Tag Archives: jaggery sweets

My love for nutty jaggery brittles- 1. Ellu Mittai/Sesame Seed Brittles

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Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittle_(food)

 As per the above definition, normal brittles are made with sugar and water, mostly white sugar. 

Traditional indian brittles are made with jaggery. Hence, are a combination of health and taste. Kadalai urundai (peanut jaggery balls)/ ellu urundai (sesame jaggery balls)/ pori urundai (puffed rice balls)/ pottukadalai urundai (roasted bengalgram balls) are common combinations made with  jaggery syrup brought down to hard ball consistency.

Urundais are sweet balls, but the less time consuming version is the Mittai – Brittles. Kadalai Mittai and Ellu Mittai are squared brittles. When was the word ‘Mittai’ included in Tamil vocabulary is a matter for research.  Before the concept of urundais or sweet balls came into making, the kitchen guardians must have powdered the nut and jaggery in the ural -mortar and enjoyed the marriage of sweet-nutty flavour.

Making sweet balls or bars involve perfect string consistency of jaggery syrup. After continuous efforts, off-late my nut brittles are almost good. Before I got the right consistency to harden the syrup to be perfectly crispy , we used to munch chewy candies. The sticky  chewy candies were equally a joyous endeavour in the mouth…. reluctant to leave the teeth. 

I shall be ever grateful to my daughter and husband, who never hesitated to pull the chewy candy from teeth to tongue. It is because of their patience, that I have reached this stage, making crispy brittles.

For the recipe, as usual, chukku podi/dry ginger powder for easy digestion and elakkai podi/cardamom powder for flavour have been added.

These are a few brittles that I’ve tried …

  • Ellu Mittai/Sesame Brittle
  • Kadalai Mittai/Peanut Brittle
  • Dry fruit Mittai/Brittle

Let’s handle them one by one.

Ellu Mittai/Sesame Seed Brittle

Ingredients

  • ellu/sesame Seeds – 1 cup
  • vellam/jaggery – 3/4 cup
  • thanneer/water – 1/4 cup
  • chukku podi/dry ginger powder – 1 tsp
  • elakkai podi/cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

  1. I used white sesame seeds. Dry roast sesame seeds until golden brown and crispy
  2. Grease a plate for spreading the done mixture later
  3. Heat a pan, and let jaggery melt in water
  4. Strain the jaggery water in a clean hard bottomed pan.
  5. Add dry ginger powder and cardamom powder. Let it boil
  6. When the syrup reaches hard ball consistency – when you drop a little syrup in cold water, it should form a hard ball – switch off stove and add the roasted sesame seeds
  7. Mix well and immediately spread on the greased plate
  8. Level the presently sticky mixture and cut into squares with a sharp knife. 
  9. Remove pieces once it is cooled.
  10. Store in air tight container and relish the goodness of ths healthy brittle.

Num Kom-Sticky Rice Cakes with coconut filling/Khmer Kozhukkattai!

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Modhakam (http://modhakam-pillayar-chaturthi-special), Kara Kozhukkattai (http://pidi-kozhukkattai-karamsalted-rice-dumplings) and Inippu Kozhukkattai (http://inippuvella-k-kozhukkattaijaggery-rice-dumplings) for Pillayar Chaturthi have been made in the recent posts. So why not make this Pillayar Chaturthi a fusion festival – with a Tamil-Khmer festive sweet… that which also somewhat resembles our Poorana Kozhukkattai (Dumplings with filling) in preparation and filling!
Here is Num Kom – The Cambodian Sticky Rice Cake!

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Cambodia with the staple food rice has many varieties of food made with Rice, especially the Glutinous Rice or the Sticky Rice.

Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa; also called sticky rice, sweet rice or waxy rice) is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. It is called glutinous (< Latin glūtinōsus)[1] in the sense of being glue-like or sticky, and not in the sense of containing gluten. While often called “sticky rice”, it differs from non-glutinous strains of japonica rice which also become sticky to some degree when cooked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_rice

 

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Some of the main delicacies made for special occasions with the Sticky Rice are the different kinds of Rice Cakes. Special occasions can be Weddings, Khmer New Year or Pchum Ben (Festival devoted to worship of ancestors).

The Rice Cake varieties can be Num Kom,  Num Ansom Chrouk and Nom Ansom Chek. Num means Cake in general. Nom Kom is the Rice Cake with coconut and palm sugar filling. Ansom Chrouk has a filling mainly of pork fat and green bean and can be a main course.  Ansom Chek has a filling of banana and it is served as a dessert.

During Pchum Ben – where the ancestors of every family are worshipped – women of the household, young and old sit together and prepare Num Kom.  The Rice Cakes require a lot of time wrapping them in banana leaf – folded in a particular pattern.  While Num Kom – the coconut filled rice cake needs less time comparitively,  there are other fillings to the rice cake – like pork meat – cooking time of which is longer. So, they say the womenfolk sit chatting in the night making hundreds of rice cakes, while the different kinds of cakes get cooked for the next day ceremony.

Thanks to http://blog.aseankorea.org/archives/16079 – from which I could collect some interesting information about these Rice Cakes.

Special thanks to my friend and one of the pioneer bloggers of Cambodia at a very young age – Keonila of blueladyblog.com for helping me out in the search of more authentic information. Also patiently answering my doubts on the fillings of Nom Kom. She is one of the top 5 bloggers of Cambodia and a social media advocate. Thankyou Nila!

And all those other friends who may be reading this – do correct me when I am wrong on information – and please do not hesitate to share your thoughts. This would help me get a better insight into the traditions and culture behind the cuisine of Cambodia!

This Rice Cake could not have been prepared without the guidance and helping hands  of friend ‘D’, who played teacher in letting me learn this cake – with the taste and twist (literally) of banana leaves. Thank you ‘D’.
Num Kom

 

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Num Kom is a Rice Cake made with the outer shell of Sticky Rice with a filling of coconut and palm sugar, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed.

Originally palm sugar is used as sweetener. Since I did not have it, I substituted with the home made jaggery syrup which was available. Incidentally, when I made modhakam/poorana kozhukkattai on pillayar chathurthi, there was no jaggery at home as well in the Indian shop I get it from. I could only palm sugar instead. It was meant to be this way I suppose – Indian Kozhukkattai (Rice Dumplings) substituted with palm sugar and Khmer Kozhukkattai (Rice Cakes) with jaggery.

 


Ingredients (makes 7-8 num koms)

 

for the filling
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  • glutinous rice/sticky rice – 175 grams (1 cup – a little more or less)
  • grated coconut – 1 cup
  • sesame seeds – 3 tsp
  • jaggery syrup – little less than 1/2 cup
  • salt – a pinch
  • banana leaves to wrap

Method of Preparation

 

I. Preparation of Outer Shell/Rice Covering

 

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We decided to go for the traditional method of soaking rice and making a paste. The paste is strained in a netted cloth and the water content remaining in the paste would go. Then, hot water is added to somewhat dry dough to make it easy to wrap the filling inside.

 

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This was a flop with the cloth I had was thick and could not strain the water away.. Emergency!!!  Got some glutinous rice powder and mixed it with the rice paste and converted it into the required right consistency to make Num Kom

Keep aside.

 

II. Preparation of filling
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  1. In a wide pan, dry roast sesame seeds till slightly brown. Preferably black sesame – but I had white.
  2. Switch off the stove and add grated coconut and jaggery syrup
  3. If one uses palm sugar, it mixes well very fast and easily
  4. Frying more or making the filling thick and sticky as in south indian dumplings is not needed here
  5. Mix well and keep aside.

 


III. Preparation of Rice Cake

 

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  1. Make small balls of rice dough
  2. Flatten each to keep the filling inside
  3. Fill with coconut-sesame-jaggery filling
  4. Close and make a ball

IV. Folding the Rice Cake in Banana Leaf

1. Cut the banana leaves in 8 by 7 inches  (khmer food cooking tutorial: num kom’s (steam rice cake with coconut)

2. Wash the leaves well and wipe them clean with cloth

3. Fold each leaf vertically and give it a slightly cross cut

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4. The cut leaves look like this

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5. Fold it vertically – one fold

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6. Next fold – make it a ‘V’

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7. There would be two pockets – open the wider pocket

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8. Grease the leaf and place the Rice Cake inside

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9. Do not close it the same side where the leaf looks ‘V’ – but, fold the leaf to close the cake in the middle portion where there is a double slit – now, this is a tricky part I forgot to capture. I was learning to close it and was quite successful too. But no photos please. Shall try again for sure!

10. Done and the cakes are ready to be steamed.

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V. Steaming Num Kom

place the rice cakes randomly in the vessel
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  1. Boil water in a steamer
  2. In the container, place banana leaves as base. This prevents the num koms from sticking to the bottom of the vessel and also gives more banana leaf fragrance and flavour to the steamed cakes
  3. Arrange the prepared rice cakes. Be careful not to damage the shape
  4. Place more banana leaves on top and close the steamer with lid
  5. Steam for about 15 minutes
  6. Num Kom is ready

 

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Sounds so similar, feels so familiar – yet so different! This holds good to the cuisine connections of Cambodia and South India! Shall explore more…

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Entering Year 3! Paasi Paruppu Payasam/Dehusked Green Gram Pudding/Kheer

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paasi paruppu payasam

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The second year of blogging has not been a continuous writing affair… though there was no end to cooking affair! Too much into packing, shifting places, entering new places and faces, unpacking and settling has been quite tedious. When I look back, the previous year has been a slow-paced one… sometimes out of sight for a couple of months too. But I feel overwhelmed by the support I have received in spite of those long intervals.

NANRI – Thanks a ton – for understanding my absence for short periods!

During this period of settling down, the new subscribers that joined hands with me and my old friends who have been continuously keeping pace with my posts, have made me feel more guilty of not having settled sooner and not having posted more. I shall surely try to compensate on that this year.

As usual, let’s enter another year with a sweet dish. This is one of my favourite payasams, of course next to Adai Pradhaman (https://dosaikal.com/adai-pradhaman-ada-pradhaman).J aggery and coconut milk make a sweet dish heavenly! This is one such payasam/pudding/kheer, with dehusked green gram. Generally, in payasams or any sweet dish, nuts are roasted or fried in nei/ghee to add richness and flavour. Here, traditionally, thinly cubed coconut pieces are fried in nei/clarified butter and added to the completed payasam. The coconut pieces can be added with fried cashewnuts. But, they can taste good all alone without the nuts too! Here, I have avoided the nuts and added fried coconut pieces alone.

I have seen aachi and amma always use chukku podi – dry ginger powder when jaggery is used in sweets. Adding dry ginger to jaggery helps in avoiding acidity and gastric problems. When the dish has coconut milk to make it a heavy intake, chukku podi/dry ginger powder would aid in easy digestion too!
 

Paasi Paruppu Payasam

 

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Ingredients (serves 4-6)

  • paasi paruppu/dehusked green gram – 3/4  cup
  • vellam/jaggery – 1/2 cup
  • water – 1/4 cup to dissolve jaggery
  • thengai pal/coconut milk – 1 and 1/2 cup
  • chukku podi/dry ginger powder – 1/2 tsp
  • elakkai podi/cardamom powder – 1//2 tsp
  • thinly cubed coconut pieces – 3 tblsp or lesser as per preference
  • nei/clarified butter – 2 tblsp

 

Method of Preparation

  1. In a pan, roast dehusked green gram till golden brown, no oil or butter needed
  2. In the same pan, fry coconut pieces in clarified butter till golden brown
  3. Cook the gram in pressure cooker with enough water till done; do not overcook
  4. While the green gram is getting cooked in the pressure cooker, dissolve jaggery in just enough water (1/4 cup). Strain it to avoid impurities
  5. Now on, the preparation is really easy and simple – Strain jaggery into the pressure cooker with cooked lentil
  6. Add dry ginger powder and cardamom powder and bring the mixture to a slightly thick consistency; if the cooked lentil is already thick and with very less water and the addition of jaggery has made it thicker, not to worry – add very little water if needed. This might help blending jaggery well with the lentil
  7. When jaggery is well blended with cooked lentil, add coconut milk. I used canned coconut milk
  8. If the payasam is too thick in consistency, add 1/2 cup water to dilute it.  If one likes the thicker version, can avoid adding more water
  9. After coconut milk is added, too much cooking and boiling might make coconut milk curdle due to the presence of jaggery
  10. Bring to a single boil and switch off the stove
  11. Transfer to a serving bowl and mix the fried coconut pieces with nei/clarified butter
  12. Serve hot.

 


Note:

  1. Do not roast the lentil too dark as the payasam would lose perfect colour.
  2. Coconut pieces should be really thin.
  3. Keep track of the amount of water in cooking the lentil and soaking jaggery… too much water would result in too much cooking time in reducing the lentil-jaggery mixture before adding coconut milk.
  4. The quantity of jaggery here is for a mildly sweetened payasam. Those who prefer more sweetness in their payasam can add a little more jaggery
  5. The most important thing is the coconut milk. Adequate care should be taken not to curdle the milk.
  6. REHEATING: Do not reheat the payasam directly on stove as it may curdle or the lentil would get burnt at the bottom. Heat slightly in microwave or Boil water in a vessel and place a steel bowl of payasam to heat up.

  

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Wait..Wait…

This is not as complicated as the points mentioned above! But actually, just take care of the coconut milk alone.

If one notices, I have emphasised a bit too much on water. It is just to say that one need not panic if lentil has less water or more water. Add more water wherever needed and incase of excess water, boil it to bring to required consistency. Just one thing to remember, all alterations of boiling should be before coconut milk is added.

If lentil is overcooked, not to worry. This payasam tastes good with overcooked lentil too! Personally to me, doesn’t make big difference. The taste of coconut milk with jaggery takes care of everything.

One last thing….
Forgot to reduce water before adding coconut milk…… not to worry again!  Instead of a bowl, serve in a tumbler/glass as we do at home in Tamilnadu!!

The Tricky Athirasam!

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***Updated on 03rd November 2016
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Deepavali as we know is marked by the sweets and savouries made for the occasion. The day of Deepavali starts with the early morning oil bath, new dresses, poojai with the – ever tricky athirasams. Athirasams are fried delicacies made of rice flour and jaggery. The texture of athirasams depend on the jaggery syrup and quality of rice flour. Generally, raw rice is soaked and dried at home and powdered, then used with jaggery syrup to make this exotic sweet. But rice flour from the store (fine quality) can also be substituted. The result might not be the best. I have used rice flour from shop – the shop did not have raw rice but had rice flour – hence I opted to settle with that.

Athirasam as the name suggests means very tasty or might be ‘x’ factor in taste! It certainly has it. All other sweets and savouries are prepared the day before Deepavali and Athirasams are a morning poojai affair. At my parent’s home on the Deepavali morning, as children we would be busy trying the new outfit/outfits and enjoying sparklers and crackers. So, I did not really have the experience in helping or making athirasams  – it was restricted to tasting alone.

After marriage, specially at my husband’s granny’s (paatti) home, I could be part of the athirasam making team of youngsters! The chief cook is always the octogenarian or nonagenarian granny – she doesn’t know her age – but calculating through her first son’s age, she could be in her nineties, but by her active cooking abilities – this is difficult to admit.  She makes flat athirasams on banana leaf, and guides her helpful daughter-in-laws to fry them to perfection, and other grand-children would be pressing excess oil out of the hot athirasams… This was thoroughly a watcher’s delight! First time, I joined the children’s gang to press out oil (atleast a hundred athirasams would be fried); Next deepavali, I graduated or got a double promotion sitting near paatti (grandma) to make flat athirasams on banana leaf. She wouldn’t allow me in front of the oil stove to fry!

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Making athirasam was so easy this way…but to make it alone for the first time is quite a difficult one. Making the dough for athirasam is a very delicate work which has to be done with caution. If the consistency of the jaggery syrup is not right, the athirasams  might break inside oil or turn out strong enough to break your enemys’ teeth! Being a high level optimist, I felt I was quite lucky this time – (oh, I don’t mean breaking anyone’s teeth but talking about athirasams) though not perfect as amma’s or picture perfect as paati’s athirasams – they tasted good enough though didn’t look the most perfect!

They were not hard but surely lacked the oily glow, one of the special features of athirasams. I didn’t know whether I should be happy about the less oil texture or worry about the missing originality… Then, I decided I would worry about the latter. The reason behind the not-so-good outcome might be the quality of rice flour or the more likely culprit – consistency of jaggery. I am going to try and rectify these known mistakes. Suggestions regarding this are always welcome. But since this is the proven right recipe by amma and paatti for making athirasams…might be you get it better than mine! Next time, I am going to try with raw rice from scratch…ofcourse when it is available in the Indian grocery shop  (better athirasams in the near future).

***Updated on 03rd November 2016
***The next time of good Athirasams arrived recently, from Athai/Aunt, who gave me a perfectly done dough to be stored for months. This has been a loving way of making Athirasam available all the time,  when you are out of your home town. The prepared dough has been stored in the refrigerator. I follow these simple steps for the true joy of Athirasam.

a. I take the required dough out

b. place it in a warm place to bring it to normal temperature

c. Mix very little warm milk to make a smoother dough

d. Fry in hot oil

e. Squeeze the oil out

f. Serve and enjoy tasting every bit of it.

I have certainly graduated with my paagu – syrup in making perfect groundnut or sesame or dry fruit brittles. Athirasam shouldn’t be very far off. But, when I had the opportunity of relishing Athirasam through the caring hands of Athai, didn’t miss the chance.

Nanri Athai.***

Athirasam

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Ingredients (makes approximately 10 athirasams)

  • arisi maavu/rice flour – 1 cup
  • thuruviya vellam/grated jaggery – 1 cup
  • Elakkai podi/cardamom powder – 1 tsp
  • chukku podi/dry ginger powder – 1/2 tsp
  • yennai/oil – for frying

Method of Preparation

  1. Heat jaggery with 1/4 cup water in a vessel to dissolve
  2. Filter when jaggery is dissolved and make a syrup
  3. The syrup should be single string consistency – When the jaggery is boiling well in the vessel – keep a bowl of water and add a few drops of the syrup. The drop should settle in water and one should be able to make a soft ball out of it – it should not be too sticky. This is the right consistency of syrup.
  4. Turn off the stove.

Making dough

  1. Add rice flour to jaggery syrup and mix with a ladle. There should be no lumps
  2. Do not wait for the dough to become stiff. One can stop adding rice flour if the dough becomes pasty
  3. Jaggery stiffens the dough after a while and hence the dough should be a little sticky
  4. Keep the dough closed overnight.

 Frying Athirasams

  1. Next morning, heat oil in an iruppu chatti/kadai
  2. Apply little oil on an aluminium foil, take a small ball and press it even into flat discs with greased fingers

  1. Deep fry one by one till golden brown
  2. Depending upon the colour of jaggery, athirasams can also be dark brown – mine was done from the darker variety of jaggery
  3. Soon after athirasam is removed from oil, place it on a dabara/kattori and press it with another dabara/kattori to squeeze out excess oil. This helps  in flattening the athirasams

Store in containers. Athirasams become softer after a while.

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Tip:

  1. If the dough thickens or is stiff after 12 hours – add 1 or 2 tsp of curds/yoghurt and knead well to bring it a soft dough consistency.
  2. Some might also add milk instead of curds.
  3. If one finds the sweetness of athirasams less or more, texture of athirasams soft or hard, can be altered in the next attempt! There is always another chance!!

I wish everyone a very HAPPY DEEPAVALI!

Susiyam – Deep fried lentil-jaggery sweet balls!

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Susiyam – (nothing to do with yummy sushi) is a festival sweet – especially made for deepavali. It is popular by the name susiyam in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi. In Chennai and nearby areas it is called sooyan. In Kerala, it is known as sugiyan with slightly different combination of dal or the outer batter.  These are bengal gram and jaggery balls, dipped in all-purpose flour and deep-fried. One can also store them for a couple of days.

Susiyam

Ingredients (makes approximately 30 susiyams)

  • kadalai paruppu/channa dal/bengal gram – 1 cup
  • jaggery – 3/4 cup
  • cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
  • dry ginger powder – 1/2 tsp
  • all-purpose flour – 1 cup
  • salt – a pinch
  • vegetable oil – for deep-frying

 

flour, lentil and jaggery syrup

 

cook lentil and jaggery into a thick paste

 

make small balls

 

Method of Preparation

  1. Cook kadalai paruppu till just done with little water. It should not be overcooked
  2. Mash well with a ladle
  3. Boil jaggery with very little water in a vessel. Let jaggery dissolve well (to strain mud in the jaggery)
  4. In a hard bottomed vessel, take mashed paruppu and strain the jaggery into it
  5. Add cardamom powder and dry ginger powder
  6. Cook well till it becomes a thick paste
  7. Make small balls and keep them aside
  8. Mix all-purpose flour with salt and water to make a thick batter
  9. Heat oil in an iruppu chatti/kadai
  10. Dip each ball in the flour batter and fry them till golden brown
  11. Take them out in a tissue to absorb excess oil.

 

the fabulous five!

 

Note:

  1. 1 tsp rice flour can be added to all-purpose flour to make susiyams crisper.
  2. The balls should be coated well with the batter, or else the paruppu mixture might spread in the oil. Hence, batter should be a little thicker.
  3. When the oil is hot, the susiyams would turn golden brown very soon. Be careful to take them out of the oil in right time.

 

Modhakam – pillayar chaturthi special

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The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi or the birthday of the Hindu deity Ganesha is associated more with the state of Maharashtra in India. It is believed that Lord Ganapati was the family deity of the Peshwas. After the end of Peshwa rule, Ganesh Chaturthi remained a family affair in Maharashtra from the period of 1818 to 1892.

In 1893, Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak transformed the annual domestic festival into a large, well-organized public event. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh Chaturthi).  

Lord Murugan is the God of the Tamils. He is referred to as ‘Tamil Kadavul’. Archaeological findings of pottery and relics in several places in Tamilnadu, particularly in Adichanallur, had ideographic inscriptions of this name and show signs that Murugan worship was prevalent at least as early as 10th century B.C, if not earlier.

Lord Murugan is also associated with Ahmuvan, an Indus Valley Deity.

According to noted epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan, the ideographs signify a brave warrior capable of killing evil beings to save the devoted. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murugan).

So, when did ganesha/vinayakar or pillayar worship come to Tamilnadu? There are many versions that lead us to historical references.

1. It is popularly said that ganesha was brought into Tamilnadu after the Vatapi War.  

Narasimhavarman I was a Tamil king of the Pallava dynasty who ruled South India from 630–668 CE. He avenged his father’s defeat at the hands of the Chalukya king, Pulakesi II in the year 642 CE.

 Pulakesi II, a renowned early Chalukya king, had previously raided various northern Pallava provinces and forts. However, he was unable to capture the Pallava capital of Kanchipuram. This led to a long conflict between the Chalukyas and the Pallavas.

Narasimhavarman defeated the Chalukyas in several battles, including one at Manimangalam 20 miles to the east of Kanchipuram. Encouraged by this victory, Narasimhavarman led his army along with his general Paranjothi and invaded Vatapi (Vatapi was the name of Badami the chalukya capital situated in present day Karnataka) successfully defeating the Chalukya king Pulakesi II in 642 CE. He returned victorious to Kanchipuram, and was given the title Vatapikondan (one who destroyed Vatapi).

His general Paranjothi was known very well for his devotion to Lord Siva and as one of the 63 Nayanmar saints, is said to have indeed personally destroyed the city of Vatapi under the command of Narasimhavarman I. He is also known as ‘Siruthonttar’. (http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/NarasimhavarmanI)

It is generally assumed that Ganesha was brought to Tamilnadu by Siruththondar. After the victory over Chalukyas in Vatapi, he brought back a statue of Vinayaka. This statue, he placed in the Siva temple of his home town – Thiruchenggattangudi. In Thiruchengattangudi, even today the vinayakar is called Vatapi Ganapathi.

2. Whether the Thiruchengattangudi Vatapi Vinayakar was the first to have come to Tamilnadu is still controversial. The rock-cut Ganesha- the Karpaga Vinaayagar of Pillaiyaarpatti fame is earlier than the period of Siruththondar. (www.visvacomplex.com/GanesaWorshipInTamilNadu) 

3. Beyond these facts, there is another instance where the name Ganapati is referred to in literature – in Appar Thevaram.

Among the 63 Nayanmar’s of Saiva Bhakti literature, Appar or Thirunaavukkarasar holds a special place. A Saivite by birth, he embraced Jainism in his early years. Later, after the intervention of his sister Thilakavathiyar, Lord Siva made him realise Saivism and he became an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva.

The Jain leaders did not like the return of Thirunaavukkarasar to Saivism. They approached the then Jain King Mahendra Varma Pallavan to punish him. Appar antagonised the Jains and the Pallava emperor, Mahendra Varman I. The king tried in many ways to punish and kill appar.

After some failed attempts, the king ordered to tramp Thirunaavukkarasar by the Royal elephant. Thirunaavukkarasar with heart filled with devotion for Siva,  sat down and sang the hymn which starts –  

Sunna ven sandhana chchaandhum sudar thingat chuulaa maniyum….

and ends –
Anjuvadhu yaadhondrum illai anja varuvadhum illai

(we are not afraid of anything. There is nothing that can frighten us.)

The elephant instead of tramping on him saluted him with its trunk. In one of these hymns, appar mentions

‘kalamalak kittuth thiriyun ganapathi yennun kalirum’

Here, there is a mention of Ganapati.

This ‘anjuvadhu yadhonrum illai’ hymn predates Siruththondar’s invasion of Vatapi by at least 30 years. (www.visvacomplex.com/GanesaWorshipInTamilNadu). For more details on thevaram and nayanmar saints visit www.shaivam.org./tamil/thiru04.html. This website gives the hymns of all nayanmar saints in detail.

Appar sang these hymns in front of King Mahendra Varman, the father of Narasimhavarman – under whom Siruthondar brought Vatapi Ganapathi to Thiruchengattangudi. King Mahendra Varman too returned back to Saivism.

4. The rock-cut Pillaiyaar of Mahipaalanpatti is also very ancient and is quite unique. There is no other statue like it, in Tamilnadu. Mahipaalanpatti is known by the name Poongunram in Sangam ages. This was the home-town of kaniyan poongunranaar – one of the great poets of sangam literature. (www.visvacomplex.com/GanesaWorshipInTamilNadu).

I could not find more details about the Pillayar in Mahippalanpatti in the net. There are only geographic references to the place and not the temple.

Now, back to cooking! Ganesh Chaturthi or Pillayar Chaturthi – birthday of Lord Ganesha fell on 1st of September this year. It is a late post on that issue – but better late than never!

Pillayar Chaturthi or Ganesh Chaturthi is marked by modhakam – coconut jaggery filled dumplings – lord ganesha’s favourite. Waking up early and making 108 modhakams used to be the duty of children guided by amma. The exotic smell of roasted coconut mixed with jaggery would wake us up. After a quick hair wash, no solid food before puja – only coffee, tea or milk, we would start making modhakams.

When 108 is done and everything else ready for puja – more than ganesha, our tummies would be longing for the steamed white modhakams. Ofcourse, after distribution of modhakams in the neighbourhood, the whole day is there to finish the wonderful, jaggery syrup flowing sweet balls!

 

Modhakam (approximately 20 dumplings)

Ingredients

For the filling

  • coconut – one half portion
  • grated jaggery – 1/2 cup
  • dry ginger powder – 1/2 tsp
  • cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp

For the flour dough

  • rice flour – 200gms
  • hot water – 200ml
  • gingelly oil – 2 tsp

Method of Preparation

Filling

  1. Take grated coconut in a kadai and roast it slightly
  2. Coconut need not be roasted till golden brown
  3. In a pan, melt jaggery with 1/4 cup water
  4. Wait till jaggery melts and the mixture bubbles up
  5. Bubbling up of jaggery and water is the right consistency to be added to roasted coconut
  6. Strain the jaggery syrup to coconut and fry till coconut absorbs most of the water
  7. Add dry ginger powder and cardamom powder
  8. Be careful not to thicken the filling too much as jaggery would tighten further more after it is cooled
  9. For the right consistency – press the mixture with a ladle – there should be a little thick syrup which oozes out
  10. Filling is ready

roasting coconut

coconut jaggery filling

Dough for dumplings

  1. Boil water in a vessel
  2. Add 2 tsp of oil to water
  3. In a bowl, take rice flour and pour boiled water on it
  4. Mix it well initially with a ladle and then make it smooth with hand
  5. Dough is ready

Preparation of Modhakam

  1. Grease your palm with very little oil
  2. Take enough dough to make a small ball
  3. Flatten the ball and spread it on the palm
  4. Keep a tsp or just enough filling (easy enough to close the dumpling without the filling peeping out)
  5. Close it (see picture)
  6. Either leave it as a ball or make a sharp tip (picture)
  7. Shape can be as per one’s preference (we even used to make ganesha’s ears by folding the dough in the shape of ‘D’)

spread dough on palm and place filling

close the dumpling

 press and close the tip for a better shape

 nearly perfect

 

Steaming Modhakams

  1. Take an Idli Kopparai/Idli Cooker or any Steamer
  2. Boil water till the required level
  3. Oil the moulds and place the dumplings/modhakams
  4. Place the mould in the steamer and steam for 15 minutes

modhakams in rice kopparai

steamed modhakam

Modhakams are ready to be served!