← Nouns Cooking · Indian

Ingredients

• 1 tsp Ghee
• 150 g freshly grated coconut
• 120 g Jaggery (gur), grated
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• 1 pinch grated nutmeg
• 250 ml Water
• 1 tbsp Ghee
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 140 g fine rice flour

Method

1. Melt the ghee in a pan over low heat, add the coconut and jaggery and cook for 8–10 min, stirring, until the jaggery melts and the mixture turns sticky and comes together. Stir in the cardamom and nutmeg and let it cool.
2. Bring the water, ghee and salt to the boil. Turn the heat to low, tip in the rice flour all at once and stir quickly into a lumpy mass. Cover and leave on the lowest heat for 2 min, then off the heat for 5 min.
3. While it is still warm, knead the dough on a greased surface for 3–4 min with wet hands until completely smooth.
4. Take a lime-sized ball, flatten it into a 7 cm cup with thin edges, and pleat the rim with your fingertips into 10–12 folds.
5. Spoon in a heaped teaspoon of filling, gather the pleats together and pinch them into a pointed top. Keep the shaped modaks under a damp cloth.
6. Steam on a greased plate or banana leaf over boiling water for 10–12 min, until shiny and slightly translucent. Serve warm with a spoonful of ghee poured over.

Tips

• If the edges crack while pleating, the dough is too dry: knead in a few drops of warm water.
• Modak moulds make shaping easy and are sold in Indian shops.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Ministry of Curry Hebbar's Kitchen