Steamed Modak is the favorite sweet of Lord Ganesha. It is a dumpling of wheat flour filled with sweet mixture of grated coconut and dry fruits. This sweet is widely prepared in Maharashtra state of India.
INGREDIENTS
|
2 cups wheat flour 3/2 cup fresh coconut - grated 1/2 cup surar - powdered (or jaggery - grated) 1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds - powdered |
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds - dry roasted 2 teaspoon cashew nuts - broken into small pieces A pinch of common salt |
PROCEDURE
Take a wheat flour in a mixing bowl, add a pinch of common salt and knead it by slowly adding water to form a thick dough. Make a small lemon sized balls of this dough. Cover them with wet thin cotton cloth & keep aside.
To make a filling, mix grated fresh coconut, surar (or grated jaggery), cardamom seeds powder, roasted poppy seeds & cashew nut pieces and stir it in a pan on a low heat for about 2 minutes (or until surar/jaggery melts.
Roll small poori (about 50mm diameter & 2mm thick) of the dough ball. Put 1 teaspoon filling on and at the center of the poori. Slowly fold the poori along the edge (about 10-12 folds should cover entire circumference) to give it a shape of a pouch. Close the opening of this pouch by pressing all the folds together using your thumb and first two fingers. Now the modak is ready to steam. Repeat this procedure to make such modaks from remaining dough balls.
Boil 1 liter water in a 4 liter deep pan. Put a riddle (a pan with small holes on bottom surface) on the deep pan. Wait until the steam starts raising up through these holes. Now put modaks in the riddle in a single layer (just enough number to spread over entire holed bottom surface of the riddle) and put a lid on the riddle. Keep it for 2-3 minutes and the steamed modaks are ready to serve.
