KARTHIGAI KOZHUKATTAI RECIPE – KARTHIGAI DEEPAM RECIPES

Thirukarthigai/Karthigai deepam falls every year on full moon day of Karthigai, tamil month. Karthigai deepam 2020 ie this year it is on 29(Sunday), November. Generally, kozhukattai is prepared for Ganesh chaturthi. U may wonder why am I posting this kozhukattai recipe for Karthigai deepam festival. In my native place(Tirunelveli ), people used to make this kozhukattai without salt on Karthigai. They make plates and lamps (agal vilakku) using this kozhukattai dough and light it along with the other lamps. The number of plates and lamps should be equal to the number of family members. Usually our people says, it is very auspicious to make this lamp on karthigai deepam for the well-being of family members.

My friend’s mom told that they keep this lamp by praying God to bless their family with health, wealth and peace. My mom also used to do this every year. Not only this lamp, mom makes finger shaped kozhukattai with the remaining dough and offer to God along with pori urundai , appam and maavilakku. As it is salt-less, we used to have this kozhukattai adding lots of grated coconut. We call this as “Neer kozhukattai, uppilla kozhukattai etc.

My MIL also makes this kozhukattai for avvaiyar viratham/Chevvai pillayar viratham. This kozhukattai recipe is known to all of you. But keeping this dough lamp may be new to some of you. So I wanted to share with u all :)..This year, I am going to make this dough deepam/diya for the well-being of my family. Friends, do make this for your family too and get the blessings of God :).Use ghee for lighting the lamp. After the lamp goes off, eat it as prasadam along with jaggery and grated coconut !

The dough making method I have shared here is not the authentic one. Usually my mom used to make this kozhukattai dough adding plain, cold water to the rice flour and she cooks the kozhukattai in an open pan in boiling water for few minutes.

By doing this way, kozhukattai comes out little hard and chewy. Sometimes kozhukattai may dissolve in water if the dough consistency is not correct. So my mom suggested me to follow our usual kozhukattai dough(with video) method. Thanks to my sister’s SIL Mrs.Thangam for telling this recipe with correct water measurement. Kozhukattai came out very well and soft.. Please adjust the water quantity by keeping this as reference. Do not add all the water at once. Keep adding slowly to make a perfect non sticky dough.

kozhukattai Recipe

Kozhukattai recipe for karthigai deepam.

Cuisine: South Indian Category: Festival recipesServes: 3

Prep Time: 15 Mins Cook Time: 20 Mins Total Time: 35 Minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 200ml or 250ml

To make kozhukattai dough Idiyappam flour / Rice flour - 1 cup (You can use homemade or store bought idiyappam flour) Water - 1.25 to 1.5 cups (Water quantity varies based on rice flour ) Gingely oil - 1 tsp

METHOD

In a wide bowl, take the rice flour. In a vessel , take the required quantity of water and add a tsp of gingely oil. Let the water boil for 2-3 minutes. Add this water to the rice flour by mixing with a ladle. Rice flour gets half cooked by the heat of this water and increases in quantity. After the dough becomes slightly warm , knead it to make a soft , non-sticky dough. Make plates an lamps as per the number of family members. For making plate , take a big lemon sized ball, pat it on a sheet. Seal the cracks if any. For lamp , take a small lemon sized ball. Press it in the center and make a dent to pour ghee/oil. Narrow down one edge of the ball and make like a lamp. Hope this picture helps you.. Arrange them in a greased idli plate. Keep the plate only after the water starts to roll boil. Steam it for 7-8 minutes. Deepam is ready. Remove the lamps from the plate after it becomes warm , else it may break. Make finger shaped kozhukattai or small balls using the remaining dough, steam it for 6-8 minutes. Remove. While lighting the lamps in the evening, put ghee for this rice flour lamp and light it, Once its turned off,u can have it with grated or chopped coconut pieces. As it is without salt, you should have this rice flour lamp with either grated coconut or grated jaggery.

Note

Do not add all the boiling water to the rice flour at once. Please add little by little by mixing with the ladle simultaneously. By this way , you can find the rice flour getting cooked and make a non-sticky dough. Knead the dough well for few minutes to make a crack free lamps and plates. Grease your hands with oil whenever necessary.. Do not steam for long time. Keep the idli plate only after the water in the idli pot starts boiling..

Serve this kozhukattai adding lots of grated coconut. As it is salt-less, you have to eat it this way :)

This is my first attempt in clicking a lamp at night, is it looking good or at least ok ? ;)

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Aval Pori Urundai, Sweet Appam Recipe | Karthigai Deepam Recipes

Pori urundai and sweet appam are prepared for karthigai deepam in every house.I learnt both these recipes from my MIL. In bangalore, we don’t get aval pori or nel pori . So we used to dry roast the thick aval and make pori urundai.This urundai can also be made using the ordinary puffed rice. It tastes great with both. Recipe & method are almost the same. The ratio of aval pori and jaggery is 8:1.Some people used to add the puffed rice to the jaggery syrup and some do the reverse. My MIL usually adds the jaggery syrup to the roasted poha. Sometimes we keep it as such without making balls ( pori kilari vaipathu).
Sweet appam can be made in many ways.It can be made using rice & coconut OR maida & rava OR wheat flour and rice flour. Here i’ve given the recipe using wheat flour and rice flour which makes the job easier and healthy too.Actually appam has to be deep fried but i make in paniyaram pan due to calorie consciousness ;). It stays soft for long time.
Update: This year I bought aval pori from Gandhi bazaar,Bangalore and made pori urundai. U can find that picture above.

Do try these recipe and share ur thoughts. Happy karthigai deepam :)

Aval pori urundai recipe

Pori urundai using aval/poha for karthigai deepam

Cuisine: Indian Category: Sweet Yields: Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Total Time: 20 Minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 240ml

Aval pori –  3.5 cups Grated jaggery - 3/4 cup Water - 1/2 cup Cardamom – 2 seeds ( powdered) Black sesame seeds – 1.5 tsp Fried gram dal – 1.5 tsp Dry Coconut bits – 1 tbsp Dry ginger powder – A pinch ( optional) Rice flour/ghee - for greasing ur hands HOW TO MAKE AVAL PORI URUNDAI - METHOD In a heavy bottomed kadai , dry roast the fried gram dal , sesame seeds .Roast coconut pieces in a tsp of ghee..If u are using poha/aval,dry roast thick poha in low flame carefully without changing the color.It may take around 10-15 mins. I roasted it in two batches ( 1/4 cup in each batch)..Roasting in batches helps uniform roasting. Aval will puff up and becomes crispy./Remove and keep it in a broad plate.\ If u are using ready made aval pori , u don't have to roast it. Roast coconut bits in a tsp of ghee and set aside. Now put the grated jaggery & the water in the bowl and after the jaggery is melted , strain it to remove the impurities.. Boil the jaggery syrup till it reaches the soft ball consistency. U should be able to make a soft ball out the syrup..Please be careful and dont miss this consistency.(suppose if u miss this stage,just add little water to syrup and boil again.wait for right consistency and Proceed)Switch off the flame immediately. Add cardamom powder & dry ginger powder to it.Mix well. Now in a broad kadai, take the roasted poha, sesame seeds & fried gram dal & coconut bits. Add the syrup to this mixture and mix well. When the mixture is warm, grease ur hands withe ghee or rice flour and make balls.Roll it tightly to make a perfect round.Give a setting time of 30 minutes. Crispy aval pori urundai is ready , Enjoy !!

Note

For making pori urundai with puffed rice , follow the same procedure. If ur puffed rice is soggy , Heat a kadai and then put the soggy puffed rice , mix well and switch off the flame. Allow the puffed rice to remain in the kadai and mix it in regular intervals. Puffed rice will become crispy.. Jaggery syrup consistency is very important here. Soft ball should be made out of jaggery..syrup will be frothy & thick to look. Adjust the amount of jaggery as per the sweetness u require..The color of the pori urundai depends on the color of jaggery and the amount of jaggery u use.

Appam recipe

Appam using wheat flour and jaggery for karthigai deepam

Cuisine: Indian Category: Sweet Yields: Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes Total Time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Wheat flour – 1/2 cup Rice flour – 1 tbsp Powdered jaggery – 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup ( the ratio of wheat flour & jaggery should be 1:3/4) Banana – 1 no ( small) Cardamom powder – 2 pinches Cooking soda – 1 big pinch Water – 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp

METHOD

Grind the banana to a smooth paste adding little water in a mixie. In a bowl take the flour , powdered jaggery , cardamom powder , ground banana and mix well. Add water to make a smooth batter. Finally before making the appam add the cooking soda , mix well. Place the paniyaram pan  , add little oil/ghee and pour the batter. Cover & cook for sometime. flip it and again cook for sometime.I wanted mine to be brown in color and i kept in high flame for few seconds before removing it.. Remove and serve.. Hot n soft appam is ready!!

Note

Adding mashed banana gives the softness to the appam If desired coconut gratings can also be added. Ghee  can used to make this appam to make it more rich n flavourful. U can also deep fry this appam instead of making in paniyaram pan .. For getting nice round shape, use less oil while u deep fry and make it one by one…

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