Traditional Kolakattai/ modakam, snack

The picture on the left is the traditional 'kolakattai'/ modak that is made on Ganesh Chathurthi.

For the outer covering- Rice flour 1 cup means
2 cups water    2 tsp oil   1/4 tsp salt
Boil water, add salt & oil, thens tir in rice flr. & keeps stirring till it forms a lump. cover & keep it.

For traditional filling with coconut-
for 1 coconut grated      1 cup gur/ vellam/jaggery
add coconut & gur in a heavy pan with 1/2 cup water, keep stirring till it all the water dries up & it is completely dry & leaves the sides of the pan. Cool.

To make modakam/ kolakattai-
take a small portion of the dough roll it well it greased palm, then shape like a cup with your finger tips, keep some filling inside & shape it as shown. Make a few, then arrange it in idli plates, heat the cooker with some water, keep the plates in, cook for 7-9 minutes maximum. remove, cool slightly, then you'd be able to tilt the modakam on to a plate. For those who cook idli in microwave, this can be made in microwave too in 3-4 minutes.

The 2nd picture shows the salty filling-
normally this is made with vadai batter, which is steamed in idli plates for 10 minutes, then you've to cool & smash it well so that there are no lumps. then heat a kadai, add 2 tsp of oil, add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp udad dal,   green chili 2-3 cut fine, hing 1/2 tsp. Mix it with the crumbled cooked dough along with little salt. Thoe who don't want to add green chilies may add some red chili pdr. too. Cook it well for 2-3 minutes, remove & cool & stuff like the modak but it is shaped in oblong way.

For sweet stuffing with sesame seeds/ til/ Ellu
as it is shown in the last picture. Roast sesame seeds well, add gur/jaggery powder to taste & grind it in mixie. Store in air tight container. This can be done earlier too. This can be eaten plain, as it tastes good ( I just love it , so does my hubby). Til/sesame is a good source of calcium & gur/ jaggery is a good source of iron, so it is quite healthy.
Take some prepared outer filling/ dough, shape it like a cup, put the till filling, close it in oval. oblong shape. It is steamed like modak.