Bhakti D
Ganesh Chaturthi is a very popular festival in Maharashtra. This is one festival I have grown up with. I can never forget those days when as a kid we spent whole night in decoration and preparations. We would eagerly wait for this day and would not like when we had to leave Bappa. It is 10 day’s festival and each day we do different feast for Prasad, naivedya or bhog. Modak is lord Bappa’s favorite sweet. It is generally prepared on the 1st and last day. Here’s the authentic recipe of Ukadiche Modak-
Special Ukadiche Modak Recipes
Ingredients
Outer cover
Rice flower- 2 bowls
Salt – 1 pinch
Water – 2 big bowls
Ghee- 3 tbsp
For stuffing
Grated coconut – 2 big bowls
Jaggery – 1 ½ bowls
Cardamom powder – 1tbsp
Cashew nuts crushed – 1 tbsp
Almonds crushed – 1 tbsp
Procedure for outer part
Mix rice flour and salt, sieve 2 times.Boil 1 bowl water in a large pot; add sieved rice flour and 1 tbsp ghee to that, mix well make sure it will not be clumpy cover and keep for 10 minutes.
For stuffing
Take grated coconut and jaggery together in a bowl and mix well.
Heat a pan on medium flame add mixture in pan stir continuously, jagerry will start melting in few minutes now add cardamom powder and crushed nuts, mix the mixture well it will become sticky in 5 minutes. Turn off the flame. Let the mixture cool down.
Now take steamed rice mixture and knead it carefully with wet hands and little ghee. Make soft dough, make small equal balls of the dough, roll the ball lightly just as small bowl shape, place the 1 tbsp stuffing into each rolled balls, start gathering the pleats together in the center and seal edges.
Now steam the Modak in pressure cooker (without whistle) or in the idli stand, heat up 1 inch water, put small round pot in cooker now place still strainer on that small pot, keep white cotton cloth into strainer, place Modak into cloth keep little distance between two Modak, cover another cloth on Modak it will take 10 minutes to steam the Modak (Deep each Modak into water before steaming it will help you from cracking the Modak).
Pour some pure ghee and serve hot!
