Ammani kuzhakattai(Tiny Rice Flour dumplings)

There are some dishes which you crave to eat when you get home from work, which will make you feel light and fulfill your evening hunger. I always had it for my evening as a tiffen when me and my brother used to come home from school. As this involves some preparation, sometimes we are asked by our mom to help in rolling out these small tiny kuzhakattai's as it is time consuming when a single person does it for the entire family. In the process of rolling I would drop a few in to my mouth as well. They are so tasty and it is an authentic TamBrahm recipe.The smaller you roll,the better the appearance,texture and taste.This is one of my son's favorite dish as well. he just craves for this...

There are two ways of making it -one using the store brought rice flour and the other one is the original method where we grind the soaked raw rice and make the dough for dumplings.In this post ,I have given the second method i.e the traditional way of making it.In future posts,I will give the store brought rice flour method as well.

Preparation time:35 mins

Serves:2

Ingredients:

Raw rice-1 cup

water-1 1/2 cups

salt-to taste

coconut/sesame oil-2 tbsp

hing-1 tsp

Grated coconut-3 tbsp

To temper:

Mustard -1 tsp

Jeera-1/2 tsp

Chopped green chillies-2 to 3 nos

Curry leaves-few

Procedure:

1.Soak the raw rice for a minimum of 1 hour and grind it in a mixer along with 1 1/2 cups of water.It should be thinner than dosa batter.

2.Heat a kadai add a tbsp of oil and pour the raw rice batter into it.Add salt and hing immediately.Keep the flame simmer and keep stirring.

3.There will be lumps formed as you mix with a laddle but keep stirring continuously,until you get a ball of rice dough as given in the image.

4.Switch off the flame.Let the dough sit for a min minute.Then apply oil on your palms and knead the dough so that you are able to roll small balls out of it.

5.Make tiny balls,preferably the size of a small gooseberry or may be smaller than that.Grease your hands with oil frequently so that the dough doesn't stick to your hands.

6.Once all the balls are rolled,steam the balls in a steamer or idly cooker for 10 minutes until the balls turn glossy on the outside.

7.Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a kadai(preferably coconut oil as it adds a unique and awesome flavor) and add the tempering ingredients.Once they splutter add the steamed ammani kuzhakattai's  and grated coconut to it and saute well.Switch off the flame and serve hot.

Tips:

*If you are doing it for the first time,use a non-stick pan to prepare the rice flour dough.

*Knead the dough properly before rolling it into small balls,as kneading increases the elasticity of the dough.

*You can also add chopped coconut pieces instead of grated coconut .But add it in step 2 itself along with hing and salt.