Halwai July 3, 2024

Ingredients:

• 1 glass – Rice flour (holds 250 ml of liquid)
• 1 pinch – salt
• 1 tsp – oil
• 2 cups – grated Coconut
• 2 cups – powdered Jaggery
• 1 litre – Milk
• 6 tbsp – Sugar
• Raisins, a few
• 1 pinch – Cardamom powder (optional)

Method:

  1. To make poornam (sweet filling):
  2. Melt jaggery in a cup of warm water and filter it.
  3. Mix the coconut and jaggery and cook in a thick bottom vessel, till it becomes a lump and starts leaving the sides of the vessel.
  4. A pinch of cardamom powder can be added to the above poornam if desired.
  5. To make kozhukattai dough:
  6. Boil one glass of water with a pinch of salt and a tsp of oil in a heavy vessel.
  7. Slowly add rice flour to the boiling water, stirring all the while.
  8. Cook the rice flour till all water is absorbed, switch off flame and cover with a lid.
  9. To prepare milk:
  10. Boil milk till it reduces to 3/4th the original volume.
  11. Make a paste with 1 tbsp rice flour and water, stir into the milk and boil for few more minutes.
  12. This will prevent the milk from curdling while adding sugar.
  13. Add sugar, cook for few more minutes, add cardamom powder and switch off flame.
  14. To make kozhukattai:
  15. Knead the cooked rice flour into a smooth dough.
  16. Take out a small portion, roll into very small bead sized balls and keep aside.
  17. This is for the traditional pal kozhukattais.
  18. From the main portion, pinch out a plum size of dough, and shape it into a cup. Coat your fingers with oil so that the dough does not stick.
  19. Place a tsp of poornam in the dough cup and gather the edges together sealing the poornam inside the shell.
  20. Flatten and press the gathered points, shape the kozhukattais into poornam filled flat balls.
  21. Steam the traditional kozhukattais as well as the poornam filed kozhukattais in the pressure cooker for 10 mins. Cool and serve.