Mothagam or vella kozhukattai is a traditional South Indian sweet steamed dumpling, we make it especially for Ganesh Chaturthi festival as a favorite offering to Lord Ganesha. In this post, lets see how to make a soft, delicate and moist outer shell made of rice flour and a super easy, simple coconut and jaggery filling with cardamom flavour.
We make mothagam only during Ganesh chaturthi festival. But you can also make during other festivals like Sankatahara chaturthi or Varalakshmi Nombu.
Check out my Kadalai paruppu pooranam kozhukattai recipe and my sweet pidi kozhukattai recipe in this website.
About
This time, I wanted to post an easy mothagam recipe with thenga pooranam. So tried it, asking recipe from my friend Sangeeta's MIL. It was super yummy! I always a thought that thenga pooranam may be too too sweet, and never tried. Only tasted twice at Jeyashris house.
But when I tried this authentic mothagam recipe from her, I really loved this, it's so easy too unlike the chana dal pooranam we usually make. Vj too loved it so much!
Now my usual story about the festival, please feel free to skip it. As a kid I have always enjoyed pillayar chaturthi. Appa and my brother are talented enough to make clay idol of vinayagar at home itself.
We take mud from our own backyard for this. And when it comes to decoration, that is painting it colourful, I used to help. I loved that part. When the day of celebration comes, we keep two black beads ready and after the abhishekam gets over, we insert that in the eye part, after which only Vinayagar is officially born.
And not to forget the time when mom sends to gather arugampul - a type of grass- for making a garland for vinayagar. Every day I gather it carefully (only three strands should be there in a sprig) freshly from the fields opposite to our house.
Also we go a little far to gather the 'erukkam poo' to make malai, that stays good for few days. I use needle and thread and make that cute garland. We get only the purple variety near our area. But my paati says vellerukku white variety is more special for the festival.
My celebration
I used to sit and watch eagerly what are all the things dad used for abishekam - lemon juice, honey, milk, curd, mashed banana, pure sandal (sandanam), turmeric etc and water in between each item...
And not to miss the cute little mouse (moonjoor) also gets all these abhishekams. My paati used to assist the whole thing. I feel now Aj misses all those things! And we make mothagam all of us sitting together - mom, dad, brother, paati and me.
Afternoon, just for padayal we make 11 kozhukattai in each and finish the padayal and in the evening we start to make lots for dinner. And we enjoy hot, soft and delicious - it goes in without any counts.
And not only the pillayar chaturthi day, as long as the pillayar is there at home before its Visarjan. Every evening mom makes something to offer the idol.
Amma makes Sundal and appe mostly made. Since there will not be any rivers or ponds nearby, we dissolve the idol in a big tub of water kept in our garden and after it gets dissolved super fast.
(yes super fast as its homemade) we pour the water to the flowering plants that we have in our garden. Sweet memories! In our in-laws house we celebrate the same way, but in a brief manner.
Step by step
- For the dough, bring water to boil with a teaspoon of sesame oil and let it boil for a minute. Add it to the flour with salt and mix well. Use a spatula for mixing. You may need lots of water. So make sure you boil enough.
2. After it becomes warm, knead to a smooth dough and keep covered. You can make equal sized balls and keep covered.
Check out my Kozhukattai Dough - 3 ways post here.
3. For the thenga pooranam, place grated coconut jaggery and elachi powder in a pan, with 2 tablespoon of water. Mix in medium flame for 5 minutes, when it starts leaving the sides of pan, switch off the flame.
4. To make mothagam, make small cups out of the dough, refer the video above for learning how to shape the cup. Fill with the coconut pooranam.
5. Repeat and finish the mothagam and keep covered until steaming. Boil water in steamer and arrange the modaks in the steaming plate and cook for 5 minutes. Or until its done.
Its so soft and delicious, that you can pop one mothagam per mouth and enjoy! Forget about the Mothagam calories and enjoy, later work out to make it even, haha.
Top tips
To make the best mothagam, using processed flour is crucial. Refer my Rice flour post or use idiyappam flour. Trust me, the results are better than the so called kozhukattai flour you get in the market.
After making dough, keep the dough covered all the times. Use a wet clean kitchen towel or a lid.
Each time before making mothagam, knead it briefly, so that there is no crack. If you feel it is too dry, then wet your hands and knead to make it again moist.
Do not shape the mothagam and keep it for long time. Steam as you make. Otherwise, while steaming, it cracks.
My Notes
- You can reduce jaggery quantity as needed to suit your taste. I used little less jaggery than mentioned as I don't like it too sweet.
- To get the outer layer soft, it's important to boil water well for making the dough. You should cook the dough with the hot water so that you get non sticky pliable dough.
- If you do not cook the dough well, you may not be able to make the cups properly and will break while making.
- To check if the kozhukattai is done, see if it is shiny and there is a colour change.
- Do not over cook , it may give you rubbery and broken mothagam.
- If you mix the stuffing in high flame or for more time than needed, then it may turn hard or brittle.
FAQ
Mothagam is made of outer shell made of rice flour and a super easy, simple coconut and jaggery filling with cardamom flavour.
Mothagam is a traditional South Indian sweet steamed dumpling, we make it especially for Ganesh Chaturthi festival as a favorite offering to Lord Ganesha. The word mothagam is derived from Moda/ Pramoda which means Joy, Happiness, Delight.
Check out my other Ganesh Chaturthi Recipe collection here.
To read the mothagam recipe in Tamil, click here
Recipe card
Mothagam Recipe | Vella Kozhukattai | Ganesh Chaturthi Recipes
Equipments (Amazon Affiliate links)
Ingredients
- ½ cup Rice flour Readymade idiyappam flour
- 1 teaspoon Sesame oil
- Water As needed
- Salt As needed
For coconut pooranam
- 1 cup Coconut
- ¾ cup Jaggery powdered
- 2 Cardamom powdered
Instructions
Make mothagam skin
- For the dough, bring water to boil firstly with a teaspoon of sesame oil and let it boil for a minute.
- After that, add it to the flour with salt and mix well. Use a spatula for mixing. You may need lots of water. So make sure you boil enough.
- Once it becomes warm, knead to a smooth dough and keep covered. You can make equal sized balls and keep covered.
- Make thenga pooranam
- For the thenga pooranam, place grated coconut jaggery and cardamom powder in a pan, with 2 tablespoon of water.
- Then mix in medium flame for 5 minutes, when it starts leaving the sides of pan, switch off the flame.
- Do not make in high flame or continue longer than mentioned as it may become hard.
Make mothagam
- Take one portion of the dough and knead again with moist hands or oiled hands.
- Make small cups out of the dough, refer the video above for learning how to shape the cup. Fill with the coconut pooranam.
- Repeat and finish the kozhukattai and keep covered until steaming.
- Boil water in steamer and arrange the modaks in the steaming plate and cook for 5 minutes. Or until they are cooked.
Video
Notes
- You can reduce jaggery quantity as needed to suit your taste. I used little less jaggery than mentioned as I don't like it too sweet.
Gayathri Ramanan says
fabulous mothagam..tempting clicks..esp love the last click..
Aruna Manikandan says
mothagam looks perfect and yummy 🙂
Anonymous says
Awesome mothagams.. the mothagam slit in half with the revealing pooranam looks very tempting.. I was also awed by the abishekam as a child.. in my in-laws house its not so grand as it used to be in my house.. and my mother-in-law does the kozhukattai herself.. so no chance there too.. but hoping to try it on my own someday
Priya Suresh says
Cute and very attractive mothagams..
Priti S says
Looks yum and cute ..nicely done
Jaya J says
Really Nice.. Even i did the channa dal pooranam last year for ganesh chaturthi from ur blog.. this time i'm goin to try this mothagam.. As usual wonderful clicks... More than ur recipes, i'm a great fan of the stories u write before every recipe.. it reminds me of my childhood...!!!
Raks anand says
Thanks 🙂 Happy Vinayagar chaturthi
Raks anand says
🙂 I could relate to your situation Happy Vinayagar chaturthi
Veena Theagarajan says
very nice.. Happy vinayagar chaturthi Raks
divya says
Oh wow, I'm drooling! Thanks for the recipe...
nandoos Kitchen says
yumm, yumm, yummy modakams
nandoo
ongoing event: Healthy Breakfast
vidhya Nirmal says
Nice receipe with pics. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to try it for the first time.
vidhya Nirmal says
Nice receipe with pics. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to try it for the first time.
Sita Lavanya says
Awesome pics..:) this my husbands favorite.In Telugu we call Jilledukayalu.Thanks for the recipe .happy Ganesh chaturthi.:)
Sita Lavanya says
Awesome pics..:) this my husbands favorite.In Telugu we call Jilledukayalu.Thanks for the recipe .happy Ganesh chaturthi.:)
Sowmya Madhavan says
Looks so delicious..waiting to make this on 9th.
Chitz says
Awesome clicks.. This is my fav pooranam than ellu & kadala parippu one !
vibhasri says
Hi Raks i think there is a difference between mothagam and kozhukkattai. Mothagam is the one which we fry in oil and kozhakkattai is the one which you have showed now..Just wanted to clear my doubt.
Harini M says
Wonderful write up with yummy recipe.
Priya Anandakumar says
Wonderful and cute little modhagams...
Raks anand says
oh, I never knew that, thanks!
Shama Nagarajan says
yummy and delicious
Pooja Agrawal says
Very neatly explained, delicious one and loved your story...Modaks are very cute and very nice clicks!
Suja Manoj says
Cute and yummy mothagam,nice clicks.
SRamanan says
Yummy Modaks...going try all your recipes
sanjan says
My mom makes kozhukattai with peanut and jaggery purnam. Happy vinayaka chathurthi 🙂
Asusual Kalakureenga raks!!
Darshini Desanan says
Hi raks.. thx a million for ths simple yet superb recipe.. my mothagam turned out to be good! Everyone at home loved it.. Thx again..
Raks anand says
Thanks you very much for the prompt feedback Darshini 🙂
bakhyawathy durga says
thank you for the recipe i get it
bakhyawathy durga says
thank you for the recipe i get it
SHARMILEE J says
Cute looking Mothagam..coconut stuffing is always my fav!
pl says
More than the receipe, i seriously enjoyed reading your intro, just took me back to my childhood. Life has been simplified in many ways and that includes tradition.It is a pitty that our children miss out on so many simple things that we enjoyed. Thanks for the post.
amol sanap says
nice recipe I like it...
Poornima Krishnan says
Thanks to your helpful instructions I managed to make great mothagams for the very first time. Your recipes never fail to impress my household. Thank you so much.
sugi says
Hi raji
Can we substitute sugar for jaggery
Raks anand says
Jaggery is best. If you want you can try with brown sugar / Naatu sakkarai
Akila says
When i made the kozhukatti after the steam vellum started dripping on the idli plate. Why?
madhu says
Hi, By 1/2 cup rice or idiyappam flour, how much grams or quantity do you mean?
Also, your childhood story is interesting 🙂
Raks anand says
Sorry I don't have a kitchen scale. My cup holds 240 ml of liquid.
Raks anand says
Place the modak after water boils in the steamer. Do not steam more than needed. I am not sure what is the exact reason...
Unknown says
Did you use Nirapara idiyappam flour? just checking...thanks for a nice post
Raks anand says
Baba's 🙂
விஜி செந்தில் says
Hi Raks, prepared this for Vinayagar Chathurthi today. My hubby and son liked it very much. I have a doubt. I first prepared pooranam. Then dough. While making kozhukattais the pooranam had become little hard. Why so?
Raks Kitchen says
Hi Viji, If you cook the pooranam more than needed time, it turns hard. Cook in medium heat to avoid over cooking. The timing given is just a guidance for rough idea, depending on the environment, vessel, heat, it could vary.