Hope everybody celebrated Vinayaka Charthuthi on 19^th of this month with great enthusiasm and devotion.  I love Lord Ganesh, but also pray other deity too. You know in Hindu culture there is no shortage of Gods, you can pray to whoever you want. I like that openness of Hinduism. I grown up seeing my mom worshipping this God, and she would makes this sweet on every Friday. Someday she makes it with coconut and jaggery (unrefined sugar) alone or some time she adds some mung beans to it. Any way it is really tasty. 

We both sisters would patiently wait for my mother to finish Pooja to have this sweet. My mom says after marriage, when she left my grandma’s house, she bought a small idol of Ganesh. It is made of stone, she used to do Pooja. As years went by the idol lost one hand and shoulder, then neighbor told  my mom that you can’t keep this idol in the house, you need to replace with a new one and this one you have immerse it in sea. She did that with great pain.

But after marriage when I visited my  hubby’s  homeland, Mumbai, I saw everybody bring Ganesh  idol during this  festival and keep and worship in home for 1.5,3,5, or 7days and after that they take him on a  procession and immerse him in sea or  river called visrajan.  I admire the passion of celebrating this festival. Even though there is lot of noise pollution, still it is really fun as everybody busy cooking, worshipping the God at same passion throughout the country.

I have already blogged about my mother’s version of making this sweet, but this time I wanted to make Maharashtrian Ukadiche  Modak, the  same as  south Indian sweet Kozhukattai, but in their sweet filling they add poppy seeds  along with beautiful outer covering.  However, I am failed to make the artistic outer cover, made my version of ukadiche modak with coconut-jaggery-poppy seeds filling.  Original ratio of filling should be double the amount of outer cover. I made   3/4   of filling, yes it is delicious, poppy seeds added an extra crunch. You can increase the filling amount if you have a sweet tooth.

My princess is only interested in fillings and   not the outer cover, so she makes a hole in the middle and cleans up the filling and give me or hubby the outer covering with an expression in her face, that I  am done do whatever you want with rest?

Try this if you want a snack which is really gluten and vegan free.  Here goes the recipe.

Grab everything from your pantry. 

 First make filling .Roast poppy seeds in a sauce pan and set aside.

Heat jaggery in a sauce pot with ¼ cup and once it is melted strain jaggery water for impurities. Bring back to heat once again when water starts of dries up add coconut,  cook until they become thick mass. It took about   5 minutes. Add crushed cardamom and roasted poppy seeds switch off the flame and set aside.

 Divide the sweet filling into 9 equal pieces and roll them into balls.

 Once the filling is done, start making outer covering.

Heat 3/4 cup water in sauce pot and when it starts boiling add oil, salt and rice flour, mix everything and remove from fire.

 Once it is cool enough to touch knead well and make soft dough and set aside.

When you are ready to make sweet kozhukattai, divide rice dough into 9 equal pieces and gradually make thin disc with center being thicker and sides get thinner.  Use water and oil to rub hand to prevent dough from sticking. Once it is 2.5 to 3 inches disc then places the filling and cover completely and makes a ball.  Finish the rest of the dough in the same way.

Place a steamer with water in stove, I used steamer. When waters starts boiling place the sweet kozhukattai you made earlier in upper rack, cover and steam it for 15 minutes or until the surface become shiny.

                                                      
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Inippu Kozhukattai / Ukadiche Modak / Steamed rice dumpling with sweet filling. Gluten and vegan free

Prep Time    35 minutes

Cook Time    15  minutes

Serves: 9 no

Ingredients:
For cover

1 Cup rice flour

1/4  teaspoon  salt

3/4 Cup  Boiling Water

2 teaspoon  + 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

For filling

1 ½  cup freshly grated coconut

 1/2  cup Jaggery

 3 cardamom crushed

 1/2  tablespoon poppy seeds

Steps:

For filling

Lightly roast poppy seeds for about 2 minutes and set aside.

Heat jaggery in a sauce pot with ¼ cup and once it is melted strain jaggery water for impurities. Bring back to heat once again when water starts of dries up add coconut cook until they become thick mass. It took about   5 minutes.

Add crushed cardamom and   roasted poppy seeds switch off the flame and set aside.

Divide the sweet filling into 9  equal pieces and roll them into balls.

For cover

Heat 3/4 cup water in saucepan and when it starts boiling add 2 teaspoon of oil, salt and rice flour, mix everything and remove from fire.

Once it is cool enough to touch knead well and make soft dough and set aside.

When you are ready to make sweet kozhukattai, divide rice dough into 9 equal pieces and gradually make thin disc with center being thicker and sides get thinner.  Use water and oil to rub hand to prevent dough from sticking. Once it is 2.5 to 3 inches disc then places the filling and cover completely and makes a ball.  Finish the rest of the dough in the same way.

Place a steamer with water in stove, I used Idly steamer. When waters starts boiling place the sweet kozhukattai you made earlier in upper rack, cover and steam it for 15 minutes or until the surface become shiny.

Variations:

• You can use moong beans, chana dal along with coconut and jaggery mixture.

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