Steamed sweet dumpling with grated coconut and jaggery filling inside a rice-flour wrapper. Ganesh Chaturthi staple. Editor's TableJourney pick.

Modak is Lord Ganesh's favoured offering and Maharashtra's signature festival sweet, a steamed rice-flour dumpling filled with jaggery and fresh coconut. Mumbai's sweet shops fire up modak production through the 10 days of Ganesh Chaturthi in August or September, when families order trays for daily home-puja and the visarjan procession. Chitale Bandhu and Prakash in Dadar are the canonical sources.

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Make it at home

Serves Makes 12 modak80 minAdvanced

Ingredients

  • 200g fresh coconut, grated
  • 150g jaggery, grated
  • 2 teaspoons cardamom powder
  • 1 tablespoon ghee
  • 200g rice flour (preferably soft rice flour)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon ghee for dough
  • Banana leaves or muslin cloth for steaming

Method

  1. Heat ghee in a pan. Add jaggery, stir until melted. Add grated coconut and cook 4 minutes until the mixture comes together.
  2. Add cardamom powder, stir 30 seconds, remove from heat and cool.
  3. Boil 250ml water with salt and 1 teaspoon ghee. Remove from heat, add rice flour all at once, mix.
  4. Cover and rest 5 minutes. Knead the dough while warm into a smooth ball (oil your hands).
  5. Divide dough into 12 balls. Flatten each into a 4-inch disc with greased fingers.
  6. Place 1 tablespoon coconut filling in the centre of each disc.
  7. Pinch the edges into pleats and pull to a peak at the top, sealing in the filling.
  8. Steam over boiling water in a banana leaf-lined steamer 10 to 12 minutes.
  9. Serve warm with a drizzle of ghee.

Editor tip. Work fast with the dough; it dries quickly. If it cracks, dip your fingers in water and smooth before pleating.

Common allergens: Coconut.