Happy Vinayagar Chathurthi - Puranam Kozhukattai/ Rice flour dumplings with Coconut filling

Happy Vinayagar Chathurthi to everyone!!! Today we celebrated Pillayar chathurthi with the traditional menu including plain kozhukattais, puranam kozhukattais, sundal, venn pongal, vadai and payasam. Also this year I made pillayar idol myself with the modelling clay and it turned out great.. And I was really happy to celebrate pillay chathurthi with our home made pillayar idol.. :)

Here I am sharing the recipe of puranam kozhukattai. Kozhukattai is the steamed sweet dumplings made from rice flour which is a must for Pillayar chathurthi. Puranam kozhukattais are the rice dumplings filled with some sweet filling like coconut or sesame. Puranam in Tamil refers to the fillings used inside the dumplings. I made the filling using coconut and sesame seeds. Usually in India my mom and my MIL both used to make their own rice flour at home, but I didn't have much time and used the store bought rice flour.

Things needed
Rice flour - 1 Cup
Salt - a pinch
Grated coconut - 1/2 Cup
Sesame seeds - 2 Tbsp ( Dry roasted and coarsely ground)
Jaggery - 1/4 Cup
Cardamon powder - 1 Tsp
Water - 1/2 Cup to 3/4 Cup

Place rice flour with salt in a blow. Add required amount of warm water so as to make a soft, non-sticky dough. To make the filling, heat jaggery in a pan along with a Tbsp of water. As the jaggery melts add the coconut and ground sesame seeds and cook until the mixture thickens. Filling is ready when the mixture could be made into balls without getting crumbled.

Now divide the rice dough into small balls. Shape the balls into small cups, if required use little oil to shape the dough. Fill the rice cups with coconut-sesame filling and finish them into desired shapes like round balls, crescent shaped or like that of a coconut.

Steam the prepared kozhukattais by placing them in the idly plate for 5 minutes on medium flame or until the outer covering gets cooked. Sweet kozhukattais are ready to be part of offerings to Pillayar.