Fried Modak Recipe
A crispy, golden deep-fried festive sweet featuring a robust wheat dough casing stuffed with a sweet, aromatic center of coconut and jaggery.
Ingredients
For the Crispy Pastry Shell
- 1 Cup of All-purpose flour maida or whole wheat flour
- 2 tbsp Hot clarified butter ghee
- A pinch of salt
- Warm water as required to knead a tough dough
For the Coconut Jaggery Filling:
- 1.5 Cups Freshly grated coconut
- 1 Cup Grated jaggery
- 1 tsp Poppy seeds
- ½ tsp Green cardamom powder
- Use chopped nuts cashews and almonds to garnish
- Oil or ghee to deep fry in
Instructions
- Mix flour with salt in a large bowl and add hot clarified butter into it while mixing it with your fingers till you get crumbs. Add water slowly into it while kneading it with your hands till you get an extremely stiff dough. Cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Roast the poppy seeds in a pan for one minute on low flame. Now add coconut and jaggery and roast it for 5-7 minutes while stirring so that jaggery is completely mixed into it, and now add nuts and cardamom and roast for two more minutes.
- Take the rested pastry dough and break it into small balls, about the size of cherries, and then roll each ball out into a thin, even circle, 3 inches in diameter, with slightly thinner dough around the edges than at the centre point.
- Place a small portion of the cooled coconut filling directly in the middle of the dough disc, fold the edges of the dough circle at regular intervals to create neat pleats, gather together all the pleats at the centre above and press them firmly to form a secure sharp tip.
- In a deep-frying pan, heat sufficient oil/ghee on medium-low flame, slide 4-5 pleated modaks in the frying fat and fry them slowly on both sides, stirring occasionally, till the outer face is rich and even in golden colour and it is crispy, drain on paper towels.
Notes
- Knead a stiff dough using flour, salt, hot ghee, and warm water; rest for 20 minutes.
- Cook coconut and jaggery on low heat until sticky; add cardamom and cool.
- Roll small dough circles, add filling, pleat the edges, and seal the top tightly.
- Deep-fry on medium-low heat until the modaks are golden brown and crispy.