Come Ganesh Chaturthi, the sweet shops are laden with heaps of modaks. What are modaks? The quintessential prasad for the festival, modaks are sweet, bite-sized dumplings that come in a variety of flavours. Since they were a favourite of Lord Ganesha, each year the day the lord descended on earth, is celebrated with these tiny sweets. This year, Ganesh Chaturthi falls on August 31 and modaks are all set to be in place.
However, around this time, you’ll also find several kinds of fusion recipes that come up. Be it chocolate modak or khajur modak, the variety is endless. One such interesting modak recipe that you may not have tried yet is that for Puran Modak. This takes the soft and melt-in-your-mouth sweet to another level by deep-frying it. While the exterior is crispy and crunchy, the stuffing inside is all things sweet and tasty, to appease the lord.
Here’s how you can make the Puran Modak at home for Ganesh Chaturthi this year.
Ingredients:
• ¾ cup grated coconut
• 1 ½ cup wheat flour
• 1 ½ cup chana dal
• 4 cardamoms
• ½ cup maida
• 1 cup jaggery
• Water
• Salt
Method:
• Start by soaking chana dal the night before.
• Next day, the dal is drained of excess water and mashed properly.
• Simultaneously, coconut is roasted on a tawa.
• This is then mixed with some jaggery, cardamom and dal.
• Once a dry mixture is obtained, a dough is kneaded with wheat flour and maida.
• The dough is rested for some time after which it is divided into smaller rounds.
• Rolled with the palm of the hand, the dough is then shaped into modaks.
• These are deep-fried in hot oil and served crispy.