Vella Kozhakkattai / Sweet Modak

Preparation Time :  1 hour 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 50 minutes

Serving: Makes approx. 15 modaks

Ingredients

For the cover

Idiyappam flour – 1 cup

Water – 1 and 1/4th cup

Til Oil – 2-3 tsp

Salt – ½ tsp

For the Filling

Grated Coconut – 1 cup

Jaggery – 3/4^th cup

Cardamom – a pinch

Procedure

 

1. Boil the water with salt and oil.

2. When it is boiling add the flour little by little and mix continuously so that no lumps are formed.

3. When it becomes thick and comes together as a ball, switch off flame and let it rest for a while.

4. While it is still a little hot, make it into a soft dough and make small lemon size balls of the dough and set aside. Keep covered.

5. For the filling, first take a pan. Put the jaggery in it with water just enough to soak the jaggery. Switch on the flame and mix well so that the jaggery melts.

6. Filter the jaggery to remove any impurities.

7. Take the jaggery and let it boil.

8. When it reaches paagu (To test this – take a bowl of water. When the jaggery boils for minutes, add a drop of jaggery to the water and it should not dissolve. You should be able to form a small ball with the jaggery in the water) consistency. Keep testing till this consistency is reached.

9. Now add the grated coconut and cardamom powder and mix well till it becomes thick. Let it cool. Prepare small lemon size balls of this mix and set aside.

10. Grease your hands with oil and a little water. Shape the dough into small cups by pressing the center of the ball and expanding it in size. Make sure the cover is not too thick to get the real flavour of the stuffing inside.

11. Keep the stuffing inside and close the modak. If the dough remains don’t worry, I have a separate recipe for that.

12. Repeat this for all the modaks.

13. Grease a vessel / idli plates and place the modaks in it making sure they do not touch each other. This is to avoid them from breaking when you take them out after steaming.

14. Place the vessel in the cooker and steam it for 8 -10 minutes. Delicious modaks are ready for pooja neivedyam.