Mawa modak stuffed with dates and nuts mixture is a perfect modak recipe for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival! In Maharashtra, these are known as ‘Khavyache modak’.
½cupPowdered sugar (Confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar)
For stuffing:
⅓cupDried figschopped finely (or 6 Dates)
1tablespoonDesiccated coconut
2tablespoonsCashew nutscoarsely ground
2tablespoonsAlmondscoarsely ground
Instructions
Making Outer Layer:- Take khoya and powdered sugar in a pan and cook on medium heat. Keep stirring and cooking for 4-5 minutes or till the mixture becomes thick and fat starts to ooze out from the sides.- Remove it to a plate and let it cool to touch (WARM).
Make Stuffing:- In a bowl, take chopped dates (or figs), add dry coconut and coarsely ground nuts. Mix well.
Shaping Modak:- Now the mawa mixture is cool enough to handle. Try pinching small portion and it should come together like a ball. If not then you can few teaspoons of milk as a binding.- Now grease the modak mould using ghee. Keep the mould close, add a small portion of mawa mixture from the bottom hole and using your finger start pressing around the edges tightly and evenly.- Then stuff with a teaspoon of mixture in the hollow center.- Cover the bottom part with khoya mixture, press it tightly to seal and smooth out.- Open the mould. Carefully remove it and place it on a plate. Repeat the same for rest.
Notes
Variations:
To make saffron flavor modak, dissolve few strands of saffron into 2 teaspoons of warm milk and add while cooking khoya mixture.
You can add 1 teaspoon of rose water or kewra water into the outer cover mixture for a nice aroma.
You can use your choice of other nuts into stuffing mixture like pistachios, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts.