4 Modak Recipes & 4 Ganpati Prasad Recipes For The Auspicious Occasion

Ganesh Chaturthi marks the birth of Lord Ganesh. The festival is celebrated over a span of 11 days with much fervour at home in the warm company of family and friends. This year, the festival will start from 31st August. Food, much like all other festivals, occupies an integral part of the Ganpati festivities, with modak hogging most of the limelight. Apart from the traditional modaks like ukadiche modak, fried modak, coconut modak, and dry fruit modak, devotees have now started exploring a host of other flavours for modak recipes as well like chocolate modak. Apart from modak, there are a wide array of traditional dishes that are prepared to express love and devotion to the deity. These are first offered to Lord Ganesh as a part of Ganpati prasad during the puja before they are distributed among guests.

So, get all the Ganesh Chaturthi prasad items in place and explore various Ganesh Chaturthi prasad ideas and modak recipes enlisted below to appeal to your gastronomic appetite.

History & Significance Of Ganesh Chaturthi

The 11-day long festival of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates the anniversary of Ganesh’s arrival from Mount Kailash or Kailash Parvat.

The 11-day long festival of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrates the anniversary of Ganesh’s arrival from Mount Kailash or Kailash Parvat. The festival is also referred to as Ganeshotsav or Vinayak Chaturthi. The idol of Lord Ganesha is installed at home in pandals and devotees pay their respects through puja performed at home to the chants of Vedic hymns. Thereafter, prasad or the food offered to the Lord is distributed among all. Try these unique gauri ganpati decoration you can easily make at home and brighten the environment.

4 Popular Ganpati Prasad Recipes That Are Loved By Our Beloved Bappa

Here are 4 recipes for your Ganpati prasad list.

1. Gujiya

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 500 gms mawa (khoya) 
• 3¼ tsp desiccated coconut
• 15 cashew nuts (roasted and chopped)
• 15 almonds (roasted  and chopped)
• 20 raisins
• ½ tsp green cardamom powder 
• 4 cups maida (refined flour)
• 5 tbsp ghee 
• ½ tsp salt

Method

1. For this Ganesh Chaturthi prasad, mash the mawa and roast it on medium heat in a deep-bottomed pan till it turns pink.
2. Switch off the gas and keep it aside to allow it to cool.
3. Add all the other ingredients to it, except maida, ghee, and salt.
4. For the covering, sieve the maida, and then add salt and ghee.
5. Add water enough to make a dough.
6. Cover it using a damp cloth and keep it aside for 15 minutes.
7. Make small balls out of the dough and roll each into a small puri-like flatbread about 4 inches in diameter.
8. Place this puri on a greased gujiya mould and put 1 tablespoon of the filling mix as the stuffing on one edge.
9. Moisten the puri’s edges and place one side of the mould over the other.
10. Press the edges carefully so that the stuffing does not come out later on.
11. After you’ve prepared all the gujiyas, place all of them on a damp cloth.
12. Heat ghee in the deep-bottomed pan and deep-fry the gujiyas on medium heat till they become golden brown.
13. Keep them on tissue paper to drain the excess ghee and store them in an air-tight container. https://www.thechannel46.com/web-stories/4-modak-recipes-for-the-auspicious-occasion-of-ganesh-chaturthi/

2. Puran Poli

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

For Mixture:

• 1 cup chana dal 
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp elaichi (cardamom) powder
• Jaiphal (nutmeg, grated)

For Making Dough:

• 2 cups maida (refined flour)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 cup water

Method

1. For puran poli, one of the best Ganpati prasad ideas, pressure cook chana dal for about 3 to 4 whistles.
2. Drain the water and coarsely mash the dal. 
3. Put the pressure cooker on low flame and add sugar to it and mix it well.
4. Add cardamom powder and nutmeg, and blend thoroughly.
5. Keep stirring until you get a dry paste.
6. For the dough, add the rest of the Ganesh Chaturthi prasad items on the list – maida, ghee, and salt in a bowl. 
7. Add water to make a semi-soft dough.
8. Cover the bowl with a plastic sheet and keep it aside for about 30 minutes.
9. Next, separate the dough into small balls like you do while making chapatis.
10. Use a rolling pin to flatten out the balls and make round chapati-like shapes out of them.
11. Take a small ball with the chana dal mix and place it in the middle of the flatbread to serve as the stuffing.
12. Make a ball out of the flatbread wrapping it around the stuffing.
13. Roll out the ball into a flatbread again with a rolling pin.
14. Heat the tawa and fry the flatbread on both sides evenly in ghee.
15. Serve hot with some more ghee layered over it. 

3. Motichoor Ladoo

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

For Sugar Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• Kesar (crushed saffron strands or powdered)

For Making Boondi:

• 1 cup besan (gram flour)
• Kesar (crushed saffron strands or powdered)
• ¾ cup water
• 2 to 3 black cardamoms seeds
• ½ tablespoon magaz (melon seeds)
• Oil 
• Oil/ghee for applying to your palms while shaping ladoos

Method

1. For this Ganesh Chaturthi prasad, add saffron and sugar to water on a deep-bottomed pan and boil till the sugar has completely dissolved and the water has taken a slightly sticky consistency.
2. For making boondi, add saffron and besan to water and blend them evenly to get a consistency that is neither too thin nor too thin and is devoid of lumps.
3. Heat oil in a kadai 
4. Take a large ladle full of besan batter and pour it onto a perforated ladle (one with small holes in it), which you’ve held over the oil in the kadai.
5. Push the perforated ladle with the large ladle so that the besan batter seeps through the perforations and falls into the oil.
6. Fry these besan balls or boondi for 45 seconds to 1 minute till they become golden brown. Don’t over-fry them to make them crisp.
7. Once the oil has stopped sizzling, separate the boondis from the oil and put them in the hot sugar syrup.
8. Pour the hot syrup with the boondis in a mixer, add 1 tbsp of hot water, and blend them well. If the boondis have become crisp, add more water here.
9. Add the black cardamom and magaz seeds and shape the boondis into balls. Refrigerate them if you have used oil throughout the process instead of ghee.

4. Kesar Pista Shrikhand

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

For Homemade Curd:

• 8 cups (2 litres) of milk
• 2 tbsp milk powder
• ½ tsp dahi (yoghurt)

For Shrikhand:

• 2 cup dahi
• ½ cup powdered sugar 
• 2 tbsp kesar (saffron) water
• ¼ tsp elaichi (cardamom) powder
• 10 pistachios (chopped)

Method

1. For preparing the yoghurt for shrikhand – one of the best Ganpati prasad ideas, pour 1 cup of milk into a heavy-bottomed pan.
2. Add 2 tbsp of milk powder for the yoghurt to get a more creamy consistency.
3. Stir every now and then to prevent lumps from forming.
4. Next, add 7 cups of milk, blend well, and bring it to boil on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
5. Turn off the gas and allow it to cool to a lukewarm temperature.
6. Pour this into the bowl where you want the yoghurt to set.
7. Blend ½ tsp of curd into this milk. If you want to make the curd without adding curd to it, add a whole red chilli, along with its stem.
8. Cover and let it rest for 8 hours.
9. After the curd is set, refrigerate it for 2 to 3 hours for it to have a thick consistency.
10. Now for the shrikhand, take a big bowl, keep a sieve over it, and cover it with a clean muslin cloth.
11. Add 2 cups of the curd that you’ve prepared.
12. Wrap the cloth around it and leave it for 2 hours. Refrigerate to prevent the curd from becoming sour.
13. Take this curd into a big bowl and mix well.
14. Add ½ powdered sugar, ¼ cardamom powder, and 2 tbsp saffron water.
15. Mix well again and garnish with pistachios and serve chilled.

4 Ganesh Chaturthi Modak Recipes That Are Simple & Delicious

Apart from the traditional Ganesh Chaturthi modak recipes like coconut modak, fried modak, and dry fruit modak, here is a mix of traditional and modern recipes that you should try out. 

1. Ukadiche Modak

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 75gm rice flour
• 30gm powdered gur (jaggery)
• 1 pinch of powdered green elaichi (cardamom)
• 25gm powdered sugar
• ½ coconut (grated)
• 20gm shredded mixed dry fruits
• 10 gm ghee

Method

1. Take jaggery, dry fruit sheds, coconut, cardamom powder, and powdered sugar in a bowl and mix evenly.
2. For the dough of ukadiche modak, take rice flour in a bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour where you need to pour hot ghee. Blend well and then add water to prepare a soft dough. 
3. Make small balls out of this dough and prepare puris from each of these balls with a rolling pin.
4. Now, place a tbsp of the dry fruit-coconut stuffing at the centre of the puri.
5. Bring the edges together and seal firmly in the shape of a modak. Repeat the same for all the other puris.
6. Place them in a steamer for 15 to 20 minutes and, voila, ukadiche modak is ready to be served hot or chilled.

2. Mawa Modak

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 250gms / 1½ cups of mawa or khoya
• Sugar to taste
• ¼ tsp elaichi (cardamom) powder
• 1 to 2 tsp ghee or oil 

Method

1. Crumble the mawa and add it to a tawa, placing it on low heat for 1 minute.
2. When the mawa starts to melt, pour sugar and blend well.
3. On seeing this mixture bubble, add cardamom powder.
4. Stir at regular intervals to prevent it from getting burnt or from setting to the base of the tawa.
5. Continue stirring till the stuffing starts leaving the sides of the pan.
6. Do not overcook, so that the mixture does not become chewy.
7. Transfer to another plate or bowl for it to cool down until warm.
8. Next, knead the mixture into a soft dough and make small bowls from them.
9. Grease the mould and place a ball in each mould. Press the balls for them to take the shape of the mould.
10. Keep these modaks on a greased plate or turmeric leaf. Spread a layer of ghee or oil on the plate/leaf.
11. Mawa modak is ready to be served hot or chilled.

3. Paan Modak

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1½ cup tsp desiccated coconut
• ⅓ cup warm milk
• 150gms unsweetened khoya/mawa
• Sugar to taste
• 4-5 paan (betel leaf) paste (Grind betel leaves with 1-2 tsp water)
• ¼ tsp elaichi (cardamom) powder
• 2 tbsp almonds, cashew nuts & pistachios (roasted & chopped)
• Ghee or oil

Method 

1. Grind betel leaves with 1 or 2 tsp of water and keep them aside.
2. Take 1 ½ cup of desiccated coconut in a bowl, and keep 1 tsp aside.
3. Pour warm milk into the bowl.
4. Cover and leave aside for 30 minutes.
5. Add 1 tsp of desiccated coconut, 150gms crumpled mawa, and sugar to a pan.
6. Put the pan on low heat and blend the contents thoroughly.
7. Next, add the paan paste and keep stirring for about 10 minutes until the sugar melts completely and the water evaporates.
8. Add the nuts and cardamom powder and mix well.
9. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let it cool down.
10. Next, knead the mixture into a soft dough and make small bowls from them.
11. Grease the mould and place a ball in each mould. Press the balls for them to take the shape of the mould.
12. Keep these modaks on a greased plate or turmeric leaf. Spread a layer of ghee or oil on the plate/leaf.
13. Paan modak is ready to be served hot or chilled.

4. Chocolate Modak

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup crumbled mawa
• ⅓ cup chocolate chips
• Sugar to taste
• ⅛ tsp elaichi (cardamom) powder
• Ghee or oil

Method

1. Add mawa to a pan on low heat and stir for about 1 minute till it starts melting.
2. Add sugar, mix well, and keep stirring.
3. When the mawa starts bubbling, add chocolate chips.
4. When the chocolate begins to melt, stir well for the ingredients to mix evenly.
5. When the mix starts thickening, add cardamom powder.
6. When the mix begins to leave the edges of the pan, transfer it to a plate and allow it to cool down.
7. When the mixture is warm, make small balls out of it.
8. Grease the mould and place a ball in each mould. Press the balls for them to take the shape of the mould.
9. Keep these modaks on a greased plate or turmeric leaf. Spread a layer of ghee or oil on the plate/leaf.
10. Paan modak, a modern twist on the traditional Ganpati prasad, is ready to be served hot or chilled.

What’s a festival without some lip-smacking food to indulge in, right? So, experiment with all the recipes above, offer them to Bhagwan Ganesh and then dig your fingers deep into the Ganesh Chaturthi prasad.

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