Kozhakattai (Tamil) is a very unique sweet dumpling prepared with cooked rice flour dough and coconut and jaggery filling. Kozhakattai is also known as Modak (Hindi/Marathi), Modhaka or Kadubu (Kannada) and Kudumu (Telugu). This is a special offering made for Lord Ganesha (the Elephant God) on His birthday, celebrated as Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chaturthi across India. It is believed that Ganesha, the remover of all obstacles, is fond of sweets, especially the ones made with coconut and is fondly referred to as Modakapriya (the lover of modak). You will notice that all his idols and images depict him holding a Kozhakattai. There are two ways of making these – a deep fried version made with semolina dough and a steam cooked version with cooked rice flour dough. The difference between the two is in the outer shell – spring rolls v/s momos. Both are made with the same sweet filling though. Nowadays, you can find creative variations made with mawa (dried milk), kesar (saffron), mung dal, chocolate and more. Making these might be a little time consuming, but the taste is heavenly and your efforts would be totally worth it. Let’s get to making the steam-cooked version of Kozhakattai…

WHAT YOU WILL NEED for KOZHAKATTAI

Ingredients

Note: 1 cup = 235 ml

For the dough (maavu)

1. ½ cup rice, raw
2. 1 ¼  cup water
3. Pinch of salt
4. 3 tsp. sesame oil

Double the measure of dough ingredients if you are making it the first time for reasons listed here. The main challenge in this recipe for beginners is making the outer shell. I use very little dough for the outer cover, but that requires some practice. Once you master the outer shell, you can make less dough (or make Ammini Kozhakattais with the extra dough). The idea of the outer shell is to keep the sweetened coconut in place while steaming. People use more dough if they use a mould, or if they want a more photogenic kozhakattai (the way you see in many recipes / photos with clean finger imprints), but the best tasting ones are the ones with a thinner outer layer without cracks. I learnt this tip from my mom and Deepika, a north Indian friend of mine, echoed the same sentiment when I learnt to make parathas. Less dough and more filling is a key taste-enhancing tip that is applicable for most ‘stuffed’ dishes in general

For the filling (poornam)

1. 1 Tbsp. water 
2. 2 cups jaggery, crushed
3. 2 cups coconut, shredded (fresh/frozen)
4. 2 tsp. ghee (clarified butter)
5. ½  tsp. cardamom powder

Kitchen tools

1. Medium size bowl
2. Medium size blender jar
3. Blender
4. Medium size flat bottom pan (a second one would be handy)
5. Flat ladle (a second one would be handy)
6. 1 large plate
7. Idli stand / steamer plate
8. Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker / Idli Cooker / Stock Pot with Lid

PREPARATION – KOZHAKATTAI (with step-by-step photos)

For the dough (maavu)

Step 1  –  Rinse ½ cup raw rice thoroughly under running water, soak it in 1 cup water in a medium size bowl and set aside for 2 hours

Step 2  –  Grind the soaked rice to a smooth & runny batter, by adding half of the soaked water in a medium sized blender jar and set aside in the medium sized bowl. Use the rest of the ¼ cup water to clean the blender jar and add it to the rice batter. Add a pinch of salt, mix and set aside

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Step 3  –  Set a medium sized flat bottom pan on medium heat and add 1 ½  tsp. sesame oil

A little sesame oil makes the dough easy to handle and prevents it from becoming dry by holding the moisture  

Step 4  – Pour the rice batter into the pan and using a flat ladle, stir the batter continuously and cook until the batter comes together like a dough with no lumps. Turn off the heat and transfer this dough to the medium sized bowl. Coat the top of the dough with a few drops of sesame oil, cover and set aside to cool

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Coating the dough with a few drops of sesame oil prevents it from drying 

For the filling (poornam)

If you will be preparing a lot of dishes along with Kozhakattai, this poornam filling can be made a day in advance

Prepare the jaggery and coconut ahead of time. Break down blocks of jaggery, roughly about bite size pieces to get 2 cups measure and set aside

If using fresh coconut grate 1 whole coconut or more to get 2 cups of shredded coconuts or if using frozen shredded coconut like me, thaw it for a couple of hours or pop it into the microwave for a couple of minutes 

Step 5  – Set a flat bottom pan on medium heat and add 1 Tbsp. water. Add 2 cups jaggery and allow it to melt. Strain the jaggery syrup using a strainer and bring it back to heat if you think the jaggery is not clean / has dust. Allow the melted jaggery to come to a frothy boil

Step 6  – Add 2 cups of shredded coconuts and mix well and continue to cook, stirring continuously with a flat ladle until most of the moisture from the mixture evaporates and the poornam does not stick to the pan. It should come together as a soft and crumbly mixture. If you notice a little moisture in the pan at this point, that will evaporate when cooling as the pan is still very hot

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The jaggery filling should neither be too wet nor too dry. If it’s too dry, it will be candied by the jaggery and make it chewy, while on the other hand if it’s too wet it will ooze out through the outer filling and make it drip while you pick it up to eat. With a couple of attempts under your belt, you will achieve  great results. That said, it will nevertheless taste great and the problem occurs only with its appearance/presentation

Step 7  – Turn off the heat, add 2 tsp. ghee and ½  tsp. cardamom powder. Mix well and set aside in a medium bowl to cool down for about 10 minutes

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Step 8  – Punch and knead the rice dough with your hands to a soft pliable consistency, like that of fresh out of the box play-dough clay😃

Step 9 – Grease your hands with a few drops of sesame oil. Take about ½ Tbsp. dough and roll it into a smooth ball. Start pinching the dough from the outer corners using thumb and index fingers to make a mold that resembles a summer hat. Flip the hat shaped mold over and press the center with your thumb to make a well. Using your fingers guide the dough into a circular motion to form a soft, wobbly cup

Step 10  – Fill each of these soft shells with about 1 Tbsp. of the coconut jaggery filling from step 7. Close the shell with your hands and pinch the top to form a pointy tip and set aside. Repeat the process until all the filling is used up. You can make approx. 40 Kozhakattais of 1 inch diameter with this filling and dough

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Step 11  – Grease an idli plate / steamer plate and place the Kozhakattais on it.

Step 12  – Set the Instant pot in Saute mode, add 2 cups of water to the main pot and let the water heat up until you see steam. Then place the idli stand or steamer plate on a trivet with Kozhakattais, remove the gasket / silicon ring from the lid, set the valve to venting position, close the lid and switch to Steam mode. The Instant pot will not keep time and just display ‘On’ since we have removed the ring, so make sure to set a separate external timer for 10 minutes after which you can open the lid. If using a regular pressure cooker, steam for 10 minutes without placing pressure weights. Move the Kozhakattais from the idli stand / steamer plate to a serving bowl

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Removing the gasket from the Instant Pot lid is a tip that I have discovered over time while making idlis. While steaming in the Instant Pot with valve in venting, the lid seals shut with the build-up of steam. Removing the rubber sealing ring helps easily open / shut the lid without waiting beyond the 10 minutes of steaming that is necessary – just like steaming inside an old fashioned stock pot or idli cooker.  

Step 13  – Enjoy your sublime kozhakattai this Ganesh Chaturthi or any time you like 😋

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There are a few stories in our scriptures that talk about Vinayaka’s love for Kozhakattais. I will share two mythological stories and one fable that’s popular with little kids.

Mythological Tale #1

Once Lord Shiva asked young Lord Ganesha to ensure he was undisturbed. When Parashurama (the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu) wanted to meet with Lord Shiva, Ganesha stopped him from entering. During the heated argument, Parashurama swung his axe at Ganesha who promptly lost a part of his tooth (hence his broken tusk that you see in many images). Since he was not able to eat anything, soft modaks were slathered with ghee that melted in his mouth and from that point on it is believed that modaks / kozhakattais became his favourite food.

Mythological Tale #2

Once the Devas came to visit Shiva and Goddess Parvati and gifted them a modak. It was a very special modak as the person who ate the modak would become knowledgeable in all scriptures, science, art and writing. Goddess Parvati wanted to present it to her sons – Lord Ganesha and Lord Karthik. But the brothers were not ready to share it. So a confused Goddess Parvati finally asked them to take a test that whoever among them showed that they understood the true meaning of sincerity and devotion would get the sweet. Lord Karthik immediately mounted on his Vahana (i.e. vehicle), the peacock, and started visiting several holy places while Lord Ganesha went around Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, symbolizing the fact that they were the whole world to him. Impressed by Lord Ganesha’s quick thinking, Goddess Parvati gave him the modak.

Popular Fable in South India

As a kid I loved hearing this poetic story “ Amma, amma kozhakattai-kki kannum unndo di? (Mom, mom does a modak have eyes?) and so on, covering major body parts (surprisingly including a tail as well). The story goes thus: A poor mother with 4 daughters makes 4 Kozhakattais per child and leaves it in a bowl on the kitchen counter top. The first child walks in and eats 5 instead of 4, closes the bowl and walks away. The second child eats 5 and walks away too. The third child, the most mischievous one, eats 6 and to cover up her mistake, she puts a mouse in the bowl and runs away. Now the youngest one opens the bowl and the mouse jumps out and quickly scampers away to safety. However, she doesn’t know what a Kozhakattai is, so she walks up to her mom and asks several questions (which forms the poem), with the mother obviously chiding the child for such silly questions. Soon all the daughters join in the chorus and pester their mom with this rhyme. When the mom finds the true culprits, she drives the two older ones into the forest as punishment. Though the two girls suffer through the same hardships in the jungle, one of them is very kind and helpful to everybody she meets while the other daughter is mean. At the end they arrive at a witch’s hut, where she allows them to rest for a night and the next morning she bestows the well behaved daughter with untold riches and the mean daughter with troubles. Through this story, my mom taught us to share and care for our siblings and what would happen if we were mean. To this day when I make Kozhakattai, this story keeps coming back to me and brings memories of the time spent with my sisters and learning to make the outer shell of these sublime Kozhakattais 🙂 

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