Making Modaka for Lord Ganesh

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About Modaka

 

Ganesh is the foremost God and worshipped first on all auspicious occasions by

all the Indians, as he is a remover of all 'Sankat' or 'Vigna' (obstacles).

Also called Vignaeshwar, Vignanaashaka, SankatMochana and many other names

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated all over India with great pomp and splendour.

Especially in Maharashtra, people celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with much gusto.

Offerings of ' Moodak ' and ' Karigedabu' - Lord Ganesh's favorite sweets,

along with bunch of grass sheaves('Durva' in Sanskrit), red flowers, etc mark

this festive occasion.

Ingredients: For Cover: Plain Flour(Maida) 3/4 cup Wheat Flour 3/4 cup Oil 2 tsp

Rice flour as required (for dusting) For Filling: Coconut 1 cup grated finely

Sugar 1 cup Cashewnuts 1 tbsp broken into small pieces Almonds 1 tbsp sliced

into small pieces Raisins(Dry) 2 tbsp Poppy seeds 1 tbsp roasted Cardamom

powder 1 tsp Milk 1/2 cup Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

Mix flour, oil, salt and make a stiff dough by adding water as necessary. Cover

and Set aside. Bring milk to a boil . Add the coconut and sugar, stir and cook

over a low flame stirring constantly till the mixture thickens further. Add

poppy seeds, cashewnuts, almonds, cardmom powder and raisins and cook till the

mixture is almost dry. Remove and cool. Take a small portion of dough(a small

lime sized) and roll it into a 5 cm diameter circle, dusting with rice flour,

if necessary. Take it on your left palm and place a small portion of coconut

mixture in the centre of the circle. Now bring the open edges together, pinch

and shape this stuffed ball like a whole garlic. Prepare all the modaks from

the remaining dough in this fashion. Heat oil and when it's real hot deep fry

each modaks till golden brown in color. Remove, drain on a paper towel and

serve as a special sweet on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.

 

Ingredients • 100 gms almonds, chopped fine • 100 gms pistachios, chopped fine

• 200 gms sugar • 700 gms sugar, powdered • 1 kg khoya • 10 cardamom,

powdered

Method

• Mix khoya, powdered sugar and cardamom powder. Knead to a soft dough. • Add

sugar to the nuts and mix thoroughly. • Lightly grease hands with ghee

(clarified butter). Divide the khoya into lemon-sized balls. • Place a

spoonful of the nut mixture in the centre of each cup. Gather the edges to form

a conical shape. • A modak mould may be used to get perfect shapes.

Religion in India is still a living force and Indians appreciate and cultivate

the festival spirit even in this age of industrialisation and political

upheavals. May be Ganesh festivals bring people together and make the nation

move forward and grow. Ganesh Festival is very popular in our country.

The birth of Lord Ganesh is on the 4th day of the bright half of Bhadrapad

(August/September). This festival is celebrated for 10 days from

Ganeshchaturthi - birth -date-to Anantchaturdashi - the final 10th day of his

immersion. Everyone loves this deity with his curving trunk, pot-belly and big

glappy ears. He is the benevolent protector of the innocent, yet the ruthless

destroyer of evil. His mount is a rat.

In several states of India, but specially in Maharashtra clay idols of Ganesh in

varying sizes are made and sold. The idols are purchased and brought home the

day previous to Ganesh Chaturthi which is the day of Hartalik when women keep

fast and invoke the blessings of goddess Parvati, who is Ganesh's mother.

In streets and commercial establishments community worship is offered to a

life-size or even a bigger image, installed on an erected platform. This Lord

Ganesh is very fond of sweets and hence khir, panchamrit, fruits and sweets and

specially modaks are placed before him as "Naivedya" or "Bhog". After the ritual

worship this "Bhog" is distributed as "Prasad".

On the day of immersion which is either 3rd, 5th, 7th or 10th day after

performing "Puja" the idol is taken out in a procession by people who dance and

sing. On the 10th day - the Anantchaturdashi day the sea fronts are packed with

surging mass of humanity as the idols of Ganesh are carried towards their

watery rest among shouts of "Ganapati Bappa Moriya", Pudhachya varshi lavkar

ya" (Return early next year, oh Victorious Lord Ganesh).

Many interesting legends about the birth and the greatness of Lord Ganesh are

found in old ancient religious texts. He is considered to be the god of wisdom,

prudence and prosperity. The worship of this god is coming down to us right from

the vedic times. Every religious ceremony is completed even today with invoking

his blessings at the very beginning with the solemn recitation of "Om Ganeshaya

Namaha" (I bow to Thee Lord Ganesh). It is believed that Lord Ganesh put down on

paper the slokas of our great epic Mahabharat as they were dictated to him by

Maharshi Ved Vyas. Sant Gyaneshwar's Gyaneshwari starts with praise of Lord

Ganesh.

Since the days of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj the founder of the Maratha empire

this Ganesh Festival was celebrated on a grand scale in Pune and later on the

Peshwas themselves participated in this festival as Ganesh was their family

deity. Today this festival is the most colourful and happy event in the

religious, social and cultural life of India specially that of Pune. With the

end of the Peshwa regime this festival lost its glamour and came to be observed

privately in households only. Thus many years passed.

At the crucial juncture of India's history when the nation indeed under the yoke

of slavery of the British, Lokmanya Tilak, who proclaimed "Swarajya is my

birth-right and I'll have it" realising the importance of the massive

popularity of this festival initiated its nationwide celebrations in 1893. Then

it became a platform for political awakening and uprising among people to gain

freedom from British imperialism. Ganesh Festival thus played a very important

role in our Freedom Struggle.

In Maharashtra there are eight famous Ganesh temples which are places of

pilgrimage and are visited by countless number of people every year with the

faith that these visits wipe away all the sins and lead man to the ultimate

truth, the Moksha.

Lord Ganesh's images and pictures not only are seen presiding over the lintels

of the doorways of many Hindu homes as hartingess of good luck out in hospitals

private Nursing homes and clinics.

Ganesh is looked upon as the god of good harvest and hence after his immersion

clay is brought from the waterside and sprinkled into the farms and store-rooms

for luck & plenty.

During the last 5000 years of history in the pre-Vedic era, the concept of

Ganesh had reached all over the world and idols of Ganesh in various forms have

been found in Java, Indo-China, Nepal, Combodia, Tibet, Thailand, Vietnam and

Srilanka where He is regarded as the protector and saviour of mankind from the

menace of ghosts and demons.

The most popular and colourful Ganesh festival is a wholesome occasion for

ritual worship prayers, celebrations and hospitality. It also means cheer,

goodwill and home-made sweets, spicy snacks and a variety of delicious

preparations!

One of the sweet dishes prepared during this festival is Modak

Modak is a ritual sweet dish, specially prepared on the day of Ganeshchaturthi

which lasts for 10 days. For all these ten days, every day a special sweet dish

is prepared in offering to the god and then distributed as `prasad' to the

members of the family and friends. Ganeshchaturthi is the first day on which

Modaks are prepared. All the same, they can be prepared any day as sweet dish

for the family.

Following is the recipe for preparing this recipe.

Ingredients

100 gms. almonds 100 gms. pistachios 200 gms. sugar 1kg. powdered sugar 1 kg.

khoya 4 drops of rose essence.

Method

Put the khoya in a big and deep metal plate. Add the powdered sugar and drops of

essence of rose. Mix together and knead together to make a soft dough. Without

blanching the almonds and pistachios, chop them into small bits. Rub them and

husk them. Mix 200 gms. sugar in the chopped bits. Lightly grease the palms,

take out a small lump from the prepared dough of khoya, roll it in between the

palms and shape into a ball. Make a hollow in the middle of the ball and place

about a teaspoonful of the almond-pistachios mixture. Carefully pull up the

sides and gather them at the top, giving it a conical shape. When ready the

modak should resemble a fresh fig, thus make all the modaks.

 

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