Kozhukkattai and Paruppu payasam for Vinayaka Chathurthi.

Ganesha is the first to be worshipped, whenever we start anything hoping to go well.He in turn relieves us from the difficulties and solves our problems.

Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated in the month of Avani on chaturthi (4th) day which comes after the new moon.

As always, I headed to the kadai veedhi, the previous evening to get the Mun Pillayar/Clay Ganesha, yerukkampoo malai , arukam pullu, vilampazham, and the other fruits, the decorations like thennanthoranam, vazhaikkannu, chandanam and kumkumam.Then with the last minute shopping of vellam, yelakkai and the milk packs. The Mavilai thoranam was put up from leaves of the front yard mango tree and the pooja room was made the previous evening.

On the day of Vinayaka Chathurthi I prepared Kozhukkattais/Modakams and Pasipparuppu/Moong dal payasam as neivedyam.

Ing for the outer cover of the kozhukkattai :

(Yields 45-50 nos).

Raw rice powder is specially prepared for neivedyam a day ahead.Soak one kg ponni raw rice for half an hour in water.Drain and dry grind.

Rice powder prepared by the above method-2 cups
Water-2 ½ times of rice powder
Ghee-a tbsp
A fat pinch of salt

Ing for the Filling/Pooranam:

Freshly grated shavings from a medium sized coconut
Crushed jaggery-half the quantity of the grated coconut,loosely packed in a measuring cup.
Cardamom powder-to flavour
Fresh ghee-Atbsp(Reserve half of this to grease fingers and palms while making kozhukkattais) .

To prepare the Filling/Pooranam:

Heat half the tbsp of ghee in a non stick kadai.Add the grated coconut and the crushed jaggery together.Sauté for a few minutes to melt down the jaggery pieces and steam off the water content. Mix in Cardamom powder. Keep this aside.

To prepare the rice dough, the outer covering:

For the safer side, to avoid lumps, I suggest the less exp cooks like me to mix the rice powder with 2 ½ parts of water directly, in a round thick bottomed vessel.Add oil and transfer the vessel to the stove top in medium heat, bringing to to a boil stirring all the time.The dough soon thickens to form a soft ball.Close the vessel with its lid to enhance the final cooking for a few more minutes keeping the flame to minimum.Transfer the dough to an appropriate casserole.The warmer the dough, the easier to proceed.

To prepare the crescend shaped kozhukkattais:

I prefer making them with the “poori dough presser” as it has proved handy and easier for anyone who has to proceed single handed.

I line the presser up and down with two square pieces of polythene sheets, sticking up and down again with drops of ghee and grease the sheets on the outer side as well.

Now, smear a few drops of ghee to your palms and finger tips. Take out a handful of warm rice dough from the casserole and roll them evenly into small lime sized smooth balls.

Keep one ball in the centre and press lightly to form a poori sized shape.Place the filling on the lower half, in a linear way.

Fold carefully and press the edges lightly.Let your fingers be always greased with ghee so as to avoid any sticking of dough to the finger tips.

Arrange them, steam cook for 10 minutes and you are done!.

Pasipparuppu / Moong dal payasam.

(Yields 4-5 glasses)

Ingredients:

Lightly dry roasted split moong dal-1/2 cup
Jaggery ball-1 medium-Crush to smaller lumps
Milk(boiled cow’s milk or fresh coconut milk)-a large cup
Raw rice-a tbsp
Coconut gratings-1/4 cup
Salt-a fat pinch
Cardamom powder- to flavour
A few cashews roasted in a tbsp of ghee-to garnish

Method:

1. Wash and soak raw rice in cold water for ½ an hour.Drain and grind well with coconut in a mixie, to a smooth paste, adding water.Keep aside.

2. In a pan, boil the jaggery lumps with ¼ cup of water.Melt down the lumps.Boil for a few more minutes to attain honey consistency.Cool and filter impurities.Keep aside.

3. Boil 2 large cups of water in a heavy bottomed broad vessel.Add roasted moong dal. Keep the flame medium to avoid boiling over, stirring in between.

4. When 3/4th cooked, stir in the jaggery syrup.Let it boil well and after a few minutes stir in the rice and coconut paste.Stir continuously in medium flame to avoid lumps and bring to a boil.

5. The payasam might have got thicker by now.Add salt.

6. Add milk to attain the right consistency and boil again stirring all the time.Add cardamom powder and remove from fire.If you add coconut milk, add in the final stage and let not the payasam boil too much.

7. Add even more milk if you like the diluted version as the payasam tends to get even thicker once it cools down.

8. Garnish with roasted cashews along with its ghee.

This is specially posted for dear "Lathamma" of Yum Blog for her Festival Cooking Series.

Also my submission to RCI-Tamil festivals hosted by Viji of vcuisine.

My daughter gave me a helping hand in decorating Ganesha and rolling out the rice balls, of course in between her to and fro runs to the T.V front, not wanting to miss the spl programmes aired on the day...:D

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