Modak

Ingredients

Filling

• 200 gjaggery, grated
• 300 gfresh coconut, grated
• 1 tspground cardamom
• a pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tbsppoppy seed, optional
• 1 tspghee

Dough

• 250 gfine rice flour
• 375 mlwater
• 1 tspghee
• ½ tspsalt

To finish

• ghee, for brushing
• banana leaf or muslin, for the steamer

Equipment

• a steamer
• a modak mould, optional

Directions

1. Make the filling first: heat the ghee in a pan and add the grated coconut and jaggery together. Cook over a low heat, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes until the jaggery melts and the mixture comes together. Stop while the mixture is still moist and just holding together.
2. Stir in the cardamom, nutmeg and poppy seed, then let it cool completely. Bring the water to a rolling boil with the salt and the ghee. Take the pan off the heat and tip in all the rice flour at once, stirring hard with a wooden spoon. It must be boiling water and it must all go in at once.
3. Cover the pan and let it stand off the heat for 5 minutes. Tip the hot dough onto a board and knead it while it is still as hot as you can bear, with wet hands.
4. Keep a bowl of water beside you and re-wet your hands constantly as you work. Knead 5 minutes until it is completely smooth and soft, with no cracks when you roll a ball. Keep the dough covered with a damp cloth at all times, because it dries out within a minute of exposure.
5. Take a small ball, and with wet fingers press it into a shallow cup, thinning the walls by turning and pressing. Thin the walls evenly and keep the base slightly thicker, so it does not split when you fill it.
6. Pinch the pleats before you fill it, while the cup is still open and easy to handle. Spoon in the filling, then gather the pleats up to the top and twist them together into a point.
7. Seal the tip properly, because an open modak lets water in and collapses in the steamer. Line the steamer with a banana leaf or damp muslin and set the modak in without touching each other. Steam them for 10 to 12 minutes over a steady rolling boil. Do not over-steam them. Brush with ghee and serve warm, with more ghee poured over.

Technique

• Fresh coconut is much better than desiccated, which gives a dry and grainy filling.
• They are best eaten within a few hours and go hard by the next day.
• The pleating takes practice and the first few of any batch are always the worst.

Substitutions

• Desiccated coconut soaked in a little warm milk, in place of fresh.
• Palm sugar or dark brown sugar for jaggery.

Variations

• Talniche modak, fried with a wheat shell.
• With khoya or dried fruit in the filling.
• Kozhukattai, the Tamil version, offered at the same festival.

History

Ganesha’s favourite sweet: twenty-one modak are offered at Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra before the household eats them.

Frequently asked questions

What is Modak?

Modak is a dessert from India: steamed rice-flour dumpling pleated around a jaggery and coconut filling. Ganesha’s favourite sweet: twenty-one modak are offered at Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra before the household eats them.

How long does Modak take to make?

Modak takes 45 min of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 21 modak. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Modak?

Yes, within limits. Desiccated coconut soaked in a little warm milk, in place of fresh. Palm sugar or dark brown sugar for jaggery.

What is the most important thing to get right in Modak?

Stir in the cardamom, nutmeg and poppy seed, then let it cool completely. Bring the water to a rolling boil with the salt and the ghee. Take the pan off the heat and tip in all the rice flour at once, stirring hard with a wooden spoon. It must be boiling water and it must all go in at once.