Upma Kozhukattai / Upma Kozhakattai / Pidi Kozhukattai - Steamed Rice Balls

Upma Kozhukattai is one of my favourite childhood tiffin varieties. These steamed rice balls can be made in both sweet and salty taste. Its an excellent tiffin option especially for kids who refuse to enjoy upma as such.!!! Well, my mom would have tricked us and offered these balls when we were kids. I love both the versions of this upma Kozhukattai. Sweet balls can be served with few drops of melted ghee to make it more delicious whereas the salty balls can be served with a spicy chutney on its side.

Salt Upma Kozhukattai / Salt Steamed Rice Balls

Idly Rava / Broken Rice Rava - 1.5 Cup
Hing - A Dash
Salt - To Taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp
Cumin Seeds / Jeera - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Channa Dal - 1 tsp

To Grind :
Fresh Coconut Flakes - 1 tbsp
Green Chillies - 2 Medium
Cut Ginger pieces - 1/2 tbsp
Fresh Curry Leaves - 4 or 5
Water - As required to grind and make a paste

Method 

• You can make the broken rice rava at home start from scratch or can use the store brought Rice Rava / Idly Rava to make this upma balls.
• This time, I tried with store brought Idly Rava only and it turned out very good and tasty. But it cannot compete with the taste made using the home made rice rava. I always vote for homemade Rice Rava.
• Before starting, grind the paste with the ingredients as given above and keep it ready.
• In a big kadai / cooking vessel, add oil first.  When its heated, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, channal dal in succession.
• Then, add the grounded paste into the kadai / vessel. Stir them for a minute. 
• Add the rice rava into the vessel and mix them well. 
• Add 3 cups of water and required amount of salt at this stage into the vessel. 
• Allow them to cook on medium flame with the lid on.
• When its cooked, switch off the flame and allow them to cool down a bit.
• When its warm enough to make balls, take a lemon size upma and make small balls and arrange them on a wide plate. 
• Its wiser to apply a coat of oil on your hands and palms before making the balls which eases the process.
• After making the balls with all the cooked upma, arrange the balls on a steaming plate carefully and steam them for 5- 8 minutes on medium flame.
• You can steam them either using an Idly Steamer or any other steamer. 
• After they are steamed properly, serve them with a side of spicy coconut chutney or any spicy chutneys of your choice. 

SWEET KOZHUKATTAI / SWEET STEAMED RICE BALLS

Ingredients

Broken Rice Rava / Idly Rava - 1 Cup
Powdered Elachi / Cardamom Powder - 1.5 tsp
Jaggery - 3/4 of a cup
Water - Enough to make the Jaggery Syrup
Ghee - 3 or 4 tsp
Grated Coconut flakes - 1 tbsp
Ghee roasted cashew flakes - 1/2 tbsp ( optional )

Method of Preparation 

• In a cooking vessel / kadai, dry roast the idly rava on a medium flame with few drops of ghee.
• When you get a nice aroma, add 2 cups of water into the vessel and cook them on low flame.
• Meantime, make a jaggery syrup in a separate vessel by adding the jaggery and little water ( 1/4 cup ). The syrup is just the melted jaggery in water. So the syrup should be neither thick nor thin. It should be in melted form. Add the crushed cardamom powder and pour the jaggery syrup into the vessel and mix them thoroughly.
• After a minute, add ghee and fresh coconut flakes, roasted cashews into the vessel.
• Mix them well and switch off the flame.
• After its cooled little bit, make the sweet balls as we did earlier for the salt version.
• Steam cook them in an Idly cooker or any suitable steamer.
• After its cooked perfectly, sprinkle some drops of ghee over the sweet balls and serve hot.

Tips and Suggestions

• Steam the balls till you notice some sweats over the balls. I consider this as my checking point and switch off the flame. If we miss that, then the balls might get over cooked and get mushy. 
• While making the sweet balls, apply a coat of melted ghee on your palms and apply regular oil while making salty ones.
• I prefer to grind curry leaves, coconut flakes, green chillies everything and then add it as a paste just for my kids. Otherwise, they are patient enough to knock out every curry leaf, green chillies from the balls.