All in the name of the Lord !

Ganapathy pooja in south Indian homes, is not complete without Kozhakkattai-the Lord's favourite prasad. Though on the outside the 'kozhakkattai' looks like an uninteresting sweet, a taste of this white rice ball will leave you wanting for more!Early in the morning ,On Ganesh Chathurthi ,the lady of the house will get down to preparing this much awaited delicacy! She will prepare the poornam (or the stuffing) by cooking jaggery and coconut(grated) over slow fire .When almost done, a dash of powdered cardomom is added to the poornam and Voila -the stuffing is ready!Now for the next step- boiled hot water (along with a pinch of salt and a tsp of oil) is mixed with rice powder and made into soft dough. Now next comes the creation of kozhakkattai . This is one stage ,where the entire family willingly pitches in (even the tiny tots join, after all the more number of hands , the more number of kozhakkattais !)and it becomes a team effort. The palm is literally greased (no pun intended !) and rice dough is made into a small ball and then pressed flat and patted into a small circular disc.A spoonful of stuffing is kept on the rice disc and then gently closed . A lot of camaraderie is evident as family members tease one another, as kozhakkattais turn out in all shapes and sizes what with so many hands involved in the activity! Finally the last of the kozhakkattai is ready to go into the vessel for steaming . The kozhakkattai are placed in a perforated plate on a stand and water poured beneath, on the base . The vessel ( most of the time the pressur cooker is used,without using the whistle) is closed and the kozhakkattais are steamed for five minutes,cooled and removed onto a plate and offerd to the Lord during puja ,while everyone patiently waits for the rituals to be over so that they can lay their hands on this mouth watering delicacy! All in all everything is consumed in the name of the Lord!