Shital's-Kitchen: Churma Modak

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Churma Modak

Ganesh Festival is here again. This 10 day festival of worshiping Lord Ganesh is one of the important festivals celebrated by many Indians. Churma, a sweet made of whole wheat flour and jagerry is considered Lord Ganesha's favorite sweet, and so is favorite of other devotees too. It is our traditional family sweet specially prepared on the day of Ganesh Chathruthi. Modak is a water drop shaped sweet made mostly by Maharashtrians. Modak is also considered Ganesha's favorite sweet. Although modaks are generally made of rice flour with coconut filling, making different Modaks is fun and delicious way of treating this God!

To impress Lord Ganesha, my theme this year is Modak. I will be preparing various Modaks with new, fun, and flavorful stuffing.

Click here for my recipe to make Churma Ladoo

Ingredients

2 cups wheat flour

1/2cup+3 tbsp. milk

Ghee for deep frying

1 cup jaggery

6 tbsp. fresh ghee

1/4 cup khuskhus/ poppy seeds.

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Mix 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp. milk to form a stiff dough. (this will be stiffer than puri dough). Take small portions and press hard to form a oval shapes. These are called 'Muthiyas' made by forming a tight fist. Deep fry in ghee over low heat till is turns brown. This needs to be well fried deep inside so do not get restless.
When cooled, break into pieces and grind into powder in a food processor. this will take quite some time. You could do it in batches. Sieve out larger pieces to regrind them.
Gently roast the wheat powder or churma in a hot pan till it gets slightly warm.
Add around 1/2 tsp of nutmeg powder to the churma.
For every 1 1/2 cup churma: heat 6 tbsp ghee and 1 cup chopped jaggery. I like to do it in 2 batches. (7-8 laddoos)
When jaggery completely melts, turn off the heat and add 1 1/2 cup churma powder. Mix well immediately.
Add 2 tbsp of poppy seeds, khuskhus.
This mixture is super hot, but if not pressed into ladoos at this stage, you will not be able to do it later.
However, mix for a minute or two for the ghee in the mixture to slightly cool.
Use a modak mould to stuff ladoo mixture and make sweet churma modaks. Roll it in khuskhus/poppy seeds.
Gently lay them in a plate, and let them cool,

Use a modak mould to stuff ladoo mixture and make sweet churma modaks. This mould is really easy to use and is available in different sizes. I ordered mine from Amazon.com.
Add this to your shopping list during your next India trip.