Ganesh Chaturthi 2018- Recipe For Kesari Modak

I wanted to try this Kesari Modak last year itself but somehow got missed so tried it yesterday and we all loved it so much.It is nothing but rava kesari used as stuffing for a kozhukattai shaped in the form of modak.Also I bought this modak mould and the red one last year from a local supermarket so wanted to use it now.

Ingredients

For the outer dough:

Rice Flour(Idiyappam Flour) – 1 cup heaped
Water – as needed
Oil – to grease
Salt – to taste

For Kesari:

Fine Rava(Sooji) – 1/2 cup
Sugar * – 1/2 cup
Ghee – 3 tsp
Water – 1 and 1/2 cups
Milk – 1 tbsp
Saffron – few strands

Method

* Dry roast rava till aroma comes, don’t let it brown,Set aside.Heat water in a pan when it starts to bubble up, keep the flame in low then add rava in a sprinkled manner,keep mixing.

* Cook till it becomes soft, add sugar(I added cane sugar).

* The mixture will become goey,keep cooking then.Add saffron to warm milk and soak for 5mins.Then add saffron milk to the kesari mixture.

* Keep cooking till it becomes a mass like shown below, add ghee and keep mixing.

* At one stage it will start to leave the sides of the pan, this is the correct consistency,Switch off.

* Let it cool down.When it is still warm, make small balls and keep it ready.

* Now prepare the outer dough.Measure and take rice flour in a mixing bowl,add salt.

* Mix it once.Boil water until it bubbles up,switch off then add it to rice flour.

* Mix with a laddle,once it starts to come together,Set aside for few mins until it is warm enough to handle with hand.Now bring everything together to form a smooth dough without any cracks.

* Now the stuffing and the outer dough is ready.Take your mould, grease it with oil,grease your hands too.Now close the mould and take a dough shape it as a ball and stuff it from the bottom side.

* Nicely press it along the sides in the inner part,leaving a center hole for the stuffing.Now slightly roll the kesari ball so that its elongated.

* Stuff it inside.Then seal it with little dough as shown.Open the mould and carefully remove it.

* Likewise shape all the kozhukatais with stuffing.If you do not have mould, you can shape it like this : Take a small lemon sized ball flatten it using your palms,press it in the center to make a cup shape,place the stuffing in the center.

* Pull all the edges and bring to the center to form modak shape.Either make mould modaks or use this easy way.

* Likewise shape all the kozhukatais with stuffing,place it on the steamer plate.Steam it for atleast 5-8 mins or until the kozhukattai looks shiny on the outside and does not stick.Switch off and remove the kozhukattais and transfer to plate / serving bowl.