NUChina Unde / Steamed Lentil Balls/ Protein Rich Vegetarian Dish

Nuchina Unde are Protein rich, steamed lentil balls. Nuchina Unde is perfect for early dinner or evening snack and is usually served with Coconut Chutney or Majjige Huli.

‘Nucchu’ in Kannada means broken or coarse. So here we use a coarse mix of lentils.

I remember my Amma making these for us as our after school snack and I used to hate it. Amma tried convincing me that it is very healthy and it will help me grow. But at that age, do we even care about healthy food???? And now, we go looking for protein rich, balanced diet etc etc. And now I am the Amma trying to convince my kid to have these 🙂

Ingredients

1/2 cup – Toor Dal (split pigeon peas)

1/2 cup – Moong Dal/ Moong with peel (yellow lentil)

1/2 cup – Chana Dal (split chickpeas)

1/4 cup – Black eyed Beans

1/2 cup – Chopped Coriander leaves

1 no – Onion, finely chopped

2 to 3 – Green chillies, finely chopped

1 tsp – Grated Ginger

1/4 cup – Fresh coconut, cut into small pieces

A pinch of Asafoetida

Salt to taste

Method

Wash and soak the lentils for at least 4 hours.

Drain all the water and spread the lentils on a kitchen towel for 5 minutes.

Grind them into a coarse paste. Do it in parts, or else it may get too smooth.

Transfer this into a bowl.

Add , asafoetida, onion, coriander, chillies, coconut pieces, salt, ginger and give it a good mix.

Make small balls with this mixture. Traditionally we make oval shaped dumplings, but you can choose to make round ones as well.

Arrange them closely with minimum gap in the steamer pan which is greased, and steam them for about 10 mins.

Let it cool for a couple of minutes.

Serve it hot with coconut chutney or majjige huli.

Do write back to me if you try them. And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram 🙂 Go ahead and print a copy of the recipe for yourself 🙂