The colourful festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is here where a 10-day celebration begins but without modak is incomplete. Modak is a sweet dumpling which is offered to Lord Ganesha and knows to be one of its favourite sweets. These Indian dumplings are a special treat to lord Ganpati and his devotees. The outer shell is prepared with rice flour, wheat flour or maida and the inner filling is mainly of coconut, jaggery, and dry fruits but a lot of different variants are prepared now. These days the people are exciting types too that have been introduced to satiate evolving palates across the country. People are now experimenting with newer forms of modak fillings and you must try them too.
A famous story behind Lord Ganesha’s favourite food modak. Lord Ganesha fought with the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu. During their fight, Lord Ganesha’s tooth was broken and he was not able to eat anything. Soft modaks were slathered with ghee that melted in his mouth and from then it is believed that modak became his favourite food.
It has another interesting story regarding Ganesha’s fondness of modak. Once the Devas came to visit Shiva and Goddess Parvati and gifted them a modak. It was a very special modak as the person who ate the modak would become knowledgeable in all scriptures, science, art and writing. Goddess Parvati wanted to present it to her sons – Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartik. But the brothers were not ready to share it. So a confused Goddess Parvati finally asked them to take a test that whoever among them proved the true meaning of sincerity and devotion would get the sweet.
Read More: Modak: A Indian Sweet Dumpling
Different Types Of Modak
The word ‘modak’ is synonymous with ‘happiness’. It is called modakam or kudumu in Telugu, modaka or kadubu in Kannada, modak in Marathi and Konkani, kozhakatta or modakkam in Malayalam and kozhukattai or modagam in Tamil. Here we have discussed different types of modak you must try:
Malai Modak
Malai dessert that will make you crave more, malai modaks are made by adding consolidated milk, disintegrated paneer or chenna and cardamom among others. These are for the most part made as Malai Laddoos, yet the delightful taste
of these desserts has changed over them into modaks as well.
Dry Fruits Modak
You can use a delectable mixture of dry fruits like almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, chironji, pistachios, seedless dates and khus khus to fill up the modaks. You can also add coconut and mawa (khoya) to give it a good base. The outer covering of the modak can be the same.
Dark Chocolate Modak
Chocolate modaks are very well known around this time. You can either make the external shell of chocolate or make a modak utilizing chocolate as a filling. This lip-smacking sweet is very famous among youngsters. The filling can also include grated coconut and various dry fruits.
Rava Modak
The outer casing of the modak is made with rava and can be filled with anything from coconut to jaggery and poppy seeds and even chopped nuts and seeds. To make the outer covering of rava, all you need to do is to roast the rava on a pan and keep it on a separate plate. In another pan, add water and milk and some ghee. Let the mixture come to a boil and then add roasted rava to it. Stir it continuously till it turns into a dough-like consistency. Once it cools down, you can shape it into modaks.
Ukadiche Modak
The most well-known type of modaks, Ukadiche Modak or steamed modaks are the most authentic type of this sweet; the ones offered to Lord Ganesha. Produced using rice flour and loaded down with ground coconut and jaggery and steamed, these dumplings are offered to the god as prasad.
