Paal Kozhukkattai (Rice balls in Jaggery)

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My first recipe is one of my favourite Indian sweets. I have fond memories of this dish. Every year during summer holidays, in my Granny’s house, my mom and her sisters would sit and make this the whole afternoon, while we cousins impatiently wait. It never felt tiresome making those tiny rice balls, sitting with the ‘Ladies’ of the house and hearing gossips, leg-pulling and other nonsensical chit-chat. It is always fun to cook with somebody around, than by yourself, Don’t you agree?

The traditional method for this recipe is tricky, while this, learnt from my MIL is an easy and fool-proof one.

Ingredients

Raw rice – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Coconut milk – 1 cup
Jaggery – 1 cup
Salt – 1 pinch
Oil – 1 tsp

Method

Soak rice overnight and grind it to a smooth batter (dosa or pancake batter consistency). Boil a cup of water with a pinch of salt and a tsp of oil. Lower the flame and add the rice batter to this and keep stirring until it becomes well cooked. The mixture will turn from bright white to dull white colour. After the mixture cools down, knead it well and make pea-sized balls.


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This recipe can be prepared to this stage and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

When ready, mix milk with ½ cup of water and bring it to boil. Cook the rice balls made previously, in batches, by adding them to the milk + water mixture. The rice balls will float after they have been cooked. After all the rice balls have been cooked, set them aside. Add jaggery to the left-over milk + water mixture and allow it to dissolve.

Add the cooked rice balls back to the jaggery-milk mixture, and allow to boil for 5 minutes in low flame. Add the coconut milk and heat through. Do not boil after the coconut milk has been added. Finally, add ground elaichi.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow ..good looking picture..never knew this dessert before..i'll try it and let you know how I liked it.

Suma

Kribha said...

Dear sukanya,
First time here. I'm so glad I got to know you. You have a wonderful collection of recipes. Truly impressed by your photos.

Laavanya said...

Great recipe there Suganya. I will definitely try this and let you know. Excellent picture as always.

Sihi said...

Suganya, Paal Kozhukattai romba nanna irruku. I've always had the regular Kozhukattais, but never something like this.Cant wait to try this out!

Unknown said...

Your site is fabulous Suganya! Fantastic pictures as well. I feel that apart from cooking a tasty meal, one should also know how to present it and you are very good at it. Keep it up!
In our place i.e the malabar coast, this same dish is made of the roasted flour of an edible nut called "eanthu". Its the fruit of the eanthu palm.
Regards
Babita

Suganya said...

Babita, Thank you very much for your encouragement :). I think you are referring to elantha pazham. Is there an English name for it?

bharathi said...

hi...

i tiried this recipe with great enthu but when i mixed it with water+milk it just crumbled to peices....dejected i just had to throw it away...i cant figure out why it crumbled.

rgds jayshri

Suganya said...

Dear Jayshri,

I am sorry that this didn't turn out good. The reason the balls dissolved is because they were not cooked through. The presence of raw flour inside the rice balls is the reason they melted away. Next time cook the dough longer, until it starts to pull away from the sides. I hope this helps.

Unknown said...

looks awesome Suganya!

Unknown said...

Most of us learn through our mistakes - Kitchen is the best place to experiment dear - so don't sweat it - like my hubby has said in the past, everything is going to get mushed up in our stomach anyway ... :)

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