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Upma Kozhukattai | Steamed Savoury Dumpling | Steamed Recipes

Kalyani
Upma Kozhukattai is a delicious savoury steamed dumpling made with broken rice and lentils. Perfect for a snack or dinner. Made for Ganpati festival too.
5 from 5 votes
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Festival Recipes, Naivedyam, Snack
Cuisine South Indian, Tambrahm, Tamilnadu Cusine
Servings 4 servings

Equipment

  • Steamer
  • Thick Bottomed Pan
  • Spatula

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup Homemade Broken Rice Rava or Short grained rice, See notes for more details
  • 3 Pigeon pea (Thoor Dal / Thuvaram Paruppu
  • 3 Dry Red chillies adjust spice
  • 1 TBSP Cumin Jeera / jeeragam
  • 15 Black peppercorns Milagu, Kalimirch adjust spice
  • 1/4 tsp Asafoetida Perungayam / Hing- a generous pinch, skip for Gluten Free
  • 1 tsp Salt or to taste
  • 1 sprig Curry leaves
  • 2 TBSP Coconut Oil can sub with GIngelly / sesame oil OR any neutral oil, not mustard oil
  • 3 TBSP Grated coconut do not skip
  • 1 tsp Mustard seeds kadugu, rai
  • 1/2 tsp Split black gram Urad Dal

Instructions
 

  • Blitz the dry lentil (Toor Dal) in a spice grinder to the same consistency (size) as of the Broken Rice
  • If using Homemade Rice rava, skip this step and proceed.
  • (If using Raw rice, Blitz the rice and Dal together for a few seconds each till you get medium sized grains)
  • Dry roast cumin and powder it along with black pepper and red chillies once in a spice grinder
  • Alternatively you can also blitz this along with the Toor Dal as we do.
  • Bring 2.5 cups of water to a rolling boil.
  • In a non stick pan (I used a handi kind of pot), heat the oil., Temper the mustard, urad dal, curry leaves and asafoetida.
  • Once the curry leaves wilt a bit, add the ground rice and dal – spice mixture and roast for a few minutes.
Add salt and check for spices.
  • Now add the boiling water and mix well. Cook covered for 10-12 minutes
till the rice is cooked but not mushy (this cooking time will vary depending on the quality of rice).
  • Add grated coconut and mix well.
  • Let the mixture cool a bit. Now grease your hands a bit with ghee / oil, and make small dumplings when the mixture is warm, but not completely cooled.
  • The consistency of the cooked rice-dal-spice mixture must be good enough to make dumplings without breaking (if required add a little more grated coconut for binding)
  • Steam in a Idli maker or on greased Idli plates for 10-12 minutes.
  • Check with a skewer or toothpick to see if they come out clean
  • Cool a bit and serve immediately with coconut chutney or any gothssu( Tamarind sauce).

Notes

Tips to make soft, delicious Kozhukattai:

  1. Use best quality short grained rice (sona masoori etc work). Basmati / fragrant rice doesn't work
  2. If using homemade broken rava (click here for the recipe), be sure to make a fresh batch for this recipe. This Broken Rava made at home makes the softest kozhukattai.
  3. Be sure not to skip the coconut & coconut oil in this recipe, the former adds softness to the dumplings, while the oil makes it aromatic. You can sub the coconut oil with sesame oil (or any other neutral oil)
  4. Make the dumplings while the upma mixture is still warm. If it turns too cold, you can't shape the dumplings
  5. Steam only for the time indicated in the recipe. Steaming it more makes it rubbery
  6. To re-heat leftover Upma Kozhukattai, place in microwave for 15-30 secondsor steamer (for about 1-2 minutes)
Keyword Festival Recipes, Ganpati festival, Gluten Free, Naivedyam, Pidi Kozhukattai, Steamed, Upma Kozhukattai
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