalu) Recipe

 Sri Lankan Unduwel (Panni Walalu) Recipe 

A sweetmeat used at celebratory Events and special occasions, Uduwel or more popularly known as Pani Walalu is a sugary delight. Made out of white lentils, Rice Flour, Treacle or Suger , its all about the sweetness and the juicy bite that you first taste that makes Uduwel a famous treat in Sri Lanka.

OK.. NOW LET'S GO MAKE UNDUWEL  🏃

Ingredients:

• 1 cup urid dhal
• 1 cup fine rice flour
• 1 bottle (don’t worry you won’t use all of it) kithul treacle
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• oil for deep frying
  
  

Preparation:

• Rinse and soak the dhal overnight in plenty of water.
  
  
• In the morning place the drained dhal into a blender or food processor and add just enough water to make it into a smooth paste. We made sure to add the water a little at a time, the object being to make the mixture as thick as possible.
  
  
• When blended add the 1 cup of fine rice flour, mix and leave in a warm spot to rise for at least 6 hours.You want this mixture to have the consistency of a thick cake or muffin batter. It should hold it’s shape when you spoon it. If it’s coolish, winter weather I will put the oven on a warm setting, cover the dough with a damp cloth and place in there for a short while.
  
  
• After six hours, heat a frying pan with about 2 inches of oil. In a separate pan warm a cup of kithul treacle, the sugar and salt. You can replace the brown sugar with palm sugar if you have it. Once the sugars have melted turn the heat off. For the purposes of absorption this mixture must be hot but never boiling. I watch the syrup and gently turn the heat on when it’s getting too thick. If it’s too thick the unduwel won’t absorb the sweet syrup.
  
  
• Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1/2 cm (about 1/4 inch) nozzle. Pipe the mixture into the hot oil, forming a snail like shape.  I find it’s easiest to go from the outside in. To be honest the shape doesn’t matter so much. I like to keep them about 5-7 cm (2-3 inches) across . My mother tells me my great-grandmother (who taught Yaso) would always make perfect concentric circles, not so for her or I. Perhaps we didn’t inherit that gene.
  
  
• When it is brown and crispy you pick it up and place it into the hot treacle mixture. The best tool for doing this is a skewer or chopstick. You can thread the unduwel on with out damaging them and they’re perfect for holding over a pan to let the excess syrup drip off.
  
  
• You can see the hot treacle seeping in. Once it has been sitting there for a couple of minutes move it out of the treacle and onto a plate.
  Keeps for a few days in an airtight container  but best eaten hot, fresh and crispy.