Ukadiche Modak (Steamed Rice Flour Modak)

Cook along · 15 steps

Method

1. 1

   Prep the filling ingredients: Grate the coconut fine — fresh, not desiccated, since the water in it is what melts the jaggery. Crumble or grate the jaggery so it dissolves evenly instead of sitting in lumps.

2. 2

   Toast the poppy seeds: Dry-roast the khus khus in a small pan on low for 1-2 minutes until it smells nutty and a few seeds start popping. Tip out at once so it does not scorch.

3. 3

   Cook the saran: Heat 1 tsp ghee in a kadhai, add the coconut and jaggery together and cook on medium-low, stirring constantly. The jaggery melts into a syrup in 2-3 minutes, then keep going 5-7 minutes until the mixture looks glossy and just holds together when pressed.

   

4. 4

   Stop it at the right point: Pull the pan off heat while the filling is still moist and clumping, not sandy and loose. Overcooked jaggery sets hard once cool and makes the filling chewy.

5. 5

   Finish and cool: Stir in the elaichi powder, grated nutmeg and toasted poppy seeds. Spread the saran on a plate and cool completely — warm filling steams inside the shell and tears it. You should have roughly 1 cup of filling, enough for 12 modak.

6. 6

   Boil the water for the ukad: Bring 1 cup water to a hard rolling boil with 1 tsp ghee and 1/4 tsp salt. Measure the water and flour with the same cup; the 1:1 ratio is what gives a pliable shell.

7. 7

   Scald the flour: With the water at a full boil, tip in all the rice flour at once and stir fast with the back of a wooden spatula until no dry flour is left. Cover, cook on the lowest flame for 2 minutes, then take off heat and leave covered for 5 minutes.

8. 8

   Knead hot: Turn the steaming dough onto a greased thali. Grease your palms with ghee and knead 4-5 minutes while it is still very hot, pressing with the heel of the hand until it is smooth, satiny and takes a pressed edge without cracking. If it feels stiff, wet your palm with a little hot water and knead that in.

   

9. 9

   Rest under a damp cloth: Shape into a ball, cover with a damp muslin and keep covered at all times from here on. Exposed rice dough skins over within a minute.

10. 10

    Divide: Pinch off about 12 walnut-sized balls, roll each smooth between greased palms, and return them all under the damp cloth, taking out one at a time.

11. 11

    Shape and pleat the cup: Flatten one ball into a 3-inch disc on a greased palm, thinning the edge more than the centre. Pinch 9-11 even pleats around the rim with a greased thumb and forefinger, so it looks like a fluted cup. A brass modak mould, greased inside, works the same way if pleating by hand is a struggle.

12. 12

    Fill and seal: Spoon in a heaped teaspoon of cooled saran, gather all the pleats up to the middle, press them together and twist into a fine peak. Any gap here leaks jaggery syrup during steaming, so seal firmly.

    

13. 13

    Line the steamer: Set the water in the steamer base to boil, lay a wiped banana leaf over the steamer plate and smear it with ghee. The leaf stops sticking and gives the shell its faint leaf scent; a greased muslin works if you have no leaf.

14. 14

    Steam: Arrange the modak on the leaf with a finger gap between them, lid on, and steam over boiling water for 10-12 minutes. They are done when the shells turn from chalky white to slightly translucent and glossy.

15. 15

    Rest and serve: Switch off, leave the lid on for 2 minutes, then lift the modak off with a light twist. Serve warm with a spoon of hot ghee poured over the peak, breaking one open to let the ghee run into the filling.