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.
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📖 Recipe Card
Maa Vilakku
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.
Ma Vilakku Recipe Step by Step
- 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 10mins 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 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.
Supriya Arcot
Will surely try this for Tulasi pooja tomorrow . Thanx.
AparnaRajeshkumar
sharmispassions has become my passion way to go sharmi , loved your commitment,
Child care
Hi, Sharmi I am getting addicted to ur blog. But I enjoy this addiction….:) Maavillaku recipe looks yummy. I love ur photo….
Sangeetha M
Wow..Sharmi, only through your posts i came to know all our Festival/Special occasions..great job and hats off to your Commitment. Maa Vilakku looks divine..beautifully presented!
Maven
I'm neither Indian, Hindu, or Tam-Bram (but my husband is). Which holidays or under which circumstances would you make this? Is this first used as a diya and offering, and then eaten as a sweet? It fascinates me:)
Rumana Ambrin
Wow!! very beautiful and unique dish..
preetha sunil
Hi, i love this since my childhood and was searching for the receipe. Thanks a ton.
Snow White
super pic.. my favorite dish .. karthigai special
Yes Cook
So well prepared. I have never heard or seen edible diyas till today.
Thanks for sharing.
jeyashri suresh
Beautifully explained,wonderful clicks.
Sandhiya
Love the recipe and beautiful pictures..
Ananda Rajashekar
Yes there is a great sense of contentment when doing traditional recipe…. beautiful…. have seen people using this diya in temples and remember having them as prasad….Can't think of doing them, but brought back a lot of memories!
Vanamala Hebbar
This one we do it on the occassion of June and July Ashada month… Looks nice
Archana Varma
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Nandu
too good … will try this out today .. thank you so much
lakshmi kumar
Thanks for the recipe…very nice..
Lavi Raj
lovely clicks! esp with your hands! i like this maa vilakku very much sharmi. but i was afraid to try. will try it for next deepam!
Sugi
Another version is using grated coconut and sugar instead of jaggery and lil more ghee with the same method.Kids love it like anything and tastes like a milk sweet.
Cibi S
wow !! thank you so much !!! 🙂 Will do it soon 🙂
Shanthi
Shari hats off! You are doing your part to keep the tradition going on. I really appreciate that . In the farms when we celebrate pongal this maavilakku plays a main role but nowadays even the farming community are not bothered to do it ! Happy with ready made sweets. It's a pity. We'll done!!! So proud of your work!
Vidya Prabhu
Lovely clicks !!
Vidya Prabhu
Please let me know the method of maa vilakku with sugar instead of jaggery….
foodzu
This is good for festive time. Thanks for sharing.
Niveditha
It looks and tastes delicious!