Fried Modak

Bhavesh
4 days ago
2 min read

Being a Gujarati I've always had ladvas/ladoos during Ganesh Chaturthi festivities. Ganesh Chaturthi is very popular in Maharashtra and they make Modaks - a sweet dumpling filled mainly with coconut. This is said to be Ganesh Bhagwan's favourite. There are many types of Modaks including a steamed and fried version. As I never had one before I decided to make Fried Modak.

Fried modak recipe with a coconut and japery filling for Ganesh Chaturthi

Ingredients:

Coconut Filling (Modak Saran):

2 tsp ghee

1 1/2 cup grated fresh coconut

3/4 cup jaggery

1 tsp cardamon powder

2 tsp white poppy seeds (khus khus)

Pastry:

1 1/2 cup plain flour

1 tbsp oil

Warm water

Oil for frying

Method

For the coconut filling melt 2 tsp of ghee in a pan and add in the grated coconut. Sauté on a low heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until a light coconut fragrance is given off.

Then add in the jaggery. Break up or grate the jaggery so it melts quicker. Continue to sauté on a low heat until all the jaggery melts and is mixed well into the grated coconut.

Once the jaggery has melted add in the cardamon powder and white poppy seeds and mix. Once mixed place the mixture into a separate dish to cool down.

For the modak dough add oil into the plain flour and rub the oil into the flour using your hands.

Then add warm water to form a soft yet pliable dough. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.

Take small portions of the rested dough and roll out into 3 inch circles with a thickness of 1mm. Place a ball of the coconut filling in the centre of the circle. Grab the edges of the circle and pleat them together and wrap around the coconut filling ball as you go and seal at the top by pressing.

Repeat this with the rest of the dough and coconut filling and allow the modaks to rest for 10 mintues. This will dry out the dough slightly so they won't stick or break while frying.

Fry these on medium to low heat until they become lightly golden. Some of the filling may leak as the jaggery becomes hot. This can make the modaks sticky therefore it's best to place them on baking paper otherwise these will stick to kitchen paper.