A feast fit for God

Ukadiche Modak

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rice flour
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tsp of ghee for filling
• 1 cup of grated coconut
• ½ cup of gud/ jaggery
• ½ tsp of cardamom powder

Method
For the filling
Mix all the ingredients and cook it on low flame until the gud melts and the mixture becomes dry. Then let it cool.

For covering

• Boil one cup water with ghee and a pinch of salt.
• Now add rice flour and mix. Cover it, let it steam for two to four minutes.
• Remove from heat and knead this mixture and make a soft dough.
• Take a small ball from above the dough and make it flat with the help of your thumb.
• In the centre, put some filling and close it in the shape of a modak. You can use a modak mould for this. Put a greased banana leaf in the steamer and arrange the modak in steamer and steam for about 10 minutes.
• Ukadiche modak is ready. Serve this hot modak with ghee and enjoy.

Puran Poli

Ingredients
For the filling

• 1¼ cups of chana dal
• 1½ cups of grated jaggery
• ¼ teaspoon of green cardamom powder
• A pinch of nutmeg powder

For the dough

• 1½ cup of whole wheat flour
• ½ cup of ghee

Method

• Wash and cook chana dal in a pressure cooker for upto five to six whistles. Drain excess water from dal and grind dal into a smooth paste.
• Now add grated jaggery in dal mixture and cook in a kadai till the mixture becomes dry.
• Let it cool to room temperature. Mix whole wheat flour with three to four tablespoon of ghee and sufficient water to make a soft dough. Let the dough rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Take a ball of dough and flatten with your palm with the help of a little ghee and stuff equal quantity of dal mixture (puran) in dough ball and seal the edges.
• Dust some flour and roll this ball with rolling pin to medium thickness. Heat the tawa and roast puran poli from both sides with little ghee.
• Serve hot puran poli, directly from the pan, with ghee. Some people like puran poli at room temperature with cold milk.

Khirapat

Ingredients

• 1 bowl of grated dry coconut
• ½ bowl of powdered sugar
• ½ tsp khus khus/ poppy seeds
• ½ a bowl of mixed dry fruit, chopped

Method

• Roast the grated coconut. Add sugar and poppy seeds, and roast everything together for a while.
• Then add chopped dry fruit and mix it well.
• The khirapat is ready to serve.

Asawari Potdar, home chef

Milk Cake

Ingredients

• 3 litres of milk
• 1/8 tsp of alum
• 450 gm of sugar
• 80 gm of ghee
• Oil for deep frying
• Pistachio for garnishing

Method

• Boil fresh milk in an heavy bottomed iron kadai. Using aluminum or non-stick is not recommended as it can react with the milk. Lower the flame to medium-high and stir frequently, reduce to half.
• Crush alum into powder and keep aside. Grease a cake tin with ghee.
• Check the consistency of milk, it needs to be grainy. Add two pinches of alum powder and continue to mix and check texture of milk. If it’s too acidic, it will result in bitter and chewy milk cake. Once the milk is thick and grainy like rabri, add one third of the sugar and continue to mix. Once the sugar dissolves, add the second batch and mix. Continue to mix and add sugar (too much sugar added at once will split the milk).
• Add one spoon of ghee at a time and on medium flame, cook until it is thick and resembles mawa.
• Transfer to the greased cake tin once it leaves the sides of the pan and let cool for three to four hours. Slice, cut into pieces, decorate with pistachio and serve.

Yaman Agarwal, celebrity chef

— As told to Oishani Mojumder

HT00