And just like that, it is time for another festival feast. Vinayaka Chavithi/ Ganesh Chaturthi is just around the corner and I have a few special recipes coming along. Though nothing has changed in my part of the world or with the covid situation around the globe, it is a relief to not think about it constantly – thanks to the festive season. We started off with Varalakshmi Vratham, went onto make goodies for Janmastami and now we are at Ganesh Chaturthi, which happens to be one of my most favorite celebrations. Being born in Andhra and brought up in Tamilnadu, I love both delicacies from both the states and end up making a fusion spread. Growing up, we always made Undrallu, Chalimidi and Sojjappam. We got our share of Kozhukattais from our neighbors and after we grew up a little, amma started making Modakam. I used to help amma in making them and I have such fond memories. Thengai Poornam Kozhukattai – the classic Modagam made with sweet coconut & jaggery filling is my most favorite and that’s what amma always prepared for Vinakaya Chavithi at home. After getting married, I started celebrating festivals at my in-laws place and my mother-in-law makes the best Ellu Kozhukattai.
Ellu means Sesame Seeds in Tamil and in the modak/kozhukattai, a sweet filling made with sesame seeds and jaggery is used. Rice flour and jaggery are a match made in heaven. Be it coconut based filling or the sesame seeds based filling, the steamed modaks taste absolutely delightful. I find the ellu poornam (sesame seeds filling) to be easier than coconut, as the procedure is quite straight forward. My mother-in-law prepares it by dry roasting black sesame seeds, powders it with jaggery – similar to the preparation of Ellu Urundai. This powder is stuffed into cooked rice flour dough. It is slightly fidgety, especially if you don’t have a kozhukattai mould/press. Being a large family, we end up making a lot of kozhukattai and invariably I got trained in the process of kozhukattai making.
This recipe of Ellu Kozhukattai is my adapted version based on how my mother-in-law usually makes at home. While she keeps the powdered form of sesame seeds filling and I chose to make it into balls, for the ease of making it without the kozhukattai mould/press. For me, kozhukattai has to be melt-in-mouth with the outer layer very thin and I was able to achieve it with store-bought rice flour (my MIL’s stock got over 🙁 ) There are just a few tips and tricks to get the right texture for kozhukattai and I will list them below.
The rice flour can be store-bought – idiyappam flour, kozhukkatai flour or even fine rice flour works. I store my flour in freezer, so it is important to bring it to room temperature. I don’t roast my rice flour, it doesn’t affect the kozhukattai texture. I always use 1:1.5 for rice flour and water (I use ¾ cup of water to ½ cup of flour). Sometimes depending on the variety of rice used for making flour, it might require little more water and you might need about a cup of water for ½ cup of flour. Always keep hot boiling water ready – add water as needed, if the dough is too tight. It is important to keep the dough from getting dry. As soon as it is made, cover and rest it for 5 mins and while it is warm, knead it to form smooth dough. Immediately start working on kozhukattai. Use sesame oil/gingelly oil to grease your palms or moulds to work on the dough. Spread the rice dough as thin as possible, that way you get melt-in-mouth Kozhukattai. Steam the kozhukattai for not more than 7-8 mins on medium flame. Rest for a couple of minutes and immediately transfer them, else they might get stuck.
📖 Recipe
To prepare the Ellu Poornam, wash and rinse the black sesame seeds in enough water. Drain water completely and spread them on a cloth to dry for 15-20 mins. Dry roast them in a thick bottomed pan for 5-7 mins on low flame.
Once warm, grind them into a coarse powder.
Add it back to the pan along with jaggery powder.
Cook on low flame until the jaggery and sesame seeds powder are well combined for about 4 mins. You can remove it at this stage and use as dry stuffing too.
By now, jaggery should start melting. If it doesn’t, add 1 tablespoon of water and quickly stir the mixture. It will be lumpy.
Cook for a minute or two, jaggery should completely melt and the mixture should leave the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and transfer it to a plate, let it cool down.
Meanwhile bring water to boil in a pan. Add a pinch of salt and ½ teaspoon sesame oil.
As the water comes to a rolling boil, switch off the heat and add the rice flour.
Quickly stir it without any lumps. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon sesame oil on top and keep it covered for 5 mins.
Once it is warm enough to handle, knead it to form smooth & soft dough.
Make equal sized balls of the rice dough and ellu poornam.
To make the kozhukattai, take a ball of the rice dough. Grease your palm with gingelly oil and pat the rice dough as thin as possible. It should not easily break – that shows that the rice flour is cooked properly and there is enough moisture in the dough.
Place a ball of ellu poornam at the center.
Bring the edges of the rice dough towards the center and cover the ellu poornam.
Shape it into a ball or as modak.
Repeat this with rest of the dough and poornam.
To steam cook the kozhukattai, grease a steamer plate with few drops of sesame/gingelly oil. Place the prepared modaks on the steamer plate.
Steam cook for 7-8 mins. Switch off the heat and let them cool down for a couple of minutes before removing them.
Serve hot/warm.
Note –
The ellu poornam must cool down completely to make it easier to shape into balls. Don’t let the rice dough dry out and handle it while it is still hot. Use 1 teaspoon extra gingelly oil if it is sticky. You can use a mould to shape the kozhukattai, follow this recipe for procedure. You can use both white as well as black sesame seeds for this recipe.
Reach out to me at [email protected]! Also follow me on: Facebook – Cooking From Heart Pinterest – Cookingfromheart Instagram – Cookingfromheart Twitter – Cookinfromheart
