PAAL KOZHUKATTAI

Ingredients:(Serves 3 - 4 people)

• Idly rice - 1 cup
• Jaggery grated (vellam) - 1 cup (I used minimal sweet. Sweet lovers could use more if they want to.)
• Water
• Salt and Pepper - to taste
• Oil - 1 or 2 tspns
• Rice flour - 1 tspn

Recipe:

1. Batter Preparation: Soak Idly rice for 4 to 5 hours in water. Then grind it very nicely. That is very important. Add very little salt to the batter.
2. Dough Preparation: Heat 1 or 2 tspns of oil in a pan. Add the nicely ground batter and stir till it turns into smooth dough. It may be difficult to stir at the end. Keep the stove in medium heat and stir to avoid burning the bottom.
3. Make dumplings: Pinch a small amount of dough and shape them in to small round balls. Season your hands with little oil while making balls to avoid the dough from sticking.
4. Jaggery syrup prepartion: Heat grated Jaggery and a cup of water in a vessel. Once the jaggery is completely dissolved in water, strain the jaggery syrup to remove impurities from the jaggery.
5. Add 1 to 2 cups of water to the jaggery syrup, and bring this to boil. Dissolve the rice flour in water and add this to the jaggery syrup to thicken it.
6. Add the dumplings to jaggery syrup little by little. Keep the stove in medium heat till the dumplings are cooked and blended with the jaggery syrup.