Kozhakattai for Ganesh Chaturthi with lots of pictures

Creative Saga wishes all its readers a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!!!

Lord Ganesha has always been a favourite God equally among the children as well as the grown ups. Ganesh chatuturthi is celeberated in a grand manner in India . As children, we used to eagerly feast on the different types of modaks or kozhakattai on this day. My mom used to make the sweet and savoury fillings stuffed in rice flour shells as well as the in the maida/all purpose flour.

Pooja of Lord Ganesha at my place today morning- See picture below

Offerings to The Lord- picture below

I always thought this variety involves a very elaborate and labourious procedure and never attempted to make them. But this year, I was determined to learn it from my grand mom. I realized that it was not that difficult if you do not go wrong right from the beginning. So , I decided to post step by step pictures and procedure so that is easier for the beginners as well for my reference when I make them again. You can also try the easier version which I made last year.

Ingredients-

For the outer shell

Rice flour- 3- 4 cups

Oil- 1tbsp

Filling-

Sweet version/purnam

Chana dal- 1cup

Udid dal - 1 cup

Jaggery- 1 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder- 1tsp

Coconut grated- 1tbsp(optional)

( Refer recipe for coconut poornam here.)

Savoury version-

Udid dal- 1cup

Coconut gratings- 1/2 cup

Mustard seeds- 1tsp

Green chillies- 2-3

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1bsp

Method-

For the outer shell-

Heat 1/2 a cup of water in a heavy bottomed pan. Add a tablespoon of oil in it. In another bowl containing another half cup of water along with oil, add the rice flour in it and mix well into a thin consistency. Pour this in the pan.

Keep stirring this mixture till it forms a thick paste. Add a tablesppon of maida in this and mix well. Maida will prevent formation of cracks when steamed.

Allow this to cool a little.

For the stuffing/poornam-

You can make this the previous day itself and store it in the refrigerator.

Sweet /poornam

Roast chana dal and udid dal till they turn golden brown. Soak them in water till they turn soft. Grind this in a blender. Now melt the jaggery adding few drops of water. Add the dal paste along with cardamom powder and coconut gratings and keep stirring to a thick paste.( you should be able to make them into balls.
Sweet poornam- picture below

Savoury version-

Soak udid dal for 2-3 hours. Blend this along with green chillies and salt to form a coarse mixture.(like that of the dal vadas)

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and curry leaves and add the ground mixture along with coconut gratings. Stir for sometime. Shape them into oval pieces as shown in the picture below. Assembling them-

Make thick discs with processed rice flour. Wet your palms with water/oil mixture so that the floour doesn't stick too much. Place the filling on the disc and seal them well.

Steam the modaks/kozhakattais for around 15 minutes. I recieved the below picture in a forwarded mail , so I thought of sharing it with you. Click on the picture to see and enlarged image.

I am sending this to Purva who is hosting the indian festive food event.