Kuzhalappam

Maria Jose Martin’s kuzhalappam forms small fried rice-dough tubes. She credits her adaptation to the cookbooks Flavours of the Spice Coast and Suriyani Pachakam; this selection follows her own published method.

Shallots, garlic, cumin and one portion of grated coconut are ground with water to a smooth paste. That paste and salt are mixed into thick coconut milk.

Rice flour and a separate grated-coconut portion are pulsed together and dry-roasted on low. The same coconut-milk mixture is added gradually and cooked into it before boiling water forms a soft, nonsticky dough.

Black sesame is kneaded through the dough, which is covered and rested. This selection follows the author’s thicker circles, wrapped around a greased rod; their overlapping edges are pressed together before the tubes slide off.

The shaped rolls are covered until frying. They are deep-fried in the selected coconut oil until golden or darker brown, then cooled.