It is modak season again! The time of the year where Ganapathi Bappa comes home and in the bargain we get to eat a lot of delicious food! The most amazing thing about celebrating Chaturthi in Goa is that various seasonal vegetables are cooked at home to offer as prasad for Ganapathi. Among all the food that is offered, the modak is said to be his favorite. We have all had steamed rice modak and the regular deep-fried modak. But this time I decided to make something different. I was introduced to this recipe by my friend Swati who made these last year. I instantly fell in love! These modaks are steamed but unlike the popular rice cover, the wrapper is made with wheat flour. It is much simpler to make compared to rice flour modaks and the taste is unbeatable. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all!

What you will need:

How to make it:

• To make the filling, heat a pan. Add ghee and let it heat.
• Add the coconut, jaggery, salt, cardamom, and nutmeg powder.
• Stir continuously till the jaggery melts.
• Once the jaggery melts, keep the mixture aside to cool.
• To make the dough for the wrapper, take wheat flour in a mixing bowl.
• Add salt and ghee. Knead into a soft dough using warm water as needed.
• Heat water for steaming in a steamer. I used an idli maker or “saanan kopro” as it is called in Konkani. I used the idli molds to place the modak for steaming.
• Now make small 21 balls of the dough. Roll them out into flat circles using ghee. Do not use wheat flour to roll the dough.
• Place a small amount of mixture in the center of each rolled out circle as shown below.

  

• Seal the ends to make a modak shape.

  

• Oil the idli stand lightly. Place the modaks in the molds.
• Steam for 10 minutes. I heard of the following trick on one Marathi TV shows. Apparently, the modaks are cooking until the steam is going upwards. Once the steam starts going downwards or horizontally, they are done. I put it to test this time and it did work!

  

• Offer to Lord Ganesha and share with your family and friends!