August 24
First of all wish all my readers a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi. may the lord bless you all with health and happiness all year round.The festive season has started. Any other year this would be a time for fun and frolic. The mood would actually be festive. But this year it is a bit different. Last year it was for the first time Ganapati was celebrated in our brand new Housing society. So the entire ten days was like a fun fair, everyday there was some event, dress theme etc. This time however since Pune has now become the epicenter of the pandemic numbers, hence many housing societies are not even having the opportunity of hosting a communal Ganpati festival.
In my housing society however, they decided on a very low key affair with all the safety measures in place. Ganpati has gone virtual this time around. So everyday we are having the morning and evening aarti live telecast on Facebook Live. I really appreciate the concept because it still helps you get the feel of the aarti right from the safety pf your homes. Also the cultural events have gone digital. So everyone was asked to send in their dances or performance recording to the cultural committee for Ganeshotsav and they would be streaming it on the designated day over Zoom meeting. That's a real clever thing to do. One can still feel the festival vibe but without any fear of mingling in the crowd. Especially its a hard year for the kids. They are the ones who are mostly missing out the fun in the festivities.
Frankly Speaking I had no clue till three days ago that I will be making modaks as prasad for the Ganapati at my home. I had thought to get some store bought sweets for the naivedyam. One of the reasons is that I am not much of a sweet lover and hence I have not experimented a lot with sweet stuffs. Traditionally the Ukadiche Modak are are steamed dumplings with an outer rice flour dough and a coconut-jaggery stuffing. Now for a person who is really not that hands on with sweet dishes, making a rice flour dumpling sounds a little tricky. Hence I had dismissed that idea of making modaks at home for the puja.
Then while browsing some articles I came across a video which was talking about instant mawa modak. Now mawa is something I am not really fond of. I don't like the taste or smell of it. But something that caught my eye was the process and how easy it was to make a modak at home without any mould.
So now the next thing on my agenda was to find a replacement for mawa. It had to be something which is easy and also readily available in my pantry. Then the thought came to use Rava as a replacement. But the next point in question was how to make rava into something as stiff as a modak? I referred to some videos by Ranveer Brar where he was making gulab jamuns with rava, but he fried them to make them hold. So then my mom suggested that I steamed them at last so that I can ensure the rava is cooked and it stands too. So that is exactly what I did. I speculated with the flavor of the modak then. I was sure that I wanted to make one set with Rose flavour or gulkand (a sweet preserve of rose petals). The other set was something that took a little time to decide. Usually you would find indian sweets are always having cardamom as the preferred flavoring agent. But I decided to go for a less traditional approach and included cinnamon as the star ingredient in my coconut- cinnamon modak.
I never expected this would stir in so much interest across my friend and family. I got many queries and questions about how I made this. SO here is the recipe.
You can choose to play with whatever flavors you want. Please note that since I went mold free I didn't add any filling, instead added all the flavors into the dough. But if you are using a mould then you may as well add some filling in the center just like the original modaks.
Preparation Time : 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Constructing time : 30 minutes
Steaming Time : 5 minutes
Constructing time : 30 minutes
Steaming Time : 5 minutes
Serving : 16 small modak
Ingredients :
- Fine Rava (Barik) / Sooji - 1 cup
- Milk - 1.5 cup
- Castor Sugar/ Ground Sugar - 5 tbsp
- Desi Ghee - 1tsp + 1 tsp
- Refined oil - 2 tsp
For Gulkand Modak
- Gulkand - 2 tsp
- Dry Rose petals/ Fresh rose petals - 1/5 cup
- Beet Root Juice/ Rose Pink Food color - 2 to 3 drops
- Rose Petals (For garnish) - As per choice
For Cinnamon - Coconut Modak
- Shredded/ Grated fresh coconut / Desiccated coconut - 4 tbsp
- Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp
- Shredded Coconut (For Garnish) - 1 tsp
Special Utensils
- Fork - 1
- Idli Steamer/ Any steamer
Method:
1. Take a frying pan and keep it on low flame/ low heat. Add one cup of fine (barik) rava and fry it over low flame for 2-3 minutes, taking care it is not browned.
Note: If you do not have barik rava, then you can just take the big grained rava in a grinder and pulse it a couple of times to get the fine grains.
Note 2: Standardize the cup you use. The same cup has to be used for measuring the rava and the milk.
2. Take one cup of milk (same cup size as you measured rava in). The milk should be warm if not boiling. I warmed the milk I used for about 50 seconds in the microwave before using. Now add this warm milk to the rava in the pan stirring continuously to avoid getting lumps. The flame should be on low at all times. Keep folding in the rava into the milk for about a minute or so and the milk will start getting absorbed into the rava.
3. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of warm milk to the rava and again fold everything in. Cook for a minute and when the rava becomes a sticky lump remove it it a plate. I had oiled the plate beforehand to avoid sticking the rava to the plate. Now let it cool down to room temperature before you start kneading.
Note: I started kneading almost after 2 minutes of removing the rava. But be careful it might be hot.
4. Now comes the hardest part. Kneading the rava atta. Be ready to knead it with all your strength for about 6-8 minutes. 3 minutes into the kneading, add 1 tsp of desi ghee and keep kneading.
Tip: Desi ghee or buffalo ghee would impart a richer flavor.
Tip 2: Add a little oil to your palm when your kneading, this will prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers
5. At the end of 6-8 minutes you will have a near smooth dough. Now add the castor/ powdered sugar. Powdered sugar will be easy to incorporate with the dough. Again repeat the kneading process like before. The sugar will release water and make the dough sticky. So oil your palms and if required add 1 tsp of refined oil or ghee into the dough for easy kneading. Knead it until you have a nice smooth dough.
Tip: If you don't have castor sugar then take normal sugar and grind it to powder.
Note: Add sugar to the dough only if you are making a filling - less modak like me. Otherwise you can skip this step as your filling will be sweet.
6. Now divide this sweet dough into two equal parts. First we will make the coconut-cinnamon modak as it is colorless.
Cinnamon -Coconut Modak Recipe
7. In a skillet take the shredded coconut and dry roast for about 2-3 minutes until fragrant. No oil needs to be added to this. Coconut will release its own oils. This process is done to make the coconut more fragrant and to dry up the moisture in it. Make sure it doesn't get browned or burnt.
8. Flatten the dough on the plate with fingers and add this roasted coconut to the dough portion and also add the cinnamon powder. Now knead this well to incorporate the ingredients. Add a little oil whenever you feel the dough is hard to handle and is becoming sticky.
9. Now make small lemon sized balls from the dough. It will make approximately 8 small balls with this portion.
10. Now with your oiled hands slowly pinch the top of the ball and make the top of the ball tapered like a modak. Now press the ball lightly to flatten its base. Don't worry if you don't get it in the perfect shape at the first try. Just roll it into a ball again and start over.
11. Now with a fork, start making half moon grooves on all along the side so that it starts resembling a modak. Again don't worry too much about perfection of the grooves.
Gulkand Modak Recipe
12. Now we will make the gulkand modak. Flatten the other half of the dough and add the gulkand and rose petals. Also add two drops of beetroot juice or light pink food color to the dough. Knead the dough nicely till a smooth texture is formed.
Tip: If you have rose syrup you can use 1 tsp of that instead of gulkand to give it a rosy flavour and light pink color. But still I would recommend using Gulkand as it gives a nice flavour to teh modaks
Note: You may vary the color or the amount of gulkand as per your liking.
Note 2: You can also use 1/4th tsp rose water in the dough. This is completely optional. I didn't use it.
Note 3: I have used dried rose petals. I found that these rose petals are lovely in terms of flavor and color. I have used them for making my own rose tea pre-mix also.
13. Now just like the other modak, shape these too, and use to fork to make grooves into it.
Steaming the Modak
14. Once you are done with the grooves sprinkle some cinnamon powder over the coconut -cinnamon modaks and now place them on the steamer stand. You can use a normal idli steamer like me. For the gulkand ones, you don't need to sprinkle anything, just place them also in the stand.
Steam them in batches for 5 minutes each.
Note: You need to keep enough gap between the modaks so don't try to shove in all at once, otherwise they may stick.
15. Now open the steamer and let the modaks sit on the stand before it is a bit cooled. Then remove them onto a plate. They will cool down and take the look and feel of an authentic modak.
Garnish with cinnamon powder, fresh coconut and rose petals and enjoy!
Re-heating the Modak
The best part of these modaks is that they can be easily stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. So if you have extra modaks do not worry, just put them in the refrigerator. When you are ready to eat them, just pop them into a microwave safe covered container and heat for 30 seconds. It will be as good as new.
If you do not have a microwave oven you can again steam it for 5 minutes and consume.
Note: If you do not have barik rava, then you can just take the big grained rava in a grinder and pulse it a couple of times to get the fine grains.
Note 2: Standardize the cup you use. The same cup has to be used for measuring the rava and the milk.
2. Take one cup of milk (same cup size as you measured rava in). The milk should be warm if not boiling. I warmed the milk I used for about 50 seconds in the microwave before using. Now add this warm milk to the rava in the pan stirring continuously to avoid getting lumps. The flame should be on low at all times. Keep folding in the rava into the milk for about a minute or so and the milk will start getting absorbed into the rava.
3. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of warm milk to the rava and again fold everything in. Cook for a minute and when the rava becomes a sticky lump remove it it a plate. I had oiled the plate beforehand to avoid sticking the rava to the plate. Now let it cool down to room temperature before you start kneading.
Note: I started kneading almost after 2 minutes of removing the rava. But be careful it might be hot.
4. Now comes the hardest part. Kneading the rava atta. Be ready to knead it with all your strength for about 6-8 minutes. 3 minutes into the kneading, add 1 tsp of desi ghee and keep kneading.
Tip: Desi ghee or buffalo ghee would impart a richer flavor.
Tip 2: Add a little oil to your palm when your kneading, this will prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers
 |
| Start Kneading |
 |
| Add Ghee |
Tip: If you don't have castor sugar then take normal sugar and grind it to powder.
Note: Add sugar to the dough only if you are making a filling - less modak like me. Otherwise you can skip this step as your filling will be sweet.
6. Now divide this sweet dough into two equal parts. First we will make the coconut-cinnamon modak as it is colorless.
 |
| Divide the dough into two equal parts |
7. In a skillet take the shredded coconut and dry roast for about 2-3 minutes until fragrant. No oil needs to be added to this. Coconut will release its own oils. This process is done to make the coconut more fragrant and to dry up the moisture in it. Make sure it doesn't get browned or burnt.
 |
| Dry Roast the coconut till lightly fragrant |
 |
| Add the dry roasted coconut |
 |
| Add the cinnamon powder |
 |
| Make balls from the dough |
10. Now with your oiled hands slowly pinch the top of the ball and make the top of the ball tapered like a modak. Now press the ball lightly to flatten its base. Don't worry if you don't get it in the perfect shape at the first try. Just roll it into a ball again and start over.
11. Now with a fork, start making half moon grooves on all along the side so that it starts resembling a modak. Again don't worry too much about perfection of the grooves.
Gulkand Modak Recipe
12. Now we will make the gulkand modak. Flatten the other half of the dough and add the gulkand and rose petals. Also add two drops of beetroot juice or light pink food color to the dough. Knead the dough nicely till a smooth texture is formed.
Tip: If you have rose syrup you can use 1 tsp of that instead of gulkand to give it a rosy flavour and light pink color. But still I would recommend using Gulkand as it gives a nice flavour to teh modaks
Note: You may vary the color or the amount of gulkand as per your liking.
Note 2: You can also use 1/4th tsp rose water in the dough. This is completely optional. I didn't use it.
Note 3: I have used dried rose petals. I found that these rose petals are lovely in terms of flavor and color. I have used them for making my own rose tea pre-mix also.
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| Add Gulkand |
 |
| Add Dried Rose petals |
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| The dough |
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| Modaks Before Steaming |
Steaming the Modak
14. Once you are done with the grooves sprinkle some cinnamon powder over the coconut -cinnamon modaks and now place them on the steamer stand. You can use a normal idli steamer like me. For the gulkand ones, you don't need to sprinkle anything, just place them also in the stand.
Steam them in batches for 5 minutes each.
Note: You need to keep enough gap between the modaks so don't try to shove in all at once, otherwise they may stick.
 |
| Putting the modaks in the idli steamer |
Garnish with cinnamon powder, fresh coconut and rose petals and enjoy!
Re-heating the Modak
The best part of these modaks is that they can be easily stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. So if you have extra modaks do not worry, just put them in the refrigerator. When you are ready to eat them, just pop them into a microwave safe covered container and heat for 30 seconds. It will be as good as new.
If you do not have a microwave oven you can again steam it for 5 minutes and consume.
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