Sunday 8 September 2013

Ukdiche Modak (Sweet Steamed Dumplings)

Lord Ganesh loves these little steamed dumplings made of a rice flour cover stuffed with a mixture of sweetened coconut and jaggery.




Ingredients:

For the stuffing (Chav):

  • Scraped fresh coconut- 1 ½ cups (approx. 2 med. size, take only white part) 
  • Jaggery, chopped- 1 ¼ cup 
  • Green cardamom powder- 1 tsp 
  • Roasted poppy seeds (khaskhas)- 1 tsp (optional- we do not use) 
  • Clarriedfied butter (desi ghjee/sajuk tup)- 1 tsp 
For the cover (Ukad):
  • Sp. Rice flour- 1 ½ cups (Wash, dry and grind from flour mill or available readymade in market) 
  • Water- 1 ½ cups 
  • Groundnut oil- 1 tsp 
  • Salt- ¼ tsp 

Method:
1. To make the stuffing, combine coconut, ghee and jaggery in non-stick pan and heat over medium heat. Keep stirring for 15 minutes until jaggery is completely melted and the mixture is moist. Stir continuously to prevent burnt this. Add cardamom powder to it. Cook for a minute. Avoid overcooking else the mixture starts drying out. Now turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.


2. Next step is to make the cover. For this, boil 1 1/2 cup of water. As water starts bubbling, turn the heat to low, add oil, salt and quickly add rice flour. Stir continuously to prevent lumps from forming. Cover for 2 minutes. Remove the lid and mix properly. Turn off the heat. Turn out the mixture into a deep dish/plate.


Knead it properly while hot. Keep pressing the mixture with the bottom of a flat bowl to knead it. This releases the lumps easily as well as keeps your hands from burning. This mixture should be sticky to your hands. Gather into a soft pliable dough. Rest the dough covered with a damp cloth.



Modak making is a little tricky and needs lots of patience and practice. Here is how you work on it:


3. Divide the dough into lemon sized balls.
While working on one ball, keep the rests covered under a damp cloth. Take one ball and make an impression in the middle with your thumb to make it look like a small cup.
With the thumb still inside and rest of the fingers pointing downwards along the outer side of the cup, gradually shape it into a bowl, alternately rotating between your thumb and the rest of the fingers until it is nice and thin. You may dip your fingers in water and oil to make the rotating easier.





(Alternatively, skip this step and simply roll out the ball into a 3 inch diameter circle, hold it in your hand to form a bowl)

4. Dip thumb and index finger in water and make small pinches side by side all along the outer surface of the bowl.





5. Spoon some stuffing at the center of the bowl.
6. Gather the periphery at the top and join to form a peak. The pleated shape looks like a whole garlic.
Trim off the excess part of the peak. Seal cracks (if any) with some dough.
Cover modaks with a damp cloth.

Modak moulds are available in the market. Mould can be used for making modak.
How to use modak mould?............ Grease the mould with oil/ghee. This prevents the dough from sticking to the mould. Lay the dough on 2 sides of mould & press with your index finger and spread it inside the mould. Now fill in the stuffing and close the bottom with more dough like patching. Open the mould carefully.



Similarly, shape rest of the balls. Dip the bottom of each modak into water (This helps to lift them out easily as they are done) and arrange them in a modak steamer. Or if steamer is not available, heat some water in a big vessel. Spread a damp cloth in a sifter and arrange all modaks on it. Place the sifter in the vessel with a stand/small pot half filled with water under it and cover with a lid. Else, you can also use pressure cooker (without whistle) for steaming. Steam for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cover is cooked through.
Or arrange in Micro safe steamer or arrange on Micro-safe Idli Stand. Steam on Micro-high for 7-8 mins.

Serve hot modak with melted pure ghee or as it is.




उकडीचे मोदक
साहित्य :
सारण (चव) :
  • खवलेल ओलं खोबर -१ १/२ कप (साधारण २ मध्यम आकाराचे नारळ, फक्त पांढरा भाग घ्यावा )
  • चिरलेला गूळ- १ १/४ कप
  • वेलची पूड- १ टीस्पून
  • भाजलेली खसखस- १ टीस्पून (ऐच्छिक - मी वापरत नाही)
  • साजूक तूप- १ टीस्पून 
उकड :
  • मोदकाचे तांदूळ पीठ- १ १/२ कप (जाडे तांदूळ स्वच्छ धुवून सावलीत वाळवावे व दळून आणावे किंव्हा बाजारात तयार सुध्द्धा मिळते.)
  • पाणी- १ १/२ कप
  • मीठ- चिमुटभर
  • तेल- १ टीस्पून
कृती :
  • जाड बुडाच्या पातेल्यात किंव्हा नॉन-स्टिक पॅनमध्ये खवलेल ओलं खोबर, गूळ, तूप एकत्र करून मध्यम ते मंद आचेवर १५ मिनिटे शिजववे. सतत हलवत रहावे , करपणार नाही याची काळजी घ्यावी. रंग बदलला आणि घट्ट होऊ लागले कि वेलची पूड टाकून, व्यवस्थित ढवळून गॅस बंद करावा. जास्त शिजवू नये, चिक्कीसारखे घट्ट होईल. याप्रमाणे सारण आधीच तयार करून ठेवावे.
  • पाणी उकळत ठेवावे.पातेल्यातील पाण्याला उकळी आल्यावर त्यात तेल व मीठ घालावे. नंतर पाणी ढवळून त्यात पीठ घालावे व उलथन्याच्या टोकाने एकाच बाजूने ढवळावे. झाकण ठेवून वाफ आणावी. तयार झालेली उकड गरम असतानाच मळून घ्यावी. जास्त गरम असताना वाटीच्या साह्याने गुठळ्या मोडून घ्याव्यात. त्यातली थोडी उकड ताटात काढून हाताला थोडे तेल व पाणी लावून मळावी. छान, मऊ, एकजीव उकड तयार करावी. उकड ओल्या कपड्याने कपड्याने झाकून ठेवावी.  
  • नंतर त्याचा मोठ्या लिंबाएवढा गोळा घेऊन वाटीसारख्या आकाराची पारी करावी. त्याला कळ्या पाडून त्यात सारण भरावे व मोदकाचा आकार द्यावा. तयार मोदक सुध्दा ओल्या कपड्याने कपड्याने झाकून ठेवावेत. नाहीतर सुकून तडे जातात.
  • असे ७-८ मोदक झाले की मोदकपात्रातील चाळणीवर कपड्याचा तुकडा किंवा केळीच्या पानाचा तुकडा घालून त्यावर ठेवून १५-२० मिनिटे वाफवावे. किंव्हा कुकरला शिट्टी न लावता सुध्द्धा वाफवता येतात.

3 comments:

Shruti J said...

Lovely post... Happy Ganesh Chaturthi :)

murthy said...

Delicious 😋 Post. THANK YOU

Unknown said...

Very easy-to-use method. Thank you.

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