Ukdiche Modak /Steamed Rice Dumplings

Ukdiche Modak 

Wish you all a very Happy Ganesh Chathurti!!

Today being Ganesh Chathurti I made these delicious Ukdiche Modak, Lord Ganesh’s favourite food!!

Actually I have not made them for ages now. Especially since my family does not eat sweets so you can imagine my surprise when my husband and daughters were gorging on them.

Actually I made some pungent also and with two with the vegetable stuffing, just to be on safe side. So next time …

Ukdiche Modak 

Ingredients:

For The Dough: 

• 2 cups rice flour
• 2 cups water
• Salt to taste
• For the Filling
• 1 cup jaggery, grated
• 2 cups coconut freshly grated
• 2 tsp elichi/cardamom powder
• ¼ cup oil ( you will not need all of it)

Method: 

For the dough: 

• In a pan Add salt and 1 tsp of oil boil 2 cups of water.
• When the water boils lower the heat and add the rice flour.
• Mix and switch off the gas. Cover and let set aside to cool (20 minutes) so that you can handle it easily.

For the filling: 

• Mix the coconut and jaggary in a deep non-stick pan and set aside for some time.  The jaggery melts and your cooking time reduces considerably.
• Heat the pan and cook the jaggery and coconut mixture on a slow flame stirring continuously.
• Cook on a slow flame for 4 to 5 minutes or till all the moisture evaporates and the mixture thickens. Keep aside to cool slightly.
• Divide the filling into equal portions and keep aside.

To make the Modak: 

• By now the dough must be cool enough to handle Knead the dough  using ½ tsp of oil and keep aside. Knead it to get rid of all the lumps and till you get a smooth dough.
• You can make these manually as well as using a mould. I made them both the ways

 Let’s make it manually first:

• Oil you hands then make small smooth ball out of the dough. There should be no cracks on the ball.
• Grease your palm again and dip your thumb in the oil and using the palm and thumb make a cup out of the dough. Make the cup as thin as possible.
• Then using your thumb and forefinger pinch the sides of the cup. This is the part where the dough cracks so be careful.
• Put the filling in with a teaspoon.
• Close the opening gently and set aside.
• Repeat this with the other balls.

To make them in the moulds:

• Grease a Modak mould using very little oil.
• Using the above method make the cup.
• Add the filling and close the opening then transfer it to the mould and close the mould.
• Demould the Modak from the Modak mould.
• Repeat steps to make the remaining 20 Modak. There is no need to grease the Modak mould.
• Place a steamer plate in a steamer and place a banana leaf or line with turmeric leaves on it.
• Apply a little oil to the Modak bottom.
•  Place Modak on the leaf and steam on a medium flame for 10 minutes.
• Serve warm.
• The rope like knot that you see is called Sheet Ladoo (शित लाडू ).  

Notes:

• These Modak stay fresh for a day at room temperature and for 2 days if refrigerated.
• Modak moulds are easily available in local “steel utensils and appliances” shops.

Hi! First time here? Well then you are Most Welcome! I hope you keep coming back for more here. If you are my regular visitor then Thanks, for you encourage me to experiment more!! I would like you to please click on my link below and like my Facebook Page. I will be happy if you can follow me on on Twitter too!

Fara(Phara)~Indian State Chhattisgarh

Fara(Phara)~Chhattisgarh Cuisine

Today we see Chhattisgarh on our Blogging Marathon journey round India, a state in Central India.

There are  beliefs that Chhattisgarh takes its name from the 36 pillars of Chhatishgarhin Devi temple (chhattis means "36" and garh means "fort")  or that it  is the corrupted form of Chedisgarh which means Raj or "Empire of the Chedis" (Kalchuri Dynasty).

The states northern and southern parts of the state are hilly, while the central part is a fertile plain. The central part of the state lies in the fertile upper basin of the Mahanadi River and its tributaries. This area has extensive rice cultivation. The rivers make The State of Chhattisgarh is known as the rice bowl of Central India and has a rich tradition of food culture.

Most of the traditional and tribal foods are made of rice and rice flour, curd and a variety of green leafy vegetables like lal bhaaji, chowlai bhaji, chech bhaji, kaanda bhaji, kochai patta, kohda and bohar bhaji.

Badi and Bijori are optional food categories; gulgula (bobra), bidiya, dhoodh fara, bafauli, kusli, balooshahi and khurmi fall in sweet categories.

Some famous breakfast dishes made out of rice & rice flour include fara/muthiya (rice rolls in white sauce), angakar roti, chousera roti (rice puri's),etc. One of the common meal had during the scorching summer is Bore Baasi (literally means dipped rice from last cooked meal) which mainly consists of cooked rice dipped water/dahi/buttermilk. It is mostly accompanied by pickle and raw onion. It helps maintain the water levels in the body, keeping it cool and hydrated during the hot and arid summer days.

The tribal and village population enjoys delicacy brew made of small, creamy white fruit of a local tree called Mahuwa.

Moong Daal And Black Pepper Sev

For July Magic Mingle Kalyani asked us to use yellow Moong daal and pepper common enough to be available in the kitchen but there was a dearth of ideas that I had.

Unfortunately Moong daal equals to khichidi in my mind.  First it used to be Moong Daal Kheer that Amma used to make but now Moong daal is just khichdi.

Naturally it insulted me as I could not think beyond khichidi. Arre I am food blogger I cannot be thinking in a box for heaven’s sake!!

Palak Chakali~ Blog Hop #6

F or today’s Blog Hop the brain child of Radhika I am paired with Suchitra of  Simple Indian Food. Not only does Suchitra have an enormous number of recipes she has also featured new budding bloggers in her blog.

I have bookmarked quite a few recipes to be tried later.  But being festive season I was keen on trying some savories. But savories I wanted had to have some health quotient in them, what better way to have them but to add veggies.

Healthy Savoury Dosa~Bloghop Wednesday

There are 2 events around which my kitchen revolves these days they are ….
First is my Event – The Lets Get Stuffed ~Bell Peppers or Capsicum and second is The BlogHop Wednesday!

I expect all of you my dear friends to don your thinking hats and send me exiting entries for stuffing the Bell peppers or Capsicum. Here are some of mine.

And yes I am a part of this exciting experiment started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. We are paired with different partners every other Wednesday and this week I am paired with Kalyani also known as Mom Chef!
 
The title suits her to the T or should I say C? Amazing recipes & pictures!

I was totally at sea for I was just seeing each recipe seemed better than the earlier one! Finally I choose the simple Healthy Oats Dosa or The Savoury Oats Dosa!!

Here is Kalyani’s recipe …

Here is mine as usual I had to fiddle with the ingredients. My husband’s my best critic and friends words not mine so I was expecting a total failure in the system so I was quite amazed at the results!!

My daughter, the younger one loved it and polished off 3 small ones. Mind you I am not complaining she is most welcome it is a BIG COMPLIMENT! The “kurkur kombdi“ that is the loosely translated as the brooding hen or clucking hen eating without complaints!

Ingredients:
1 cup Oats, crushed
1 tblspn rice flour
½ cup Rava
1 tblspn barley flour (optional)
¼ cup besan/kadli hit/chana daal flour
Salt
Chopped green chilies (optional)
Chopped coriander
1 onion, finely chopped
½ cup butter milk
Oil
For tempering: Mustard seeds, jeera/ cumin seeds, and hing/asafetida

Method:
1. I soaked all the dry ingredients in the butter milk and since the batter was not the consistency needed for dosa hence I added water.
2. Let it stand for 15-20 minutes.
3. Make the tempering by heating the oil and spluttering the mustard, jeera/cumin seeds/jeerigi and hing/asafoetida. Pour in the batter. Mix well.
4. In the batter add the chopped onions, coriander, chillies and salt.
5. To make the Dosa: add a ladle full of the batter on the non-stick tava lightly greased.
6. Spread lightly. Cover and cook.
7. Flip on the other side cook and serve with chutney or as kiddo had with tomato ketchup.
After the first Dosa I did not use oil at all.

Thanks Kalyani for this wonderful inclusion in my daughter’s diet and Radhika for I have the opportunity to meet new friends and try different recipes!

Please do send me some entries for my event here.

Archana