Ukadiche Modak

While I eat everything sweet, nothing compares to the pleasures of Ukadiche Modak! And nothing compares to those that my mom makes, weather in taste or aesthetics. Unfortunately, a busy schedule meant that they were made only on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. And we (mostly my dad and me) made sure we made the most of it! My Modak eating capabilities always amazed my mom, who worried about my everyday food intake. But that is a different story.

For now here is my mom's perfected recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup fine rice flour
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 cups grated coconut
• 1 1/2 cups grated jaggery
• 1/4 cup raisins (optional)
• 2 tbsp ghee
  
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tsp cooking oil
• 1-2 finely grounded cardamom pods
  

Method
Ukad: According to my mom, making a perfect ukad is in getting the timing right. So make sure to have a clock nearby. Add salt and cooking oil to 1 1/4 cups water and bring it to boil . When it starts boiling add the rice flour and poke it so that water seeps up through those holes. Let it boil well for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat and place a lid on the vessel. Let it stay for around 4 minutes. Then stir it well, so that all the water and flour are mixed well. Close the lid again and let it cool. When it has cooled enough to touch, knead the ukad so that there are no lumps. Use water (just enough to wet your hand) if necessary. Set aside the ukad. Letting the ukad sit for a couple of hours makes the modaks softer.

Saran: Heat ghee in a skillet and add cardamom to it. Then add the grated coconut and stir for a few minutes. Mix in the jaggery and raisins, and stir so as to make it dry. Make sure to stir the mixture so that it does not stick to the bottom of the skillet. The saran should not be very dry as it will tear the covering. A standard measure would be to let it dry till the spoon can stand straight in it.

Modak: Oil your palms slightly. Take a small ball of the ukad and flatten it out gently and evenly. For beginners it is not necessary to flatten it out real thin, as handling a thinner papadi takes practice and precision. The intent here is to make small bowls with petal-like pattern. For this pinch the sides of the flattened out ukad. Add a spoonful (or as per size) of saran to this and gently close the petals while retaining their shape, so that the resulting shape is like a whole garlic. (See picture above.) Keep the modak wrapped in a soft moist cloth. Repeat for the remainder of the ukad.

Now take a pressure cooker or steamer vessel and line it with a soft moist cloth (a handkerchief works well.) Place the modaks in such vessel and cover them with remainder of the cloth. Now take sufficient water in the cooker or steamer and place the vessel in it. Steam it covered (without the whistle) for 10 minutes to the clock.

Serve hot modaks with ghee and enjoy a meal worthy of Gods.

Naralachi amba wadi

Mangoes are hard to come by in this part of the country, and there are times when you just crave for that divine taste of the Alphonso mango. So when we spotted a can of Alphonso mango pulp it was hard to resist. And from there began the quest to make the perfect Amba wadi. But then we could not find any khava, and making some at home even with (cow's) whole milk would have been difficult. Hence the improvised Naralachi Amba Wadi for those of us who want the taste, but cannot find all the ingredients.

Ingredients

• 2 cups mango pulp
• 2 cups grated coconut (as finely grated as possible)
  
• 1/4 cup condensed milk
  
• 1 small potato (mashed)
  
• 2-3 tbs ghee
• A pinch of cardamom
  

Method

Heat 2-3 tbs of ghee in a skillet and add a pinch of cardamom to it. Then add 2 cups of grated coconut and fry it for a minute. Add the mango pulp and condensed milk and mix it in well. The condensed milk gives the wadi a semblance of khava, and is an attempt to fool the senses. Now add the mashed potato and fold it in. The potato will act as a base to hold the wadi together which has a lot of liquid in the form of mango pulp. Since the mango pulp and condensed milk are usually sweetened, it is not necessary to add any more sugar to the wadi.

Keep stirring continuously on medium heat to keep it from sticking to the skillet and speeding the drying process. The mixture needs to be reduced until the spatula stands in it. You can feel the mixture getting heavier and difficult to stir as it thickens.

Now spread out the mixture on a greased cookie tray or plate. I like to line the tray with aluminium foil to avoid greasing, and also because it makes cleaning so much more easier. Spread out the mixture evenly while it is still warm and allow it to cool down completely before cutting. Cut the mixture into squares of your desired serving size. Always store the wadi in a fridge. The wadi, especially straight out of the fridge, makes an extremely satisfying snack or mini dessert.

Puran Poli

There are very few people who can resist piping hot Puranpoli with ghee. That incredible aroma is one of festivities, of happiness and memories. It is the smell of sheer bliss of being with your family, people you love. And when you are trying to create a home away from home, that smell can work wonders.

So it was about time I made the Puranpoli myself. The idea was scary at first considering that it had to match up to my mom's Puranpoli for me to be satisfied. And in spite of using the same recipe it isn't really the same. I guess it can never be!


Anyhow. The recipe is considerably time consuming and tiring, but totally worth it.

Ingredients

For the Puran

• 2 cups chana/harbara dal
• 4 1/2 cups water
  
• 2 cups jaggery
• 1/6 to 1/5 cup sugar
• A pinch of turmeric
• 1 tabelspoon oil
  
• Nutmeg for seasoning

For the covering

• 1 1/2 cups wheat flour
• 1/6 cup all purpose flour/maida
• A pinch of salt
• Oil
  

Method

Pressure cook 2 cups chana dal with 4 1/2 cups of water. Add a pinch of turmeric and oil while cooking it. Take 3-4 whistles or as many as are needed to cook the dal well. Strain the dal so that no water remains. Retain the water as it can be used to make katachi amti. Mash the dal to as fine a paste as possible. I do this as I do not have a puranyantra here, and the mixer does not do the job. The puranyantra is used after you have added the jaggery, but since it is difficult to get all the equipment outside of India I mash the dal and then knead it at the end too.

Now heat some ghee in a skillet and add the mashed dal to it. Also add the jaggery and sugar and stir continuously. Make sure that the mixture does not stick to the bottom as the burnt smell will spoil the desired aroma. Keep stirring till the Puran is dry and thick. Also add some nutmeg to it. Let the puran cool. Knead it upon cooling so that it does not have any hard parts in it. The puran has to be consistently soft, as any hard part can tear the covering.

For the covering mix the wheat and all purpose flour with water and oil. Knead the so that it is soft and almost sticky. Use oil generously when kneading the dough and let it rest for at least an hour. The more the dough rests the better.

When making the actual poli take a small portion of the dough and knead it again. Roll it out in a small circle. Take a bigger portion of the puran and close it inside the dough as if wrapping a ball. Close the dough so that the puran does not comes out from anywhere. Now roll out the ball gently into thin roti using rice flour. It is important to roll gently as the puran can come out due to excess pressure. It is common that the poli tears when we are new at it.

Heat a griddle and roast the puranpoli on medium flame until it is golden brown on both sides. Serve with ghee and experience bliss!

Upama

It is difficult to resist the quick fix snacks and meals especially when your living by yourself. But if you are health conscious you might not want to resort to the two-minute noodles or the frozen meals for long. So to our rescue is the Indian cuisine that offers a range of quick hot meal options.

We shall go into all of those as we go along the way. Today I shall being with one of my favorites, Upama. This dish is made of 'rava' or 'soji' which itself offers you three to four different dishes that take no more than a maximum of 30 minutes. While Upama can be made in various ways I shall give you the typical Marathi version.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rava/soji
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 medium sized onion
• 1 small tomato
• 3 tablespoons ghee/oil
• 2-3 chopped green chilies
• 1/5 cup green peas
• Approx. 1 inch finely cut ginger
• 1 table spoon udad dal
• 4-5 curry leaves
• Coriander to garnish
• Lemon to taste

Method

Heat one tablespoon of ghee/oil in a skillet. Add rava to it and fry on low flame until it is a very light brown. This stage is very important as a rightly fried rava sets the stage for a delicious and 'khamanga' Upama. Apparently it also reduces the chances of acidity after eating if you are prone to acidity caused by rava.

Once it is light brown set aside the rava and heat 2 tablespoons of ghee/oil in a skillet. Add chillies, ginger, curry leaves, udad dal and jeera to it. The add the chopped onion and fry till it is a light pink and seems transparent. Now add the chopped tomato and let it cook for a minute. Do not overcook the tomatoes as it would tun into a paste and give the dish a red color. We want to see tomato pieces at the end.

Now it is time to add the water and milk to the skillet. Some use only water, but I like to use some milk to give it that rich texture. Add salt to taste. It is better to add salt at this stage so that it mixes well. Once the mixture is about to boil add the peas. As peas are very easy to cook adding them at such a late stage helps them stay green. When the mixture starts boiling add the rava and stir such that no lumps remain. You should be very careful here as some boiling rava might jump out at your hand as you stir. You could use a lid for shielding yourself. So stir the rava well removing lumps till all the water is dried up.

Add the coriander and let it stay on low flame with the lid on. Turn off the gas after about a minute, squeeze some lemon for additional taste and enjoy!