Aval Kozhakattai - Steamed Dumplings made with Beaten Rice Flakes

Kozhakattai of many forms are made in South India. I have posted many variations in my blog. This one was quite unique and I had never eaten it before. I saw the recipe here and wanted to try it.



It is a Savoury Kozhakkatai made from Aval (Beated Rice Flakes).



Ingredients (each cup makes 8 Kozhakattais)

Aval (Poha, Beaten Rice Flakes) 2 cups
Coconut 1/4 cup
Water 1.5 cups
Salt to taste

Tempering

Oil 2 tsp
Mustard 1 tsp
Urad Dal 1 tsp
Curry Leaves 2 sprigs
Green Chillies 2

Method of Preparation

1. Pulse Poha to a coarse powder.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When it sputters, add the urad dal. Let it brown a little. Add the curry leaves and finely chopped green chillies.

3. When it sizzles, add the water and bring it to boil. Add salt and coconut.

4. Add the Poha and mix well. In a low flame cook till almost all the water is absorbed, but the dough should still be moist.

5. Roll into balls when cool enough to handle. Steam for 10 min. 

Mani Kozhakattai - Ammini Kozhakattai

Ganesh Chathurthi or Pullayar Chathurthi is a festival celebrated all over India. We @ AGC decided to celebrate the festival by making an array of dishes for Ganesha during the first week. In Tamil Nadu Kozhakattai is made in different shapes and a variety of filling. For those who do not know what a kozhakattai is, it is basically a rice dumpling stuffed with sweet or savoury filling.

Once the different varieties are made, there is always some dough left. And kids love this part of the festival. They get what is called a Mani Kozhakattai or Ammini Kozhakattai. It is nothing but the rice flour dough rolled into small balls and steamed and then seasoned.



Every house makes this during Pullayar Chathurthi that I think even Pullayar (Ganesh) has started loving this as a neivedhyam.



I am actually a little scared of making this dough. Somehow do not get the correct consistency. This time was also no different. Almost nailed it. But not perfect. That is why I always make Sukhiyan/Modakam for Pullayar.

Ingredients

Rice Flour 2 cups
Water 4 cups
Sesame Oil 4 tsp + little for greasing
Salt 1 tsp

Seasoning
Mustard 1/2 tsp
Urad Dal 1 tsp
Curry Leaves few
Hing a little
Idli Molaga Podi 3 tbsp (as per taste)
Coconut 2 tbsp
Sesame oil

Method of Preparation

1. Heat water, oil and salt in a pot.

2. When the water boils, add the rice flour and stir so that there are no lumps. Make sure the water is all absorbed.

3. Cool it and when it is cooled, knead the dough.

4. Make small balls (less than marble size). Grease your hand with a little oil. Take a small pinch from the dough. Place it in your palm and roll with the other palm. Once done place it on a greased idli plate.

This step will take a lot of time.

5. Steam the kozhakattai for about 15 minutes or till done.

6. Cool and then season it. You can serve to little kids without seasoning as well.

7. For seasoning, heat a little oil in a pan. Add mustard. When it sputters, add the urad dal. When it browns, add the curry leaf and hing.

8. Add this to the cooled kozhakattai along with coconut. I served this version to my son.

9. To make spicy ones, you can add idli molaga podi to it.

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Veena, Priya S

Neer Kozhakattai

Neer Kozhakattai is basically Rice balls simmered in water. Neer literally means water. This is one of my childhood favourites. The typical combination for this is tomato onion chutney. It is very healthy dish and can be given to even smaller kids. We all enjoyed this Kozhakattai and the porridge a lot.



Ingredients
Idli Rice 2 cups
Coconut 1/2 cup
Salt



Method of Preparation

1. Soak rice overnight or atleast 5-6 hours.

2. Grind into a coarse paste. Do not add much water. I added about 1/8 cup of water.

3. Add coconut and salt. Grind one more time. Make small balls out of it. Typically it is shaped like eggs, around the same size.

4. Boil 10 cups of water in a big pot. When it comes to a rolling boil, simmer.

5. Add the balls one by one and make the flame high again. Do not use the laddle at this stage.

6. When the kozhakkatais cook, they will float up. Till that time do not stir. It will take about 15 minutes. Make sure that you are not crowding the balls. When I made this time, I ended up crowding them. So all of it did not float up. Give it a nice stir.

Some of the ball will dissolve making the broth a tasty drink. This is how I like to eat mine. But you can eat it as a dry Kozhakkatai as in the above photo :-) Enjoy.




Linking this to Walk thru Memory Lane - Gayathri's event hosted by Kalyani
Linking this to Toddler Snacks - Event by Nithu, hosted by Pari
Linking this to Kerala Kitchen, hosted at Sun,Moon and Potatoes

Sweet Nombu Adai

Nombu Adai is prepared as a neivedhyam for the Karadayar Nombu Festival. Check out my post about the festival.

Ingredients

Rice Flour 1 cup
Jaggery 1 cup
Water 2 cups
Karamani (or Black eyes peas) 3 tbsp
Coconut pieces few
Cardamom 2 powdered

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the Karamani beans and keep aside. You can use a pressure cooker. Make sure that it retains its shape, but cooked well.

2. Dry roast the rice flour till it starts to loose a little colour. Keep aside.

3. Chop the coconut into small pieces and roast in a little ghee.

4. Heat 2 cups of water in a pan and add the jaggery. Melt it. Strain to remove any sand from it.

5. Pour back into the pan and bring to a boil. Add the rice flour making sure no lumps are formed.

6. Mix in the rest of the ingredients as well.

7. Make small balls out of this mix and pat it on a banana leaf or plastic cover. I use ghee in my hands to prevent it from sticking. Make a small hole in the center.

8. Transfer it as is in the banana leaves to idli plates. Or you can slightly grease the plates and put the adai directly on the plate.

9. Steam for around 10 min (or till cooked well).

Serve with a dollop of butter.

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.

Ada Kozhakattai

Ada Kozhakattai is a recipe that I learnt from my Mother-in-law. This is a variation of ada dosai (recipe for that will appear soon). The ratio of rice and dal is different in this one. Though I want to say I have made it exactly following her recipe, I have a feeling I would have made some changes to it. I will know when she reads this blog and gives me feedback.

Ingredients

Rice (Boiled Rice used for making Idli/Dosa) 2 cups

Whole peeled Urad dal 1/3 cup

Channa dal 1/3 cup

Toor dal 1/3 cup

Coconut 1/2 cup

Red chillies 6 and couple extra for tempering (depending on your taste and the spiciness of the chilli)

Green chillies 2

curry leaves few

hing

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the rice and the dals together for about 3 hours.

2. Drain and Grind into a course paste along with green chillies, red chillies and curry leaves adding little water

3. Mix with coconut, hing and salt

4. Heat some oil in a pot and add a couple of broken red chillies for tempering.

5. Add the ground paste and stir in low flame till it hardens a little and the wateryness is gone.

6. Roll it into Kozhakatai shapes and place in Idli thattu (plates). It is better to roll when hot. What I do for that is to keep a bowl of cold water and dip my hands in it before rolling each. You will not feel the heat this way.

7. Steam it for 10 minutes. Ada Kozhakatai is ready to be served. I like it with idli molaga podi and nallaennai (sesame/gingily oil).

Linking this to MLLA Event this month hosted by Simona of briciole