Master the art of making flawless Ukadiche Modak each time. Even if you’re making Ukadiche Modak for the first time and are a novice at making Ukdiche Modaks, this detailed recipe with tips and tricks and precise measurements will guide you through each step of the way, helping you to make perfect Steamed Modak without cracks or tears.
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These Ukadiche Modak (उकडीचे मोदक) are specially made during Ganesh Chaturthi / Ganeshotsav / Ganesh Festival as prasad and are extremely delicious with super soft cover and sweet, luscious stuffing.
Although, one of the hardest Modaks to make, the guidelines, step-by-step instructions and perfect timings mentioned in a video below will make it simple and easy to make Steamed Modak at home.
Quick, easy to follow video with step-by-step instructions of how to make Ukadiche Modak:
This traditional Maharashtrian sweet dish served as prasad / bhog to Lord Ganpati is made with rice flour and coconut as the main ingredients. Rice flour is used to make the cover and coconut is used to make the stuffing. Jaggery and / or sugar is used to sweeten the coconut stuffing. Beautiful, snow white Modaks are then carefully shaped, steamed and served warm.
Considered as the most favourite of Lord Ganesh, these steamed Modaks have a truly unique flavour and texture, achieved by super soft cover and delicious, sweet coconut stuffing.
Make stuffing extra special with Homemade Mawa
Stuffing for Steamed Modaks is made with sweetened coconut. You can either use jaggery or sugar or both to sweeten the coconut. I like to use half jaggery and half sugar but you can only use one of the two if you like. Adjust the sweetness of the stuffing as per your taste. Only cook till sugar / jaggery melts, don’t cook for too long or stuffing will become sticky and hard.
Green cardamom (Elaichi) powder is used in the stuffing to add extra flavour and aroma. You can also add slivered/chopped nuts of your choice and raisins/sultanas if you wish.
Traditionally stuffing is only made with sweetened coconut, but on special occasions like Ganpati festive or Ganesh Jayanti (Maghi Ganpati), I like to make stuffing extra special by adding mawa.
Mawa / Khoya can easily and quickly be made at home with some milk and milk powder, as shown in the video. I also add a bit of sugar to the milk powder mixture while making homemade mawa so that it doesn’t taste bland in the stuffing.
Adding mawa to the stuffing is completely optional and you can skip it entirely.
A Perfect Dough - Soft, Smooth & Pliable
The secret to having beautiful Modaks without any cracks or tears is to make a perfect dough that is soft, smooth and pliable. Your modaks will only be flawless when your dough is easy to work with.
For this you will have to add rice flour in boiling water, cover and cook for a couple of minutes, then remove from heat and let it rest without removing the lid for another 5 minutes.
Then you will need to knead the dough while the mixture is still warm. Different types of rice flour need water in different amount to make a soft and smooth dough. So first make the dough using the measurements given in this recipe and then if the dough feels too dry or too wet, you can add few drops of water or little extra rice flour accordingly and ONLY if necessary. The important thing is to have a soft and smooth dough which is easy to work with and one that's neither sticky nor dry.
Finally, you will have to divide the dough in sections and again knead it extremely well on a rolling board, with a small flat bottom bowl, several times using pressing and stretching technique (as shown in the video). Kneading the dough well is the key to getting crack free Modaks and above technique truly helps in making the dough soft and pliable.
Shaping Modaks Flawlessly without Cracks or Tears
Shaping perfect Modaks is a skill and needs lots of practice and patience. But even if you are new to making modaks and don’t feel confident enough shaping them, giving it a try is important. With practice you will keep getting better at it and eventually will make them perfectly.
If you’re completely new at making Modaks and have never made them before, you might want to first consider making Fried Modaks, which are comparatively much easier to shape and will also give you some confidence before moving on to making these harder Steamed Modaks.
There are a few points to keep in mind to ensure your Steamed Modak gets a better shape:
Apply oil to your fingers before starting to make a bowl/cup.
Make a deep rather than a shallow bowl/cup, as shown in the video.
Make bowl/cup as thin as possible and it should be thicker towards the bottom and thinner on the sides.
If you cannot make bowl/cup with your fingers, roll a thin puri from dough, place the stuffing in centre and then make pleats.
Make as many pleats as you can, as close to each other as possible.
Pleats should be thicker towards the bottom and thinner towards the top.
Do not press the pleats too hard as they might break.
Gently rotate the modak while gathering the pleats together.
After every few modaks or whenever your hands feel sticky, wash them with water, wipe them dry and then continue to shape remaining modaks.
Modaks look extremely pretty after you finish shaping all of them. But you can make these snow-white beauties look even prettier by adding a strand of saffron soaked in milk and a drop of saffron milk on top of each modak, as shown in the video above. This step is optional, and you can completely skip it.
Once all the Ukadiche Mawa Modak are shaped, the only thing left to do is steam them on medium heat. But before steaming them don’t forget to smear the steaming plate with some oil or the modaks might stick to plate while steaming.
Steam on medium heat only. Modaks might break / crack while steaming if you use high heat for steaming.
Also, after steaming Modaks, let them cool down slightly before lifting them from the plate so that they come off effortlessly without sticking or breaking while lifting.
There you have it, delightful Ukdiche Mawa Modak are ready to offer to Lord Ganesha and serve as prasad. These scrumptious Steamed Modaks with distinctive taste are a satisfying sweet which will finish in no time at all. They should ideally be eaten warm, as soon as they are done, but if any are left over, keep them in an air-tight container in refrigerator. DO NOT reheat them on a tawa, pan or microwave. Instead, again steam them for a short while till they are slightly warm and serve immediately.
These Ukdiche Modak look very beautiful indeed. When you see how pretty these perfectly shaped Steamed Modaks look, you cannot help but feel proud of yourself and your creation. They will feel like a piece of art that you have made with patience, which you just want to observe and admire and not eat 😊 Try them out and master the traditional art of making Ukadiche Modak without mould.
Check out the Recipe Card and Step-by-Step Instructions with Photos below.
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Recipe Card for Ukadiche Modak:
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Step-by-step instructions with photos for Steamed Modak:
• Take room temperature whole milk and 2 TBSP sugar in a bowl and mix well till sugar dissolves. To this add milk powder and mix well making sure there are no lumps.
• Heat a non-stick pan on low setting and add 1 tsp clarified butter (ghee) & milk mixture.
• Keep mixing and stirring constantly till mixture leaves the sides of the pan and starts holding shape.
• Mawa / Khoya is ready. Remove this mawa / khoya in a bowl, spread it over and let it cool down.
• Heat a pan on low setting and add 2 tsp clarified butter (ghee), coconut, ¼ cup sugar and jaggery (Gur). Mix well and cook whilst stirring constantly till sugar and jaggery (Gur) melts.
• Now crumble mawa / khoya with your fingers into small pieces and add to the pan along with green cardamom (Elaichi) powder, mix well and remove this stuffing in a bowl.
• Heat water in a heavy bottom or non-stick pan on medium setting. To this add salt and ½ tsp clarified butter (ghee), mix well and wait till water starts boiling properly.
• Now reduce the heat to lowest setting and add rice flour, little at a time, and mix well.
• Cover the pan and let it cook for just a minute or two.
• Remove the pan from heat, but DO NOT open the lid. Let it rest for another 5 mins.
• Then knead the mixture to form a soft and smooth dough while it’s still warm. You can apply some water or oil to your hands while kneading if necessary.
• If you feel that the dough is too dry or too wet you can add few drops of water or some rice flour at this point ONLY if necessary! Dough shouldn't be sticky or dry, but should be soft, smooth and easy to work with.
• Then take some dough on rolling board and a bowl that has a flat bottom.
• Press and stretch the dough several times with the help of bowl so that it gets kneaded extremely well. Repeat this process many times till you feel that the dough has become very soft and smooth.
• Keep this dough aside and then take some more dough and repeat the same process and continue till all the dough has been kneaded well. Dough needs to be EXTREMELY soft, smooth and pliable to properly shape Modaks without cracks or tears.
• Now combine all the dough together and knead well once again.
• Then make 8 equal sized balls from dough and cover and keep them aside.
• Take 1 tsp hot milk and saffron (Kesar) in a bowl, mix well and keep aside.
• For shaping modaks, apply some oil to your fingers and take a ball. With your 2 thumbs start pressing in the centre.
• With the fingers of both hands start curving the dough from sides to form a deep bowl/cup.
• Make the bowl as thin as possible. It should be slightly thicker towards the bottom and thinner on the sides.
• Now add coconut mawa stuffing to the bowl.
• Dip your fingers in oil and with the help of thumb and first 2 fingers make pleats, as many as you can and as close to each other as possible. Pleats should also be thicker towards the bottom and thinner towards the top. Do not press the pleats too hard or they might tear.
• Now gently start rotating the modak and gathering the pleats together.
• Then seal the Modak on the top.
• A Modak without cracks or tears has now been shaped. Keep it aside.
• Make rest of the modaks in this manner. After every few modaks or whenever your hands feel sticky, wash your hands with water and wipe them dry before continuing to shape the next modak.
• If you are finding it hard to make a thin bowl/cup from dough with your fingers, roll a thin puri from the dough ball.
• Place the puri in the palm of your hand.
• Add stuffing in the centre and then make pleats.
• Finally gather pleats and shape the Modak as usual.
• Shape all the modaks following above method.
• Place a saffron (Kesar) strand and a drop of saffron milk on each modak.
• Apply some oil on steaming plate.
• Place modaks on this plate leaving some space between each of them.
• Heat some water in a large pan on medium setting. Once the water is hot, place a stand in the pan.
• Then place steaming plate with Modaks on the stand.
• Cover the pan with a lid and steam the modaks for 10-12 mins or till they are done.
• Then remove the lid.
• Remove the steaming plate and let Modaks cool down slightly before lifting them as they might tear.
• Then gently lift the Modaks and plate them on serving plate.
• Beautiful, Delicious, Soft and Crack-Free Ukadiche Modak / Steamed Modak are ready. Serve warm.
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