How to be an ace at making modaks this Ganesh festival: 3 experts share recipes, secrets

Three experts share tips on making signature modaks.

Meena Paranjape

“Even 10-15 years ago, you did not get modak in the shops, so we made these at home, especially as 21 modaks had to be offered to Ganpati during the puja. A common mistake is not adhering to the measurements of the ingredients. Many girls at my workshops mention adding extra water because they believe the flour is too dry. This is to be avoided,” says Paranjape.

Meena Paranjape

For ukdiche modak:

• Making the coconut-jaggery filling
• Heat 1 tsp ghee in a pan and sauté 1 cup grated coconut (fresh).
• Add 3/4 cup grated jaggery or jaggery powder and cook until the jaggery melts and the mixture thickens, avoiding overcooking.
• Stir in 1/2 tsp cardamom powder and optional nutmeg or roasted poppy seeds.
• Cool the filling completely as it will thicken further.
• Making the rice flour dough (ukad)
• Bring 1 cup water, 1/2 tbsp ghee, and 1/4 tsp salt to a boil.
• Add 1 cup rice flour or modak flour and stir until absorbed.
• Turn off the head and cover and let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Knead the warm dough until soft and smooth. Wet your hands with cold water while doing this.
• Keep the dough covered with a damp cloth.

Shaping the modak

• Grease your palms with oil, flatten a dough ball into a round disc. You can do this by hand or by using a puri-press.
• Add the coconut filling in the centre and create pleats to seal.

Steaming the modaks

• Bring water to a boil in a steamer pot. Line the steamer plate with banana leaves or muslin cloth, or grease the plate properly.
• Place the modaks on the plate, leaving space between modaks
• Steam for 12-15 minutes on high heat.
• Turn off the heat and take the steamer plate out immediately.
• Wet the modak and the cloth/leaves with a sprinkle of water, and then let them rest for a minute.
• Enjoy the modak hot with a dollop of ghee. Ensure you break the modak and let the ghee be absorbed in the filling.

Ukadiche Modak made by Meena Paranjape

Mruga Kirloskar

Mruga Kirloskar has captured the philosophy and essence of traditional vegetarian Marathi cuisine in the name of her food book ‘Tikhat Meeth Gool Masala’.

“These are the four ingredients you need to make any simple Maharashtrian meal,” she says, adding that the underlying theme of the book is “Buy local, eat seasonal”.

Every Ganesh Chaturthi, she prepares a thali with modak, varan bhaat, aluchi patal bhaji, beans bhaaji, ova leaf bhajji, and chutney at home, places it in front of her idol of Bappa, and then serves it to others. All items of the thali are mentioned in her recipe book.

Mruga Kirloskar

“In the case of modaks, Ukdiche Modak is an old tradition during Ganeshotsav. It has only one kind of filling, coconut and jaggery. We can have many variations, such as adding a lot of dry fruit to the coconut and jaggery. You can also put aamras or mango pulp,” she says.

Kirloskar knows of talented women who can make modak in a way that one modak is on top of another, looking like two stacked modaks. She herself learned modak making from her mother.

“The most important tip of all is that before you begin making modaks, say a prayer to Bappa. Like all Ganpati Bappa followers, I too seek his blessings before I begin any task,” she says.

Every family has its own way of shaping modaks. “In my family, we take the dough and press it with our hands and mould it like a small cup. We place the filling in this and then pinch in a certain way before bringing it together so that the modak gets a pleated shape with a little point on top,” she says.

Here is her recipe for aamras modak.

Modak for Bappa by Mruga Kirloskar

For the filling

• 2 big fresh coconuts, grated
• 2 cup grated jaggery
• 1 cup thick Alphonso mango pulp
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ tsp nutmeg powder
• For the covering
• 6 cups rice flour
• 6 cups water
• ½ tsp white butter
• ½ tsp salt

Method

For the Filling

• Mix the coconut, jaggery, sugar and mango pulp in a pan and keep on a low flame, stirring constantly.
• The mixture will melt. Cook till it is dry, but not too dry. Make sure that the filling is slightly thick and not runny. Keep cooking till the coconut mixture thickens.
• Remove from flame and add the nutmeg powder. Mix well and keep aside.

For the covering

• Heat the water till is starts boiling. Add salt and butter to it.
• Slowly add the Rice flour to the water, stirring constantly, ensuring that no lumps are formed.
• Reduce flame, cover the pan and allow the mixture to cook. This takes about 2-3 minutes.
• When cooked, remove from flame.
• Take a little of the dough at a time in a plate (paraat).
• Apply some ghee to your hands and knead the mixture while it is still hot.
• Knead well until the dough is no longer sticky.
• Keep covered under a damp cloth.

Shaping the modak

• Take a ball of dough, roughly the size of a large lemon.
• Now, make a dent in the centre and, with the help of both your hands, start shaping the dough into a flattish bowl.
• Ensure you have ghee on your hands to prevent the dough from sticking.
• Now take a heaped spoon of the filling and put it in the dough bowl.
• Start pinching/pleating the edges and bring them together to seal.
• Your modak is ready.
• Make the rest of the modaks accordingly.
• Keep them covered with a damp cloth till you are ready to steam them.
• I like to use a modak patra for steaming the modaks. Make sure you keep a banana leaf on the ‘jaali’ of the steamer. Before placing the modak in the steamer, dip it in cold water and then place it on the banana leaf.
• Steam for 15 to 20 minutes till the modaks start glistening.
• Serve hot with a dollop of ghee.

Shilpa Bhide Kale

Born into a Chitpawan Kokanastha Brahmin family that made modaks every Ganeshotsav as well as every Chaturthi throughout the year, Shilpa Bhide Kale imbibed her skills from her grandmother.

“I cannot tell you whether it was when I was two years old or four years old, but we have been making modaks at home. It was mandatory for every girl and man in the house to participate in this activity. Making modak, initially, feels like a chore, and then, when you can make a good modak, you feel a sense of pride,” says Bhide.

Shilpa Bhide Kale

A former assistant lecturer of English in a junior college in Pune, Kale is an avid food lover who enjoys all types of cuisine, vegetarian and non-vegetarian. She started making modak from childhood under the guidance of her grandmother.

“As a hobby, I started taking orders for Ukdiche modak during the Ganpati festival. Since 2013, I have been regularly conducting modak-making workshops. So far, more than 1,000 participants, including home chefs and five-star chefs, have learned the art of making modak through these workshops,” she says.

She has improvised on the traditional ukdiche modak and created vrat modak, in savoury and sweet varieties.

Her secrets are the forgotten modak recipes that her grandmother’s generation once knew. Among these are modaks made from millets, suitable for women who keep a fast during Ganeshotsav, and modakachi amti, a bite-sized modak that is doused in the dal and served with hot rice.

“If you go to really traditional old-style houses, you will find Modakachi Amti, made without onion, garlic or garam masala, but tasting wonderful,” she says. Here is her go-to recipe for upawas or vrat modak amti.

“These are bite-sized savoury modak, whose shells are made of varai tandul or barnyard millet. These are served in a gravy of roasted and ground peanuts and a host of spices, enhanced with ghee tadka. Since the modaks are not cooked before adding them to the gravy, it’s crucial to get the dough’s consistency right to prevent the shell from breaking. This comforting fix is best served with steaming hot varai chi bhagar,” she says.

Ingredients for modak

• Varai/sama/barn yard millet rice flour
• Sabudana/sago flour
• Grated coconut
• Grated ginger
• Green chilies
• Lime juice
• Salt and sugar
• Fresh chopped coriander
• For amti
• Roasted peanuts
• Cloves
• Tamarind
• Jaggery
• Red chilli powder
• Ghee, jeera, green chilli tempering

Method

Wash the millet and dry it in the shade for 3 to 4 days till it is completely dry. Get it ground into flour. Take one bowl of millet flour and add 2 teaspoons of sabudana flour. In a heavy-bottomed pan, add one bowl of water. Add one tablespoon of fresh white (unsalted) butter or ghee. Add a pinch of salt. And let the mixture boil. To this, add the flour mixture. Mix it well, cover the pan and cook on sim for 2 minutes. Let it cool. Knead this thoroughly into a soft dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and set it aside.

For the modak stuffing, take a big bowl of grated coconut. Add one teaspoon of grated ginger, coarsely ground chilli paste, one teaspoon of lime juice, salt and sugar to taste and freshly chopped coriander. Mix well and set aside.

To make the amti, take a bowl of roasted, de-shelled groundnuts and grind them. Add two cloves, one teaspoon of grated ginger, two tablespoons of freshly grated coconut and grind it into a soft paste, adding some water.

Make bite-sized modak using the dough and the stuffing. In a heavy-bottomed pan, make a tempering using ghee, jeera, and chilli. Add the groundnut paste and some water to make a semi-thick mixture. Let the mixture boil for a few minutes. Add a tablespoon of tamarind paste and a teaspoon of jaggery powder. Let the mixture boil for two more minutes.

Before serving the amti, add the modak in the amti; give it a boil for a minute and serve hot with steaming hot millet rice.