Sri Ganesha Chaturti Prasaadams - Ellu Poorna Kozhukattai - A Sweet Dumpling With Sesame Seeds And Jaggery Filling

 ELLU POORNA KOZHUKATTAI

                                                 

Lord Ganesha's happy face - Prasanna Vadanam - looks radiant with grace when His devotees offer Him His favourite Kohukattai / Modakam. Kozhukattai is the first and foremost among the various other sweets prepared on Ganesha Chaturti day.

Tengai poorna kozhukattai ( a dumpling with coconut and jaggery filling ) is the traditional sweet prepared for Ganesha Chaturti. Some times Ellu Poorna kozhukattai ( dumpling with sesame and jaggery filling ) is also prepared for variety. The method of preparing both the kozhukattais are the same except that the fillings are different.

The dough for the outer covering of the kozhukattais are usually prepared by cooking the rice flour in water. Portions of the dough are shaped into cups, stuffed with the sweet filling, sealed and then steamed.

Here is another method where the raw rice flour is only mixed with water to make the dough. Portions of the dough are flattened on the palm and filled with the poornam ( Sweet filling ) and sealed. Then  the raw kozhukattais are directly cooked in  boiling water.

                                                  

INGREDIENTS

Rice flour - 1 cup

oil - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 pinch

Sesame seeds - 3/4 cup

Grated dry coconut ( copra ) - 2 tbsps

Jaggery - 3/4 cup

METHOD

1. Dry roast sesame seeds till you get a pleasant aroma.
2. Cool the roasted seeds and grind with dry coconut gratings and jaggery into a slightly coarse powder.

3. Make plum size balls out of the ellu poornam .The oil in the sesame seeds and the sticky jaggery will enable the balls to hold.

                                                 

4.Mix rice flour, salt and oil in a bowl and make a soft dough adding water little by little.

5. Pinch a small lemon size ball from the dough, flatten it on your palm and place a ball of poornam in the middle.

6. Gather the edges together and seal the poornam with a peak.

                                                  

7. Set a wide mouthed vessel with 1/2 lit of water adding 1/2 tsp of sesame oil  on the stove and switch on the flame.                          

8. In the mean while make a batch of 6 , 8 or 10 kozhukattais depending on the size of the cooking vessel.

9. Gently drop the kozhukattais one by one into the boiling water.

10. Boil for 5 minutes . Use a spoon and slightly prod the kozhukattais so that they do not  'sit' at the base of the vessel for long.

10. Cook for 5 more minutes till the cooked kozhukattais start floating up.

                                                  

11. Remove the kozhukattais gently using a perforated ladle and drain them.

                                                  

Offer the delicious Ellu Poorna Kozhukattais to Lord Ganesha and enjoy the prasaadam along with His blessings.

The benefits of doing business locally - do you really know your neighbor?

I am continually amazed by how little I know about the businesses that I drive past on a weekly basis... and trust me that I am an unusually inquisitive individual!  Sometimes, giving me insight can be as simple as hanging a sign in front of the business or updating the existing sign to include a bit of what they do or benefits of stopping in.

Whereas Brandom Cabinets does not have a street that is well traveled on a main thorough faire, our signs let visitors know that they are in the right place.  Still, relatively few people in our small town are aware that they have a cabinet manufacturer in their back yard!  Of course, a great many of our staff members live in the immediate area and spread the work of their employment to friends and family... but how well do you know your neighbor?


Brandom's heritage of providing quality wood cabinetry to Designers and Builders through our network of Dealers stretches back more than 58 years.  When we visit conventions and tradeshows like KBIS (the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show - http://www.kbis.com/) we are pleasantly surprised by how many visitors have heard of our small to mid-sized company.  Based about 1 hour south of Dallas, TX we are a neighbor to many kitchen & bath showrooms, builder headquarters, etc. in the regional area.  Recently, Brandom Cabinets was host to the business leaders in our town of Hillsboro, TX where we were able to showcase our manufacturing capabilities and share a bit about our workforce.  We informed them that we offer local pick-up for regional customers to save shipping costs, technical support in the field for installation questions & warranty help for issues within driving distance, and sales support and training from our sales management for new Dealers.  Just mentioning these few benefits, they could see why getting to know their neighbor just might benefit them with more than just being able to borrow a cup of sugar!


Our current initiatives include updating our popular website (www.brandom.com) to include facility photos, location mapping, and more information about employment with Brandom.  Do you know any neighbors that might benefit from knowing us?  Let them know that they can follow our Blog or get additional information on our website.  Be sure to bookmark our website to re-visit us after our changes are posted to become better acquainted with Brandom... who knows, we just might be your neighbor!

Black N White - Wild or Indian Rice

Black and White Wednesday

I had been noticing this event for a long time and did want to participate atleast once..but did not get idea of what picture to take. Today I was just going through my pantry searching for something and found this wild rice...sot thought why not take a pic of this as it is naturally colored black and white and I don't need to do any camera tricks ;-, sounds easy right!

Ok, let me introduce the owner of this beautiful event, Susan of  "The Well-Seasoned Cook" started this event and love this and admire all the great photographers out there!

I would also like to mention some useful information about this wonderful WILD RICE or otherwise called as "INDIAN RICE".

Nutrition:

Almost always sold as a dried whole grain, wild rice is high in protein, the amino acid lysine and dietary fiber, and low in fat. Like true rice, it does not contain gluten. It is also a good source of the minerals potassium and phosphorous, and the vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin.