Paal Kozhukattai

PAAL KOZHUKATTAI is one of the many traditional sweets of Karaikudi. Am a huge fan of this. Whenever my mom makes this, it becomes my meal the entire day. Its actually not too sweet and it can be stored in the fridge for upto 2 days. Don't be alarmed by the numbers of pointers in the end of the recipe. This sweet is really easy, just three major ingredients and I got it right the very first time. 

You Will Need:
Cup of Rice Flour plus 2 tbsp 
2 Cups of Boiling Water 
Cup of Jaggery 
1/2 Cup of Water
Cup of Thick Coconut Milk
2 Cardamon Pods

The Cooking:

Now, in a bowl put the rice flour and slowly pour in the boiling water and mix well with a wooden spoon. It will come together quickly and the dough will start to come off the sides of the bowl. Take a small part of dough and see if its not sticking to your fingers. Now make very small balls out of it. Steam these for 5 - 10 min and keep aside.

Heat a pan on high heat and add the Jaggery and water. Let the Jaggery completely melt in the water. Once it boils, strain the jaggery and pour it back in the pan. Once the Jaggery starts to boil toss in the kozhukattai. In a small bowl mix 3/4th of the coconut milk with 2 tbsp of rice flour and add it to the jaggery. Bring the heat down and pour in the remaining coconut milk and cardamom pods. Let the paal kozhukattai boil once and take it off heat. 

Important Pointers:

• Use hard plastic bowl to mix the rice flour. Metal bowls will become hot once you start adding the boiling water. 
• Making Kozhukattai with boiling water makes them really soft. 
• Make the kozhukattai balls very small. Smaller than the size I have made for better taste.
• Make sure the kozhukattai don't stick together while steaming. If they do gently pull them apart.
• There is an equipment available in all departmental stores which has stencils of different shapes that can be used to make the kozhukattai. If you don't have one just simply make small balls like mentioned in the recipe.
• You must strain the jaggery once or twice as they tend to have grains of sand and you definitely don't want them in your dessert.
• You can use sugar in place of jaggery but jaggery gives better taste.
• Don't add too much of water while making the coconut extract. It needs to be bit thick. 
• The dessert will be runny while hot but they will start to thicken in room temperature. 
• If the dessert is too runny even at room temperature, add little rice flour to little water and pour into the paal kozhukattai and boil once. 
• If the dessert is too thick at room temperature then pour in required BOILING water and mix well.

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Happy Cooking!