Mani Kozhakkatai / Ammini Kozhakkatai

Lot of people call this Ammani kozhakkatai and i find that name funny, so i will stick to what we call it at home. Mani means beads and they kinda looks like beads and my grandpa's nickname was mani, so i like it this way :-) This is my favorite snack and it's healthy too.

My grandma and mom used to make it with remaining dough after making Modakams and Uppu Kozhakkatai for Vinayaka Chaturthi. It was my favorite so i used to ask my grandma to make it frequently for us as evening snack and i used to help her in rolling those mani kozhakkatais. When i shared my memory with my first son, he got all excited and said he wants to roll it too and he helped me with it. With that, we also invited some trouble. My little one wanted to join the fun and as we were rolling the kozhakkatais, he was busy squashing them and making them flat. We still managed to make a decent no. of kozhakkatais and both my boys loved it. I have decided to make it often as evening snacks for them.

For the dough :
Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Salt - as required
Red chilli powder - 1 spoon (optional)
Oil - 1 spoon
To grind :
Urad daal - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 3
Hing - a pinch
For the seasoning :
Mustard seeds, hing, urad daal and curry leaves.

Method :

Dough :
Boil water. Reduce the heat and add the rice flour, salt and oil and stir till you get the dough like consistency. Remove from heat, cover and let it cool. Apply oil to your hands, add the redchilli powder and knead well. Now roll the dough into small balls. Steam them in Idly cooker or Pressure cooker without the weight for 7-10 minutes.
For Mani kozhakkatais,
Soak urad daal for about an hour. Grind it into thick paste with greenchillies and hing.
Place this paste in idli plates and steam for 10 minutes. Once it cools, crumble it.
Heat little oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing. Once the mustard seeds pop, add a spoon of urad daal and fry till golden brown and add the crumbled urad daal mix and salt and saute for couple of minutes or till well cooked. I like it when they are brown and have the roasted look and cook till i get that. Add the mani kozhakkatais and mix well and cook for another minute or two. This was an instant hit with my kids.

Sending this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight