Baked Modak

Ganesha/Ganapati/Vinayaka… The best known, most worshipped god in Hindus. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies  first. Ganesha has thousands of names like Vighneshvara, Vighnaharta, Ekdantay, Gajanan, GanNayaka, Heramb, Siddhivinayaka and many more. He is the he Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He is popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles. Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning. In India, If someone wants to start anything or doing anything first time, he first worships Ganapati and then starts his work.
Ganpati Festival is around the corner. We(me n my hubby) was so eagerly waiting for this celebration. We celebrate this festival every year, we have only five days celebration , but at my parent’s place we have it for 11 days. My husband was celebrating this festival even he was not married. He has faith in Ganesha, so do I.
We worship Ganapati by making his favorite sweet ‘Modak’. There are two main types of making Modak, First is Fried Modak and the second one is Ukadiche modak. Last year I made both types of modak. But this year I want to make something more healthy and easy. I was thinking of baking modaks. Today, finally I did experiment which got successful. I made some changes in traditional recipe.. but still I like it.  I hope you will like it too 🙂

Outer cover:
2 Cups whole wheat flour
3/4-1 Cup water
4 Tbsp oil
pinch of salt

Method:
Heat oil in a small pot. mix other dry ingredients, make circles in flour and add hot oil over the circles. Carefully mix oil with aata then add water gradually to make medium soft dough. cover with wet cloth ans set aside for 15 minutes.

Stuffing:
2 cup shredded Coconut(dry/fresh)
1 Cup dates(finely chopped or pureed)
2 Tbsp Dryfruits coarsely grounded
1/4 Tsp Cardamom powder
Method:
Dry roast the coconut. Mix remaining ingredients until it is well combined.
or
One can use traditional stuffing(for traditional stuffing, please refer my fried modak recipe or click on link)

Modak Method:
Preheat oven for 180°C/356°F.
Divide and make 1 inch balls. Roll a dough ball to thin round disk. Pinch the edges(Mukharya in Marathi). You will see tiny bowl has been created. Put 1 tsp stuffing, make ball and put inside. Pull the edges together and seal the edges with very little milk. Make all the modak. Don’t let the modak become dry. Cover with damp cloth.
Grease baking tray with butter/oil or use butter paper, place all modak in the tray and brush them with few drops of oil. Bake them for 20-25 minutes or until they becomes golden from outside, and the modak’s are ready 🙂

My summary…
It tastes same like fried one but less oil. It had nice khasta texture. Coconut and dates really goes well together.

Do try and let me know how did u like it 🙂
Let’s welcome Lord Ganesha with healthy food and make this festival beautiful and Eco-friendly 🙂

Ganapati bappa morya………….
Mangalmurti…Morya 🙂

Tips:
1) One can make a big thing roti and use a round cookie cutter to make same size modak.
2)Oil wash is optional.
3)Oven temperature varies so it may take less/more time for individuals.
4)One can use dry fruit powder instead of coconut.