Modakam for Ganesha..and all of us!

A sweet dumpling made of rice,coconut and jaggery!

Sweet and spicy "Modaks"

Ganesha loves them, and I am not one bit surprised. 

Modakam in Sanskrit, modak in Maharashtra, and kozhakkattai(only purebred Tamilians will be able to pronounce this one correctly) in Tamil Nadu, this sweet  dumpling –or momo-if you please, used to be a bit difficult to make in the good old days.

 I recall my grandmother—in fact both grandmothers—slogging it out as they prepared the rice flour to make the casing in which the “poornam”  made of coconut, jiggery and cardamom, is stuffed, before it is folded at the tip to eventually look like a garlic! When you have a dozen or more of them, they are ready to be steamed , and then  it takes only a fraction of a minute to finish eating them!

But nowadays, ladies in South, have evolved many short cuts and easy ways of making dishes that would have been tedious. For the modaks, they don’t take the trouble of making dry rice flour of the correct texture, and labour with kneading it right, steaming it right, and then making the modaks.

My mother made some for us the other day. Here is  her way of making them

Poornam made of jaggry and coconut

For the poornam

Coconut—grate half a coconut

Jaggery—crush half a cup

Cardamom—two or three, peeled and powdered

Roast the grated coconut in a frying pan, for about two minutes. Add the jiggery and the cardamom powder, and keep stirring till the two have just blended. Take care not to overdo this.

Rice flour "milk"

For the casing:

Rice-one cup, soak for an hour

Oil—two teaspoons + two teaspoons

Salt-half a pinch

Dry rice flour(or even corn flour or wheat flour)—two tablespoons

Grind the soaked rice extremely fine in a blender, with a lot of water, almost till it looks milky. In a  non-stick saucepan, add half a cup of water, and half a pinch of salt. When it gets warm, add the rice flour milk, stirring constantly, adding half the  two teaspoons of oil in two or three drizzles. 

When it becomes  a big lump like dough, switch off the gas, and let it cool for four or five minutes. Then drizzle the rest of the oil on this, and using your hand, knead it well, and cover with a damp cloth.

Rice flour "dough"

When the dough has come to room temperature, divide it into small balls touching the oil. 

Now touching the dry flour, shape each ball into a tiny  bowl , fill a spoon (or as much as can comfortably be packed into each casing) of "poornam". 

Now gather the edges in the middle, and taper them together, till it looks like a garlic, or a miniature coconut.

Make as many of these as you want, place them gently in an idli stand or any other steamer, and steam for ten minutes.  When you open, you will see translucent  and soft modaks, tempting you just as much as they do Lord Ganesha.

The rice dough that is left can be converted into tasty “ammini kozhakkattais”—a salty variety.

All you have to do is add a handful of grated coconut, and a tempering of a pinch of hing, mustard seeds, green chillies chopped fine, curry leaves chopped fine and green coriander chopped fine in some coconut oil, and knead the dough lightly again.

 Divide them into small portions, and roll each one into a tiny ball. Steam the balls in an idli stand or steamer. They taste out of this world!

My mother took an hour from start to finish, the result of years of cooking with passion and devotion.

On a leisurely Sunday, this will be a hugely satisfying effort. Enjoy, in the name of Ganesha!

The Maharashtra Sadan in the Indian capital makes the sweet modaks around Ganesh chaturthi time. And these modaks and not garlic-sized, but almost like a turnip or knoolkol size.

Mom making the kozhakkattais