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Letri - Rice Noodle Dessert with Coconut and Jaggery - Abby's Hearth

Letri – Rice Noodle Dessert with Coconut and Jaggery

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4.80 out of 5 Stars by 5 readers!

Looking pretty in pink, green and white, letri is a noodle dessert made of rice flour. Quite simply, handmade noodles topped with fresh coconut and jaggery. It’s simply delicious!


Apart from sand cake and apas, one of the things granny made with rice flour is the fine letri noodles. Letri is a dessert I have a love-hate relationship with.

I love it when it’s made sweetish, but don’t like it when it’s just a tasteless rice noodle dessert that requires the coconut and jaggery to add a finishing touch. Methinks letri should be a slightly sweetish rice dessert dish that’s covered with sweet jaggery and fresh coconut; emphasis on the rice noodles being sweetish here.

Checked with Aunty Tiloo, dad and mom on how to make them just perfect. Aunty Tiloo told me about how grandma Rose used to make them every time they wanted to eat it. Dunno if that’s really true. And how they used to squish them in their palms to make them nice and soft. And how they used the ghoda to make it.

I tried to find the family ghoda’s but Granny Catherine didn’t have a ghoda (great-granny Hilda’s ghoda we have no trace of), and Granny Rose’s ghoda is with one of the aunties, but everyone says they don’t have it.

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So to make do in modern times, we used a murruku maker. It’s pretty good as a letri ghoda replacement, and makes good enough noodles without needing too much arm-exercise. That’s me below making it.

Abby making letri noodles.
Abby making letri noodles

Steps to Make the East Indian Letri Dessert

You don’t need too many ingredients to make the infamous letri dessert. It may take a bit of practice, but once you’ve mastered it. you’ll be making it ever so often.

Ingredients for the letri dessert.
Ingredients for the letri

A family secret, if you must know, we add a dash of salt to make it even more flavorful. Yes, it’s not in the traditional recipe, but it makes the letri taste many times better.

Make the Khoi

Water in a pot.
Start by adding water to a pot
Water boiling with powdered sugar.
I prefer adding sugar to the water
Boiling water.
Boiling water
Add rice flour to boiling water.
Adding rice flour to boiling water is easier than adding boiling water to rice flour
Rice flour in boiling water.
Rice flour in boiling water
Mix the rice flour to form the khoi.
Mix the rice flour to form the khoi
Keep stirring the khoi till it clumps together.
Keep stirring the khoi till it clumps together
Add the khoi to the a flatboard.
Remove the khoi on a flatboard
Form a ball of the khoi.
Form a ball of the khoi

Make the Colored Dough Balls

Separate the khoi into 3 balls.
Separate the khoi into 3 balls
Poke a hole in the dough and add color.
Poke a hole in the dough and add color
Colored balls of rice khoi.
Colored rice khoi
Green colored letri balls next to pink and white dough.
Form the letri into balls
Form the letri into small golf sized balls.
Form the letri into small golf sized balls
Green and white letri balls ready, pink being made.
Green and white letri balls ready, pink being made
Three colors of letri balls.
It’s almost always three colors of letri balls, some add yellow, but rarely!

Cook the Letri Khoi

Let the khoi balls boil in water.
Khoi balls boiling
Squishing the rice balls within the palms of my hand.
Squishing the rice balls within the palms of my hand
Squish the khoi ball in your palm.
That’s what a squished khoi ball looks like

A note here. Traditionally, the letri rice balls are squished before being added to the boiling water. But we found that they turn out just as good even if you don’t squish them. I guess it really depends on the consistency of your khoi.

You can just use the rice balls if you wish.
We’ve tested just adding balls instead of squishing them
Some of the balls we squish, some we don't.
Some of the balls we squish, some we don’t
Add the cooked rice dough to the murruku maker.
When you don’t have a ghoda like the great-grandma Hilda, use a murruku maker like we do
Me (Abby) pumping out the letri from the murukku maker.
Pumping out the letri from the murukku maker

Top the Letri with Jaggery and Freshly Grated Coconut

Letri with extra coconut on top.
Letri with extra coconut on top
Letri colored green, white and pink.
Letri colors are so soft and appetizing
Letri in a plate covered with fresh coconut and jaggery.
More pink in this plate!
Letri plate with more coconut than letri.
Letri plate with more coconut than letri

Letri – Handmade Rice Noodle Dessert

Abby
Looking pretty in pink, green and white, letri is a noodle dessert made of rice flour. Quite simply, handmade noodles topped with fresh coconut and jaggery. It's simply delicious!
4.80 out of 5 Stars by 5 readers!

Click the stars to add your rating! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Noodle Making Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Dessert, Snacks
Cuisine East Indian
Servings 20
Calories 71 kcal
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Desserts icon on Abbyshearth.com website.
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Ingredients
  

For the Letri

  • 250 Grams Rice Flour
  • 50 Grams Sugar
  • 500 millilitres Water
  • 0.25 Tablespoons Salt
  • 3 drops Green Food Colour
  • 3 drops Pink food colour

For the Topping

  • 40 Grams Coconut Freshly Grated
  • 50 Grams Jaggery

Instructions
 

Make the Rice Flour Khoi

  • Boil water in a pot with the salt and when it starts to bubble add the rice flour.
  • Cook while stirring for about 4 to 5 minutes till the flour and water forms into a dough, traditionally called a khoi.
  • Remove the khoi into a thala (flatboard) and knead into a smoother dough.
  • Divide the dough into three parts.
  • Add pink and green colors to two of the dough balls and mould again.

Make the Letri

  • In a deep pot, boil water and start dropping balls of dough into it.
  • When each ball rises to the surface it's cooked.
  • Take each ball and put in the murruku maker. (You can also mix the balls to make different colors.) (Granny would use the ghoda, but we don't know which cousin has it.)
  • Press out the noodles in a circular format in individual trays or large plates.

Add Toppings to the Letri Noodles

  • Cover the letri noodles with the fresh coconut and grated jaggery.
  • Serve warm!

Please click to rate the recipe! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!

Video

Notes

  • Traditionally made with a letri ghoda, my family now uses a murruku maker to make the letri noodles more easily.
  • Salt is not traditionally added, but we add it in for flavor.
  • Sometimes we add a few drops of vanilla essence to the khoi while making it.
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Nutrition (Per Serving)

Calories: 71kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 89mg | Potassium: 17mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 0.1mg

Disclaimer: Nutrition Information per serving is estimated by a third party software based on the ingredients used, and is for informational purposes only. It will vary from product to product, based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients. Please consult the package labels of the ingredients you use, or chat with your dietician for specific details.

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Letri in 3 plates colored green, pink and white.
Do you like more jaggery or coconut on your letri?
Add as much jaggery as you want.
Sis and me like adding a lot of jaggery

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2 thoughts on “Letri – Rice Noodle Dessert with Coconut and Jaggery”

  1. ABBY, THANKS FOR SHARING THIS AWESOME AND SIMPLE RECIPE. AT ANY EAST INDIAN FOOD FESTIVAL, LETRI IS A MUST BUY ON MY LIST. I WILL DEFINITELY BE TRYING THIS RECIPE IN THE MORNING. WOULD HAVE LOVED TO TRY IT RIGHT NOW, BUT IT IS 3 AM IN THE MORNING, SO I HAVE TO WAIT TILL LATE MORNING, WHEN THE SHOPS OPEN IN MAROL VILLAGE. THANKS ONCE AGAIN. PS: WHICH JAGGERY DID YOU USE. FLOUR OF ANY PARTICULAR RICE TO BE USED OR ANY RICE FLOUR WILL DO.5 stars

    Reply
    • Hi Royston,
      We used a mix of chikki jaggery and regular jaggery, but it really doesn’t matter which you use. Any white rice flour will work. Let us know how it turns out for you. 🙂
      Abby

      Reply
4.80 from 5 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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