Tickling Palates: Paal Kozhukattai

I made this Paal kozhukattai especially for my friend Sangeetha, who was my junior in school and a good friend who lived a few blocks away from me. She recently got married and this is the first Vinayaka Chaturthi that she will be celebrating in her new home. While we were talking over phone she asked for this recipe so that she could make on the festival day and as a good friend I got down to work. I’m a big fan of Chettinad Cuisine and this is an authentic recipe belonging to Karaikudi.

I emailed her the recipe with these step wise clicks as she is a beginner in cooking. She called me after 2 days to inform me that the kozhukattai came out perfectly and it was a super duper hit and her DH and in-laws loved it very much. So here it is for you all.

Paal Kozhukattai

You’ll need:

Rice Flour	1 cup / 200 gms
Jaggery	250 gms
Cardamom Powder	1/4 tsp
Edible Camphor / Paccha Karpooram	1 pinch
Thick Coconut Milk	1 cup
Thin Coconut milk / Milk	1-1/2 Cups
Water	1 + 1 cup
Salt	1 pinch
Gingelly Oil	A few drops + for greasing

Heat 1-1/4 cup of water in a kadai with a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil. Let it get to boiling hot. Add the flour by sprinkling and mix well with a wooden spatula to form a lump. If you see some of the flour has not mixed properly it is perfectly alright.

Immediately transfer the dough lump into to a damp cloth and tie it into a bag and let it rest for 10 to 15 mins. You can see that a perfect dough has formed. Keep it covered to prevent it from drying out. (This process is perfect for beginners and helps in preventing small lumps forming in the dough itself. Also you will be able to make perfect even sized balls.)

Take required quantity and make them into small balls. Smear oil into your palms for easy shaping of the balls.

Extract milk from the coconut after grinding it in a mixie with little water and keep it ready.

Grate the jaggery and keep it ready. You can also make a syrup of it by adding the grated jaggery to a little water and boiling it. Once the jaggery dissolves pass the syrup through a sieve to remove any impurities.

In a deep vessel heat together 1 cup of water and 1-1/2 cup of milk together. when it starts boiling add the balls gradually. It will initially sink to the bottom. Close with a lid for a minute to let it cook in the steam. Slowly mix with a ladle. You can see the cooked balls rising and floating on the surface.

Add grated jaggery or jaggery syrup, edible camphor, cardamom powder and cook for some time (usually 5 – 10 mins) over medium flame till it thickens considerably.

Add the coconut milk and give it a mix. Cook for a minute and take off the stove. Paal kozhukkattai is ready to be served steaming hot.

While heating water and milk, you can replace milk with the 2nd or thin coconut milk.

Do not cook for a long time after adding the thick coconut milk in the end else it might curdle.

Instead of making balls you can also tamp down the dough in a murukku acchu and press it directly in the boiling water and milk mixture. It saves more time.

You can replace jaggery with sugar but the authentic recipe is done with jaggery only.

There is no particular measurement to heat up water and milk. It should be enough to just about cover the balls.

Using gingelly oil gives a nice flavor but you can also use any vegetable oil.

If you have a sweet tooth double the amount of jaggery used. The quantity that I mentioned here would be perfect and not so sweet.