Kozhukattai Recipe

Kozhukattai recipe made with jaggery sesame filling. Kozhukattai are traditional steamed dumplings from Tamil cuisine. These are similar to the Maharashtrian modak and are made with various fillings & dough covering. The traditional Kozhukkatai are made with a covering of rice flour and the filling is made with jaggery, fresh coconut and cardamom powder. These are offered to the Lord during Vinayagar Chaturthi puja, which is also known as Ganesh chaturthi in other parts of India.

Kozhukattai

Many households make different kinds of kozhukkatai. These can be made with numerous fillings like dry fruit mixture, peanut jaggery stuffing, chana dal poornam and also with sesame jaggery stuffing. In this post I share the kozhukattai recipe with sesame stuffing and these are known as Ellu kozhukattai.

If you want to make the traditional coconut filling, then you may refer to my modak recipe. To make the chana dal poornam , you may refer to this poornam kudumulu recipe. You can find more recipes for Gauri Ganesha Festival here.

As I mentioned in this post, I show how to make the sesame filling for the kozhukkatai. You may make the stuffing 1 to 2 days ahead and store it at room temperature too. Since the stuffing is not cooked and the ingredients used are dry, the stuffing has a good shelf life.

A lot of households have the tradition to make all festive foods on the day they offer to God. If so you can roast the sesame seeds the previous day and grate the jaggery and keep it ready. You can instantly blend it and use to make the kozhukkatai.

I have shown 3 ways to shape them. One is with the mould and the other 2 are handmade.

To make the poornam, you can use white or black sesame seeds. If using black seeds, it is a bit more of work since they have to be washed and rinsed thoroughly to remove the bitter taste.

Apart from kozhukattai or modak, even ladoos are prepared in many homes for Ganesh chaturthi.

Photo Guide

How to Make Kozhukattai (Stepwise Photos)

Prepare stuffing

1. Clean 1 cup sesame seeds. Next dry roast on a medium flame until you begin to smell them good. Do not discolor them they may lend a bitter taste. Cool completely.

2. Add them to a blender jar.

3. Powder finely.

4. Add grated jaggery, cardamom powder and blend well. OR If your jaggery has dust particles, then you can also melt 1 cup jaggery with ¼ cup water. Filter and bring it to a boil. Add the powdered seeds and stir. Cook on a medium heat until the poornam becomes thick enough to make a ball. Cool this and make balls.

5. I made balls out of the blended powder.

6. Make 12 equal sized balls. Set these aside.

Make dough

7. Bring one cup water to a rolling boil with little ghee and salt.

8. Switch off and add 1 cup rice flour to it.

9. Mix well. The mixture will be crumbly. Cover it and leave until it cools down a bit.

10. When the mixture is still slightly hot. Knead it well. If required dip your fingers in water and knead. The dough must be non sticky and crack free.

11. Divide the dough to 11 equal sized balls. Cover the dough with a moist cloth.

Shape Kozhukattai

12. Take a ball and make a dent in the center. Begin to spread it evenly to make a round puri. To prevent cracks you can dampen your fingers. You can also stick back the cracked parts. You can also use little ghee if the dough turns sticky. Place a poornam ball.

13. Join 4 sides of the puri excluding the corners. Dip fingers in water and press gently in the center.

14. Now join the corners as well. Stick again.

15. Gently pull the excess dough on top to shape like a modakam. You can also roll it to a plain ball.

16. For varalakshmi puja or gauri puja on the day before ganesh chaturthi, some women make these in the shape of kadubu. Make a puri and place the poornam mixture on one half, not a ball. Then cover and seal the edges. If the dough is dry it may not stick. So dampen the edges with little water and stick. You can make a design just by folding little dough towards the inner side on the edges.

17. However If you own a modak mould you can follow these steps

• a) First grease the mould generously with ghee.
• b) Place a rice flour ball inside and spread it evenly across the mould. Do not make it too thin. Modak may end up with wholes.
• c) Place the stuffing and press. Do not try to stuff the ball. Instead stuff the powder or moist poornam.
• d) Seal it with little more dough. Gently remove it. Repeat greasing to make more modakam.

Keep all the kozhukattai or modak covered with a moist cloth until they go for steaming.

Steam

18. Lastly bring water to a boil in a steamer or pressure cooker (without whistle). Place the kozhukattai/ modakam in the steamer basket lined with a moist cloth. Steam for 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool ellu kozhukattai completely and offer to the gods Gauri Ganesha.

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Kozhukkatai recipe first published in September 2015. Updated and republished in September 2021.