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modak

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Ganesh Chaturthi was the festival I looked forward to the most. Even more than Diwali.

Maybe it was because of Lord Ganesha with the adorable face, or the belief that Ganpati would help us pass exams, or the most likely reason – my love for modakams and undrallu!

There was no better place to experience this festival than Bombay. It was a mixture of prayer and celebration and every street had a huge pandal set up with a giant statue of Ganesha, each pandal vying with the other for the biggest and most innovative statues (Like this). Marathi songs about Ganpati blared from loudspeakers and there was a constant throng of people coming to be blessed.

All this activity built up to the most exuberant and frenzied day – the Visarjan on the 11th day. Lord Ganesha would be carefully lifted onto trucks that were decorated beautifully with marigold and other colorful flower garlands. Trucks from different pandals would join together and form a procession which would slowly snake its way through the city streets. In front, men, women and children would be dancing and singing Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhcha Varshi Lavkar Ya (Lord Ganesha, please come back quickly next year)! The procession would ultimately reach the closest body of water; Chowpatty Beach in our case and the statues would gently be lowered into the water amid shouts of Ganpati Bappa Morya!

In our house, Undrallu and Modakams were made only once a year, during Ganesh Chaturthi. I would eat like I was stocking up for the year and then wait longingly for the festival to come again next year. The modakams my mother made were round while I make it in the traditional Maharashtrian style, a nod to the Maharashtrian and Andhra influences in me!

Modak

Filling:
2 cups shredded fresh coconut
1 cup chopped/grated jaggery
Seeds of 2-3 cardamoms, powdered

Outer cover:
1 cup rice flour, sieved.
1 cup water
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp canola oil
a pinch of salt

* a small bowl with oil and a separate one with water to use while shaping modaks.

For the filling, mix coconut and jaggery in a microwave safe bowl and cook for 5-6 mins, stopping the microwave to stir the mixture after every minute. Add cardamom powder, stir and keep aside to cool. You can also cook it on the stove till it forms a semi-solid mass.

For the outer cover, boil 1 cup water in a medium size pan. When bubbles rise to top, add the ghee, oil and salt and immediately add the sieved rice flour. Stir well. It will look like a dry mass.

Cover the pan for 2-3 mins and let it cook on lowest heat. Stir again and cover for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a wide plate. Knead while still hot. Use the back of a large katori for this – please don’t do this by hand!

Make a soft pliable dough and divide it into balls. Keep this covered with a damp paper towel or tea towel.

Roll each ball into a 1.5 inch circle (I use a tortilla press for this and it works like a charm).

Wet your palms slightly with both the oil and water (dip palms first in oil and then in water). Put some filling into the circle and start pleating the sides as you turn it. Bring everything together to form a peak (looks like a whole garlic). Make sure your palms are always a little wet while doing this otherwise the modak will not form it’s shape properly and might break.

Grease a plate or cover it with a wet cloth and transfer the modaks. Steam for 15 mins (without weight if using pressure cooker).

Serve with ghee.

Undarallu

Makes approx. 24 balls

1 cup sona masoori rice
2 cups water
1/8 cup chana dal
1 tsp oil
salt

Rinse the rice well and drain. Spread on a tea towel and let it dry overnight.

The next day, powder it coarsely (like idli rawa). This took 4-5 quick buzzes in my Preethi mixie. Sieve to remove fine powder.

Soak the chana dal for 10-15 mins.

Boil water in a medium size pan and add salt and oil. Add the rice rava and soaked chana to the boiling water and cook till semi-solid. Cover pan and lower heat. Cook until done.

When it cools down to a tolerable level, oil hand lightly and shape into balls. Make all of them at once because they will not hold together if shaped when mixture is completely cool.

Transfer to an oiled plate and steam for 12-15 mins. Do not use cooker weight if steaming in pressure cooker.
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