Kozhakattai is a steamed dumpling : a cute little package with a rice flour wrapper and a little something inside. They are stuffed with "Poornam" - a sweet filling made of coconut and jaggery, or sesame and jaggery, or a savory lentil mixture. They all taste delicious, in my opinion.
Now making Kozhakattais is no walk in the park.. I'm sure everyone has had their share of doughy kozhakattais, or ones that develop an unsightly crack after steaming and oozing the stuffing. Anyone who has tried making Kozhakattais will tell you that the trick lies in making soft and pliable dough. I'm far from perfecting the kozhakattai dough, so I'll steer clear of blogging about it for now. What I wanted to write about today(finally!) was actually a tasty by-product of Ganesh chathurthi. Usually families are left with extra kozhakattai dough and end up making Ammini Kozhakattai that evening for that forgotten meal : "tiffin".
The dough is shaped into little balls, steamed, then sauteed with seasoning. It isn't everyone's cup of tea - my significant other R doesn't seem to enjoy it very much, but I like it. It reminds me of my childhood. I was left with a whole lot of leftover dough, so made some Ammini Kozhakattai. I combined some of the leftover filling of the "Uppu Kozhakattai"(the savory kind) with the steamed rice balls and that added some crunch and extra flavor. Making the "Ammini Kozhakattais" is a fun activity, and the entire family can be involved in rolling out these tiny balls. Also, it is much easier to roll out these "Collateral Kozhakattais" as R calls them, compared to making the regular kozhakattais, so I might make more of these than the regular ones!
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| Rice flour dough balls, ready to be steamed |
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| Steamed balls, sauteed with mustard, green chillis, asafoetida, curry leaves and the lentil mixture(optional). |
We too make this,love it,a simply superb recipe!
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