Hi all,
After nei appam , i am sharing here today another Ganesh Chaturthi special dish . If you are looking to make something simple,tasty n healthy .. then this popular South Indian dish fits the bill perfectly. They are called “Ammini Kozhukattai / Mani Kozhukattai ” in Tamil Nadu and ” Undrallu Guggillu “ in Andra Pradesh. They can be prepared in both sweet and spicy versions. I never miss to make this on Vinayaka chathurthi day , as for me its one of the easiest n yummiest dumplings. Everyone loves it in my home…

Ammini kozhukattai’s are basically mini rice flour dumplings that are steamed cooked and later tossed in a tempering. This is very healthy and light as very little amount of oil is used. These Ammini Kozhukattai make a very addictive snack or light meal at any time of the day .The most time consuming and boring part in this recipe is making very small balls .For this you can involve your kids too to help you and trust me they ‘l love being your assistant.I’m telling this ,after experimenting with my 6 + n 3 +yr old kiddos.They were so happy seeing the end result .Once these balls are done, tossing them gets over in no time….
Here’s how to make Sweet and savory Ammini Kozhukattai /Mini Kozhukattai with step by step photos…

AMMINI / MANI KOZHUKATTAI
Ingredients
Ingredients for Rice Flour balls:
- 1 cup Rice flour
- 1 1/2 cups Water
- 1 tsp Oil/ Ghee
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Ingredients for Seasoning: SAVORY MANI KOZHUKATTAI
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Split Black gram/ Urad dal
- 1 tsp Bengal Gram /Chana Dal
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds /Jeera
- a pinch Asafoetida/ hing
- 2 Red chilies, , broken
- Curry Leaves, - few
- grated fresh Coconut, - 3-4 tbsp
- to taste Salt
- 2 tsp Oil
Ingredients for Seasoning: SWEET MANI KOZHUKATTAI
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup Jaggery, - based on your sweet level
- 1/2 cup coconut
- 2 - 3 Cadamom / Elaichi, - powdered
Instructions
- First make rice flour balls as below :
- In a wide vessel boil water with salt and oil.
- When water starts to boil ,lower the flame to sim. Slowly add the rice flour and keep stirring constantly.
- The rice flour starts to form in to a dough, now switch off the stove.
- When the dough is still warm, transfer it into a plastic bag and knead well with your hands to form a smooth dough. ** Refer Note
- Grease your hands with oil ,pinch little dough and roll them into marble sized balls. Make small small balls .You can involve your kids to roll these balls.. they l like it...
- Place these balls in a greased steamer vessel / idli stand .
- Steam it in idli cooker for about 10 to 12 min in medium flame.Check if the rice balls are cooked. The balls should have glossy exterior and when we insert a toothpick, it should come clean if cooked right. Rice flour balls or Rice Flour marbles are ready . Keep them aside .
- Now proceed to season these Rice flour balls:
- SWEET VERSION :
- Take a kadai / pan .Take jaggery , add little water and keep it to melt.
- Once it melts, add coconut and cardamom. Mix so that coconut and jaggery combine well.
- Next add cooked rice balls and saute in medium flame gently for 4 to 5 mins so that rice ball is coated well with coconut jaggery mix.
- Turn off flame and yummy sweet mani kozhukattai is ready .Serve warm and enjoy...
- SAVORY VERSION :
- In a kadai / pan take oil. Add mustard seeds,urad dal n chana dal. Once they splutter ,add jeera,hing,curry leaves and broken red chilli pieces. Saute for a min.Next add salt mix well
- Add cooked rice flour balls. Saute in medium flame gently for 4 to 5 mins so that rice ball takes in the flavors .
- Finally add coconut.Give a mix and turn off flame.
- Yummy Savory mani kozhukattai is ready .Serve warm and enjoy...
Notes
- We have to knead the dough when it is warm to get lumpless and smooth consistency . Filling the dough into a polythene cover and later kneading will help your hands as the dough is hot .
- Make sure you don’t overcook the rice balls they will turn rubbery and chewy when cooked for a long time.
- When you have kept the rice balls to steam , meanwhile in 2 seperate kadais prepare the sweet n savory temperings. By the time rice balls gets cooked our seasoning is ready .you can just toss them in masala. This will save lot of time.
- If you like the savory version to be spicy , you can add few green chillies or chutney powder n toss them .
PUNDI GATTI / PIDI KOZHUKATTAI
I have this in my archive but not the sweet one 🙂 yummy !
Lovely recipe Smitha!! Will definetly give it a try.
cute ammini kozhukattai
Delicious and soft !!
I would love the sweet ones… and yes, cute hands helping out with those amminis… 🙂
Team work to make ammini kozhukattai thats sooo nice.The result looks superb Smitha. Yummm
Sweetiepies to helo mommy in kitchen..God bless them..Kozhukattai look delicious too!
Love those tiny hands helping u..Cant resist to those sweet ones.
Kolukattai looks amazing smitha.Love to have these helpers in my kitchen too 🙂
Never tried sweet version:-) love the way little ones help you..looks yummy
Never tried sweet version:-) both looks yummy . love the way little ones help you
Lovely snack . yum yummy
yummy kozhukkatai. Good to watch the little ones, helping you.
Looks delicious!! and your little ones are so sweet for helping you out.. lots of love to mama’s little helpers..
Beautiful and yummy.. Love the look of savory Kozhukattai.
looks delicious ..love both the versions…
Do you use raw rice powder or fried rice powder?
looks yummy…… what is it called in kannada?
in kannada its probably known as undlooka…
raw powder
looks very cute new dish for us vl try it
Hey… I tried this for the second time and came out very well. Thanks for the recipe !!
Hey Smitha, tried this today. Kids loved it! Thanks for sharing it.