Neer Kozukattai & Neer Urundai | Water-Cooked & Steam-cooked version

Neer Kozukattai simply means the Water-Cooked Dumplings and Neer Urundai, in turn, means the Steam-cooked dumplings.

Neer Kozukattai is usually known as Chevva Pillayar Kozukattai or Avvaiyar Kozukattai which would be prepared during Tuesday poojas in the Tamil months Aadi, Thai, Maasi and has been the tradition in TamilNadu for many known years. But the thing is, Chevva Pillayar Kozukattai is made without salt and should be eaten by only women as men are excluded in the pooja. The Neer Kozukattai recipe which I post here is the salted version of Chevva Pillayar Kozukattai.

Neer Kozukattai is the one which I make often at home as we are the great fans of that simply superb recipe. It is super easy to make and super tasty to eat. My 3-years old little girl loves to make this tiny beautiful Kozukattai whenever I do which you will get to see in the visual treat.

Traditional Neer Kozukattai or Chevva Pillayar Kozukattai:

• It is prepared by grinding the soaked raw rice to a powder.
• To the rice powder, coconut and water are added to form a dough.
• The dough is then shaped into many tiny deflated balls and the balls are then water-cooked or steam-cooked.

My Version of Neer Kozukattai:

• Same as the traditional method with added salt in the dough to make it taste very delicious.
• The tiny dumplings are then water-cooked to get the perfect Neer Kozukattai.

Dos and Don'ts:

• While cooking the dumplings, the water may come up to the lid. So, fill only the half pot with water.
• The water should be at a rolling boil stage while adding dumplings or else the dumplings may break or dissolve in the water.
• Put one dumpling at a time or else they may stick with each other.
• Don't overcrowd the water with dumplings as the water could turn dense making the gooey water get glued to the dumplings.
• Cooking the dumplings in batches is a wise idea to follow.

Neer Urundai is the steam-cooked spicy dumpling which satiates the mid-meal hunger or could fit perfect as the evening snack.

Traditional Neer Urundai:

• Neer Urundai is the recipe which is usually prepared by grinding the soaked raw rice into a thin paste. The tadka is made and the thin paste would go into the pan with the tadka, get cooked over the flame until they combine to form a dough.
• The dough is then shaped to balls (Urundai in Tamil) and steam-cooked.
• For tadka, split dried red chillies are used for the heat.

My version of Neer Urundai:

• It completely differs from the usual follow-up procedure of  Neer Urundai (or Uppu Urundai).
• I usually reserve half of the Neer Kozukattai dough for making spicy Neer Urundai.
• To the rice+salt+coconut dough, the tadka is added. The dough is then shaped into balls and steam-cooked.
• For the tadka, instead of split red chillies, I add red chilli flakes which help distribute the heat throughout, making the balls Super Spicy. This is the reason why the colour of the Neer Urundai looks dull.

So, with the same dough, both the heavenly recipes could be made and devoted to Lord Ganesha. Try my recipes and you would just fall into the heavenly taste of them. The last Aadi Friday of 2020 and Ganesh Chaturthi is awaiting for you to try these divine Kozukattai recipes.

⏲Soaking Time: 1 to 2 hours
⏲Preparation Time: 20 minutes
⏲Water-Cooking Time: 10 minutes
⏲Steam-Cooking Time: 15 minutes
🍴Yields: 45 to 50 Neer Kozukattai & 18 to 20 Neer Urundai

Neer Kozukattai & Neer Urundai

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The water-cooked salty dumplings and the steam-cooked spicy dumplings prepared with raw rice and coconut as the base.

What to Use? [1 cup = 100 ml]

For Salty Neer Kozukattai & Spicy Neer Urundai dough :

• Raw rice - 3 cups 
• Freshly shredded coconut - 1 cup
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Water - 1/4 cup
  

For Tadka of Spicy Neer Urundai: 

• Coconut oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Channa dal - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - 1 tbsp (a sprig, chopped)
• Onion - 1 (small-sized, chopped)
• Red chilli flakes - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - a pinch

Steps Involved:  
For Making dough:

• Wash and soak raw rice for 1 to 2 hours.
• Drain off the rice completely and let it sit for 10 minutes. 
• Grind the drained rice into a coarse powder.
• Add freshly shredded coconut, salt & water to the rice powder and knead it to a soft dough.

 For Making Neer Kozukattai:

• Make the dough into many tiny flat deflated balls (or into balls).
• Fill half of the pot with water and bring it to boil.
• Add dumplings to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.
• Drain off the water and the Neer Kozukattai is ready. The water in which the dumplings are cooked can also be consumed. Yup! When the water is this much tasty, who says 'no' to drink?

For Making Neer Urundai:

• Add mustard seeds, channa dal, curry leaves, onion, red chilli flakes and a little salt to the coconut oil and make tadka.
• Add tadka to the dough and knead.
• Make Jamun-sized dumplings and steam-cook for 15 minutes.

Visual Treat: 

 Video link for "Neer Kozukattai & Neer Urundai" post: 

https://youtu.be/cdf0bl40ao4

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For comforting the easy understandability of the recipe, the step by step detailed procedure along with the picture is shown below:

Step-by-Step Procedure with Pictures

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How to Make?

For Making Dough:

• Take white raw rice in a bowl. Though any variety of raw rice can be used, Sona Masoori works best. 
  
  
  

• Wash and soak raw rice for about 1 to 2 hours. Don't soak for more than 2 hours as it may not form a powder while grinding.

• Drain off the water completely and let it sit for 10 minutes or so before grinding. You could transfer to a clean cotton cloth before grinding which I skip usually for this recipe.

• Transfer to a mixer and grind to a coarse powder.

• The coarse powder gives the perfect texture to the dumplings which we can feel heavenly during each bite. 

• Add freshly shredded coconut to the rice flour. Rice flour and coconut are added in the ratio 3:1. You could increase or reduce the quantity of coconut as per your desire. Fresh coconut loads the dumplings with great flavour.

• Add salt to the rice + coconut mixture. 1/2 tsp would be sufficient for the mentioned amount of ingredients. Or you could adjust as per your taste. True to say, Neer Kozukattai tastes awesome even without salt.

• Add 1/4 cup of water (or more if needed) to form a soft dough.

• Knead to get a soft dough. 
  
  
  

For Making Neer Kozukattai:

• Pinch a small portion from the dough, make it to a tiny ball and press gently at the centre to make it look like a deflated tiny ball. Or you could shape them to many tiny balls.

• With half of the dough, 45 to 50 tiny neer Kozukattais can be made possible. And the best thing is, half of them are prepared by my 3-years old little love. 

• Fill half of the pot with water and bring it to boil. The water should be in the rolling boil stage while adding dumplings. If not, dumplings may break or dissolve in the water.

• Add dumplings one at a time to the boiling water. Putting more than one at a time could bind the dumplings together. Also, don't crowd the water with dumplings as the water may turn thick making the gooey water get glued to the dumplings after taking out.

• Wait for the dumplings to get cooked completely. It would take just 10 minutes.

• Tasty neer Kozukattai is ready! Serve hot along with the water in which the dumplings are cooked.

For Making Neer Urundai:

•  Make tadka by adding Mustard seeds, channa dal, curry leaves and chopped onion to the coconut oil. Though any oil could be used, coconut oil or gingelly oil tastes best for this recipe. I always use coconut oil that lifts the taste of this recipe.

• Season with salt and add red chilli flakes for the heat. In the place of red chilli flakes, chopped green chillies or dried red chillies could be used. The tadka is ready now.

• Add tadka to the dough and knead.

• The dough should be soft to get the soft Neer Urundai. Add a little water if needed while kneading.

• Make Jamun-sized balls out of the dough. 

• Grease the idly plate with little oil and place the dumplings over it. You will get 18 to 20 Neer Urundai with half of the dough.

• Steam-cook the dumplings for 15 minutes.

• The soft, tasty and spicy Neer Urundais are ready! Serve hot with or without any side dips.

Visual Treat:

Video for "Neer Kozukattai & Neer Urundai":

 Tips:

• Coconut oil is what I prefer for the tadka which elevates the taste of Neer Urundai. Gingelly oil could also be used.
• The dough should be very soft to get perfectly soft Neer Urundai.
• Half-fill the pot with water and don't overcrowd the water with dumplings while making Neer Kozukattai.
• The water in which the dumplings are cooked can be consumed as well. Adding a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of gingelly oil to it would make it taste heavenly.
• Make sure the rice is powdered coarsely for the better texture and feel at bites.
• The red chilli flakes distribute the heat evenly throughout making the Neer Urundai super spicy. The chopped green chillies or the dried red chillies split into half could also be used.

Super-easy, Super-Tasty Dumpling Treats with a Single Dough!

Try these Dumplings for the last Aadi Friday of 2020 or Ganesh Chaturti &

Worship the Dumpling-loving God, Lord Ganesha!