Vinayaka Chaturthi special Podi Ammini Kozhukattai recipe with step-wise pictures. Make this spicy ammini kozhukattai as festival food or just as a tea-time healthy snack!

The next in Vinayaka Chaturthi recipe series is a spicy kozhukattai – Podi Ammini Kozhukattai. Ammini Kozhukattai, also known as mani kozhukattai is made with the outer covering used for the usual kozhukattai, basically cooked rice flour. The small balls of the rice flour dough look like small white pearls and hence the name, mani/ammini kozhukattai. I first made Ammini Kozhukattai a few years back and ever since, I make it every time I make Idiyappam at home. The last batch of rice flour dough, which might not be enough to make full batch of idiyappam or leftover kozhukattai maavu can be easily converted into Ammini Kozhukattai.

As I was making my Ellu Kozhukattai, I had some rice flour dough/kozhukattai maavu left over. I didn’t plan for this recipe of Podi Ammini Kozhukattai and I believe it is a divine intervention that made this possible. I had an option to make some more sweet kozhukattai, but instead I decided to make my favorite spicy kozhukattai. While you can make to make it from scratch, most of the times this recipe comes in handy to use leftover dough. On the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, most of us offer a set number of delicacies to the Elephant God – it could be 3, 5, 7 or even 9. One trick that amma and I always follow is to make recipes that have common prep steps – that way you just prep once but use it for a couple or more recipes. It is usually true for Kozhukattai, as the rice flour dough is same whether you make sweet or spicy kozhukattai.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the Podi Ammini Kozhukattai recipe. It is pretty straight forward and really simple, if you don’t mind the time-consuming task of rolling out small balls of dough. If you have a lot of kozhukattai maavu, it can take a considerable amount of time to roll these small balls of dough. But I find this activity cathartic and calming. I take my sweet time making sure each small ball is smooth, mostly equal in size. If you are like me, you will surely enjoy this activity. Traditionally, ammini kozhukattai is tempered in mustard seeds, dried red chillies asafoetida and curry leaves, flavored with grated coconut. I chose to use my idli milagai podi to spice them up and it was really delicious. You could use any podi you have – dry coconut chutney powder, curry leaves chutney powder or even garlic chutney powder works well. Do give this recipe a try if you have any leftover kozhukattai maavu/dough.

How to make Podi Ammini Kozhukattai | Spicy Ammini Kozhukattai –

📖 Recipe

Detailed step-wise picture recipe of making Podi Ammini Kozhukattai | Spicy Ammini Kozhukattai –

To prepare the kozhukattai flour, bring water to boil along with ½tsp sesame oil and salt.

As the water comes to a rolling boil, switch off the flame and add rice flour.

Quickly stir it without any lumps. Add ½ teaspoon sesame oil and keep it covered for 5 mins.

Once warm enough to handle, knead it into soft, smooth dough.

Pinch small pieces of dough and roll them into small balls of equal size between your palms.

Repeat this with rest of the dough.

To steam the kozhukattai, grease idli plate and place the prepared kozhukattai without overcrowding. Steam cook for 5-6 mins and after 2 mins, remove from the idli plate.

Meanwhile, heat a pan with 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dried red chilli and as they splutter, add asafoetida and fresh curry leaves.

Add prepared ammini kozhukattai. Stir fry for a minute on low flame.

Now add chutney powder and grated coconut. Salt is optional as we have added it while cooking rice flour.

Mix well and remove from heat.

Serve hot immediately with tea/coffee!

Note –

You can use any leftover kozhukattai dough for this recipe.
Adjust chutney powder depending on the spice preference.
Any kind of chutney powder can be used. If you don’t have chutney powder - roast 1 teaspoon urad dal, 1 teaspoon chana dal, 1 dried red chilli and ½ teaspoon sesame seeds until golden and then powder it coarse/fine.

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