Suzhiyan is a traditional sweet made in Tamil nadu, a must in our home for our Deepavali celebration. Let's see how to make suzhiyam with step by step photos and video.
This is mostly made for festivals like Diwali, Pongal in our community. The stuffing is so good that we even can enjoy as such.
Check out my other traditional recipe Adhirasam and our staple Deepavali breakfast in this website.
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About
This is my first Post ever in my blog. So I decided to start with a sweet dish. Last week was Ganesh pooja and I made kozhukattai. Then there was that pooranam (stuffing) leftover. With that pooranam I made Suzhiyan. Very easy if pooranam is ready. My brother is a big fan of this pooranam. In-fact even in my in-laws side, they all love it. Am so happy to learn this traditional recipe as well as share with you all. Let me start.
Please give your precious feedback and suggestions to improve my blog.
I have updated my post with new pictures and video. But here's the old image I used earlier which I do not want to remove.
Ingredients
Here are the simple ingredients needed to make suzhiyan. For full list and quantities, refer the recipe card.
- Kadalai paruppu - Bengal gram dal - Chana dal is the main ingredient in this recipe.
- Coconut - Added equally as dal, adds flavor, taste and texture.
- Jaggery - Typically used for sweetening.
- Cardamom - For a wonderful sweet flavor.
- Ghee - For greasing, optional.
- Oil - To deep fry.
- Maida / all purpose flour - For outer layer batter.
- Rice flour - for crispiness and firmness.
- Idli batter - Optional for taste and texture.
See recipe card for full list and quantities.
Step by step images
Stuffing
1. Wash and soak chana dal firstly for 3 hours.
2. Then pressure cook with enough water to just immerse for 3 whistles in medium flame.
3. Once done, mash or grind it. You can do it coarse for a good texture.
4. Keep aside and then take powdered jaggery with water just to immerse it.
5. Once dissolved, filter it through a metal strainer to remove any impurities.
6. After that, wash the vessel and return the jaggery to it. Boil until frothy.
7. Add the mashed dal, little salt and mix well..
8. After that, add coconut and continue cooking until thickens.
9. Once leaves sides of the pan and thickens, add cardamom powder. Mix and switch off the flame. It thickens as it cools so no need to wait until it is too much thickening.
10. Cool down completely and then make into small lemon sized balls.
Transfer the content to a dry air tight container. You can Keep this in refrigerator up to 2 to 3 weeks. Since this dish is the all time favorite to my husband and my brother, so I dedicate this first posting to them and of-course to all who are visiting my blog for the first time!
Make suzhiyan
Heat enough oil in a kadai firstly.
1. To make the batter, mix maida, rice flour, idli batter, salt and required water to make thick batter.
2. Dip the rolled balls in it. Use just two fingers or finger tips.
3. Drop carefully in the oil. You can fry few at a time. Just 30-40 seconds, flip to cook evenly.
4. Fry briefly for 20-30 seconds or until the outer layer is cooked.
Repeat to finish all. Drain from oil. Drain over paper towel and suzhiyan is ready.
(Pooranam preparation pictures and the video are edited to add, taken with different camera and different time. So colour and lighting may vary)
Top tips
- While cooking chana dal, soaking ensures it gets cooked softly, so do soak prior cooking.
- Do not use too much of water while pressure cooking, just enough to immerse all.
- Less the water content in dal, easier it gets thickened.
- Same goes for jaggery - less water to make syrup, sooner it gets thickened.
- Do not wait for the stuffing to become dry. Just a halwa consistency will do, as it gets thickened as it cools.
My notes
- I use a oven glove or a cloth to cover my hands as it splatters while making the pooranam. This prevents hot splashes.
- Use a large vessel as it reduces spluttering over you as well as the stove.
- My MIL uses a bronze uruli for this. I too have a large bronze kadai, perfect for such traditional sweets.
- While handling the pooranam, be gentle and use finger tip quickly to coat. Refrigerating helps.
- Do not reduce coconut as it will affect the texture. Or you can reduce the jaggery also to balance in case you are reducing coconut.
Substitutions & Variations
- You can avoid ghee to make it vegan.
- For a gluten free version, you can just use rice flour and idli dosa batter for the outer layer.
- Instead of chana dal, you can use moong dal too.
- For an extra flavour, you can try roasting the dal.
Serving suggestion
Just wait for it to become warm and gobble it. Perfect to go with coffee or tea. The texture difference from chewy outer layer and soft stuffing is great to indulge.
Storage
The pooranam stays good in fridge for 2-3 weeks comfortably. You can use it later, even for making poli.
Recipe card
Suzhiyan recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for pooranam
- ½ cup Chana dal
- 1 cup Jaggery
- ½ cup Coconut grated
- 2 Cardamom powdered
- 1 pinch Salt
Ingredients for batter
- 16 Pooranam balls
- ½ cup Maida all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon Rice flour
- ¼ cup idli dosa batter
- 1 pinch Cooking soda optional
- Salt
Instructions
Stuffing
- Wash and soak chana dal firstly for 3 hours.
- Then pressure cook with enough water to just immerse for 3 whistles in medium flame.
- Once done, mash or grind it. You can do it coarse for a good texture.
- Keep aside and then take powdered jaggery with water just to immerse it.
- Once dissolved, filter it through a metal strainer to remove any impurities.
- After that, wash the vessel and return the jaggery to it. Boil until frothy.
- Add the mashed dal, little salt and mix well..
- After that, add coconut and continue cooking until thickens.
- Once leaves sides of the pan and thickens, add cardamom powder. Mix and switch off the flame. It thickens as it cools so no need to wait until it is too much thickening.
- Cool down completely and then make into small lemon sized balls.
Make suzhiyan
- Heat enough oil in a kadai firstly.
- To make the batter, mix maida, rice flour, idli batter, salt and required water to make thick batter.
- Dip the rolled balls in it. Use just two fingers or finger tips.
- Drop carefully in the oil. You can fry few at a time. Just 30-40 seconds, flip to cook evenly.
- Fry briefly for 20-30 seconds or until the outer layer is cooked.
- Repeat to finish all. Drain from oil, over paper towel and suzhiyan is ready.
Video
Notes
- While pressure cooking chana dal, soaking is important so that it gets cooked and mashed easily. Otherwise it will not be soft.
- Do not cook with lots of water. Otherwise, pooranam takes long time to get ready.
- The pooranam/ stuffing can be made ahead, cooled and stored. it keeps good for many days even at room temperature, provided you prepared in good conditions and store/ handle in good conditions. Especially coconut can be roasted to get rid of moisture and added for longer shelf lives. Otherwise if in doubt, keep refrigerated after cooling.
- If you are preparing for next day's festival, you can even roll and keep ready in fridge, so that morning you can just make maida batter and dip, fry. My mom in law at times, even prepare the batter as she sleeps late night on the eve of festival night.
sangeeta says
nice pictures !!!!!will try it soon 🙂 thanks for the recipe
RAKS KITCHEN says
Thank you so much sangeetha.
Sendhil Kumar says
Hmm. Good Start. Keep Going.
Sendhil
Prema Sundar says
Hi Rajeshwari,
thanks for visiting my blog...welcome to the food blog world.
Suzhiyan is a must in our house on deepavali day and my mom makes very good suzhiyans. ur picture reminded me of that ...
I haven't made suzhiyan at all.. will try to make it sometime and thanks for the recipe.
RAKS KITCHEN says
Sendhil : Thank you
Prema : Thank you for visiting my blog,you made me feel proud by leaving your precious comments.
Infact in our house also suzhiyan is a must on deepavali day,thanks again for visiting!
Kajal says
WOOOOOOOOOOOW.....I get so many new dishes here.....really thanks for your step by step photo and recipe.:)))
RAKS KITCHEN says
Thankyou kajal,we are getting somany dishes from ur blog!
Its very encouraging that u have left comments on every dishes...
Anonymous says
Hey, This is something new to me...got to try this one! Thanks for sharing.
~ Grihini
Asha says
Looks delicious Raks. How did I miss this post?!
Love the Hoorana filling, slurp!:))
RAKS KITCHEN says
Thankyou Grihini..!!Do try it...
Asha,I told and you came here to check it out?so nice of you...You are a very encouragive blogger...!!!Thank you somuch..!!!!
Poornima Nair says
Congratulations on winning the Recipe Diary Contest...this is a wonderful and easy recipe...looks very tempting.
Eskitha Periyaswamy says
Thankyou for posting this recipe with step by step pictures. This one is my favourite sweet and has a special memory sticked to it. My mother rarely made this but my aunty (dad's) sister always brougth this when ever she visited us. Am celebrating this diwali with my parents and siblings and woukd love to surprise them with this sweet. Thanku once again
Eskitha Periyaswamy says
Thanks for posting this recipe with step by step pictures. This is my favourite too and has a special memory sticked to it. Will surely try this recipe ASAP
Unknown says
hello mam,there is no need to soak channa dal?
poorni says
Yes, we need to soak channa dal for 2-3 hrs.. Its mentioned in "re-post" of this recipe
Thilak saravanan says
Longtime thought what would have been your first post..at last found it..9 yrs back..what a turnaround !! Kudos!
NANDINI says
Hello Raji, I tried this suzhiyan last year and it came out really well and everyone who ate it was happy. Thank you for that.
However, I had few burnt crumbs as I fried them and some of the got stuck to the suzhiyan too. Not sure how to avoid this problem this year.
Raks anand says
Make sure to make the outer layer batter bit thicker, which will prevent the leak of stuffing in oil. Or you can also use a big ladle immerse the ladle in oil and prevent it from touching the bottom.
appu says
just short and sweet recipe with beautiful pictures, thankssssss
Raks Anand says
Thanks a lot 🙂