Fried Modak Recipe With Wheat Flour – Fried Mothagam Recipe – Ganesh Chaturthi Recipes

• Wheat flour – 1/2 cup
• Salt – a pinch
• Melted ghee – 1/2 tsp
• Rava/Sooji – 1 tsp ( optional)
• Water – as needed (I used around 1/4 cup)
• Cooking oil – to deep fry

For stuffing/Pooran

• Grated coconut – 1/2 cup
• Powdered Jaggery – 1/3 cup
• Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
• Dry Roasted poppy seeds – 1 tbsp ( Optional)

• First make the stuffing/Pooran part. For this, take the grated coconut, powdered jaggery and dry roasted poppy seeds in a kadai. The quantity of jaggery should be less than coconut. Do not add water.Mix well in medium flame.
• Let the jaggery melt in heat and mix well with coconut. When the mixture starts to become thick without moisture and leaves the pan, switch off the flame and transfer the stuffing to a plate. Spread it well and let the stuffing cool down. (If you heat the stuffing for long time, it will become chewy and hard. So remove the stuffing as soon as jaggery is melted and mixed well with coconut. Initially it will look as a wet mass. But when it cools down, it will become crumbly.)

• In a wide bowl, take the wheat flour, melted ghee, a pinch of salt and mix well. Add water little by little and make a stiff, thick dough. The dough should not be too soft. Knead for sometime and cover with a wet cloth. Let the dough rest for just 5 minutes.

• Take a small ball of dough and dust in wheat flour. Make a thin circle of poori size. Remember the sides of circle should be thinner than the center. As this is made of wheat flour, it will become dense after deep frying. So make the poori thin.Cover the remaining dough with a wet cloth.

• Now take a small lid and cut the circle of uniform shape. Place 1 tbsp of stuffing the middle and make 5-7 pleats in the dough. Refer picture and do the same way. Join all the pleats and make a coconut shape modak.Make sure the modak is sealed properly else the stuffing will ooze out in oil while frying.

• Heat oil in a kadai and when it gets heated, put a pinch of dough. If it rises to the top immediately, oil temperature is just right.Now drop 3-4 modak and cook in medium flame.Cook till starts to turn golden brown.Flip the other side and cook till done. Remove in a tissue. Fried modak is ready. Offer to Lord Ganesha and seek his blessings !
  Enjoy !

• It stays crispy till its hot. If you wish, you can serve them immediately or this modak can be stored in an air tight box and consumed for a week. It stays good and edible.

• For stuffing sugar can be used instead of jaggery.
• For making dough, maida/All purpose flour can be used. If you wish, you can add 1 tbsp of rava/Sooji too.
• Do not stir the coconut+jaggery mixture for long time. It will become chewy and hard.So remove the pooran as soon as jaggery is completely melted and mixed with coconut without any moisture content.
• You should deep fry the modak as soon as you make the shapes else modak may crack while frying. If you make the modak in advance, keep it covered with a wet cloth till you deep fry.
• Oil temperature is very important while frying. If the heat is more, modak will not cook inside and the outer covering becomes brown soon.So fry in medium flame patiently.