lord ganesha’s favorite modak should have been ideally my first recipe for this festive season. but lord ganesha somehow kept me so busy, that i could not post the fried modak recipe.
now as per lord ganesha’s wishes, i am posting fried modak recipe today 
there is one more sweet recipe of patholi (stuffed rice rolls) made during ganesha festival that is pending in the drafts. it will be posted soon with lord ganesha’s blessings
this is the first time i made fried modaks and they were good, but my personal preference would always be steamed modaks.
the outer covering of the modaks is made from whole wheat flour and hence it is a bit dense as compared to the ones made from all purpose flour (maida).
please remember to roll the dough thin and not thick…. while rolling the center can be a little thick but the edges have to be thin.
when you bring together the edges the thickness increases and on frying it becomes pretty dense and hard.
this recipe of the outer cover is from my mom’s recipe of karanjis or nevris as we call them. i have only substituted whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.
so here we go with the step by step recipe of making fried modak:
1: seive the flour with salt and add warm oil to the seived flour.
2: add water and knead to a smooth dough.
3: once the dough is kneaded, keep it covered for 20-30 minutes.
4: take fresh or dessicated coconut, jaggery, roasted sesame seeds, cardamom & nutmeg powder in a kadai or pan.
5: mix them all.
6: add water.
7: cook the whole mixture on a low or medium flame.
8: stir for some 8-10 minutes till the jaggery melts, the water dries up and mixture is cooked & dry. keep the mixture aside to cool.
9: take a small sized ball of the dough.
10: with a rolling pin gently make a thin round dusting the surface or the dough ball with some dry flour.
11: take the rolled dough circle on your palm add the some spoonfuls of the filling in the center of the thin round.
12: this is an optional step – with a brush or with your finger tip, apply water on the circular edge. keep a small bowl of water on your work surface.
13: now start pinching the edges one by one. this comes from practice. so the more you make modaks, the more efficient you will be
14: bring all the pinched ends together and taper the center.
15: make all modaks this way and keep aside. cover with a cloth so that the dough does not dry out.
16: heat oil and deep fry or shallow fry the modaks on medium temperature.
17: drain on kitchen paper napkins. makes about 10-12 modaks.
fried modak recipe details are given below:
ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp warm oil
- water to knead the dough
- 1.5 cups grated or powdered jaggery
- 1.5 cups fresh grated fresh coconut or unsweetened dessicated coconut
- 1 or 2 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
- 1 or 1.5 tsp cardamom powder or crushed cardamom
- a pinch or two of grated nutmeg (optional)
- 1/2 or 3/4 cup water
method:
- with the ingredients mentioned for the outer covering, make a smooth dough.
- cover and keep the dough aside for 20-30 minutes.
- mix all the filling ingredients.
- cook and stir on a low or medium flame till the mixture is dry and cooked.
- keep aside to cool.
- take a small ball from the dough.
- roll thinly in to a circle of about 3-4 inches diameter.
- gently take this circle on your palm.
- now add the filling in the center.
- pinch the edges one by one.
- bring together all the pinched folds in the center.
- shallow or deep fry the modaks in medium hot oil till golden browned.
- drain on kitchen tissues.
my notes
instead of whole wheat flour, you can also use all purpose flour or maida or half-half of both.
make sure you seal the modak well. any small opening will lead to the filling being drained in the oil while frying.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I also tried this recipe. This is really tasty. Thanks Dassana.
thanks aruni and good to know that.
Very testy receipy i tried and test
Thankyou for send this type of receipes
Regards
Mangesh Thakur
thanks mangesh for trying the modak recipe
Looks so crispy n perfect, very tempting snack!!
I really luv making these but instead of wheat I use rice powder.
dear neera, you can make the modaks with all purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour. on frying, with rice flour, the outer cover will become very hard. if using rice flour, then steaming the modaks is a better option. recipe on making steamed modaks with rice flour is here:
I have never really made fried modaks. I made steamed rice flour dumplings with jaggery filling this year though…
These looks very tempting
Wow Dassana perefectooo
! Lovely step by step presentation too!
Looks so crunchy.. would love to have a bite
These look delicious. What a unique filling! I adore all of your photos. I really appreciate the step by step pictures of all of your recipes
thanks courtney.
tq very much…
welcome lydia
simply delicious
This sounds like such a delicious filling for pastries. I don’t fry things, but I’ll bet I could bake them, perhaps brush them with oil (I bake samosas and other usually-fried foods).
yes sharyn, the modaks can be baked as well like baked samosas.
Yummy I will make them soon