Maharashtrian Modak Recipe (Ganesh Chaturthi Special)

maharashtrian-modakModak is a famous Indian sweet prepared in Maharashtrian houses, especially for Ganesh Chaturthi. Flour dumplings, filled with jaggery and coconut mixture, it is a traditional favorite for Lord Ganesha, and for all Indians! Here is a simple recipe to make your own Modaks during the festival time! Traditionally, Modaks are fried in oil, however, you can even steam the dumpling rather than frying them as a healthier alternative. Feel free to customize the filling by replacing jaggery with sugar; adding some dry fruits like cashews & raisins to the filling would be a great idea too! [img courtesy of TarlaDalal]

I’m sending this to Mythreyee who’s collecting Deep Fried Sweets this month.

Ingredients
makes about 15 Modaks

For Stuffing:
250 gm Coconut (grated)
250 gm Jaggery
1 1/2 tbps Sesame seeds
1 tbps Ghee

For Modak Covering
400 gms Maida or All purpose Flour
3 tbps Oil
Salt to taste
oil for frying
** you can also use rice flour or regular wheat flour, but maida is easier

Method:
Make a soft dough of the flour by adding oil and salt, just like you make for Parathas or Chapatis.

Heat ghee in a vessel, add jaggery, coconut and sesame seeds. Keep stirring continuously on medium flame. The jaggery dissolves and a sticky solution is formed. Leave it to cool for 30 minutes.

Make small balls of dough and roll it, let the diameter be 3-4 inches approximately.

Put 1 tbsp of the above stuffing in the dough and pack it by taking all the corners up giving it a shape like a cone on top. This is called a modak. Make sure you cover all the filling so it doesn’t spill out while frying.

Take oil in a kadai and deep fry the Modaks till light brown.

Enjoy the Modaks, hot or cold, but only after serving a plate to Lord Ganesha first!

Related Recipes:
Homemade Kaju Katli (Kaju Burfi)
Kesar-Badam(Almond) Burfi
Coconut Laddoos(Koprapaak)


Comments

  1. folks, the original image I had has been replaced by this one from Tarlaji’s site, so any credit goes to her team

  2. this looks great! I had a recipe that was hard to follow, but yours looks real simple, so I’m gonna try this for dassehra soon:)

    btw, I have a new recipe to send your way mansi, jhopefully tomorrow!:)

    ~janani

  3. We make the rice flour variety too, and it is steam cooked. We also make a savoury variety.

  4. thanks Geetali! wish you the same too!:)

    nandita – yes, one of my friends used to make this with rice-flour every year; I’ve seen her do that, until recently her mom’s friend shared this easier recipe which works, and is so much simpler to execute!:)

    glad you liked it!:D

  5. we generally make it with rice flour, where it is mixed in boiling water then made into a sticky dough; its very time-consuming, but your recipe with maida sounds easy enough; thanks for sharing!

    -nandita

  6. your modaks look great! thanks for sharing a wonderful recipe!

    Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to you too!

    ~geetali