Modak

Ganapati Bappa Morya!! Ganesh Chaturthi is a popular festival in western India to commemorate the birth of Lord Ganesha. Clay idol of Lord Ganesha is worshiped during the 7 days of festivities and each day a different dessert is offered to the God. At the end of the week the idol is then immersed in water to mark the end of the festival. Here is Australia, as we are "Busy" during the work week, we only worship the idol for 1 1/2 day.

During this auspicious week we will refrain from consuming any meat/egg/fish products. This gives us a rare opportunity to cook vegetarian dishes all week long. Hence, I am kicking off a vegetarian week. I will try and feature the 5 different sweets we cooked during the festival and will feature the recipe one a day. I am starting with Modak (Sweet Dumpling), Lord Ganesha's favourite food.

Ingredients:

Fillings

2 cups of freshly grated coconut

1 1/2 cup grated jaggery ( you can substitute palm sugar)

1 tsp poppy seeds

Covering

2 cups of water

1 tsp of oil

pinch of salt

2 cup rice flour

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Combine water, salt, oil and bring to a boil. Add rice four to the water to make a consistent dough. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 mins. Turn the heat off and mash the dough when hot with a masher. Set the dough aside.

Meanwhile heat a thick bottom pan and add the coconut. Cook the coconut for 5 mins and add the jaggery. Cook the mixture until the jaggery melts. Do not overcook the mixture as the jaggery tends to harden when overcook. It needs to just melt and turn the heat off. Add the poppy seeds and mix and set aside. 

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