Make Ukdiche Modaks with Kids this Ganpati

Sheetl Agarwal finds that making modaks with her daughter is a great way to teach community, culture and bring the festival of Ganesha home.

You know it’s Ganesh Chaturthi when…
Massive statues are stationed all over Mumbai.
You hear euphoric aartis twice a day from homes in the neighbourhood 
And in my case, when the sweet, steamy fragrance of molten jaggery and fresh coconut, cocooned in a rice flour fold, fills the air.

There are incidences which, in the moment seem mundane, but as the years go by and the decades pile on, you realise are the ones that stand out the most.

Festivals & Food in Bombay

Growing up in a middle-class household before globalisation hit in the nineties, had its own peculiar excitements. Each festival was marked with the preparation of festival-specific sweets, made by hand from scratch, in the hot and humid kitchen of my chawl in Bombay. Diamond-shaped shankarpalis; heaps of chaklis that required Herculean effort of squeezing the wooden chakli maker (I would admire my mother’s forearm strength); my palms turning pink as I rolled hot besan ladoos; holding my breath as we gingerly lifted out long strands of shevya that would funnel out of the brass press. And always, awe for the neat folds on modaks, while mine looked lumpy at best.

Revisiting those experiences opened floodgates of emotion, for the people are gone and the places have disappeared but the love that cocooned the child who sat comfortably on her haunches, cooking for hours, is as strong and alive as it was twenty five years ago.

Once I became a mother, I wanted to give my child every such experience, because in hindsight, I know these are the unique markers of childhood. Even back then, as people distributed ready-to-eat mithai, I knew what was brewing in my house was the old school way of life – a sustainable way of life. Today that is relevant more than ever. It is a piece of our culture with the power to ground children surrounded by excessive consumerism. A community activity that requires immense patience – most important for a generation where instant gratification is the underlying theme of every experience.

It is a happy coincidence that my daughter is obsessed with cooking. There is so much love present in these moments of community, that I want to pass on to her; almost a rite of passage. 

Recipe for Ukdiche Modak to make with Children

For young children, measuring with cups and spoons is a great motor skill activity, and for older children, it helps with mathematics. So involve them in the very first step of measuring the ingredients.

Ingredients
3 cups modak-specific rice flour (readily available in the market during Ganesh Chaturthi)
1 fresh coconut, grated
Jaggery (half the volume of the coconut grating)
1 tbsp ghee
Cardamom powder (Have your child powder the cardamom seeds with a mortar and pestle)
Salt, to taste 
Turmeric or banana leaf, for steaming
Steamer  

Method
To make the filling
Advisable for older children under strict supervision
Mix the jaggery and coconut in a bowl. Set aside.
Place a large pan on the stove, and add the ghee.
When it melts, add the jaggery-coconut mix and keep stirring over a medium flame.
Lower the flame once the jaggery melts.
Add cardamom powder and salt to taste.
Switch off the burner and set the mixture aside to cool

To make the modak dough
This step is not advisable for children
Heat 3 cups of water in a vessel. Add 1 teaspoon ghee and a pinch of salt to it.
Once the water starts boiling, add the flour while stirring constantly over a low flame. 
Make a smooth mixture; be slow and deliberate to avoid lumps. When it thickens, put the lid on and allow to simmer for two minutes. Take the flour mixture off the burner.
Next, knead the mixture while it is hot, to remove any lumps. 
(Cook’s tip: use a steel bowl to scoop and knead instead of using your hands).
Once it cools down a bit, knead the warm dough with your hands and make a large ball. Cover with a wet cloth.
Make smaller individual dough balls while keeping the main dough ball covered at all times.  

Now, gather the children. Sit cross-legged on the floor in a large circle with your family, because this is the fun part:
Dust your palms with dry flour.
Place a small dough ball in the cavity of your palm and create the bowl-shaped bottom of the modak.
Add a spoonful of the jaggery-coconut mixture and with deft hands, lightly start twirling the dough in a petal-like pattern, and pinch to close, at the top. Cover the freshly shaped modak with a damp cloth to retain moisture. 

Now, scoot the children out of the kitchen.
Place a steamer with water on the burner.
Place a banana or turmeric leaf onto the sieve of the steamer.
As the water boils, add the modaks one by one to avoid them sticking to each other. Cover and allow to steam for 15-20 minutes.
Take the modaks out of the steamer and place into a dish with a perforated lid (to prevent hardening).
Serve hot. 

Photo credits Anisha Rachel Oommen.

Sheetl Agarwal is a founder of the children’s library, BusySprout, where she curates books for children, and designs workshops that not only bring stories to life, but maximize the take-home message. She aims to create experiences that lie beyond the confines of gadgets. 

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