PAAL KOZHUKATTAI

Today is second AADI VELLIKIZHAMAI."Aadi" is a fourth tamil month which is a significant month for goddess (Amman).First day of the month is "AADI PANDIKAI".The importance of this month is peculiar.Our parents generally tell us not to start a new job,rent a house or buy something new or plan marriages during this month.Well then why is this called a sacred month.I started searching on web and came across a blog called "En Samayal Arai ".It is mentioned in the blog that in early days, there were months in which spiritualism was promoted. It was considered that social activities would distract the concentration of people who were trying to attain spiritualism.That is the reason no new activities are planned in the month of Aadi and it is considered a Sacred month.Even farmers too took this month as the right time to worship their goddess - River Cauvery for providing water.

Though it is no possible for me to go to river banks and worship goddess cauvery,I decided to make prasadam and do the prayer at home.I made Paal kozhukattai for this auspicious occasion.I am posting the recipe here.

INGREDIENTS:

1.Raw rice:3/4cup

2.Coconut powder:1/2cup

3.Milk:1/2cup

4.Jaggery:1/4cup

5.Sugar:1/2cup

6.Elachi/Cardamom:2

7.Salt:1/4tsp

METHOD:

1.Soak rice for 1hour.Then grind it in mixie to a fine batter by adding little water.

2.Boil 1/2cup water and pour this water to coconut powder.Pour this in a blender and grind it.Leave it to cool down for 1/2hr.Then pour this into a thick tissue paper or a mulin cloth and drain the coconut water in a bowl.Squeeze well so that you extract them fully.

3.Now keep a kadai in stove,add the rice blatter and pour 3/4cup of water to it.Also add pinch of

turmeric powder,1tsp oil and salt.Keep stirring well on medium flame.In next 5mins,the batter will cook well and leave the kadai forming a dough.To check if the dough is cooked well,test it with your fingers by taking a portion of dough in your hand and feel it,it should not stick to your fingers.

Keep it aside till itiswarm.Now make small balls(like seedai) out of it by touching some oil/water.

4.Now place a sauce pan add jaggery and sugar .Add little water so that they dissolve.Now a question why use jaggery and sugar.jaggery gives good color for this sweet and sugar dissolves fast.Hence used both.

5.Once the sugar syrup is made,add coconut milk and 2% milk to it.when they start to boil add the small rice balls.Let them cook for 15mins on low flame.Then add cardamom powder to it.The rice balls start to absorb the sweetness.

6.The sweet is ready and it should be served warm.