Modak recipe | How to make ukadiche modak with & without mould

Modak recipe | How to make ukadiche modak with & without mould step by step. Making a traditional Marathi style soft and juicy Ukadiche modak recipe with and without using mould for this upcoming Ganesh Chaturthi festival. Traditionally this sweet dumpling makes with a rice flour dough stuffed with coconut and jaggery filling in every Marathi home.

What is modak? Modak is a Maharashtrian festival sweet basically coconut jaggery stuffed, steamed rice flour dumplings served to Lord Ganpati as his prasad. According to Hindu Puran Lord Ganesha is named Modakapriya for his immense love towards Modak. In our old Sanskrit language, this sweet is also called Modakam.  Though it has a traditional connection with Maharashtra but popular in other Indian states too with different names.  Such as Modhaka in Karnataka,  Modhakam, or Kozhakkattai in Tamil Nadu and Kudumu in Andhrapradesh.

Today I’m presenting the recipe of the traditional version of ukadiche modak. In marathi language “Ukadiche” means steamed so it can be described as steamed modak too. As its dough is made of rice flour so it can also be called rice flour steamed modak or chawal ke atta ka ukadiche modak. Today I will share a very easy ukadiche modak recipe with the easy tricks to make it with mould and without mould (by hand).

Here I’ve used a very unique method for making the rice flour dough and the coconut stuffing, which is a little different from a regular steamed modak recipe. As for making the stuffing, I first used khoya / mawa, grated coconut, jaggery, ghee, chopped cashew and almonds. Whereas, in the traditional method, with coconut and jaggery mix, only cardamom powder used to prepare the stuffing. Here I use a perfect ratio of nutmeg powder in the filling too. And lastly, for making a soft rice flour dough, half a cup of milk is my own addition also used with water, salt and ghee (used making in traditional recipes). 

Ganesha Chaturthi is the special worshipping day of Lord Ganesh, the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Lord Ganapati is the God of wisdom and brilliance and is also known as Vighnaharta who demolishes all obstacles in our life. For the last 12 years, I have been worshipping Lord Vinayaka(one of his 108 names) in my House. We bring the idol of the Lord for Sthapana and welcome him with AArti Vandana and the shower with flowers. For the last 3 years, I have been preparing this special ukadiche modak on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. So this year I decided to share the recipe for my special stuffed modak in my blog post.

Modak is pretty similar to our Bengali puli pithe or sweet dumpling. Where grated coconut and date palm jaggery stuffing is wrapped up in a soft rice flour dough which we generally serve in our Bengali festival “Pous Sankranti”. But the shape and taste of both are quite different.

This year must try this special ukadiche Modak for Ganpati Bappa’s puja and let me know your valuable comment in the comment section below about tis recipe.

You can even try my other Indian festival sweet recipes,

Chocolate Modak recipe

Malpua recipe

Tri color sweet barfi recipe

 Doodh peda recipe

Gajar ka halwa recipe

Milk powder gulab jamun recipe.

Happy Ganesha Chaturthi to all of my friends, May Lord Ganesha brings good luck and happiness to you and your family.

How to make Modak recipe(ukadiche modak with & without mould)

Modak Filling

• For making modak filling, take a pan and place it on medium heat and make it hot.
• Then first add 2 tsp ghee to it and add the grated coconut (around 1 cup fresh or dry grated coconut) to the pan. Mix it well with ghee.
• Add 2/3 cup jaggery or gur to the pan and mix it with other ingredients.
• Let the jaggery completely melt down and incorporated it into the coconut.

• Now add 1/2 cup grated khoya or mawa to the pan and mix it well.

• Then add finely chopped cashew and almonds to the pan.

• lastly, add 1/4 tsp cardamom powder or 3-4 crushed cardamom pods and 1 pinch of nutmeg powder or grated nutmeg to it. Mix it nicely.

• Lastly, add 1/4 tsp cardamom powder or 3-4 crushed cardamom pods and 1 pinch of nutmeg powder or grated nutmeg to it.
• Stuffing is ready. Don’t make the stuffing too dry. So turn off the heat.
• Remove the filling from the pan and keep it on a plate to completely cool down.

Modak dough

• For making a soft modak dough, first, in a vessel take 1+1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup milk and 1 tbsp ghee.
• Place the vessel on high heat.

• Now add 1/4 tsp salt to it and let it boil.
• Once it starts boiling, slow down the flame to low heat.

• Then add 1 cup rice flour to the mixture and mix it quickly to make it lump-free.

• Stir it well for 2 mins and turn off the heat.

• Cover it and keep it aside for 8-10 mins.

• Remove the mix from the pan and keep it on a plate which is greased with little ghee.
• Start kneading it with hand, as it is still hot enough, do kneading carefully. Turn it to be a soft dough.
• Dough and stuffing are ready for folding the modakam.

• Prepare some equal size balls from the dough and cover them with a moist cloth to make sure the dough could not dry.

Shape modak by hand (without mould)

• If you don’t have moulds, don’t need to worry. You may easily shape these Modaks just using your hands.
• First, grease your palms with little ghee.
• Then take a ball on your palm and press its center down with your thumb finger.
• Slowly press the edges of the ball with your fingers to make a thin round-shaped disk.

• Place 2-3 tsp stuffing in the centre of the disk.
• Then again grease your fingers with ghee or with little water and start folding the disk.

• Press one side of the edge of this disk, just imagine you are making a mouth of Diya or Deepam. As shown in the picture below.
• The same way makes 6-10 Diya or Deepam mouth as per your choice. As shown in the pic.

• Now first slightly press down the stuffing with the thumb finger.
• Then take all the Diya or Deepam mouth together and gently join them by a slight twist and perfectly seal its mouth.
• A cone-shaped modak will be ready with many pleates on its shell or cover.

Shape modak using mould

• Take the mould, grease its inner part with ghee.

• Now put a little dough into this mould.
• Next, grease your pointer finger and make a deep hole into the dough and push the dough towards the wall of the mould to get the prominent shape of that mould.
• Obviously, we don’t need much thick cover as due to the use of rice flour in the dough, a thick cover can make the dumpling hard after steaming.

• Fill the modak with coconut stuffing and then seal its bottom with a little portion of dough.
• Seal it perfectly that the stuffing should not come out in any way.

• Then slowly open the mould and take out the Modakam from the mould.

• Rice flour Modakam is ready. Repeat the process for making all the batches.

How to steam modak (with & without a steamer)

• If you don’t have a steamer for making this sweet don’t worry I have an easy solution.
• Take a bowl with 1+1/2 cups of water and place it on the heat. Let it boil.

• Then take a colander, and grease it with oil or ghee. Here I’ve spread some beetle leaves on the bottom of the colander. You can apply banana leaves too.

• Now simply place the modaks in the greased colander and cover it with a tight lid. Slow down the flame.

• Then Steam it for 8-10 mins. After 10 mins remove these sweets from the steamer and in the same way steam all modakam.
• Ganesh chaturthi special traditional Marathi style soft juicy ukadiche modak is ready.
• Serve these modaks to Ganapati Bappa on the auspicious day of Ganesh Chaturthi. Ganapati Bappa Morya.