Kozhukkattai / Modhakam

Kozhukkattai / Modhakam

Kozhukkattai or Modhakam is a popular South Indian sweet dumpling made from rice flour, with a filling of grated coconut and jaggery. In Tamil Nadu the dish is traditionally associated with the Hindu God Ganesha, and prepared as an offering on the occasion of Vinayaka Chathurthi.

The dish is prepared by mixing grated coconut with jaggery, placing inside dumplings of rice flour and steaming the dumpling.

Ingredients

For making outer covering:

Raw rice flour - 1 cup

Salt - to taste
Gingelly Oil - 150 g

Take 1 : 1 proportion of rice flour and water. (If the rice flour is wet then 1 rice flour : 3/4 water will be enough)

For making Poornam

Coconut (scrapped) - 1 cup
Jaggery (powdered) - 1/2 cup
Cardamom ( powdered) - 1 tsp

Note:    You can refer the method of preparing Home made Rice Flour for Kozhukkatti from my previous post!

Method

Poornam:

Take coconut and jaggery in a deep bottomed pan. Mix and saute it well in low flame; continue stirring for both to blend it in such a way that it must come like a ball. It must not stick to the pan.

Now add cardamom powder. At this stage, put off the stove and keep it aside to cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kozhukkattai:

Heat 1 cup of water in a deep thick bottomed pan. Add required salt and 2 tsp of gingelly oil.

When it boils continuously, add the rice flour slowly with continuous stirring. Take care that no lumps are formed.

Continue to stir, until the flour becomes a thick dough. At this stage simmer the stove and close the pan leaving the laddle inside the pan itself. Switch off the stove and leave the dough aside for few minutes.

Now the dough will be thick! Mix it well with little water and gingelly oil and make it soft.

Take small ball of the dough; flatten it with hands and fill it with poornam and close it. Make more modhakams in the same way.

Pressure cook the modhakam for 10 minutes without whistle.

Modhakam is ready!

For Ammini Kozhukkattai:

Make very small balls of the dough and pressure cook it for8-10 minutes! Keep it  cool!

Add chilli powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida powder and season it with mustard seeds and curry leaves!

You can add salt if you need it!


Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi!