Antina Unde Recipe

Antina Unde – Healthy, delicious & nutrient dense sweet balls or ladoos made with dry fruits, nuts, jaggery & edible gum. Antu means gum in Kannada & Unde translates to balls. Antina Unde are a traditional sweet snack from Karnataka cuisine. Antu is a edible gum which is the dried sap of the acacia tree. This edible gum is known as Acacia gum or gum Arabic in English, Gond in Hindi & dink in Marathi.

Acacia tree is known by different names in India – babul or babool or kikar. The dried sap (acacia gum) of this tree is widely used due to its medicinal values.

I usually make different kinds of ladoos for the kids’ school box. I had made these antina unde a few months ago and thought of sharing the recipe here as they tasted super delicious. If you do not have the edible gum you can still make these ladoos just skip it along with ghee from the recipe.

Earlier I had shared a different version of these ladoos known as Gond ke laddu which are popular in Northern India. These antina unde are similar to gond ladoo but these are made without the addition of flour. The taste and texture of these ladoos are entirely different from the gond ladoo.

These antina unde make a nutritious snack not only for nursing mothers but also for kids & women of all ages. Edible gum is said to strengthen the bones as it is a good source of calcium.

Edible gum is sold in most ayurvedic shops. I buy a few packs of it during my visit to India.

More similar recipes
Dry fruits Laddu
Ragi ladoo
Peanut ladoo
Rava Ladoo

Photo Guide

Prepration for Antina Unde

1. Pour ghee and heat it. To check if it is hot enough, drop one small piece of antu. It has to puff up well and turn light. If the ghee is too hot it can burn the antu and make it taste bitter.

2. Add the antu to the hot ghee. There must be enough ghee in the pan such that the antu is completely covered in ghee. Otherwise it will not puff.

3. Keep stirring and cook until it has puffed completely. If you find any unpuffed pieces, remove & refry them in more ghee later. Unpuffed antu can cause stomach problems.

4. Remove to a plate. Cool and crush with a rolling pin or blend in a mixer.

5. I wipe off the pan with tissue after frying antu as I find tiny pieces of the tree bark remain in the pan.

6. Add 1 tbsp more ghee. Fry the nuts first until lightly golden, then add raisins.

7. Add dried coconut or copra. Fry until the coconut turns slightly aromatic.

8. Turn off the stove.Then add cardamom powder, dates and powdered antu. Mix everything well and set aside. I used regular dates if you prefer to use dried dates, then please follow the notes in the recipe card.

Making jaggery syrup

9. Add jaggery and water to a pan.

10. Dissolve and boil until it reaches a soft ball consistency.

11. To check the consistency, add little jaggery syrup to a bowl of water. It should not dissolve and you should be able to make a soft ball.

How to Make Antina Unde

12. Pour the hot syrup to the fried ingredients. I strained the syrup as I forgot to do it after dissolving.

13. Mix everything well and allow the temperature to come down a bit.

14. Grease your hands generously and take small portions of this mixture to your hands. Roll them to bind. You should finish the making the antina unde before the mixture cools. You can roll them in some dried coconut.

They will be slightly sticky when hot. Cool them completely and store in a air tight jar at room temperature. we usually finish up these antina unde within a week so I do not refrigerate.

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