Upma Kozhakattai is a steamed rice flour balls with a bit of seasoning and coconut. This is served with a lentil -coconut chutney. A small chunk of jaggery is sometimes kept inside these balls, so that you bite into a sweet surprise in the center.

You’ll need:
1.5 cups Idli Rava ( u get in all grocery stores)
or
soak 2 cups of rice in water for 30 min and strain the water well and allow the wet rice to dry. Later, grind the rice coarsely.

2-3 small dried red chillies
2 T grated fresh / frozen coconut
1 tsp urad dhal
1 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
a small piece of jaggery

Water to cook the rava is used in proportion of 1:3, for one cup idli rava, use 3 cups water

1 tsp oil
1 1/2 tsp of salt to taste( your choice)

Method:
1.Heat 1 tsp oil in preferably a large non-stick pan. Splutter the mustard seeds. Add the urad dhal and fry till golden brown, and then saute the dried red chillies and asafoetida for a few seconds.

2.To this, add 4 1/2 cups of water. In the water, put in the coconut, jaggery(optional) and salt. Bring it to a rolling boil.

3. Keep the flame on sim, and add the idli rava little by little with constant stirring to avoid any lump formation. Stir the rava for 5-6 minutes like how you would make an upma. All the water must get absorbed and the resulting mass shouldn’t stick to your fingers.

4. Remove the ‘upma’ onto a plate/dish and cool off for 5-10 minutes. Do not over cool it. Take a big handful of upma and shape it into ovals / spheres. You will get roughly 14-15 such kozhakattais from 1 1/2 cups of flour. Arrange this in a steamer and steam them for 10 minutes or until a fork comes out clean.

5. Serve hot with lentil-coconut chutney and a nice cup of ‘extra strong’ filter coffee.