Kozhakkattai

Every Tamil Brahmin would have heard this song - "Amma , amma kozhakkattaikku kannum undo di?"
Translation: Mummy, does kozhakkattai have eyes?
The story goes likes this.
A mother made kozhakkattai for her many kids before going for her afternoon nap. The children were told, they must each take a fixed number of pieces. But it turns out that the elder ones over ate and they dunk a frog into the gruel to tease the younger one. So when the youngest one opens the lid of the vessel he sees 2 eyes peering at him. He runs to his mother with this question.

This is a very traditional dish made with a Kerala special rice - Puzhukkal ari, or parboiled rice. Rice is ground with coconut and salt into a very thick paste and balls of paste are boiled in of water.
The result is like dumplings in thick soup. These are had with thick chutney.

My mother-in-law, Mrs.Rajam Ganapathy, makes excellent kozhakkattai.And this is her recipe.

Yield - 20 kozhakkattai
Ingredients :
Parboiled rice / Puzhukkal arisi / brown chemba rice - 1 & 1/2 cups
Coconut - 1 cup
Salt
Water

Wash and soak the rice in water for minimum 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Use a wet grinder for best results.
Grind the soaked rice with minimum / almost nil amount of water.

When it is coarsely ground, add the salt and coconut.

Grind for another minute and take out this thick paste from the grinder.

Boil 6 large cups of water with a little salt in a deep vessel.
Make small balls of the rice paste

Add each ball into boiling salted water.

The water must be always simmering.
The color of the water and the balls also changes.

Cook for 15 - 20 minutes and run a knife through one kozhakkatai. If knife comes out almost clean, then your kozhakkattai is done. Otherwise boil for another 10 minutes.

If your kozhakkatai disintegrates, then you have added too much water while grinding.
Serve with chutney of your choice.