Tyohara Utsav Special – God’s favourite Modak

We invited all our readers to share with us their favourite festive recipe, as part of our ongoing Tyohara Utsav. We’ve been fortunate enough to receive some interesting recipes from our dear readers and will feature them here over the next few weeks. Let’s make the good start with Ganesha. Here’s a recipe for Modak, the traditional prasad (offering) of Ganesh Chaturthi, shared by Jayashree Ranade, 73, a resident of Mumbai. 

Ganesh Chaturthi and God’s favourite Modak

Ganesh Chaturthi marks the onset of the festive season towards the end of the year. Jayashree Ranade (73) a resident of Andheri West, Mumbai, shares with us the significance of Ganesh Chaturthi and her recipe of Ukadi Che Modak or steamed modak, rice flour cups filled with a succulent mixture of coconut and jagggery.

Lord Ganesh is the God of learning. He is believed to be remover of all obstacles. It is believed to be auspicious to start any function/ work with a prayer to Him. In Maharashtra, we celebrate the festival in the month of Bhadrapad according to the Hindu calendar. The duration varies for different families – from 11/2 days, 3 days, 5 days or 10 days. Before Independence, Lokmanya Tilak started the tradition of celebrating the festival collectively in different localities, as a means of bringing people together and awakening them to stand against British rulers. 

We started celebrating the festival when our eldest son was born. We were staying in Rourkela then, among cosmopolitan crowd. In order to familiarise our son with our Marathi traditions we started the tradition of celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi every year. For me every Ganesh Chaturthi is special. Ganesh idol is brought home with great ceremony and is installed on Ganesh Chaturthi (4^th day of Bhadrapad). An elaborate pooja is held in the presence of family and friends with Sanskrit prayers as well as those composed in Marathi. Aarti is conducted and Prasad is distributed both in the morning and evening. Ganesh is specifically fond of modaks and these are specially made and offered as Prasad (offering). We do visarjan (idol immersion) on the day of Gauri visarjan as per Hindu calendar and pray to Ganpati to visit our house every year and bless us with His choicest blessings. 

Ukadi Che Modak/ Steamed Modak

Ingredients – 

For the outer covering –

2 cups rice 

For filling

1 Coconut (grated)

2 cups Sugar/ Jaggery

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Dry fruits – few

2 tsp ghee for kneading and greasing

For the dough/ outer cover-

For the flour use new rice preferably because it is more sticky. Wash the rice two times, drain and spread it on a cloth to dry in shade. When dry, grind it to a fine powder and sieve it.

In 1 cup boiling water add 1tbsp oil and salt to taste. 

Add 1 cup of modak flour. Stir it continuously to avoid lumps. 

Cover with lid for 5 minutes. Remove from stove. 

Knead the dough when it is still warm. Apply little oil on your palm from time to time while kneading the dough. Place the steamed flour in a casserole to keep it warm.

For making filling – 

Mix grated coconut and sugar or jaggery in equal amount. 

Put in on a low flame and cook till the mixture is almost dry. 

Add cardamom powder and dry fruits. Keep aside.

For the modak

Take a little portion and knead it. Grease the palm with oil and flatten a ball of dough to form a cup shape. 

Place about ¾ tsp coconut filling into this cup. Dip thumb and index finger in the oil and make 5-6 small pinches side by side on the outer edges of the cup. Bring them together on top and fix to form a peak.

Steam the modak for 15 minutes. It appears like a garlic pod.