Fried Modak

Olya naralache Talalele Modak – talalele (fried) – Fried dumplings with a sweet Fresh coconut filling! Made specially for festivals.

This is the best cocnut illing recipe for fried karanji or Modak that yoou can get your hands on – I promise! It is crisp, golden and perfect on the outside and the filling is scrumptuous and just perfect. Whats more perfect about this recipe is that, its super-easy, the filling just needs to be mixed in – no-cook!! Could it get any better?!

this recipe is a result of my mom’s creativity 🙂 It has a secret ingredient in the filling, that you will find hard to believe, but just trust me and try this! It works wonders 🙂

You will need:

(makes 21-30 Modaks)

Dough:

3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)

3/4 cup semolina, fine (sooji, rawa)

milk – will need about half a cup and a couple tablespoons more of it (use room temperature milk)

3 tbsp hot oil

Filling:

1 cup grated coconut (press it to remove all moisture and then measure)

3/4 cup powdered sugar (plain powdered sugar or pithi sakhar, not confectioners sugar)

1/4 tsp cardamom powder or to taste

saffron

3-4 tbsp whole wheat flour (atta) ****secret ingredient 🙂

1 heaped tbsp ghee

equipment:

rolling board and pin

pan with oil for frying

Procedure:

To make dough:

First of all, make the doug ahead of time and let it rest. The longer it sits, the sooji hydrates better and is easy to work. Make sure you rest it for at least 45 mi to an hour.
Heat the oil and add it to the sooji+maida and mix well till crumbly. Also add a little bit of salt.
Add a little bit of milk at a time and start kneading the dough

knead a stiff-ish soft dough (not too hard, should be soft to touch but not too soft)
Wrap in saran wrap or cover tightly with a bowl and keep aside.

To make the filling:

Take fresh grated coconut and squeeze out al the milk and oisture from it. the dryer you can get it – better the keeping quality of your modaks and easier it is to make them.
Take the squeezed out ococnut in a large dish and set aside

Heat the ghee in a non-stick pan and roast the wheat flour on it until its golden (like besan ladoo flour)

let the roasted mixture cool- should be grainy, golden and smells very aromatic
once cooled, add it to the coconut in a bowl alng with powdered sugar, cardamom and saffron. Mix well – the filling is ready!
You can also add some golden raisins, chopped cashewnuts and pistachios – you can add all or one of these things – this is optional – I hghly recommend the raisins tho 😛
*note*: In the filling mixture – only the wheat flour is cooked. rest of the ingredients are just mixed cold.

To prepare the karanjis:

Make little balls of the dough and divide it equally in the number of modaks you want to make. Please note that you will not need to make the ball to big – these modaks are smaller than the steamed ones. Also, they puff up a little after frying.

Roll out a small ball of dough into a flat circle, without dusting the board (use oil, if it sticks)
Apply very little water (very lightly) to the edge of the circle and pinch one edge and hold it in your hand
Place filling in the centre and start pinching the petals aroud the circumference
Gather all the pleats and close the center to create a dumpling
Secure tightly creating a pointy nose