Paal Kozhukattai / Rice Flour Balls Cooked in Sweetened Coconut Milk

Paal Kozhukattai is one of my favorite Tamil festive Recipes. I would like to call them Tamil Rasagullas  🙂 Soft, melt-in-mouth Cooked rice flour balls swimming in Sweetened coconut milk is a comfort dessert for any feast. They are easy to make and taste heavenly when served warm. Before I go to the recipe, I would like to encourage you today that

With God, your problem—small or big—is never a problem because there is nothing too hard for Him!

There is nothing too hard for Him who made the heavens and the earth! With God, there is no such thing as a “big” problem. In fact, the “bigger” the problem, the “easier” it is for Him! In the feeding of the 5,000, it took only five loaves to feed the multitude. (Matthew 14:15–21) But in the feeding of the smaller multitude of 4,000, it took seven loaves. (Matthew 15:32–38)

In man’s scheme of things, it should take more loaves to feed more people. But this is not so with God. It took fewer loaves to feed more people. This is God’s way of telling us that the “bigger” the problem, the “easier” it is for Him. I am not saying that small problems are hard for God. But it is so encouraging to think that it is “easier” for God to heal cancers than headaches!  – (This is from Joseph Prince Daily Grace Inspirations)

Step by step tutorial here…

Here is what you will need..

1 cup Rice flour, I used ready made rice flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Cup Hot Water + 1/2 cup milk
2 Cups thin coconut milk
1 Cup thick coconut milk
6 whole cardamoms
1 tsp ghee
1/2 cup sugar, this can be adjusted

Preparations:

1) Prepare thick and thin coconut milk. Thick coconut milk is the first extract whereas thin coconut milk is the combination of 2nd and 3rd extract.

2) Powder sugar and cardamom together. Sieve them and keep aside.

Method:

1) Mix 1 cup rice flour + salt + 1tsp powder sugar + 1 Cup Hot Water + 1/2 cup milk in a non stick kadai without any lumps. Switch on the stove and keep stirring them on a low flame. This is the process of cooking the flour.

2) Stir constantly so that the batter thickens.

3) Rice flour does not have gluten – the glue that holds the dough together. So mixing water with rice flour will not make a dough, unlike wheat flour, which has gluten. So keep stirring until the dough leaves the sides of the pan. The endpoint of the flour-cooking is in the below picture.

4) Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl and add ghee.

5) Knead it into a soft dough with hands.

6) Apply little ghee in your fingers and roll them into small flour balls.

7) Boil thin coconut milk into a wide pan which can hold all the flour balls. The boil would happen in 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overboil as coconut milk curdles.

8) Once there is a good boil, add the flour balls slowly and cook it opened in a medium flame for the next five minutes.

9) Add the seived sugar cardamom mixture, give it a gentle stir until sugar is dissolved and simmer the heat for the next two mins. I added two cardamom pods extra as I love to have them 🙂

10) Finally add thick coconut milk and switch off the flame. Serve hot 🙂

My Notes:

1) Switch off the flame once you add thick coconut milk. Else it easily curdles.

2) Please note the flame levels I have mentioned in the recipe. That would help to avoid curdling of coconut milks at any point.

3) The dough before making balls should not be sticky. Sticky dough means uncooked dough.

4) Coconut milk can be replaced by using water boiled with ready made coconut milk powder as well.

Thin coconut milk – 1.5 cups of lukewarm water boiled with 15% of 50gms coconut milk powder pack

Thick coconut milk – 1 cup of lukewarm water boiled with remaining of the 50gms coconut milk powder pack

5) I have used sugar,you can replace with jaggery.

6) I have attempted couple of times to arrive at the delights in the above picture. So, please do write to me in case of any doubts, I can help you with my learnings.

Please do try them out and send me a picture. I will be glad to add to my FB Page 🙂

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi 🙂