East Indian Letri is an easy dessert recipe made with rice flour and served with freshly grated coconut and jaggery.
Letri is one of the most popular traditional East Indian Dessert Recipes. This is made on special festive occasions with rice flour and topped with fresh coconut and jaggery. Letri is basically string hoppers but this has a slightly different way of preparation and serving.
The process of making the East Indian Letri is a little lengthy and tedious and you will need extra hands to help you with this. Earlier, rice was washed and dried and then ground to a fine powder to make this dessert. But nowadays, people prefer to use ready-made rice flour and this is just as good.
We knead this rice powder to make a soft dough. The process for making this dough is also different. For this, we first boil water and add flour to the boiling water. The flour is then kneaded to make a smooth dough.
This dough is then put into a Letri maker called Ghoda. The dough is pressed to get beautiful strands of the East Indian Dessert, Letri. We top this Letri with fresh coconut and jaggery and serve as a dessert.
Letri – an easy East Indian dessert recipe with few ingredients
To make this easy East Indian dessert recipe you will need only good quality rice flour and a Letri maker that we call Ghoda.
- LETRI MAKER (GHODA)
We call this Letri maker or equipment “Ghoda” also meaning horse locally. Not sure why, but I assume it could be because the legs resemble that of a horse.
There is a cavity in the shape of a cup to place the dough. Put 2 or 3 pieces of the dough into this cup and then rotate the handle placed above. You will get strings of Letri once you rotate the handle.
This “Ghoda” is available in most East Indian homes, generally handed over by the family. If you don’t have this equipment you could still make this dessert using the smaller string hoppers maker.
An easy Dessert Recipe with few Ingredients
Very few ingredients go into making this easy dessert recipe.
- RICE FLOUR – Good quality rice flour. You can get this from any local grocery shop.
- COCONUT – To serve, top Letri with a generous amount of freshly grated coconut. Do not use desiccated coconut for this recipe.
- JAGGERY – Along with grated coconut, also sprinkle a little jaggery for that sweet taste. Also, add a little cardamom powder for flavour. Good organic jaggery is available in powdered form in all local groceries. You could use this to avoid the trouble of grating jaggery.
How to make Letri – East Indian Dessert
Time needed: 40 minutes
Letri – East Indian Dessert
- Making the dough
Use water and rice flour in the ratio of 1: 1to make a soft dough. First, heat an equal amount of water, add salt to taste, bring it to a boil, and then add in the rice flour. Mix well for few minutes and then switch off the flame. Cover the vessel and set it aside for 5 to 6 minutes.
- Knead the dough
While the flour is still warm, knead it into a soft pliable dough. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 portions and colour it using food colours if you like.
- Form small balls of the dough
Now take small balls of the dough and knead each of it in your palms. Press the dough balls with your fingers and set them aside.
- Boil the dough balls
Now drop the dough balls one by one carefully into boiling water. Cover the vessel and cook the dough for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Form Letri (string hoppers)
Put 2 or 3 balls of the dough into the Letri maker and press down to get colourful strands of dough. This is Letri or string hoppers. Collect this onto a plate and set it aside carefully, taking care not to break the strands.
- Serving Suggestions
Serve Letri or string hoppers as a dessert topped with fresh coconut and jaggery.
You can also watch the Letri recipe video here
Other easy Dessert or Sweets Recipe you may like
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East Indian Letri an easy Dessert Recipe
Equipment
- Letri or String hopper maker
Ingredients
- 3 cups Rice flour
- 3 cups Water
- Freshly grated coconut
- Grated jaggery
- ½ tbsp Cardamom powder
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat water and add salt to taste.
- Once water comes to a boil put in the rice flour and mix well. Close the vessel and allow it to rest for 5 minutes.
- Now pour this flour mixture into a bowl and knead to a soft dough while it is still warm.
- Divide the dough into 2 parts and colour one part. This is optional.
- Make small dented balls of the dough and drop it into boiling water and allow it to cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Let the dough cool for a while and then put them into the Letri maker to form into Letri.
- Serve Letri with grated coconut and jaggery. Add a dash of cardamom powder for flavour.
Notes
- Colouring the dough is optional.
Thank you for stopping by,
Love, Anita
Hi,
Yummy!!!
Nice of You to share traditional recipes
How would a little Rose Water while kneading taste ?
Hi Nisha, Good suggestion, especially while kneading the pink dough. Must try next time. Thanks.