KOZHUKKATTAI (MODAK)
Am sure we are all very familiar with Kozhukkattai. It is a delicious sweet that we most often associate with festivals and puja. Kozhukkattai is made as an offering for Lord Ganesha on Ganesh Chathurthi. But we like making it as a nice snack or dessert on normal days too. Because, it is quite simply amazing. Whats not to love about a soft pillowy and chewy ball that is also filled with coconut. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it ? This dish also has a lot of variations in the filling. We also have Kaara or Uppu (Savoury) Kozhukkattai. Some people also make a sweet dhal filling, and sweet sesame seeds filling for this. The kind of filling and the way of preparing it changes from families to families, regions to regions. In the western part of India, this dish is called Modak. Modaks are generally made with a coconut stuffing.
Kozhukkattai Filling
We also love this coconut stuffing (called Poornam) more than any other stuffing, and in this recipe I have made this dish with Coconut Poornam. But even though we like this dish a lot, I don’t make it very often as it takes a lot of time. But albeit that, it is actually a very simple recipe. First we will be making the outer dough of rice flour. It needs to rest for a minimum of half hour. In the meantime, we will be making the filling, which also needs to rest for a while. Then comes the tricky part of shaping the balls. We have moulds available for that, that will give a perfect shape. However, I don’t have them, and I do it by hand. Once we have finished shaping all of our doughs, we will now steam these. Fresh out of the steamer, these taste best hot.
KOZHUKKATTAI (MODAK)
Ingredients
For Dough
- 1 1/2 Cup Rice Flour
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 2 Tsp Oil
- 2 Cups Water
For Stuffing(Poornam)
- 1 Tsp Chana Dal
- 3 Nos Cardamom
- 1 Cup Coconut Grated
- 1 1/2 Cup Jaggery Grated
- 1 Tbsp Ghee
Instructions
Preparing Dough
- Boil water in vessel.
- Once the water starts boiling, lower the flame and add the rice flour slowly and mix it well so that no lumps are formed.
- Add salt and oil and mix well.
- Cook till the mixture thickens and the dough starts coming together. Switch off the stove. Let it cool for few minutes.
- Now mix it with hand to form a smooth dough without any cracks. Once a smooth dough is obtained, cover it with a moist cloth and let it rest for atleast half hour.
Preparing stuffing (Poornam)
- Dry roast chana dal in a kadai. Add cardamom and saute for a minute. After it cools down grind it in a blender to get a coarse powder.
- Heat 1/4 cup of water in a kadai.
- Add the grated jaggery and stir well till the jaggery dissolves completely.
- Now add the grated coconut and cook in low flame for five minutes.
- Add the chana dal mixture and mix well.
- Add ghee and stir well till the stuffing comes without sticking to the vessel. Let it cool.
Preparing the kozhukkattai
- Divide the rice flour dough into lemon sized balls, and make cups out of the balls like shown in the picture.
- Divide the filling into small lemon sized balls, and fill the cups with them.
- Bring in the ends of the dough cups together, and pinch them closed.
- I don't have a steamer, so I place my prepared kozhukkattais on idly plates and steam them in the cooker. Steam them for 13-15 minutes. Your kozhukkattai is ready to be served. Repeat the process for the remaining dough and stuffing
