Kozhakattai (sweet coconut dumplings) Part 2

Today I put together the two mixes and made the final sweet.

After bringing both mixes to room temperature, here's what I did:

- Apply a little coconut oil on your hands, and make little balls out of the rice mix (meil mau) using your palm

- Using your fingers, spread it out into thin flat cakes of 2" diameter - making it thinner towards the edges

- Put 1 tsp of the filling (poornam) in the center and then shut the filling with the edges - much like you'd do while making aloo paratha

- Pinch off the thick top part to give it an even outer coating

- Steam for 15 minutes by placing in a perforated plate over hot water, or by placing in an idly plate in a pressure cooker

Best when served hot!

Kozhakattai (sweet coconut dumplings) Part 1

Every year, my grandma would make the most delicious Kozhakattais on Ganesh Chaturthi day. This year, I'm in Hyderabad, and so I decided to try making them myself. This is a delicate dish and takes time, so I'm making it over two days.

Today, I made the two batters (meil mau & poornam), and tomorrow I'm going to make the actual kozhakattais. Here's what I did today:

For the outer shell (meil mau)

You need -

1 cup rice

4 spoons of coconut oil

A pinch of salt

What you have to do -

- Soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 2 hours

- Strain the water (but save for later use) and put the rice in a blender

- Blend until you get the pasty consistency of a very thick soup

- On a very low flame, put the rice paste, the coconut oil and the pinch of salt in a kadai

- Stir continuously until it gets hard but not too dry - it should have the same consistency as the batter you'd make for rotis

- Put away in a box in the fridge

For the inner filling (poornam)

You need -

1 coconut

Some jaggery

Some ground cardamom

What you have to do:

- Grate the coconut or put it in a blender for a few minutes

- Heat a kadai on a low flame and melt a small cup of jaggery

- Once it starts to turn into liquid, add the coconut and cardamom

- Continue to stir the mix on the low flame until it gets crunchy and the liquid is no longer separate from the coconut

- Put in a bowl and put away in the fridge

For part 2, visit this post.