Kozhukatta(Kozhu kattai- Steamed rice flour dumblings with coconut-jaggery filling)

Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi to all! May lord Ganesh bring peace and prosperity to everyone!

In India, Kozhukatta/Kozhukattai/ Modak is made mainly duringVinayaka Chathurthi. It is basically sweet rice dumblings stuffed with jaggery-coconut mix. This year this auspicious day falls on Sept 1st, today!!

Kozhukatta is a very healthy steamed snack. I have a long standing liking for kozhukatta, since it was a regular evening snack made by my mom. As a child, I did not like coconut that much and always tended to remove the stuffing from Kozhukatta. So my mom used to make it without stuffing, specially for me. As I grew up, I started liking the fragrance and sweetness of the filling in it and soon I began gulping the whole dumbling. My mother-in-law also used to make it for me when she came to know that I like it a lot. We can make the stuffing in advance and refrigerate it in an airtight container for two weeks. But if I do it, soon it will be over because I will be relishing it in between the meals. Do try it out! Yummmmm!!

Ingredients:

• Rice flour......................2cups(I used Nirapara Appam powder)
• Jaggery..........................1 cup(grated)
• Grated coconut..............1 +1/2 cup
• Cardomom powder........1/2 tsp
• Cumin powder...............1/2 tsp(optional)
• Dry ginger powder.........1/2 tsp(optional)
• Salt.................................1/2 tsp / as required
• Boiling water..................2 cups, to prepare the dough
• Water..............................1/4 - 1/2  cup,to melt the jaggery

Method:

• Melt the jaggery with just enough water . Once it is melted fully allow the solution to cool. If the jaggery is unsalted, add a dash of salt to the jaggery solution.
• Strain the jaggery solution to remove any sediments.
• Heat a pan and add the jaggery solution to it in a medium flame .
• Add the grated coconut to it and stir. Remove it from flame when the mixture is dry. Do not over do it.
• Add the spices and mix well. Keep aside.
• Boil the water with salt. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add it to the rice flour immedietly, little by little. Stir it with a wooden spatula continuously to form a dough. Add more boiling water if required.

• Allow it to cool for a while and knead well with hand. Make small balls and flatten it(as you do with a chapathi dough). To it add one/two tsp of the jaggery-coconut mixture and seal it from all sides to form a ball.
• Steam it for 20-25 minutes in a steamer/ idli cooker.

• Serve warm and enjoy:)

On this auspicious day, I am happy to formally accept my first award in blogging..Thanks a lot Aarthi for this lovely award..