Kozhukkatai

                                                         Kozhukkatai

             It is a South Indian sweet, associated with Vinayaka Chathurthi. Mythology refers this as the favorite sweet of Lord Ganesha. But to me, it is a healthy non fried dish, so I used to make this for my son as an after school snack. The name of this dish varies with its shape like semicircular ones as kozhukkatai and inverted cones as modakams.

Cuisine: Indian
Preparation Rime: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 to 7 minutes
Yields: Serves 4  

Ingredients:
Rice flour: 1 & 1/2 cup
Water: 3 cups
Salt: a pinch

For Filling:
Grated coconut: 1 cup
Jaggery: 1/2 cup or little more
Cardamon: 3 nos finely pounded

Method:
1. Sieve the rice flour and keep it.
2. Pound the jaggery well and put it in a pan and heat it, add little water and melt the jaggery.
3. Once all the jaggery is melted, filter it using a strainer and put the melted jaggery into a clean pan and place it over the stove on a medium flame.
4. Add cardamon to the jaggery and add the gated coconut to it and mix well.
5. Once the mixture becomes semi solid, put off the flame, it becomes solid once it reaches room temperature. 
6. Boil 3 cups of water in a wide bowl, add a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil. When the water is about to boil, add the sieved rice flour gently pouring it into the water and keep stirring simultaneously, so that no lumps are farmed.
7. Keep on stirring and when the mixture reaches soft dough consistency, put off the flame. Let it cool.
8. Smear ghee int your palms and take a lemon sized portion of the dough and flatten it into circle using your fingers.
9. Now place a teaspoon full of the coconut filling in the center and pleat from the sides and bring it to center and seal it, thus farming inverted cone.
10. Similarly do the modakams and for kozhukkatai, take a lemon sized ball of the dough, flatten it and place coconut filling in the center and bring one side over the other, thus forming semi-circle.
11. Likewise do it for entire dough either modhakams or kozhukkatai.
12. Place the modhakams or kozhukkatai on greased idli plates and steam it in a pressure cooker for 5 to 7 minutes until done.
13. Now soft yummy modhakam or kozhukkatai is ready.

Note:
1. Never dry roast the rice flour, if you do the kozhukkatai becomes hard and rubbery.
2. Just sieve he rice flour and use it.