Ulundhu Kozhukattai / Uppu Kozhukattai | Vinayagar Chathurthi Recipes

Its Vinayagar charthurthi special for a week so the diet series will resume after this festive special :) I am excited about the long weekend coming up have so much plans right from cooking, relaxing, spending time with family and shopping so am very much looking forward for it. You can check the modak(pooranam kozhukattai) sweet version kozhukattai here (have updated with stepwise) which I posted last year so I'm posting savoury kozhukattaiai this year.

Ulunthu Kozhukattai Recipe - Inner Ulunthu Stuffing Ingredients :

• Urad dal(ulutham paruppu) - 1/2 cup
• Green chillies - 2
• Coconut - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste

To temper :

• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Hing (Perungayam ) - a pinch
• Curry leaves - few
• Turmeric powder - a pinch

Method:

Soak urad dhal for an hour. Drain water and grind it with green chillies very coarsely. Just run the mixer once or twice to make it coarse. Do not make it pastey. Set aside.

Now heat oil, add mustard seeds let it crackle then add curry leaves,turmeric powder and hing. Next add the coarsely grinded urad dhal green chilli mixture and saute until it becomes dry and raw smell completely leaves, it may take 7-10mins. Add required salt. Then add coconut mix well and switch off. Now your inner stuffing is ready.

Ulunthu Kozhukattai Recipe - Outer Dough Ingredients :

• Rice flour / Idiyappam flour - 3/4 cup
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Water - as required to form a dough

Method for the outer covering:

You can check how to make rice flour at home here

First sieve the rice flour 2-3 times, keep aside. Boil water, Take rice flour in a wide bowl.

Add the boiling water little by little and mix it with the help of a wooden laddle. Mix it till it gathers to a smooth dough. Allow it to cool for 2-3 mins then knead once with your hands to make a smooth dough but it will be slightly sticky.Keep aside.

To make ulunthu kozhukattai :

Grease ur hands with oil make small lemon sized balls then flatten it slightly thin (or make it as cup) then add a tsp of ulunthu stuffing / filling and seal it as shown below.Repeat this until the entire dough finishes. This is the easiest method I am following till date :)

Press the ends and seal it completely and make the design by pressing ur thumbs. You can also make designs with fork or use readymade shapes.

Steam the kozhukattais for about 10-12mins or until the outer cover turns shiny which shows thew kozhukattais are ready.

The stuffing can be anything sweet too like coconut channa dhal stuffing or sesame jaggery, it tastes good too.

My notes:

• There are few other ways to make savoury kozhukattai too even without filling. Just make the kozhukattai balls, steam it then temper it with the above said items which is called ammini kozhukattai.
• Be very careful to run the mixie just once or twise else the urad dhal will get pastey.
• You can either use homemade rice flour or riceflour that we get ub shops, the fine variety thay call it as idiyappam flour.

The stuffing is simple and flavourful that it can get over in a jiffy by itself :) I always make the stuffing ready after that making kozhukattai outer dough is just a breeze.Savoury modaks are ready to be served. Tastes best when served hot or warm. We make both sweet and savoury kozhukattai and I luv both :)