Ulutham Kozhakattai / Uppu Kozhakattai Savory Kozhakattai

I tried my hand at Kozhakattai making again. And it felt good to be progressing at something, albeit slowly. I’m still taking my baby steps in these culinary-marathons. So there’s more time and work ahead of me!

One of the most popular kinds of savory kozhakattai has a stuffing made of cooked and sauteed urad dhal paste. This is the kozhakattai that features on Ganesh Chathurthi along with its sweet brother - the poornam kozhakattai. So, following Meenakshi ammal’s recipe, my mom’s recipe, and hazy recollections of how it was made, I tried out the delicious savory dumpling this time. 

Ingredients for the stuffing (yield: 15 kozhakattais)

1. ½ cup of de-husked whole urad dhal / ulundu / black gram
2. 1 teaspoon of bengal gram dhal
3. ¼ teaspoon of Hing
4. ½ teaspoon of Salt (or more depending on your taste)
5. 2-3 green chillies, finely cut.
6. 1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
7. 1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Preparing the rice-flour dough - the same method as making the sweet version (You need: 1 cup of water, 1 cup of rice flour,  a teaspoon of salt and sesame oil)

1. Boil 1 cup of water with a teaspoon of gingely (sesame) oil and a teaspoon of salt.
2. When the water comes to a boil, add 1 cup of finely ground rice flour (note the easy 1:1 proportion)
3. As you add the rice-flour, start stirring the mixture continuously to avoid forming lumps.
4. Keep stirring (for about 4-5 minutes) till the mixture comes together as a nice lump of dough. (Note: I switched off the heat within 2 minutes or so and continued stirring in the remaining heat. If you find the dough to be sticking to the bottom of the vessel, remove the pan from heat). This step requires a strong arm, so employ a male member of the household if your arms tire.
5. Once the dough comes together looking “glossy” (meaning the flour is reasonably cooked), transfer it onto a wet piece of cloth (any thin cotton cloth works fine.. just ensure the dye on the cloth does not run and stick to the dough. It’s safest to go with a white cloth). Wrap the dough in the cloth into a tight ball, so it continues to remain moist. The dough cracks if it becomes dry.
6. Let it become cool to the touch. Then gently knead and re-wrap in the cloth.

Preparing the Stuffing

1. Soak the urad dhal and bengal gram dhal for one hour in water.
2. Drain the water and grind the soaked dhals to a smooth paste sprinkling water every now and then
3. The next step is to cook the ground dhal paste. Steam the paste as you would steam rice. Since the paste tends to stick to the bottom of the vessel in which you cook/steam, line it with some aluminum foil (back in the day, banana leaves were used). Also pick a vessel that is wide (a plate is best, but difficult to steam), so that the paste cooks evenly and faster. I steamed the paste for 20 minutes on high heat until a tester came out clean. 
4. Let the cooked dhal paste cool. Crumble the cooled mass into little bits.
5. Heat some oil in a pan. Temper the oil with mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add the cut green chillies and hing.
6. Next add the crumbled dhal mixture and saute. Add some salt and keep stirring the mixture till it becomes fluffy and begins to crisp just a little. Do not let it brown. Switch off the heat once it nears this state (takes about 10-15 minutes of sauteing on medium heat).

The stuffing is now ready. 
 

Putting the two together

1. Pinch out some prepared rice dough and flatten the ball between your fingers, as if you were making a bowl (recall your days of playing with clay and play doh). Keep a cup of sesame oil nearby, and dip your fingers in the oil to avoid them from sticking to the dough and tearing the bowl/pocket you are creating.
2. Place a teaspoon (more or less) of the cooled savory filling into the pocket, and seal the edges by pressing the sides together. The end result should look like a sea shell.
3. Grease idli plates with some sesame oil, and place the stuffed kozhakattais on them. Two per plate if they are small. If you don’t have idli plates, you can devise your own steamer. You can use a vegetable steamer etc.
4. Bring some water to a boil in a tall, deep vessel (the ones used to cook pasta). Place the idli plates inside it, and make sure the water doesn’t touch or come above the bottom-most idli plate... if that’s case, your bottom kozhakattais will turn out soupy.
5. Close the pan (with a lid that has a vent for allowing the steam to escape) and cook on high heat for 12-15 minutes.
6. If the kozhakattai’s color is changed from pale white to a creamy beige and it looks soft, it is cooked! Transfer onto a plate and eat away.

 In common parlance, this is also called as Uppu Kozhakattai (Salt Kozhakattai), and it is my personal favorite compared to the sweet one!