Ammini Kozhukattai or Mani Kozhukattai is an offering made to Lord Ganesh for the festival. These are steamed rice flour dumplings, tempered lightly. Served as a light snack too
Kozhukattai / Steamed dumplings are offered to the elephant God, Ganesh during the festivities in most South Indian homes. Called Modak / Kozhukattai / Undrallu / Kadubu (depending on which part of the Sub continent you belong to), the steamed dumplings are supposed to be a favourite of the Diety.
Types of Kozhukattai
Usually made of rice flour, some kozhukattai (especially those made for snacking) are also made of Broken rice, Sooji, broken poha – basically any starch base. So we have Upma Kozhukkattai, Brown Rice Kara Kozhukttai or Aval Inippu Kozhukattai (Poha sweet dumpling) that are made for both Naivedyam and as snacking.
This recipe is regularly featured as naivedyam (offering) to the Elephant God (Ganesh / Ganpati) during the festival season. This is also made using the remaining dough of the modak / kozhukattai or made exclusively as is shown here.
Other steamed snacks / Naivedyam recipes on the blog include:
Makes for a simple low fat snack after school too, so festival or not, we are sure to make this often.Keep the proportions accurate and we get a guilt free snack in 20 mins flat. This is spiced up with a light tempering, so makes for a delightful snack anytime of the day, especially for unannounced guests.
Now, lets get to the recipe:
Tips to make tasty Ammini Kozhukattai:
- Use the freshest rice flour you can find. It can be store bought or made at home
- Keep all ingredients at room temperature (especially if using frozen coconut or using the rice flour from the fridge)
- Sesame Oil is highly recommended for this dish. If not, ground nut oil also may be used. Olive oil cannot be used here
- If you don’t have a steamer, place the roundels in an idli plate, 3-4 per mould and steam on high pressure as you would do so for idlis
- Once steamed, give a standing time of 5 mins before tossing them in the tempering. That way, it won’t turn mushy
- One more variation to this Ammini Kozhukattai is that you can add Idli Molagapudi (gun powder) or Poodu Podi (spicy Garlic powder) to the tempering for a change. Both these powders are however, not added if making these for a prasadham / Naivedyam for the festival.
Prep time : 5 mins, cook time : 15 mins ,Serves : 2
Ammini Kozhukattai – A Vegan rice flour steamed mini dumplings
Course : snack / offering to God ; Cuisine : South Indian (Tamilnadu)
Ingredients:
- Rice flour / Idiyappam flour / Modak flour – 1/2 cup
- Water – 1 cup
- salt – to taste
- Oil – 2 TBSP (divided use)
Tempering :
- Mustard seeds (1 tsp)
- urad dal (1/2 tsp)
- curry leaves
- broken red chillies (1)
- asafoetida (a pinch)
- scraped coconut (2 tsp)
PIN FOR LATER
How to make Ammini Kozhukottai:
- Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 TBSP of oil. Sprinkle 2 tsp of rice flour and quickly close it. Let the flour cook for 1-2 mins.
- Now add the rest of the flour and mix vigorously. Cover to cook on low/medium heat for 3-4 mins.
- Switch off the flame.
- When the dough comes to slightly more than room temperature, gently knead with oiled hands.
- Make a cylinder with the dough and pinch into small roundels. Meanwhile keep a steamer with adequate water to boil)
- Steam these mini dumplings for 8-9 mins till glossy. Dont overcook them else they would turn rubbery.
- Once they cool, prepare the tempering with the remaining oil and tempering ingredients. Toss the kozhukattai in these and serve immediately.
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Ammini Kozhukattai | Steamed rice flour dumplings | Naivedyam recipes
Equipment
- Steamer
- Thick Bottomed Pan
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Rice flour Sub with Idiyappam flour / Modak flour
- 1 cup Water
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 2 TBSP Oil sesame oil preferred, divided use
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp split black gram Urad dal / Ulutham paruppu
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 red chillies broken
- 1/8 tsp asafoetida skip for GF
- 2 TBSP coconut grated, fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 TBSP of oil.
- Sprinkle 2 tsp of rice flour and quickly close it. Let the flour cook for 1-2 mins.
- Now add the rest of the flour and mix vigorously. Cover to cook on low/medium heat for 3-4 mins.
- Switch off the flame.
- When the dough comes to slightly more than room temperature, gently knead with oiled hands.
- Make a cylinder with the dough and pinch into small roundels. Meanwhile keep a steamer with adequate water to boil)
- Steam these mini dumplings for 8-9 mins till glossy. Don't overcook them else they would turn rubbery.
- Once they cool, prepare the tempering with the remaining oil and tempering ingredients. Toss the kozhukattai in these and serve immediately.
Notes
- Use the freshest rice flour you can find. It can be store bought or made at home
- Keep all ingredients at room temperature (especially if using frozen coconut or using the rice flour from the fridge)
- Sesame Oil is highly recommended for this dish. If not, ground nut oil also may be used. Olive oil cannot be used here
- If you don’t have a steamer, place the roundels in an idli plate, 3-4 per mould and steam on high pressure as you would do so for idlis
- Once steamed, give a standing time of 5 mins before tossing them in the tempering. That way, it won’t turn mushy
- One more variation to this Ammini Kozhukattai is that you can add Idli Molagapudi (gun powder) or Poodu Podi (spicy Garlic powder) to the tempering for a change. Both these powders are however, not added if making these for a prasadham / Naivedyam for the festival.
Ammini Kozhukattai is mouthwatering. Perfectly done:)
Kalyani i knew you would come up with a low cal recipe , i am sure we shall see a lot more . To put the cuisine into categories is interesting .
Ammini kozhukattai have turned out beautifully. Very tempting naivedyam and a snack.
What a beautiful looking dish Kalyani. Perfectly made. Looking forward to your Tamil recipes this month.
Great start! Besides neivedyam, this makes a great guiltfree snack too. Looking forward to your other Tamil dishes this month.
Kalyani, we had so much fun planning dishes during our little chit chats. I am looking forward to all your Tamil dishes. Coming to the recipe, the ammini kozhukattai looks awesome. I love making this when there is left over outer covering after making pooranam kozhukattai.
Kalyani, fantastic sub categories. I know it must have been challenging to do that..kudos on that…though I am surprised you are doing ammini kozhukattai only now..though I guess it helped you for this..:)
That is am amazing start to the BM Kalyani. I love this tiny kozhukattai so much and you have done it perfectly..
Superb choice and fantastic sub themes Kalyani and those small white ball looking like pearls so beautiful and looking forward to your other recipes.
I don't know how u guys managed to do 26 dishes from the same cuisine. Hats off to that first! !!
Ammini kozhukattai looks super tempting, my favourite too!!
Am sure you gonna rock with your sub categories, and waiting to all those traditional dishes from Tamil cuisine. Way to go Kalyani. Btw these tiny balls makes me drool.
wow kalyani…26 tamil recipes …i am so eager to learn now from you, post blogging my perspective about this cuisine changed a lot especially due to knowing so many from the south….yet i am sure i dont know even 10% of this cuisine up until now…personally i love kozhukattai a lot….i can munch on it any time…great start
It was only a year back that I fell in love with his dish. Yours have come out so well kalyani . Eager to see what you have up next.
Wow very interesting theme Kalyani.Month long Tamil recipes ,looking forward to seeing them.Ammini Kozhukattai looks so delicious.
Same pinch for tamil recipes. You have perfect round shapes man.. so amazing.
cute looking ammini kozhukkattais… The sphere shaps looks so perfect. Nice clicks… Looking forward for more such tamil recipes
Kalyani, superb choice and amazing recipe. Looking forward to 25 more recipes from Tamil Nadu. Amazing 🙂
Love this humble offering to Lord Ganesha. Looking forward to the rest of the dishes..
Samecpinch I am also doing the same cuisine and the sub themes sound interesting. Ammini Kozhukattai is our family's favorite and looks so delicious, such a guilt free snack.
My five yrs old son really love this mini bites.. Most request dish from him..After seeing your click he badly need some for him..
look so soft and fluffy – great way to start the marathon
They look so cute and have turned out very well.. This is my dads favourite and a frequently made snack at home…
Vibha likes these cute amini kozhakatai. Looks very tempting kal and such a lovely start to this marathon
This is an addictive snack. Its healthy as well
That's a delicious and beautiful snack. I remember making it just once and yes it tasted awesome. Must try yet again.
I do feel that there are so many Indian steamed snacks That I dismissed from my daily food ideas. I am glad you reintroduced ammani kolukattai now.
absolutely, Seema. These forgotten foods are so delish, na
Beautiful looking Ammini Kozhukottai. They are certainly a wonderful way to use up the modak dough. This year will make some.
Thanks ARchana. Do try
I loved going through your post on Ammini Kozhukattai. I am sure that my venture on cooking this will be equally enjoyable. I am amazed at the plethora of recipes that can be cooked with rice flour. The wonderful pics justify the freshness and appeal of these steamed rice flour balls.
thanks so much, Neha! these are indeed delicious and healthy too
Love ammini kozhukattai, infact we make extra dough just to enjoy this addictive snack for the evening! I like this simple tempering just the basic and lots of coconut in my mani kozhukattai!
same here, priya. We make extra maavu for the exact reason..
I love ammani Kozhukkattai and make some extra Mel maav on purpose to make these kutty kutty mani Kozhukkattai
yup. same here.. we love the steamed snack so much