Arisi Upma Kozhakkatai

Arisi Upma Kozhakkatai is a simple to make Kozhakkatai made of rice powdered into rava consistency. My son just loves these kozhakkatais (so do we). So I always make a lot of this. If you have left over, simple follow the Arisi Upma recipe. I make it with what is left over after to pack for next day lunch.

I made with 3 cups of rice today. That will make around 50 small kozhakkatai. Half to be eaten as Kozhakkatai and the rest half for upma next day.

Ingredients

Raw Rice 3 cups

Mustard 1 tsp

Channa dal 2 tsp

Split Urad dal 1 tsp

Cashew few

Coconut 1/2 cup

Red chillies 4

Green chillies 2

Ginger small bit

curry leaves few

hing

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Wash the rice and drain the water. Spread it on a surface or big vessel or tray for a few hours to let it dry a little. I left it of 2-3 hours

2. Grind into a course rava. This should not too fine like a powder. Nor should it look like rice. When I first made it a few years ago, I did not powder it well. So it ended up cooking like rice. :-)

3. Keep 7.5 cups of water ready. 2.5 cups for every cup of rice used. You will be pouring water directly to the tempering. So if you start looking for water later, your tempering will burn.

4. In a big pot, add some oil. Add mustard seeds. When it sputters, add the cashews, channa dal and urad dal. When they start to brown, add the red chillies, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves and hing.

5. Saute for a few seconds and then pour the water. Add salt (I used 2 tsp) and coconut. Bring it to boil.

6. When the water boils, simmer and add the rice rava to it and keep stirring. Cook till the water is drained. When the rice cooks, it will splash, so make sure you are stirring well.

7. Switch off. The next step is to make it into rounds to steam. You can wait for it to cool a little. I think it is better to do as soon as you can. I keep a vessel of ice cold water, dip my hand in it and then roll it. You will not feel the heat. Repeat till all the kozhakkatai is made.

8. Steam in an idli plate for around 10 minutes (10 minutes after the steam starts coming).

Enjoy with chutney, pickle or podi of choice.