Bhagyashree Zore tells you how to make these steamed rice dumplings with coconut and jaggery stuffing.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Ingredients
For the stuffing
- 1 bowl grated coconut
- 1/2 bowl sugar
- 1/2 bowl jaggery
- Dry fruits (almonds,raisins, pistachio, cashews) as per your choice
- 2 to 3 tsp pure ghee
- A pinch of kesar, cardamom and nutmeg powder
- 1 tsp poppy seeds (khas khas)
- 2 tsp mawa (optional)
For the cover
- 2 bowls rice flour
- A pinch of salt
- 2 tsp of oil or ghee
- Hot water as per requirement
Method
For the stuffing
- Heat ghee in a pan. Add poppy seeds and saute for a minute.
- Add grated coconut, sugar, jaggery (broken into small pieces or grated), cardamom and nutmeg powder and all dry fruits. Mix thoroughly.
- Cook on low flame till all moisture from the sugar and jaggery begins to dry.
- Do not overcook as it will harden up and lose its taste.
- Stir every 2 to 3 minutes till it turns golden yellow.
- You can add more ghee if the stuffing becomes too dry.
For the cover
- Boil water.
- Add a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of ghee to the flour and mix it thoroughly.
- Add 1 tsp of ghee in the boiling water.
- Add the dough to the boiling water. Lower heat. Mix well.
- Cover the vessel keep it for 5 minutes on low flame to let the rice cook.
- Knead the dough into a smooth paste without lumps.
- You need to knead it while it is still hot. You may apply some oil or ghee on your palms.
- If you feel the dough looks dry or hard, add some hot water and continue to knead till the dough turns smooth.
Making the modaks
- Apply pinch of oil/ghee on your palms and make small balls of the dough.
- Flatten it to give it the shape of a katori or cone.
- Press the edges of the katori-shaped dough with slight pressure at every 1 inch distance.
- The edges of the katori will now look like the petals of the flower.
- Put some stuffing in the katori and close the ends to give them a shape like fresh figs or momos.
- Take a leaf of banana or a soft cloth like muslin, and apply bit oil/ghee on it and place it in the steamer pan.
- Place all the modaks on the leaf or cloth and close the lid.
- Steam it for 5 to 6 minutes and turn off the flame.
- Your delicious modaks are ready to be served.
Tip: Do not over steam the modaks, else they will become hard.
For fried modaks
- Instead of steaming the stuffed modaks, heat oil in the frying pan and deep fry the modaks on low or medium flame till they turn golden brown from all sides.
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