Vella Pidi Kozhukattai|Steamed sweet dumplings

“Pidi” in tamil means “To catch/hold“. And vellam means jaggery. So, as the name implies this is a sweet kozhukattai that is made by holding the dough between your palm and fingers.This is an easy to make sweet kozhukattai that can be made quite effortlessly unlike poorana kozhukattai(stuffed dumplings). I’m a big fan of pidi kozhukattais made by my grandma and I guess i have done justice to her recipe.

Required Ingredients:

• Rice flour/Instant kozhukattai maavu-1/2 cup
• Jaggery-1/4 cup
• Water- 1 1/4 cup
• Ghee-As required
• Cardamom powder-1 tsp
• Coconut-1 1/4 tbsp
• Sukku powder/powdered dry ginger-1/2 tsp

Method:

Mix jaggery in water and heat until it melts completely. Filter it and keep aside.

Heat a kadai/wok and add the filtered jaggery.

Add cardamom powder and sukku powder , grated coconut and mix well.

Once it boils, add rice flour and mix well without any lumps. Take care to break if any.

Add about 1/2 tsp of ghee and keep stirring until it starts to leave the sides and forms a ball.

Turn off the flame. Let it cool for while.

Once its warm enough to touch, grease your hand with ghee and take a little dough and hold it on your palm and press slightly using your fingers. (Pretend you are making a fist, only gently)

Repeat until the entire dough is done. Steam for 10-15 minutes in a pressure cooker /idly cooker.

Serve warm.

Notes:

• The recipe can be doubled.
• I used store-bought instant kozhukattai maavu. You can use rice flour or idiyappam flour.
• The same can be done using palm jaggery.
• The amount of water entirely depends on the quality of the flour you are using.