Modak
Modak
Modak
First these special sweets are prepared and offered to god as "naivedya" and then distributed as
"prasad" to family and friends.
Boil 1 cup of water. When it has reached a steady boil, add ghee, salt and oil. Now immediately add
the rice flour and stir quickly so as to remove all lumps. Cover with a lid for some time. Remove the
lid & stir again & again, cover again.
Note : The dough should be neither too sticky nor too dry.
Now remove pan from the heat. Take off all the mixture on a flat plate. Knead it thoroughly while
hot. Make a soft dough. Keep covered aside.
Put 1 tablespoon of ghee in a kadhai and heat it. Fry the chopped cashew nut till it becomes golden
brown. Remove from the kadhai. Put the kadhai on the gas stove again and put the grated coconut
and jaggery into it. Mix well till the coconut becomes soft and till the jaggery melts and well blend
with the coconut. When the mixture is well cooked and becomes quite dry, take off the kadhai from
the heat Allow the mixture to cool. After cooling add the raisins, fried cashew nut and the
cardamom powder to the coconut and jaggery mixture. Mix well. The filling is ready.
Now for the modak heat 2 cups of water in a vessel. Add salt to the water. As the water starts
boiling, add rice flour to the water. Lower the flame. Mix well. See that lumps are not formed. It
should be a smooth paste. If you find the mixture is becoming too dry add the remaining 1/2 cup of
water Keep the vessel on the gas stove till the rice flour is cooked. Take the cooked dough from the
vessel and put on a wet cloth. Cover the dough with the cloth and mash it with any metal tumbler
base. This will make the dough softer.
Rub little ghee on you palms and take small portion of the hot dough. Make a ball out of it. At one
portion, press the ball with your finger to make a ditch into the ball. From inside the ditch press
side-wise to make a small round vessel-kind thing out of the ball. Put 2 teaspoons of the filling in
the small vessel-shaped dough. Merge all the sides of the vessel to make in the shape of a fresh fig.
Take a colander spread little ghee in it. Place the modak in it.
Make such 10-12 modak out of the remaining dough and place all in the colander. Place the modak in
such a way that they don't touch one another. Take a big vessel. Pour 4 glasses of water in it. Put
the vessel on the heat. As the water starts boiling, cover the vessel with the colander full of
modak. Now cover the colander with a tight lid so that the steam should not come out from
anywhere. The modak should be steamed for 10 minutes. Serve hot modak with a teaspoon of ghee
on it.