Kudumulu ~ Chikkudu Kudumulu ~ Steamed Rice & Broad Bean Cakes

Kudumulu are steamed cakes or balls made with rice flour with/without rice rava (cream of rice). More known and popular kudumulu are sweet kudumulu prepared for Vinayaka Chavithi as an offering to Lord Ganesh / Vinayakudu. Today I have a different kind of kudumulu that are savory, not prepared as offering to any Lord but to us, mortals. These are savory steamed cakes prepared with rice flour, rice rava and fresh beans. Broad beans (chikkudukaya) or hyacinth beans (anapakaya ~ avarekalu) are used for this preparation. These are a common preparation during winters when markets are flood with fresh beans. Preparation for chikkudukaya kudumulu and anapakaya kudumulu is similar, the only difference is, in anapa kudumulu only seeds are used and in chikkudukaya kudumulu whole chikkudukaya is used. We get two varieties of chikkudukaya, the long green variety also know as oori (village) chikkudukaya which is long, with a thick skin and big seeds. The other variety is small with smaller seeds. The one preferred for kudumulu is the long variety with seeds. Since the chikkudukaya we get here is not fully seeded, I added some chikkudu ginjalu (valor lilva).

Apart from fresh beans, key to good kudumulu are plenty of greens; kothimeera aaku (coriander leaves), ulli aaku (green onions) and pachi mirapakaya (green chilies). Chikkudukaya or anapa ginjalu are cooked until tender, seasoned with crushed green chilies and lots of herbs, and bind with rice flour. Then the mixture is shaped into cakes and steamed. A good condiment/dip for kudumulu is oil. If kudumulu are not spicy enough, then it is oil and crushed green chilies. Green chilies can also be sautéed in oil to mellow the heat. My kudumulu were spicy hot and used only oil.

I made kudumulu with chikkudukaya, the long round ones and since the chikkudukaya we get here does not have many seeds in it, I used frozen valor lilva ~ chikkudu ginjalu. If making with anapa ginjalu, use more ginjalu and more greens to compensate the whole chikkudukaya. In the US, use surti papdi lilva for anapakaya, which is available is the freezer section of almost all Indian grocery stores. This is the first recipe I cooked for this BM and this is my first attempted making kudumulu.

Growing up, I was not a big fan of kudumulu and preferred anapa gudaalu over kudumulu. Over the years, I have started liking these and enjoy these savory steamed cakes during my visits to India in winters. I never attempted making these here as there are no takers for it. Thanks to this BM, I made these couple of months ago enjoyed it a lot. These can be served for breakfast, as an evening snack and also for dinner, if one is not in a to eat rice / roti and curry.

Vegetables, Fruits & other Ingredients:
Kandagadda - Sweet potato (in Telangana it is called sweet potato and not yam)
Kakarakaya - Karela (Hindi) ~ Bitter Gourd
Kandikaya - Toovar lilva (Hindi) ~ Pigeon peas
Karivepaku - Curry Leaves
Kothimeera - Cilantro ~ Coriander Leaves
Kobbarikaya - Coconut
Kandi Pappu - Toor dal ~ Arhar dal (hindi)
Karam Podi or Karapodi - Chili Powder
Kodi - Chicken
Kodi Guddu - Eggs or Chicken Eggs
Dishes:
Kakarakaya koora, kakarakaya pulusu, kanda gadda pulusu, kandi ginjala gudaalu, kobbari pachadi, kobbari ellipaya karam, kobbari laddu, karappoosa, kodi fry (koora), kodi shorva, kodi pachadi (pickle), kodi upma, kodi guddu koora, kodi guddu pulusu, kodi guddu pachadi (pickle)

Yields: 12 - 15 depending on size

Ingredients:

1 cup Chikkudu Ginjalu ~ Valor Lilva
10 Chikkudukaya ~ Valor ~ Broad Beans, ends trimmed and torn into 1 ½” pieces, about 1 cup
15 small Pachi Mirapakayalu ~ Green Chillies (very hot. 10-12 should do)
1 ¼ tsp. Salt
3 Ulli Aaku ~ Green Onion ~ Scallions, chopped (⅔ cups)
½ cup firmly packed chopped Kothimeera ~ Kothmir ~ Cilantro
¾ cup Biyyam Pindi ~ Rice Flour
¼ cup Biyyam Rava ~ Cream of Rice (I ground rice in a spice grinder)

Preparation:

Wash and trim the edges of of broad beans. Cut the beans into 1 ½ “ pieces.
Take some water in a pan, add frozen valor lilva and cook for few minutes until valor lilva is thawed. Change water.
Take valor lilva, chikkudukaya and about ¾ cup of water in a saucepan, cover and cook until chikkudukaya is almost tender.
Remove the cover and cook until water evaporates.
Meantime grind green chilies to coarse or fine paste. Do not add water when making the paste. Chop kothimir and green onions and keep aside.
When chikkudukaya is tender and water evaporated, add ground green chilies paste, chopped kothimeera, ulli aaku and give a good stir.
Add rice flour, cream of rice and stir. The mixture should be crumbly.

Cover and keep aside for about 10 minutes or until the mixtures cools and can be handled with hand.
Take some mixture in hand, make a lemon sized ball, flatten to shape it into a thick cake, press it on top with thumb to make a thumb impression that looks like a hollow well and place it in an idli mould or steamer plate. The thumb impression is to make the top a little hallo and well like to pour oil in it when eating.
Repeat above steps to make kudumulu with rest of the rice mixture.
Take water in a pressure cooker or steamer and bring to boil. I think I used about 1 cup of water but am not sure. Make sure there is enough water to steam the kudumulu for 20 minutes.
Place the idli stand or steamer plate in it. Steam for 10 minutes on high and about 8-10 minutes on low until you can smell the aroma of cooked kudumulu. If using the pressure cooker, do not put the weight.
Turn off the stove and let sit for few minutes.
Serve with oil or crushed green chilies or green chilies sauteed in some oil. Oil or the dipping oil is poured in that hallow well like thumb impression we made.

Note:

Chikkudukaya - I used 10 - 12 chikkudukaya. I could have used up to 16 - 20 chikkudukayalu.
Green Chilies - 15 green chilies were very spicy and I did not need any other condiment except oil for dipping. 10 - 12 chilies would have be sufficient. If yo uneed more heat, can always serve it with crushed green chilies and oil. Or green chilies sauteed in little bit of oil.
Valor Lilva - If you do not have fresh chikkudukaya, use chikkudu ginjalu instead. Use frozen valor lilva, lot of green onions and coriander leaves to compensate for whole chikkudukaya. i would suggest using at least 1 ½ cups of valor lilva and more green onions and coriander leaves than mention in the recipe above.
Anapa Ginjalu ~ Surti Papdi Lilva - Chikkudukaya can be substituted with anapa ginjalu or frozen surti papdi lilva. Then you will need more than 1 cup of anapa ginjalu (surti papdi lilva). Also add more green onion and kothmir. I have not made these kudumulu with anapa ginjalu and can not give you exact measures.

This day in 2011: Green Soup
This day in 2014: Bisi Bele Bath from Karnataka
This day in 2015: Herbed oats Rolls
Events: This post also goes to A-Z Challenge for day 11, letter 'K'.