Palm Sunday Kozhukkatta

There was this Sunday at church where we kids could play, play with smooth cream and green leaves, curl it up into shapes, making crosses, or just folding it until the brown creases show through and pretend they were work of art – all the while parents wouldn’t mind as long as we didn’t destroy the leaves or start a sword fight or trying to hold the thinner ends and try to fish or make them unholy by making them touch ground. It was this special day when you make kozhukkattas the previous night, it was not for the kozhukkattas but for the making and rolling and the filling and the smacking by our moms for dropping them on the ground that we waited for this special day. It is called Palm Sunday where Catholics celebrate the remembrance of arrival of Christ on a donkey into Jerusalem where the people waved and welcomed him with palm leaves singing Hosana (hence the name Hosana Sunday in Malayalam).

Certain areas in Kerala like Trichur make kozhukkata, others make pachoru (sweetened rice), and some others make avalnurukku, -- basically something sweet for this special day.

Today, Palm Sunday is the start of the Holy Week, a week full of ceremonies before Easter. It was surprising to me that Good Friday was not a Holiday in U.S, probably because you couldn’t wish Happy Good Friday and sell some stuff, like a Good Friday Fairy or something at McDonalds like a Good Friday Burger. Good Friday, though the name is suggestive of something good happening is not ‘good’ but a sad Friday since that’s the day Christ was crucified, and please don’t wish anyone Happy Good Friday since my friends have done that to me.

This recipe is for kozhukkatta. It is steamed rice dumplings filled with sweet coconut

Rice Flour used for making Appams – 1 cup (i.e. roasted and powdered rice flour)
Water – 2 cups
Ghee – 1 tsp
Salt

Mix the below list of ingredients with hand thoroughly and keep aside.
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Cumin – 1 tsp
Freshly grated coconut – 1 cup
1/2 cup jaggery

Bring water to a boil and take off from heat, add salt and ghee. Now slowly add rice flour ¼ cup at a time and make it to a smooth ball. Knead it well. You should be able to make small balls and it should stick. Divide dough to equal portions and make small balls. The important thing is to have a medium sized ball, since the filling will make it bigger and when you steam them, it won’t cook well.

Keep aside ½ cup of freshly squeezed coconut milk to stick the ends of the dough balls and to fill any holes that form. You can either make small balls and flatten them out and fill them with the coconut mixture or you can make a big depression inside the ball and fill it up. Dip your fingers in the coconut milk occasionally so that it is easier to handle the dough. Make sure the dough is lighter when you fill them with coconut mixture.

Steam them in idli cookers for 10 or 15 minutes. Serve with coconut milk as a dipping sauce. Refrigerate the leftovers for no more than one day.

Please dont wish me Happy Palm Sunday too, for there are some ceremonies and traditions where you just dont have to wish :-)

Pesaha Appam (Appom?) and Paalukurukku.

Names: (Passover Bread and Milk Porridge) - (പെസഹാ അപ്പം , പാലുകുറുക്കും)Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday.This means in simple terms, day of Last Supper. The day Christ humbled himself and washed his twelve disciples feet and he was betrayed later that night. After evening mass and celebrating the Pesaha or Passover, we have the Pesaha Appam and the Paalukurukku as a tradition after Supper. This is a tradition for Kerala Catholics. I have no clue about other traditions on this day.

I remember my mom taking great care, taking only new vessels for the rice and the coconut milk. “Everything should be new, since it is a holy thing” – she would shoo us away from the kitchen fearing, us kids would touch and make things dirty. She would wash the rice and spread it on the roof to dry and I was supposed to watch for crows or birds feasting on the rice. I would sit there and draw on the clouds.
I think the Pesaha Paalukurukku or Passover milk porridge is a substitute in Kerala for the Wine. This is the recipe I followed. Though Kerala is such a tiny state, every district has different way of cooking. I 'think' I followed the Kottayam style.

Pesaha Appam (This is a substitute for the Passover Bread in the Middle East)
Raw Rice - 1 cup Urad Dal - 1/3 cup Cumin seeds - 0.5 teaspoon Garlic - 3 cloves Coconut, shredded - 3/4 cup Wash and soak raw rice overnight. Roast Urad Dal until golden brown in a frying pan in a slow flame. Take care not to burn it. Soak this roasted urad dal for two hours.

Grind all ingredients together adding water to form a thicker than idli batter consistency. Do not grind to a fine paste. Add salt as needed. Pour into a dish and steam it in an idli cooker until done. Make a cross with the Palm Leaves you get on Hosana and place it on top of the bread before steaming. (There are many other ways for making this. Some make it like dough and place it between banana leaves and steam. Some add shallots and cut coconut and make it like dosas).This is traditionally taken after Supper and with a prayer.

For Pesaha Pal
Freshly made Coconut Milk - 3 cups Rice flour, Jaggery – 1/2 cup or according to your sweet tooth (I added brown sugar instead), Cardamom (powdered) - 2.
Mix flour, coconut milk and jaggery in a saucepan. Sir Continuously for 5 or 10 minutes until thickened like gravy. Add powdered cardamom. Take from flame and keep stirring for 5 more minutes. The bread is dipped in the porridge and eaten.My mom wouldn’t let us waste a drop of it, since it is holy. Since it is sweet tasting, we would gladly agree.