Sweet Rice Cake / Kalathappam

This is the first time I made the Sweet Rice Cake or Kalathappam and it looked and tasted awesome!  I have been posting pictures of the dishes on my Page - Premas Adukkala on Facebook immedaitely after I make the dishes.  I do post the recipes on the blog when I get free time!

I had actually decided to make this dish once again and try making it in the oven the next time and then post the recipe. I have not been able to try this in the oven but am posting the recipe specially for one of my readers Varsha Rane Gode who has been a regular reader of all my Recipes :)

Kalathappam is a traditional North malabar Kerala snack cake made of ground rice,shallots,sliced coconuts,cardamom powder and jaggery.  I remember eating this at my cousins house in Kerala.  This is not very sweet and I just love the coconut pieces that I bite into every portion of the dish.

So here goes the detailed recipe :

Ingredients

Rice  (white) - 1 cup
Cooked rice - 1/4 cup
Jaggery -5- 6 cubes( you may add according to your sweetness)
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Shallots - 10 nos (chopped into pieces)
Coconut pieces- 2 tbs

Cashewnuts - 15 to 20 cut into pieces

Raisins - A handful
Ghee - 1 Tbsp

Coconut Oil - 4 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 2 to 3
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Water as required

Method :

Soak rice for  3 to 4 hours.  In a vessel add jaggery with half cup water and let it melt on slow fire. Stir in between. Pass the melted jaggery through a sieve.

Grind rice fine with enough water, a pinch of salt, cardamom(remove skin) and cumin seeds and baking soda.  Now add the cooked rice and grated coconut and grind to a fine paste. Transfer this to a bowl and add salt, the jaggery syrup and stir well.  This batter should be like the dosa batter. Allow this batter to rest for half hour.

In the meanwhile, add oil and sauté coconut flakes first and then add the finely chopped shallots, then the cashews and raisins. Keep a little of this mixture aside and the balance add to the batter and mix well. In  a non stick Kadai, put some ghee and pour the batter and cook for 5 minutes on low flame.  Now put the remaining portion of coconut, raisins, cashews and shallot that were fried and put a lid on the Kadai and cook this on low flame for 30 to 40 minutes.  Check if the Kalathappam is cooked by inserting a toothpick. It should come out clean. Else cook for another 5 minutes.  Transfer to plate and cut and serve when cool.