Steamed Modak || Kozhukattai || Ukadiche Modak

Festivals bring colours to your lives and and festive season begins from August till December in India. Starting with Ganesh Chaturthi on the cards, lined up with Navarathri & Deepavali.Sweet delights play a main role in these celebrations.Traditional steamed Modak's are something we all loved to eat during our childhood days.These Modaks are offered as naivedya to Lord Ganesha during the ten day celebration of the Ganesha festival which starts coming week. Its often referred to as "Indian Sweet Dumpling" because of the same method of cooking like dumplings. In Kerala, we call this as Kozhukatta which is made in the same way like Modak with sweet stuffing made with coconut, jaggery, ghee & cardamom. Modak is the most popular delicacy made in Maharashtra during Ganesh Chaturthi and here it is called as Ukadiche Modak. Every year we can see different variants to this sweet in the market like Mango Modak, chocolate Modak, Motichoor Modak etc. I am here with the basic version of steamed Modak and how we can prepare it with rice batter which gives a soft outer covering to the Modak.

Ingredients 

For dough

1. Rice(Sona masoori or Ponni) - 1 cup
2. Milk - 1/4 cup
3. Sesame oil - 2 Tsp
4. Salt - a pinch

For filling

1. Grated coconut - 1 cup
2. Grated jaggery - 1 cup
3. Ghee - 1 Tbsp
4. Cardamom - 2

Preparation

For dough

1.  Soak the rice in water for 1 hour & wash it twice.
2. Take a mixer jar and grind the rice to a smooth paste by adding half cup of water.
3. Take a heavy bottomed Kadai and add this rice batter with 1 cup of water.
4. Even if the batter is runny, we can reduce it while cooking the batter to a dough.
5. Keep the flame to medium low and add 1/4 cup of milk, 1 Tsp of sesame oil and a pinch of salt.
6. Milk gives a better colour to the dough.
7. Keep on stirring until the batter becomes a dough.Switch off the flame & let it cool down.
8. Knead well for a couple of minutes with 1 Tsp of sesame oil & cover with a damp cloth for 15 minutes.

For filling

1. In a pan, add 1 cup of shredded jaggery with 1/4 cup of water.
2. When it starts to melts, add grated coconut with 1 Tbsp of ghee & cardamom powder.
3. Mix everything well and stir until the moisture evaporates completely from the mixture.
4. Our sweet stuffing is ready.Make small sized balls out of it.

Assembling

1. Make small bowl size shape and keep it on the greased mould. 
2. Close the mould and spread the dough evenly.Make sure the edges are sealed properly with dough.
3. Add the small sized sweet stuffing inside the mould and seal the top area with dough.
4. Cover Modak's with wet cloths as it can dry out.

Steaming

1. Heat water in a steamer and grease a plate with ghee or oil.
2. Keep the plate on steamer  and place modak's inside it.
3. Steam for 10-15 minutes on medium flame.
4. Modak's are ready to be served.