Modaks..Mmmmm!

Modak in June you say? I know, I know, the Ganesh festival is still over 2 months away, but when Nupur called for Marathi recipes for the RCI June: Maharashtrian Cuisine event, I just had to make this incredible little pockets of pure joy for this very special event! This event started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine is awesome where it calls for bloggers to post regional recipes once a month. This month its my state, Maharashtra's turn so decided to add a little picture of me in a super traditional outfit called the navvari saree which is a nine, yes NINE yard saree which used to be worn by women in the olden days.

Ok, I digress, now on to the real purpose of this post, MODAKS!! Modaks are traditionally made during the Ganesh festival. Without this special treat which is supposed to be Lord Ganesha's favorite food, this festival is just not complete!!
My mom and grand mom also used to make modaks on Chaturthi fasting days, where they fasted all day long with no food or water!! Once they saw the moon rise in the evening they would be able to end the fast with what else, Modaks! This was truly a fun tradition, where there were 21 modaks made specially for the fast ending ceremony. Now of these 21 modaks, only ONE modak had salt in it..yup, not sugar but salt. So the idea was that one keeps eating the modaks till they reach the salted modak and ofcourse the person fasting as the others had no idea which one had the salt as they were all randomly mixed!
While all this was going down, we kids would sit around the person fasting watching with eager eyes, and drooling tongues as none of us were allowed to eat the modaks till the fast ending ceremony was complete. Aah the torture!!! We would pray and pray that the 1st modak my mom/grand mom picked would be the one with salt so that we would be able to get all the remaining modaks...yes we were true hogs!!

This is my recipe for quick Modaks. Modaks are of 3 kinds really: Ukadiche made with rice flour, Kankiche made of wheat flour and steamed, and Tallele which are made of wheat flour and then deep fried. The latter is the easiest to make and thats the one I am making today!
Modak
Ingredients
For the outer covering
1. 2 cups whole wheat flour
2. 1 cup water (adjust according to the consistency of the dough)
3. 1 teaspoon oil
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Filling & Assembly
1. 2 cups shredded coconut (fresh is preferred. If not, you can use the dry dessicated coconut)
2. 1 cup powdered sugar
3. 1/2 cup ghee
4. 1/2 a pinch of cardamom powder
5. Pinch of salt
6. 3 tbsp Oil for frying

Method
Outer Covering
1. In a bowl, add the water, oil and salt to the flour. Knead into a pliable dough. Keep aside and cover with a wet cloth
Filling
1. In a heated pan add the ghee and let it warm up
2. To this add the coconut and roast for a minute. Add the sugar, salt and cardamom powder and roast well
3. Remove and let cool
Final Assembly

1. Make small balls from the dough. Roll the dough into small round puris
2. Scoop up a spoonful of the filling and place on the puri
3. Roll it up to look like the one on the picture above
4. Heat oil in a frying pan. When oil is heated, fry the modaks till golden brown
Serve with ghee.

Enjoy :)