Thengai Opputtu

   

I like any sweet dish made with coconut. This particular one is a traditional recipe which my grandmother and my mother used to make. As there was no dearth of coconut in our home, this simple and quick dish was prepared for unannounced guests. Moreover, those days people did not buy sweets from markets like we do now. 

   In spite of all the new arrivals, these traditional ones have not lost their place. As my daughter's birthday also falls in this month and we are running this BM with theme 'cooking with coconut', I chose to make 'thengai opputtu' (I do not know what is it called in any other language). Needless to say, it turned out well and everyone enjoyed it. Now for the recipe!

Ingredients:

For stuffing:                                                                   For the dough:

• Coconut, fresh, grated - 1 cup                                Maida / flour - 1/2 cup
• brown sugar /gud - 4 tablespoons                           Powdered sugar - 1 teaspoon
• Dry fruits finely chopped - 1 tablespoon                  Water - As required
• Cardamom - 4 nos
• Ghee - As required for cooking

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, add the flour and powdered sugar.

• Add water little at a time and knead it into a smooth dough (like for bhatura) and keep aside.

• Put the grated coconut in a blender and run it for a few seconds with stops in between. Be careful that the coconut does not become a paste but instead should just shred it smaller. The smaller the coconut flakes, the better it will taste in the filling.

• In a pan, add the coconut and sugar and fry them on a medium heat till nicely mixed and the sugar dissolves. 

• Fry the dry fruits in ghee and add them into the coconut mixture. Add cardamom powder mix it and let it cool. Once it is cooled, take a spoonful of the mixer and make ladoos of it. Set aside.

• Now apply oil / ghee on your hand, take a small ball of the dough, spread it in your palm and fill in the coconut mixture.

• Wrap the dough such that it covers the coconut ladoo nicely. Apply ghee on a rolling board (banana leaf or polythene sheet), keep the covered ladoo on it and start pressing it lightly with your hand so that it becomes like a chapati. Basically, it is like making stuffed parantha.

•  Heat a tawa, spread some ghee and place the opputtu on it. Cook for a minute or two, then turn the side, sprinkle some ghee and cook till done.

• Serve hot or cold.

For more recipes check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#62