Kottayam Churuttu Recipe / Thin Flour Pastry Sheets Filled with Sweetened Rice Filling

Churuttu, is a famous Syrian Christian Palaharam / snack from Kottayam region of Kerala. These cones of syrupy avalose podi enclosed in wafer thin Mandaka / pastry are a favorite of everyone in Kottayam. Mammi cheduthi’s churuttu is one of the palaharam / snack I grew up with and I absolutely love it. Back home we used to go to Kurishu Palli, which is very close to Mammi cheduthi’s house every Friday evening and on our way back we usually stopped at her place to buy a packet of Churuttu. Even now I buy Churuttu only from her place during my vacation; I have tried Churuttu from other places too.... but none of them came even close to Mammi’s churuttu :).... I always wanted to make churuttu at home as the filling is same as Avalose Unda but I wondered how to make mandaka at home..... Got one recipe from Lathika George’s book “TheSuriani Kitchen” and her version of Mandaka is made out of unroasted rice flour mixed with boiling water. Then I did a Google search and found one out here and also a video clipping from a Malayalam channel showcasing Mammi cheduthi’s recipe..... so I made the mandaka combining all and it came out quite good.....  And for filling I used my Avalose Unda recipe,,,,,

Kottayam Churuttu Recipe / Thin Flour Pastry Sheets Filled with Sweetened Rice Filling  

Ingredients and Method:

For Mandaka (Pastry)

1 cup All purpose flour/ maida

½ tsp oil

Salt a pinch

Water – as needed

Fine rice flour - as needed

• Put all purpose flour (maida), oil and salt in a mixing bowl and mix well.  Add enough water little by little and mix and knead the flour into soft and smooth pastry dough.
• Form the dough into half inch balls. Dip each balls in fine rice flour and roll each ball of pastry into a wafer-thin round, and cut to measure 5” in diameter.
• Lightly cook the Mandaka / pastry rounds on a medium hot griddle for just 30 seconds on each side. The Mandaka must still be limp.
• Stack the Mandakas in a plate and cover them with a wilted banana leaf or damp cloth to keep the Mandaka soft and pliable. 
• Now prepare the filling 

Filling

Avalose podi-2 cups

Cardamom (powdered)- 1/4 tsp

Vanilla Essence-1/4 tsp

Sugar-1 ¼  cups

Water- ¾ cup

Lime Juice- 1 ½ tsp

• Mix sugar, water and lime juice in a bowl, heat this mixture stirring continuously till we get a single thread consistency on tapping between thumb and forefinger quickly. 
• Remove from heat and set aside ½ cup sugar syrup.
•  To the remaining syrup add vanilla essence and cardamom powder. 
• Add Avalose podi little by little mixing very well. 

To make the Churuttu:

• Cut each round of mandaka in half and wet the edges of each half with the reserved syrup. Shape each semi circle into a cone by overlapping the straight sides with the dry side facing inside.
• Stuff each cone with 1 to 1 ½ tbsp of warm filling. Seal the edges together using three fingers so that the three spiked pattern is formed. 
• Place on a tray. Continue until all the churuttu are prepared.
• Set aside for 2 hours until the syrup from the filling has moistened and seeped into the Mandaka. 
• Stack the churuttu carefully in an airtight container and store.

Notes:

• Mandaka tends to dries up quickly, so you have to wrap it nicely with wilted banana leaf or damp cloth. Also you have to do the filling also quickly.... it’s good to have a helper while you make this or you have to work really fast.
• Filling should be of little loose consistency than the avalose unda… so add avalosepodi accordingly.