Rava Kozhukattai | Fried Kozhukattai for Ganapathi Homam

Rava Kozhukattai is a popular offering for Ganapathi Homam. This fried kozhukattai can be stored outside for a few days, unlike the traditional steamed modak.

This weekend we had Ganapathi Homam and Navagraha Homam at our house. It is something that we try to do at least once a year. Rava Kozhukattai, also known as the modak, which is the fried version, is made for the Ganapathi homam and is offered in the fire when performing the homam.

There are several versions of it and people make it with different flours. This is my mother's recipe that has worked for me all these years. I have had this recipe written in my recipe book for a long time, and today, for the Cooking from a Cookbook challenge, I wanted to share my mother's recipe.

The filling for the kozhukattai is the same as the regular Puranam kozhukattai. The regular ones are made with rice flour outer covering and are steamed. This one uses rava and maida (all-purpose flour) for the outer covering and is deep-fried.

This kozhukattai, unlike the steamed one, can be stored for a few days and consumed. A lot of people, when making kozhukattai for distribution, usually make this one because it is easy to handle and it stays good for a longer time.

Preparation time - 10 mins plus 2-3 hrs to rest the dough
Cooking time - about 1 hr
Difficulty level - medium

Ingredients to make Rava Kozhukattai - (makes around 50 small kozhukattais)

• Puranam - See below
• Outer covering dough - see below
• Oil - to deep fry
• All-purpose flour/maida - to dust when rolling

For the Puranam/filling -

• Coconut (grated) - 1 ¼ cup (tightly packed)
• Jaggery - ¾ cup
• Cardamom powder - ½ tsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp

For the outer covering -

• Rava (fine) - 1 cup
• Maida (all-purpose flour) - ½ cup
• Salt - a pinch
• Water - to make dough

Procedure to make Rava Kozhukattai -

To make the Puranam -

• Making the puranam or the filling is the same as for regular Kozhukattai.

• Mix the grated coconut and the jaggery in a heavy bottom pan and cook on a slow flame. The jaggery would slowly melt and incorporate itself with the coconut. Keep mixing until it forms a ball-like mass.

• Add the cardamom powder and the ghee and mix well. Take it off the flame and let it cool.

• Once it cools down to a tolerable temperature, make tiny balls out of it. The balls should be rolled tight and evenly. If, for some reason, at this stage the ball does not form well because the puranam is too watery, get it back on the flame and cook it down for a few more minutes on a low flame. Again repeat the same process and make the puranam balls.

To make the outer covering -

• Mix the rava and the maida and add the salt to it. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Leave the dough wrapped to rest for about 2-3 hrs.

To make the Fried Kozhukattai -

• Once the dough has rested well, take a large ball of dough and dust it with some maida. Also, dust the countertop with some flour and roll out a large chapatti from the dough. Make it as thin as possible.

• Now use a small round cookie cutter or a lid of a box about 2 to 2 ½ inches in diameter and cut out small circles from the rolled-out dough.

• Remove the cutout circles and then add the remaining pieces of the dough back to the rest of the dough and use it to make the rest of the circles.

• Take one cut-out circle of the dough and place the filling in the center. Cover the filling entirely with the dough and make it into a kozhukattai shape.

• Repeat the same with the rest of the dough.

• Heat oil on medium flame in a wide and deep pan. Once the oil heats, add about 5-6 kozhukattais at a time and deep fry it until it is golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined bowl. Take care to fry the kozhukattais in low to medium flame otherwise the inside of the dough might still be chewy and the outside will be brown.

• Repeat the same with the rest of the shaped kozhukattais.

• Let it cool down at room temperature and then store the Rava Kozhukattai in an air-tight container.

Notes and Observation -

• The dough is very forgiving. It is very easy to stretch the dough and form the kozhukattais. Make sure you trim off any extra dough after forming the shape, since too much dough might not taste good.

• Take care to roll the dough out very thin. This way, your one mouthful would have a balancing amount of sweetness to the dough.

• After frying a few batches of the rava kozhukattai, you would notice tiny black residue in the oil. Try to use a slotted spoon to remove it. If left too long, this black residue will start to stick to the kozhukattais. If using a slotted spoon does not work, try to strain the oil once in between using a metal strainer.

Other Kozhukattai Recipes

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Recipe

Rava Kozhukattai | Fried Kozhukattai for Ganapathi Homam

Rava Kozhukattai is a popular offering for Ganapathi Homam. This fried kozhukattai can be stored outside for few days unlike the traditional steamed modak.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert, Festival Recipes, Kids Friendly

Cuisine: Asian, Indian

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 3 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 4 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 50 Small Kozhukattais

Calories: 36kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

• ▢
  pan
• ▢
  bowl
• ▢
  cookie cutter

Ingredients

• ▢ See below Puranam
• ▢ See below Outer covering dough
• ▢ to deep fry Oil
• ▢ All purpose flour/maida to dust when rolling

For the Puranam/filling -

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup Coconut grated (tightly packed)
• ▢ ¾ cup Jaggery
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Cardamom powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Ghee

For the outer covering -

• ▢ 1 cup Rava fine
• ▢ ½ cup Maida all purpose flour
• ▢ a pinch Salt
• ▢ to make dough Water

Instructions

To make the Puranam -

• Making the puranam or the filling is the same as for regular Kozhukattai.
• Mix the grated coconut and the jaggery in a heavy bottom pan and cook on a slow flame. The jaggery would slowly melt and incorporate itself with the coconut. Keep mixing until it forms a ball like mass.
• Add the cardamom powder and the ghee and mix well. Take it off the flame and let it cool.
• Once it cools down to a tolerable temperature, make tiny balls out of it. The balls should be rolled tight and evenly. If for some reason, at this stage the ball does not form well because the puranam is too watery, get it back on flame and cook it down for few more minutes on low flame. Again repeat the same process and make the puranam balls.

To make the outer covering -

• Mix the rava and the maida and add the salt to it. Add enough water to make soft dough. Leave the dough wrapped to rest for about 2-3 hrs.

To make the Kozhukattai -

• Once the dough has rested well, take a large ball of dough and dust it with some maida. Also dust the counter top with some flour and roll out a large chapatti from the dough. Make it as thin as possible.
• Now use a small round cookie cutter or a lid of a box about 2 to 2 ½ inches in diameter and cut out small circles from the rolled out dough.
• Remove the cut out circles and then add the remaining pieces of the dough back to the rest of the dough and use it to make the rest of the circles.
• Take one cut out circle of the dough and place the filling in the center. Cover the filling entirely with the dough and make it into a kozhukattai shape.
• Repeat the same with the rest of the dough.
• Heat oil on medium flame in a wide and deep pan. Once the oil heats, add about 5-6 kozhukattais at a time and deep fry it until it is golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel lined bowl. Take care to fry the kozhukattais in low to medium flame otherwise the inside of the dough might still be chewy and the outside will be brown.
• Repeat the same with the rest of the shaped kozhukattais.
• Let it cool down in room temperature and then store the Rava Kozhukattai in an air tight container.

Notes

• The dough is very forgiving. It is very easy to stretch the dough and form the kozhukattais. Make sure you trim off any extra dough after forming the shape, since too much of dough might not taste good.
• Take care to roll the dough our very thin. This way your one mouthful would have balancing amount of sweetness to dough.
• After frying few batches of the rava kozhukattai, you would notice tiny black residue in the oil. Try to use a slotted spoon to remove it. If left too long, this black residue will start to stick to the kozhukattais. If using a slotted spoon does not work, try to strain the oil once in between using a metal strainer.

Nutrition

Calories: 36kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 37mg | Potassium: 9mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg

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