Celeb recipe: Ashlesha Sawant, actress

Owing to his love for sweets and snacks, Lord Ganesha is lovingly called Lambodara (one with a huge appetite). Modak, a fried sweet filled with a coconut and jaggery filling is His favourite. This is one sweet which is common to every household irrespective of the community, though the ingredients for the filling differ. Modak is symbolic of the universe. The outer covering signifies mithya and maya and the inner part is what the actual world is like. What we see is maya or illusion and what we eat is the actual world or truth.

A modak must be placed on the Lord's hand, which also gives him another name, Modakahastudu. Having one on Ganesh Chaturthi day means that you are actually taking in knowledge, considered to be Lord Ganesh's strength. Marathi mulgi Ashlesha Sawant a.k.a Tara of Saat Phere has decided to make traditional modaks, and most importantly share the recipe with us.

Ingredients
1 coconut
250 gms jaggery
8-10 elaichi (cardamom)
500 gms rice flour

Method
First melt jaggery in one cup of water and heat it. Once it dissolves completely, take it off the stove and keep aside for cooling. Then grate a coconut and add some elaichi for a little flavour. Add the melted jaggery to the grated coconut.

Once done, take the rice flour to make a soft dough. Take a little bit of dough on the palm and give it a round shape, like how you would make a small roti. Then fill it with little bit of the mixture of grated coconut and jaggery in the same way you would fill a samosa. Shape it like a modak. steam it for around 15 minutes.

Sneha Hazarika