Showing posts with label Karthigai Deepam. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Karthigai Deepam Kozhukattai | Vilakku Kozhukattai| Karthigai Deepam Recipe

Karthigai Deepam Kozhukattai/Vilakku Kozhukattai, a sweetened kozhukattai(steamed dumpling) in the shape of lamp made especially during Thiru Karthigai Deepam festival. I guess that this kozhukattai is popular in south tamilnadu particularly in Tirunelveli region only, outside of that hardly anyone knew about this kozhukattai.

Amma makes this kozhukattai every year for karthigai deepam in addition to the pidi kozhukattai. While doing the pooja, in a large tray, we keep kuthu vilakku in the center, surrounded by this kozhukattai deepam and place it on the middle of the hallway facing the entrance. And then we keep all kind of other lamps (clay,brass and all) outside of the house.

Three years ago when i shared pidi kozhukattai recipe, i mentioned about this deepam kozhukattai, since then every year before the karthigai deepam festival, i thought of sharing this recipe here, but somehow it didn't happen.

Since today is karthigai deepam, i had made this deepam kozhukattai ahead of time to share here, otherwise i knew i wouldn't make efforts to make this just for the sake of post here. Do give this a try on your next karthigai deepam festival, it looks so cute and taste absolutely delicious. Happy Karthigai Deepam to all those who celebrate!!!

Karthigai Deepam Kozhukattai | Vilakku Kozhukattai

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Makes : 5
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Palm Jaggery/Karupatti - 1/3 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Measure & take the flour in a bowl, next add the karuppati along with water in a sauce pan and bring into boil.

Once the karupatti melts, add the ghee and switch off the flame. Strain the palm jaggery syrup to remove any impurities.

Add the syrup into the rice flour and make a dough.

Divide the dough into 5 equal balls, take a dough in your hand and roll into smooth ball and then make a dent in the middle with your thumb.

Next in one side of the dough, pinch it together with your thumb and forefinger, it will give you the lamp shape. Place them in the greased(i have used ghee for greasing)steamer basket. Do the same for the remaining dough.

Place it in the steamer and cook it for 10 mins.

Remove the deepam kozhukattai from the steamer and place it in a place, fill the dent with ghee & thread and put kumkum on the sides.

Karthigai Deepam Kozhukattai is ready to lit up.

Related:How to make Pori Urundai / Puffed rice balls

Notes:

Don't overcook the kozhukattai, otherwise it will crack and you can't fill the dent with ghee for lighting.
After the pooja, you can serve this as regular kozhukattai.
Apply ghee on your hands while shaping the kozhukattai. It will make the job easy.
Don't make the kozhukattai too thin,if there is any minor crack,then the ghee will spill through it and it's difficult to lit up.
Instead of palm jaggery/Karupatti, you can use the regular jaggery/Vellam too
You can use sesame oil also for lit up the lamp.
For pooja, amma always make kozhukattai in odd numbers like 5 or 7. The given quantity gives exactly 5 medium size deepam kozhukattai.
Before serving, gently remove the kumkum.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Karthigai Kozhukattai | Sweet Pidi Kozhukattai | Kozhukattai with Palm Jaggery

Sweet Pidi Kozhukattai, a steamed sweet made with rice flour and palm jaggery syrup.In our home, we make this kozhukattai on Karthigai deepam along with the Vilaku Kozhukattai (kozhukattai shaped as diya and we lit them on karthigai deepam along with other diya, will share that recipe later).

I have seen a lot of recipes for pidi kozhukattai in blogspere with jaggery. But in our home,we always use palm jaggery to make this kozhukattai and it gives that intense smell to the kozhukattai.

As all the ingredients are roasted well before using it here, it stays well for 2 days at room temperature.

I have heard from Amma that in those days, aachi(my grandma) prepared this kozhukattai on Karthigai deepam in large batch and after 2 days days if anything was left, she put it in solavu/muram and kept it under sun shade on every morning for a few hours, that way it stay well for even a week to 10 days. Yep, that was before the refrigerator era in our household. Ok, enough stories, now let's see the procedure of making these kozhukattai.

Sweet Pidi Kozhukattai

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 9
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Palm Jaggery/Karupatti - 1/2 cup
Cardamom - 2 crushed
Moong dal - 1 tbsp(optional)
Sesame seed - 1/2 tbsp
Coconut bits - 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp
Ghee - 1/4 tsp
Water - 2 tbsp

Procedure

Measure and take the flour in a bowl and then heat the pan & add moong dal, roast till nice aroma comes and the dal slightly changes its color by that time and add it into the flour.

In the same pan, add the sesame seed and roast till the sesame seeds starts to pop up and then add it into the flour. Now add ghee in the pan and melt it.

Add the coconut bits and roast till the coconuts bits becomes brown and add it into the flour.

In the same pan, add the karuppati & water and keep it in medium flame till the palm jaggery completely melts. Switch off the flame.

Now add the crushed cardamom into the rice flour and then filter the palm jaggery syrup and add it into the flour.

Mix well with the flour and form a dough like texture. Now take a small lemon size of dough in your hand and press it with your fingers twice or thrice to form a shape as shown.

Place it in the greased idli plate(steamer plate), do the same for the remaining dough.

Steam it in the steamer for 10 mins in medium flame.

Tasty & healthy Pidi Kozhukattai is ready.

Related: How to make Kara Pidi Kozhukattai

Notes:

Don't add more water than mentioned here for making syrup.
After adding all the syrup, still you're not able to make dough and the flour looks like crumble, add little hot water to form a dough like texture.
If the jaggery syrup is more diluted, then the kozhukattai won't be as sweet as we want.
So always use less water of making syrup, if needed we can always add more hot water. But for the above quantity, the mentioned amount of palm jaggery & water is enough. No need for extra hot water. Again it depends on the rice flour quality.
You can increase or decrease the amount of moong dal, sesame seed and coconut bits as per your liking.
Moong dal , sesame seed & coconut bits gives great flavor and crunchiness to the Kozhukattai. But you can skip moong dal and sesame seeds if you're not a big fan of those.
I highly recommend to add the roasted coconut, it gives such a nice flavor to the kozhukattai and also enhance the taste a lot.
It stays fresh for 2 days at room temperature.
Once the kozhukattai is cooked, you can see the shiny texture on the top.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Pori Urundai | Puffed rice balls | Karthigai Deepam Recipe

Pori Urundai, an easy to make snack with puffed rice and jaggery syrup. It's one of the common snacks that's usually prepared on Karthigai Deepam festival.

You can make pori urundai both with rice pori and nel pori. The recipe is the same for both the types of pori. Today,i'm using the rice pori but i had tried it with nel pori in the past and it tasted really good too.

I usually buy pori for making masala pori which is ST's favorite tea time snack. But now a days , i'm making this pori urundai a lot in the name of kid. But usually, it was me who finished off all the pori urundai. It's one of my recent favorites !

Now coming to today's post, as Karthigai deepam is nearing, i thought that sharing this recipe would help a few. It's such a simple recipe and would be ready in mins.

The only thing that you need to be careful of is, making the jaggery syrup. Rest of the recipe would be icing on the cake.

Now let's see how to make this pori urundai.

Pori Urundai

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Makes : 10
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Pori/Puffed rice - 2 cups
Jaggery - 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Dry Ginger powder - 1/4 tsp(Optional)
Water - as needed
Ghee - for greasing hand

Procedure

Heat the pan with jaggery & water (just enough to cover the jaggery) along with dry ginger powder and bring to boil.

Once the jaggery is all melted, keep the flame in medium and stir regularly, once the syrup reaches soft ball stage(pour a little bit of syrup in the water and it settles at the bottom and you can able to roll into ball,that's the correct stage ), add the pori & switch off the flame and mix well.

Now grease the hand with ghee and take a small portion of pori and roll into balls. Keep it aside,do the same for the remaining and let it cool completely.

Store it in air tight container for future use. Tasty and crispy Pori Urundai is ready.

Depends on the color of the jaggery that you're using, the pori urundai color varies.

Related : How to make Wheat flour appam

Notes:

If your jaggery have impurities, once all the jaggery melts, strain it and use it.
Adding dry ginger powder gives great flavor to the pori, but it's optional, you can skip it.
Gently mixi pori with jaggery syrup,otherwise the pori will be broken.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Wheat Flour Appam | Appam Recipe | Karthigai Deepam Recipe

Yesterday only, i noticed that it has been more than 2 weeks since it posted anything on my blog. As karthigai deepam festival is tomorrow, i thought of sharing the recipe used to make for this festival.In our home, we never make appam for karthigai deepam, we only make kozhukattai and offer to god on that day. But recently , i came to know that most of the people make appam for karthigai deepam.

This wheat flour appam is very easy to make and it tastes wonderfully with banana & cardamom flavor. This appam can be made in paniyaram pan too. But the texture and taste is totally different from fried one. I made this in both ways and like the fried ones a lot.Give it a try for this Karthigai Deepam.

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Rice Flour - 2 tbsp
Banana - 2 nos
Jaggery - 1/2 cup tightly packed
Cardamom - 1 (crushed)
Oil/ ghee for frying

Procedure.

Crush the jaggery & heat it in the pan along with 1/4 cup of water and allow to melt. Once it melts completely, allow to cool.

Peel the banana and mash them well with masher/fork.

In the mashed banana , add the remaining ingredients(Wheat flour,rice flour & cardamom) except oil/ghee and the jaggery syrup.

Mix it well, if needed add more water and make it as pouring consistency.

Now heat the oil for frying and pour the laddle full of batter in the oil and cook it in low flame on both sides until it becomes brown color

To cook them in paniyaram pan, heat the pan with ghee on each hole, pour the batter in each hole and cook them on both sides.

That's Tasty Wheat Flour Appam is ready.

Notes:

Filter the jaggery syrup before adding to remove impurities.
Cook it on low flame , otherwise it turns darker on outside easily with raw inside.
I used oil for frying ,but you can use mixture of oil and ghee to enhance flavor.
I used too small banana , if you're using big one, one is enough.

Pages

Tuesday, December 10, 2019