Sweet and Spicy Modak are made to celebrate the elephant God Ganesha, in Hindu mythology as food made with rice, jaggery and coconut is considered to his favorite food.Hence these modaks are included among the festive food of India, during the festive season.
What is a Modak/Kozhukattai?
It is a dumpling made from rice or wheat flour with a filling of grated coconut and jaggery
The modak in Marathi, is also known as modakam or kudumu in Telugu, kadubu in Kannada, kozhakatta in Malayalam and kozhukattai in Tamil.
What is Ganesh Chaturthi/Festival?
Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayak Chaturthi is one of the major traditional festivals celebrated in India. It is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhadrapada, starting on the Shukla Chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period), which falls around the end of the monsoon season.
Who is Ganesh?
Ganesh, the most beloved cheerful deity is worshipped with great pomp and show, on this day.He is worshipped first before starting new venture in life, since he is considered the remover of all obstacles.
He is known to have a sweet tooth and is an ardent foodie, so the devotees celebrate his birth by making his favorite dishes, among which the Kozhukattai or Modak tops the list.
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Being an Elephant headed God, makes him a lover of rice balls, coconut and jaggery (cane sugar), so most of the dishes prepared on this day have these ingredients in one form or another.
Why is Modak made for Ganesh Festival?
As per Hindu mythology, Ganpati Bappa as he fondly called by his devotees, was fond of eating sweets. Modaks were one of his favourite sweets. This is how He came to be known as Modakpriya, which means the one who loves modak. Lord Ganesha is offered 21 modaks as bhog and served as prasad.
How to prepare the Modaks/Kozhukattai?
The rice flour is sieved gently and mixed with a little oil, hot water and salt, to make a dough.
These rice dough balls /marbles are then steamed using a steamer or in an Idli stand and pan.
Then they are made into the sweet dish,
and the spicy dish respectively.
The detailed recipe to make both the sweet and spicy version follows…
The Sweet and Spicy Modak Recipe
Sweet and Spicy Modak
20
minutes20
minutes1695
kcal40
minutesIngredients
- For the Modak/Kozhukattai/Rice balls
1 cup 1 Rice Flour
2 tbsp 2 All Purpose Flour/Maida optional
3/4 cup 3/4 Water
2 tsp 2 Coconut Oil
Salt to taste
- For the sweet dish
1 1/2 cup 1 1/2 Milk
1/4 cup 1/4 Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 cup 1/4 Sugar
a pinch Saffron strands
2 2 Cardamom deseeded & powdered
1 1 -2 tbsp Cashew nuts
- For the Spicy Dish
1 tbsp 1 Coconut Oil
1/4 tsp 1/4 Mustard seeds
1 1 Green chilies
2 tbsp 2 Cilantro/Coriander leaves
1/4 cup 1/4 Coconut Flakes
1/4 cup 1/4 Green peas
Salt to taste
Directions
- For the Modaks/Kozhukattai/Rice balls
- Sift the flour to make sure there are no lumps. Set aside. .
- Boil water in a pan. Add the oil and salt to it.
- Now add the flour into the pan. Do not mix, do not try to distribute.
- Just add the flour in a pile and let it cook on medium heat for 5-7 min.
- Turn off the heat of the boiling water-flour mixture.
- Now, mix the flour, stirring it well with a wooden spoon.Let it cool for about 5 min.
- Knead the dough well, making sure it is safe to handle while it is still warm
- Grease your palms with a drop of oil. Make small marbles with the dough.
- Steam the rice balls/marbles with in a vegetable steamer or idli stand for 10 min.
- For the sweet dish
- Start heating the milk on medium with constant stirring.
- Once the milk begins to boil, add the sweetened condensed milk, sugar, powdered cardamom along with the saffron strands. Boil for another 5 min until all the ingredients merge to a smooth mixture.
- Add the steamed rice balls/marbles and boil it for 5-7 min or until the milk thickens to a desired consistency.Let it cool.
- Garnish with cashew nuts roasted in a little ghee and serve.
- For the spicy dish
- Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds.
- Once they begin to crackle, add the green peas.
- Meanwhile, blend together the coconut, green chili, salt and cilantro and set aside.
- When the peas turn soft, add the blended coconut-cilantro mixture.Add the half the steamed flour marbles and saute for about 5 min.
- It is now ready to serve as a snack or side
Nutrition Facts
- Amount Per ServingCalories1695
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 62g 96%
- Saturated Fat 44g 221%
- Cholesterol 63mg 21%
- Sodium 426mg 18%
- Potassium 1203mg 35%
- Total Carbohydrate 257g 86%
- Dietary Fiber 12g 48%
- Sugars 116g
- Protein 33g 66%
- Vitamin A 23%
- Vitamin C 28%
- Calcium 66%
- Iron 17%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Our Ganesha at home is sweetly fed with his favorite Modak/Kozhukattai, both the sweet and spicy kind during the Ganesh Festival time, celebrating and thanking him for all his grace and mercy.
The Bottom Line
Now that you know what is his favorite food, are you going to try making this Sweet and Spicy Modaks during this Ganesh festival season?
May his grace fill our homes and hearts each day to keep us safe, healthy, peaceful , happy and prosperous today and in the days and years to come !
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Great settings for his celebrations Maya, he seems happy with all your scrumptious offerings. Is that a real Jasmine mala? Once again wishing you a very happy festivities at your end.
Thank you, Pinky for your kind words, he certainly looks happy and so was I after the dishes turned out good 😉 No, the jasmine mala is not a real one but looks very natural, guess it is made of some silk material, I bought it from India coz I liked it so much. Did try growing real jasmines, they don’t survive the cold, though summer time they did bloom beautifully a few years ago. Thank you, for your loving wishes, may his divine grace bless us all, today and always!
Thank you, pinky for your kind words and wishes, he certainly looks happy & so was I after the dishes turned out well 😉 No, the jasmine mala is not real, it looks very natural though, I bought it from India when I visited , tried growing jasmines here, they bloom very well in summer but don’t survive the winter ……miss their fragrance though 🙂 A very happy Ganesh Chaturthi season to you & your family too, may he bless all of us abundantly today & always 🙂
Thank you Maya…. and such delicious sounding recipes too which I look forward to trying!
Thank you, Karen for stopping by , taking the time to read my post and sharing your kind words. They are delicious, do try it sometime 🙂