Ulundu Kozhukattai / Khara Kadubu

 

We are in the midst of festival season and so it seemed opt to choose the "festive dishes" theme for this week's blogging marathon. The first recipe for this series is going to be these traditional, spicy kozhukattais. Kozhukattai / kudumulu / kadubu / modak call whatever you may depending upon where you come from, are commonly prepared for Ganesh Chathurthi using a savory or sweet filling. 

Growing up, I remember that we kids preferred to eat only the sweet stuffing before chucking the outer layer into the trash. My mother after watching our ways entirely stopped preparing them and shifted to kajjikayalu instead since we ate the shell too. Somehow in the recent years, I have developed a liking towards the outer shell and started to prepare these kudumulu / kozhukattais. :)

 

This recipe involves two steps. Preparation of outer covering and the spicy stuffing. If you are not preparing this as an offering on a festive day, you can prepare the stuffing in advance and keep it refrigerated for a few days.  

 

Ingredients for urad dal stuffing:
1/2 cup urad dal / skinned black gram
2 green chillies
a sprig of curry leaves
Salt to taste
2 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
Few pinches of asafoetida
1/2 cup grated fresh coconut
 Method:
* Soak urad dal at least for an hour in water and discard the water after soaking period. Rinse urad dal with fresh water and completely drain.
* Grind urad dal, green chillies, salt and curry leaves together coarsely without adding water. I used a food processor for this. 

* Grease idli moulds and place about 1/4 cup of ground paste into each grove. Steam this in a pressure cooker without the whistle on / idli cooker for about 10 - 12 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Remove and let cool.

* Pulse it in a food processor / blender until the steamed mixture is coarsely crumbled.

* Heat a non stick saute pan and add mustard seeds and asafoetida. Add the coarsely ground dal powder and coconut. Stir and saute for about five minutes. The ulundu stuffing is ready now and can be used as needed.

Ingredients for the outer shell:
1 cup rice flour
1 cup water or as needed
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp oil 
Method:
* Add water, oil and salt to a sauce pan. Bring the water to a boil and turn off the stove.
* Take the rice flour in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the water to the flour , mixing with a wooden spatula /spoon all the while.

* Leave it aside for 5 minutes or until it is easy to handle. Knead it into a smooth dough with greased hands.

* Grease your palms with ghee / oil and pinch out small lime sized portions out of the dough.

* Put the ball on your left palm and flatten it with your right hand fingers.

* Place some filling at the center. Fold it to form a crescent moon shaped one and seal the edges.

* Repeat the steps with the remaining dough and filling to form kozhukattais.

* Steam them for about 10 - 12 minutes or the outer layer is shiny. A idli stand / steamer / pressure cooker can be used.

 

Check what other marathoners are cooking during BM#33. 

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