Maa Vilakku Recipe

Maa Vilakku is a traditional mild sweet made like a lamp & offered to god for religious festivals like Chithra Pournami, Aadi Velli, Purattasi Sani & temple functions. Maa Vilakku is made by making a dough of rice flour, jaggery syrup & cardamom powder in lamp shape.

Maa Vilakku is a special edible lamp made with freshly ground rice flour and jaggery kneaded together as a dough. It is made during special occasions such as Aadi velli, Purattasi sani, Thai month, Karthigai deepam etc.

Last time when I visted my native my aunt made maavilakku and took it along when we visited the amman temple….at that instant I decided to post the recipe here as I love maavilakku but totally forgot about it. Yesterday when I was conversing with my friend asking about ideas to post for karthigai deepam she casually said maa vilakku recipe would be apt. And today during a casual talk with my neighbour she said they make maavilakku for karthigai deepam so decided that I should post it for the occassion. So I quickly called up my cousin for the recipe , made maavilakku and clicked it today.

I remember those days when we as kids used to fight for the lamp-lit-part(the black part where the lamp is lit) as it tastes so good. It gives me such immense pleasure and satisfaction when I try out traditional recipes and post it here. Yes small deeds big contentment!! Now lets learn how to make traditional maa vilakku recipe.

About Maa Vilakku

Maa vilakku is an auspicious edible lamp made with rice flour and jaggery during. It is placed on a banana leaf with a dent in the middle where we pour ghee, place the wick(thiri) and lit the lamp. We also apply kumkum on all 4 sides of maavilakku and place flowers on/near when we offer to god as shown in the pics.

Storing and Serving Suggestions

This maa vilakku keeps well in room temperature for 3 days. You can keep in fridge and extend shelf life for another 2 days. No freezing recommended.Pin

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Maa Vilakku

Maa Vilakku is a traditional mild sweet made like a lamp & offered to god for religious festivals like Chithra Pournami, Aadi Velli, Purattasi Sani & temple functions. Maa Vilakku is made by making a dough of rice flour, jaggery syrup & cardamom powder in lamp shape.

Prep Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings3

AuthorSharmilee J

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw rice
• 3/4 cup jaggery
• 2 nos cardamom
• 2 teaspoon ghee
• 2 teaspoon gingelly oil

Instructions

• First rinse the raw rice twice, and soak it in water for 1 hour. Drain water completely.
• Then spread the raw rice in a soft towel and allow it to dry say for 30-45 mins. It will be slightly moist only. When you touch and see there should be some rice sticking on the hand. This is the correct stage, now transfer this to a mixer.
• Grind it to a fine powder in a mixie in batches. Then sieve it. If you find small balls break and sieve it.
• Sieve until you get rava like mixture. Add it to the next flour batch and grind it again.
• Now take sieved rice flour, jaggery and cardamom in a mixer and pulse it once or twice not more than that....this is to ensure even mixing. Transfer to mixng bowl and leave it aside for 10 mins for the jaggery to slightly leave water.
• When you press with your hands it will hold its shape. Start kneading, the moisture in your hands and the melted jaggery will give a soft smooth dough.
• Add gingelly oil at this stage and mix well. Roll it like a ball and transfer it to banana leaf. Using a tumbler slightly press to get a dent in the middle. Add ghee in the dent and lit the lamp as shown and offer to god as neiveidhyam.
• Soft maa vilaku ready! Serve it along with coconut pieces, tastes yum!!

Notes

• Though the traditional way of making maa vilakku is using freshly pound rice flour...you can use readymade rice flour too but sure will have compromise in taste. If you are using readymade rice flour then for 1 cup of rice flour use 1/2 cup powdered jaggery.
• Just pulse it once or twice not more than that else jaggery will let out water making the dough sticky and watery too.
• I didn't add water at all, but if you feel its too dry then drizzle few drops while kneading the maa vilakku maavu.
• Keep on kneading till it comes together and forms a smooth dough.
• The amount of jaggery depends on the jaggery variety too. I used urundai vellam, it may differ slightly if you use achu vellam / paagu vellam.
• You can even replace gingelly oil with ghee itself.
• This keeps well in for 3-4 days in room temperature itself. You can even keep it refrigerated but it becomes slightly hard, so bring it to room temperature and then serve it.
• As its just raw rice flour, consuming more of it the same day will cause stomach ache.

Nutrition Facts

Maa Vilakku

Amount Per Serving (250 g)

Calories 491 Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Fat 6g9%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Trans Fat 0.01g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 3g

Cholesterol 9mg3%

Sodium 3mg0%

Potassium 78mg2%

Carbohydrates 100g33%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 51g57%

Protein 4g8%

Vitamin C 0.1mg0%

Calcium 37mg4%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Ma Vilakku Recipe Step by Step

1. First rinse the raw rice twice, and soak it in water for 1 hour. Drain water completely.
   Pin
2. Then spread the raw rice in a soft towel and allow it to dry say for 30-45 mins.It will be slightly moist only. When you touch and see there should be some rice sticking on the hand. This is the correct stage, now transfer this to a mixer.Pin
3. Grind it to a fine powder in a mixie in batches.Then sieve it. If you find small balls break and sieve it.Pin
4. Sieve until you get rava like mixture.Add it to the next flour batch and grind it again. Now take sieved rice flour,jaggery and cardamom in a mixer and pulse it once or twice not more than that….this is to ensure even mixing.Transfer to mixng bowl and leave it aside for 10mins for the jaggery to slightly leave water.
   Pin
5. When you press with your hands it will hold its shape.Start kneading, the moisture in your hands and the melted jaggery will give a soft smooth dough. Add gingelly oil at this stage and mix well. Roll it like a ball and transfer it to banana leaf. Using a tumbler slightly press to get a dent in the middle. Add ghee in the dent and lit the lamp as shown and offer to god as neiveidhyam.
   Pin

Soft mavillaku ready! Serve it along with coconut pieces, tastes yum!!

Expert Tips

• Though the traditional way of making maa vilakku is using freshly pound rice flour…you can use readymade riceflour too but sure will have compromise in taste.If you are using readymade rice flour then for 1 cup of rice flour use 1/2 cup powdered jaggery.
• Just pulse it once or twice not more than that else jaggery will let out water making the dough sticky and watery too.
• I didn’t add water at all, but if you feel its too dry then drizzle few drops while kneading the maa vilakku maavu.
• Keep on kneading till it comes together and forms a smooth dough.
• The amount of jaggery depends on the jaggery variety too.I used urundai vellam, it may differ slightly if you use achu vellam / paagu vellam.
• You can even replace gingelly oil with ghee itself.
• This keeps well in for 3-4 days in room temperature itself. You can even keep it refrigerated but it becomes slightly hard, so bring it to room temperature  and then serve it.
• As its just raw rice flour, consuming more of it the same day will cause stomach ache.

Pin