IndianTalniche modak
Fried coconut jaggery dumplings
तळणीचे मोदक: crisp fried wheat-dough modak with a coconut-jaggery heart, the Ganpati offering that keeps for days
Steamed ukadiche modak may be the star of Ganesh Chaturthi in Konkan homes, but across Pune, Nashik and Vidarbha the plate of twenty-one for Bappa is just as often fried. Talniche modak use a short dough of wheat flour and fine semolina, pleated by hand around the same coconut, jaggery and poppy-seed saran, then fried slowly until they turn pale gold and shatter when bitten. Because they are dry and crisp they travel well: they go into the steel dabba for relatives and last through all ten days of the festival. The filling is sticky and fragrant with cardamom and nutmeg, the shell flaky like a karanji. Serve them at room temperature with a cup of tea or as part of the naivedya thali. The usual mistake is frying in oil that is too hot, which browns the outside in a minute and leaves the inner pleats raw and doughy. Chef's tip: rub the ghee into the flour until it holds in a clump when pressed; that moyan is what makes the shell blister and flake rather than turn hard like a puri.
- Prep
- 35 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Serves
- 21
- Per serving
- 120 kcal
Ingredients
For the filling (saran)
- 7 oz fresh coconutfinely grated
- 5 ½ oz jaggerygrated
- ½ tsp ground green cardamom
- ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp ghee
For the dough
For frying
- 2 ½ cups oil or ghee for deep-frying
Tick what you have; the rest goes in the basket.
Method
0/10 doneStep 1: Warm 1 tsp ghee in a heavy pan over a low heat and toast 1 tbsp white poppy seeds (khus khus) for 30 seconds until it smells nutty.
1 minStep 2: Add 7 oz fresh coconut and 5 ½ oz jaggery and cook on a low to medium heat, stirring, until the jaggery melts and then dries back into a sticky mass that leaves the sides of the pan, about 8–10 minutes. Common mistake: stopping while it is still wet; a runny saran leaks and makes the modak burst in the oil.
10 minStep 3: Stir in ½ tsp ground green cardamom and ¼ tsp grated nutmeg, spread the filling on a plate and let it cool completely.
15 minStep 4: In a bowl, mix 7 oz wheat flour (chapati atta or plain flour), 1 oz fine semolina (barik rava) and 1 pinch salt. Pour in 3 tbsp ghee and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs and holds together when pressed.
4 minStep 5: Add ½ cup milk a little at a time and knead to a firm, smooth dough, stiffer than chapati dough. Cover and rest for 20 minutes so the semolina softens.
5 minStep 6: Divide the dough into 21 balls. Roll each into a 7–8 cm round, thinner at the edges than in the middle.
10 minStep 7: Cup a round in your palm, put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre and pinch the edge into 8–10 pleats. Gather the pleats to a point and twist off any excess. Keep the shaped modak under a damp cloth while you finish the rest.
20 minStep 8: Heat 2 ½ cups oil or ghee for deep-frying in a kadhai over a medium heat, then turn it to low. A pinch of dough should rise slowly with small bubbles, not shoot up.
5 minStep 9: Fry 5–6 modak at a time on a low heat, turning gently, for 7–8 minutes until evenly pale gold and crisp. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
24 minStep 10: Cool completely before offering or storing. They keep in an airtight tin for 7–8 days.
KrazyBadal
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Perfect for:Ganesh Chaturthi