kalpana’s la cucina..... spice 4 all seasons: DRY COCONUT MODAK

_________________I am Mrs. Kalpana Mhaske, a Home-Maker, from the city of 52-Gates, one of the famous heritage- destination of the world- Ajanta - Ellora Caves, Bibi-Ka- Maqbara (The Taj of Deccan) and Deogiri Fort. i.e. AURANGABAD. I admire cooking - tryout and innovate different cuisines. Basically, both of my gorgeous daughters are foodie, they have always encouraged me in the kitchen and forced to carve a Food Blog, that’s why, I am happy to share the makings with you. I am an artist too. Painting – especially, Canvas-Painting is my one more hobby. In total - Ours is an ART-FAMILY, my husband is an Architect. In the end, I keep the same belief with Louise Fresco - “ Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It’s about honesty. it’s about identity ”

Wednesday, 12 September 2018

DRY COCONUT MODAK

This Ganesh Chaturthi, I have tried so many variations of modak from traditional to modern choco lava modak. Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the important Hindu Festivals celebratde throughout India with great pomp and fare. This day is celebrated as the birth of Lord Ganesha. On Ganesh Festival the prasad or naivedya is offered to Lord Ganesha first and then distributed between the family and friends, the feast consists of many varities of savories and sweet dishes, but modak is a must in the menu as it is Ganapati Bappa's favourite sweet.

Festivals in India are incomplete without sweets. You can opt to buy sweets from the market. But preparing them at home has its own charm and a personal touch. Dry Coconut Modak with condensed milk, a super easy and quick recipe just made in 15 minutes. Here for this recipe just 2 basic ingredients we need that dry grated coconut and condensed milk. Here I used homemade condensed milk for my recipe and the recipe of homemade condensed milk I have already shared here in my blog. A quick delicious treat to make for any occasion, celebration or festival. I prepared this for Ganesh Chaturthi last year. Everyone like it at my place, so I am going to make again this year. By your imagination, you can make many variations to this recipe like using cocoa powder to make chocolate coconut modak, or you can dip them in melted chocolate and make chocolate coconut modak. Khoya can be also used for this recipe. In that case you have to reduce the quantity of condensed milk in it. So let's move on to the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups Dry Desiccated Coconut

½ Can / 200 gms Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 teaspoon Rose water

115 gm Melted Semi Sweet Chocolate

METHOD:

STEP 1 – Take a bowl, add coconut and condensed milk in it.

Add rose water and mix well.

STEP 2 – If you take small portion and pinch together you should be able to from a ball. This means your dough is ready for making modak. But if not then add little more condensed milk in it and mix it again.

STEP 3 – Now grease the modak mould using ghee and start shaping modak.[see notes] Fill the coconut mixture from the bottom of the mould and press it.

STEP 4 – Then open the mould and gently remove the modak and place it on a plate.

STEP 5 – Like this make all the modak with rest of the dough. Chill them for 10-15 minutes in refrigerator.

STEP 6 – For making chocolate dip- Take grated chocolate in a bowl and melt in microwave. Remove the bowl from microwave after every 15 seconds and give a nice stir till the chocolate becomes smooth and shiny.

STEP 7 – Now fill it in a piping bag. Keep aside.

STEP 8 – Remove the ready modak from refrigerator . Pipe out the chocolate and make a design on chocolate as per your liking. Or you can simply dip half side of the modak in melted chocolate and cover the modak with chocolate .