Paatti's Special

Like i said earlier, i love cooking cos of my paatti... paatti is here with us now in Chennai and everyday is a treat. I plan to learn all of paatti's recipes before moving out of the country, which gives me around 2 months time...

Ganesh Chaturthi is here and it is time for sweet kozhakattai. These are like steamed rice (flour) dumplings filled with a mixture of jaggery and coconut. I remember last year when i celebrated Ganesh at Subha's place and both of us made kozhakattai. It came out really well... we were really proud of our accomplishment...but still nothing comes close to what paatti makes..

Heres the recipe for this sweet ball made out of coconut and jaggery... all the best for making it atleast half as tasty as paatti's kozhakattai..

You will need

Grated coconut - 2 cups
Crushed Jaggery - 1 1/2 cups
Ground cardamom - 1 tsp
Rice flour - 1 cup
a pinch of salt
Water and some oil

To prepare the filling, melt jaggery with water ( use only little water as jaggery tends to give out water as it gets heated). Let it boil. Once it starts boiling, seive it to get rid of any stray elements in it. Put it back on the stove for about 5 mins or so. Do not allow it to become thick, then your filling will become hard and it will be difficult to bite in. After 5 mins, add the grated coconut and allow it to become thick. Keep stirring. Add the ground cardamom to it and keep it aside. After it becomes slightly cool. make small balls out of it and keep aside.

Now, for the outer cover, boil water. Add this to the rice flour, add salt and mix it well to form a dough. Make sure there are no lumps.

Now to make the kozhakkattais, grease the palms of your hands well with oil. Take a ball of the dough, flatten it and shape it in the form of a cup. Place a ball of the filling in it and cover it neatly with the dough. You can make a ball out of it or make small potlis ( or any other shapes like your momos). Steam the kozhakkattais till the outer cover becomes a little shiny and semi - transparent.

Offer to Ganesha as " naivedyam" and distribute as "prasad" to family and friends..

I can't believe i am gonna have this yummm sweet dish tomorrow!!! ( made by paatti, of course)

This is my entry to the Ganesh Chathurthi event hosted at "The "Yum" Blog" !!!!! my first ever entry to any event!! yaaaay!!!