Pani Walalu (Sri Lankan New Year Sweet)
Sinking your teeth into Pani Walalu is a textural delight as much as it is a flavourful sensation. Crispy and sweet on the outside, soft and slightly savoury on the inside, these fermented urad dal sweets are an unusual but extremely satisfying treat. They are traditionally prepared for Sri Lankan New Year, which is celebrated on the 13th and 14th of April.
Ingredients
Batter
- 200 g urad dal
- 50 g rice flour
- 50 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp coconut cream (40g)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 l vegetable oil for deep frying
Syrup
- 350 g jaggery
- 125 ml water
- 1/8 tsp salt
- a few drops of lemon juice
Instructions
- Soak the urad dal in at least 1l of water overnight.
- The next day, drain the dal and blend it into a smooth paste adding as little water as possible (75-125 ml). I use my Vitamix E310 for this.
- Pour the paste into a bowl and mix in the rice and plain flour with your hands. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave the paste to ferment in a warm place (for instance the oven with just the light switched on) for 8-24 hours until it has risen into a dome shape, smells tangy and looks aerated if you scrape the top layer.
- When the batter is ready, roughly chop the jaggery and add it to a separate pan along with the water, salt and lemon juice (the acidity of the lemon stops any of the sugar from crystallising). Heat it until the jaggery is completely melted, then keep warm over low heat. It shouldn't be boiling or the syrup will thicken too much, so it might be a matter of turning the heat off every now and then. Meanwhile, add the salt and baking soda to the batter along with 1-2 tbsp of the coconut cream until you have a thick, slow-pouring paste. It shouldn’t be runny.
- Pour enough of the oil into a frying pan to reach around 3-4 cm, then heat it to 190°C (if you don’t have a thermometer, place the end of a wooden spoon into the oil; bubbles should form around the wood if it’s hot enough).
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag. Alternatively, you can use any plastic bag you have and simply cut off a 1.25 cm corner. Then pipe a thick coil of the batter directly into the oil. It should first sink to the bottom and rise to the surface after a few seconds. If it gets stuck to the bottom of the pan, increase the temperature of the oil before continuing. Fry the Pani Walalu until golden brown (1-2 mins), carefully turn it over and fry until golden on the other side (1-2 mins). Transfer directly into the syrup and leave to soak for around 10 seconds, then remove onto a rack before you continue with the rest of the batter. If the pan is wide enough, you can fry more than one at a time, but make sure they don’t overlap. Serve warm.
Notes
Storage: Pani Walalu are best eaten fresh, as they will go stale within a few hours.