Modakam

Type: Sweet

Cuisine: South Indian

Preparation Time: 20-30 minutes

Servings: 8-10 pieces

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh grated coconut
  • 1/2 cup grated jaggery
  • 1/4 cup raw rice (soaked for 1 hour)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp gingelly oil
  • 1/2 tsp ghee
  • a pinch of cardamom powder

Instructions

  1. Take a vessel and add half a cup of water
  2. Add grated jaggery to this and let it boil.
  3. Strain it to remove impurities
  4. Pour the jaggery water in the pan and add coconut.
  5. Add ghee and cardamom powder and stir this mixture till the consistency is such that it can be made into balls (but not hard).
  6. Add ghee and cardamom powder and stir this mixture till the consistency is such that it can be made into balls (but not hard).
  7. Take the soaked rice and grind it fine with little water.
  8. Add water to make this a flowy consistency like dosa batter (not runny)
  9. Add 1/2 tsp of oil and salt to this batter.
  10. Pour this into a pan and stir while on low heat
  11. Stir continuously till it becomes a thick mass (you should be able to make it into balls).
  12. Once cooled, make the rice batter into balls (size of a small lemon). Use oil on the palms to ensure that it does not stick.
  13. Make the coconut-jaggery mixture into balls separately (bigger than a marble but smaller than lemon).
  14. Grease the palm with oil and take a ball of rice batter and press it into the shape of a tiny cup.
  15. Put one jaggery ball into this cup.
  16. Slowly fold in the rice batter so that it covers the jaggery ball.
  17. You can retain it in round shape but typically, it is stretched upwards on one side a little bit.
  18. Place this on a cloth/banana leaf in the steamer (do not pressure cook)
  19. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the flame and keep it on for about 10 minutes
  20. Remove from the steamer and take off the lid. Let it cool.
  21. Once cooled, gently remove from the cloth/leaf and place it on a plate.
  22. Serve once cooled.

Notes

  • A delicious sweet used for festive occasions
  • Fresh coconut adds flavor, though desiccated coconut can be used
  • The procedure is specifying rice soaked for 1 hour and grinding it to a smooth batter. If short of time, you can use rice powder. 1/2 cup rice powder must be taken in a bowl. Add water slowly to achieve the desired consistency (dosa batter). Add salt and oil and mix well. The rest of the procedure remains the same.

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