Modagam using Desiccated coconut , Ganesh chaturthi recipes

Modakam | modagam | Kozhakattai, the traditional modakam is made using coconut and jaggery stuffing. Generally we use fresh coconut to make the coconut jaggery poornam. But some people may not have access to fresh coconut in their country. We can easily make poornam with desiccated coconut. The taste is almost the same and even you can replace jaggery with brown sugar also. Celebrate this Ganesh chaturthi with varieties of modak and other recipes from Jeyashri's kitchen.
Stay tuned for one more delicious Mahatrastrian style modak using desiccated coconut.

Modagam using desiccated coconut

  Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 20 Mins |Makes: 16

     For the outer cover
Idiyappam flour  1 cup
Water as needed
Sesame oil  few drops
   For the poornam| stuffing 
Desiccated coconut  1/2 cup
Powdered jaggery  1/4 cup
Cardamom powder  a pinch
Water 1-2 tblp

Sesame oil   to grease idli plate and grease hands

Method:

• In a pan add the desiccated coconut, jaggery and cardamom powder.
• Add 1-2 tblsp of water and mix well.
• Cook for 2-3 minutes till the jaggery melts and it gets incorporated with the desiccated coconut.
• Poornam | stuffing for modak is ready.
• Let's make the outer cover.
•  We can make the outer cover in 4 ways. 
• Add idiyapam flour or home rice flour in a wide bowl. 
• Boil water with few drops of sesame oil.
• Once it comes to a nice rolling boil, add the water to the flour. If using home made or store bought rice flour,add a pinch of salt to the water.
• Mix well with a spoon and keep it covered for few minutes.
• Once it is warm, grease hands with sesame oil and knead into a soft dough, without any cracks.
• Keep it covered all the time.
• Make it into equal lemon sized balls.
• Take one portion of the dough, using fingers make a small cup.
• Place 1/2 tblsp of filling into this.
• Gently close it and make it into modak shape. 
• You can check my video on how to shape modak 
• Repeat this for the rest of the dough .
• The dough and the stuffing is just perfect for the outer cover.
• I finished both the dough and the stuffing for making 16 modakams.
• Grease an idli plate and place the modakams.
• Steam for 10 minutes. You will see the shine in the modaks and it is the right time to switch off the flame.
• Let this cool for 2 minutes.
• Take out the modaks from the pan and the desiccated modaks are ready for neivedyam.

     
     

Method:

• In a pan add the desiccated coconut, jaggery and cardamom powder.

• Add 1-2 tblsp of water and mix well.
• Cook for 2-3 minutes till the jaggery melts and it gets incorporated with the desiccated coconut.

• Poornam | stuffing for modak is ready.
• Let's make the outer cover.
•  We can make the outer cover in 4 ways. 
• Add idiyapam flour or home rice flour in a wide bowl. 
• Boil water with few drops of sesame oil.
• Once it comes to a nice rolling boil, add the water to the flour. If using home made or store bought rice flour,add a pinch of salt to the water.
• Mix well with a spoon and keep it covered for few minutes.

• Once it is warm, grease hands with sesame oil and knead into a soft dough, without any cracks.
• Keep it covered all the time.
• Make it into equal lemon sized balls.

• Take one portion of the dough, using fingers make a small cup.
• Place 1/2 tblsp of filling into this.
• Gently close it and make it into modak shape. 

• You can check my video on how to shape modak 
• Repeat this for the rest of the dough .
• The dough and the stuffing is just perfect for the outer cover.
• I finished both the dough and the stuffing for making 16 modakams.
• Grease an idli plate and place the modakams.
• Steam for 10 minutes. You will see the shine in the modaks and it is the right time to switch off the flame.

• Let this cool for 2 minutes.
• Take out the modaks from the pan and the desiccated modaks are ready for neivedyam.

Notes:

1. Adding water is necessary while making the poornam but do not add too much. First add 1 tblsp and if needed add 1 more.
2. The sweet is just perfect for the stuffing, if needed more add 1-2 tblsp of extra jaggery powder.
3. Always keep the dough and the prepared modak covered. 
4. If using modak mould check out my video on how to shape modak using mould. 
5. If using brown sugar, add water only if needed.

     

Sweet potato modakam, Ganesh Chaturthi recipes

Sweet potato modakam, Ganesh Chaturthi 2017 is coming up on august 25. I have posted many varieties of modak recipes including our traditional Modakam with thengai poornam. Last year itself i wanted to post this Sweet potato modakam but couldn't post as i had posted other kozhukattai varieties. It turned out so well and we all loved the taste of sweet potato in modakam. If you want to make a different variety of modakam try out this one and also my jackfruit modakam too.
Check out my full collection of Ganesh Chaturthi recipes 

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Sweet seedai is a very simple seedai made with wheat flour, sugar and few other easy available ingredients. I have posted Vella seedai recipe where we add jaggery for sweetness. For beginners if you are still not confident  of the consistency of vella paagu for vella paagu, you can make this sweet seedai. This is a no fail, no burst seedai recipe. I saw this recipe of sweet seedai in a youtube video and made few changes in that. We all loved the sweet seedai.
Actually my plan was to post Milagu seedai but unfortunately it popped. I think the home made pepper powder is not so fine and thus this disaster. So found this recipe so easy and attempted it. Check out my full collection of Gokulashtami recipes.

Besan Murukku recipe, Gokulashtami recipes

Besan murukku | Kadalamaavu murukku is a easy an instant murukku recipe made with store bought rice flour and store bought gram flour. I have given this recipe for Aval Kitchen 2 years back, for Diwali recipes. Later i fwill orgot to post the recipe of besan murukku  here. As Gokulashtami 2017 is on Aug 14, i thought i post the recipe of this easy murukku recipe. Check out my full collection of Janmastami recipes. I have posted the recipe of this murukku with a video.

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Scroll down till the end for tips and badam coconut laddu with step wise pictures.

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Alvas Yogurt - A review

Yogurt|Curd|Thayir, we Indians include in our everyday meal, either in the form of curd rice or buttermilk or masala chaas.  I got a mail from Alvas, an Indian Diary Producer in Singapore, to  write a review on their yogurt. I readily accepted it and they sent me their products in 2 days.

Alvas Natural curd comes in 3 different sizes, 200ml, 500ml and 1litre. 

Alvas Natural Yoghurt is available in Sheng Shiong outlets, FairPrice shops and Mustafa Center in Singapore. I felt the availability of the yogurt is quite reachable to all, as we have Sheng Shiong and FairPrice outlets island wide. Apart from these places, it is available in all Indian Mini marts. Coming  to the price, the 200 ml is priced 1.20 SGD , the 500ml is 2.80 SGD and the 1 litre is priced 5.40 SGD. 

This review is based on my personal opinion. I am not paid by the company to write the review. I was given only the yogurt by Alvas Natural. 

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Chakka unniappam with video
Chakka unniyappam or jackfruit neiappam, is generally made using chakka varati.  We make unniappam | nei appam for aavani avittam, Gokulashtami and Karthigai deepam. After making jackfruit modagam, i wanted to try jackfruit poli and ela adai this year. Ela adai , few days back my friend's mom taught me while she was making it. But today due to some urgent work, i didn't have time to make poli or ela adai.  During our India trip in June, we attended a wedding in Kerala and came to know that they make nei appam with jackfruit. So i thought i will give it a try. It tasted so awesome, if you are a jackfruit lover then you will love it for sure. The nei appams were crispy outside and soft inside. Check out my

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