My maiden experience in making Kozhakattai.....

I'd been so anxious last weekend about making kozhakattai (we'll call it kozhuk/s.. kozhakattai being a lengthy name ;-)) for Ganesh Chathurthi. I'd collected recipes from my mom, mom-in-law and some of my friends.. got them cross-verified and was so confident that I indeed have the easy and perfect recipe to make kozhuks. Making the poornam was really easy and that boosted my confidence.. poornam looked and smelled great.. just like the poornam which my mom makes...

With the poornam packed in my suitcase, I left to Seattle to make kozhuks on Sunday for Ganesh Chathurthi and impress Arun with my kozhuk making skills (He is a big time kozhuks lover)... I was reminding myself about that-somebody who said that "The easiest way to reach a man's heart was through his stomach"...

Sunday dawned with so much of hope... I got ready, got the recipe validated by my mom for the final time and there was I in the kitchen.. busy mixing the rice flour in the hot water... oops.. I'd forgotten to add salt and oil.. I was determined to follow the exact same steps told by my mom and mom-in-law to make the best kozhuks.. So, the very first cup of rice flour with hot water mixture landed perfectly in the very new kitchen bag put in the trash can.. Disheartened? Me?? No...

This time, I'd kept all the necessary ingredients (Rice flour, water, salt and oil.. Just 4 ingredients... making kozhuks is so easy, man!!) right on the top of the cooking range and started - Step 1 - boil water.. Done.. Step 2 - Add salt (a pinch!) - Done -Later did Arun make me realise that I'd added a little too much.. But that's ok.. Common' nobody gets it perfect the first time.. Step 3 - Add oil - Err..How much?? fine.. adding a little extra oil doesn't harm, you see... it'll make the rice flour wrap/shell mixture all the more soft and smooth (I thought to myself) and added 2 generous spoons of cooking oilStep 4 - Mix well so that the the wrap/shell mixture doesn't stick to the sides of the vessel.. Hoo.. hoo... I'd already used a non-stick pan so that the wrap mixture will not stick to the sides.. my kozhuks are going to turn out awesome... (virtually patted my back for using the non-stick pan)

The wrap mixture looked all the more good.. just like how it used to look when my mom makes it... I started making the wrap/shell (choppu, we call it..) I used to make excellent choppus back at home when my mom makes the wrap mixture.. My granny used to say that I make the best choppu among all our family members.. Thinking about that... I was busy making the first choppu... Hmm.. The first one didn't come out that well.. hey.. it's just the 1st one.. Be patient! Then came the 2nd one.. Err.. The first one was a lot better... The 3rd one had a lot of small bumps in it.. but the shape came out good... Just when I was appreciating myself for the perfectly shaped choppu... it started breaking down from the corners.. oh..wait!! wait!! wait!! it can't break like that.. Before I could take any rescue operations, the damage was more than repairable... Ok.. that's fine.. what's there in the shape.. ultimately taste is what matters... so.. on similar lines, I made my 4th, 5th.. 9th choppu... I'd beautifully arranged it on a ceramic plate... wow.. they looked pretty...

Then came the part of filling the choppu with poornam.. I filled the first one with poornam.. but hey.. what's happening.. I'm not able to close it.. I somehow managed to close the choppu with poornam inside it.. It looked no where near a kozhuk.. :'(

"So, Is kozhuk not so easy to make as I thought it to be?"
"Well, May be!"

I managed to close 5 of the 9 choppus.. I gave it up.. the more I struggled, the more distorted it looked.. Contented with the 5 kozhuks (the eventful 5!), I steamed them.. after testing my patience for 10 minutes, I convinced myself that the kozhuks would all have been cooked by then. Out of the whole lot, one.. only one.. resembled vaguely like a conventional kozhuk...
We then offered them to Ganesh Ji.. (just to make sure that we don't fall sick after eating them ;-))
Dejected by my futile attempts to make kozhuks, I was telling Arun "Next time, I'm going to make kozhuks and after eating that, you'll say -I've never eaten such a kozhuk in my life...."
Arun coolly replied - "Even now I say, I've NEVER eaten such a kozhuk in my life..."
BOINK... BLANK FACE... !@#...

P.S:The brighter part of the story is that the poornam tasted very good... Both of us (Arun and myself) liked the poornam a lot.. So, we thought of devouring the poornam as it is... :-)