The festive season has officially begun with Ganesh Chaturthi. The sound of drums, flowers gazing all over, and your house smelling like rich and delicious dishes immediately puts you in a festive mood. This auspicious occasion brings a lot of joy, happiness and positivity around the world. The presence of Lord Ganesha brings your family and friends together and when you have your loved ones around, there’s of course food! Be it any occasion, having a spread of amazing delicacies is the ultimate happiness. Lord Ganpati has various favourite foods, so why not host and welcome this lovely occasion with some amazing Ganesh Chaturthi recipes.
Read on below to prepare these authentic dishes for Lord Ganesha’s arrival.
- Steaming Hot Modaks
Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1.5 cups water
- ¼ teaspoon ghee or oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh grated coconut
- 1 cup powdered or grated jaggery
- 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon poppy seeds
- ½ teaspoon Ghee
- 1 tablespoon rice flour
Ingredients:
- Heat ghee in a pan. Keep flame to a low. Add poppy seeds. Fry for some seconds till the poppy seeds start crackling.
- Then add grated fresh coconut, jaggery, cardamom powder and grated nutmeg. Mix well and cook this coconut-jaggery mixture on a low flame. The jaggery will melt first.
- Stirring often cook this mixture for 7 to 9 minutes till the moisture from the jaggery begins to dry. Switch off the flame. Don’t overcook as the jaggery then hardens. Keep this coconut-jaggery filling aside. On cooling, the mixture will thicken more.
- You can also add a bit of rice flour to this mixture. This is an optional step. The rice flour helps to absorb moisture if any from the filling. Keep the filling aside to cool.
- Take a ball and flatten it with your fingers to a round disc or a shallow bowl shape. You can apply ghee or oil to your palms while flattening. Place the sweet filling in the centre.
- Fold and press the edges. Bring together all the edges and join them. Remove the extra portion of the dough from the top, if any. Shape and taper the top of the modak with your fingers.
- Grease a steamer pan lightly with oil or ghee. Place the shaped modak in the greased pan with some space between them. Cover with a kitchen napkin.
- Take 2 to 2.5 cups water in a pot, pressure cooker or an Instant Pot steel insert. Place a trivet or a rack. Heat the water on a high flame until begins to boil. For instant pot, use the sauté option and let the water begin to boil.
- The water should be hot or boiling when you place the modak in the large pan. Cover the pan and steam modak for 10 to 15 minutes on a medium-low flame. On the Instant Pot, use the steam function on high for steaming and keep the steam vent in a venting position so that the steam releases while steaming. Use a stopwatch to set the time to 10 or 12 minutes.
- Pro tip: Drizzle 2 tsp of fresh ghee on the steamed modaks to amp up the flavour. Pro tip: Drizzle 2 tsp of fresh ghee on the steamed modaks to amp up the flavour.
2. Besan Barfi
Ingredients:
- 1 cup ghee
- 3 cups of besan
- 1.5 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 2 cups of granulated white sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- Chopped pistachios for garnishing
Instructions:
- Line a 9 x 9-inch pan with parchment paper and set it aside. You can even use a bigger pan (like 10 x 13 inches) to make thinner barfis
- Melt ghee in a pan on medium heat. Add the sifted besan into the pan and stir. Lower the heat to low
- Start stirring, the besan will clump up at first. Don’t worry and keep stirring
- After around 15 minutes, the besan will start to loosen up
- After stirring for around 20 minutes, it will become smooth
- Around 25 minutes, it will become like a smooth paste. Add cardamom powder at this point and cook for 5 more minutes
- Now, cook the besan for a total of 30 minutes on low heat. Remove pan from heat and set aside
- Let it cool down while you make the sugar syrup. Besan should cool down to room temperature or be lukewarm before sugar syrup is added to it
- To a pan, add sugar and water on medium heat
- Let the sugar dissolve, which will take around 4 to 5 minutes
- Then lower the heat and let the syrup simmer for 5 to 6 minutes until it reaches one string consistency
- It takes 6 minutes always after the sugar dissolves to reach the 1 string consistency on low heat
- Put a drop of sugar syrup between your thumb and index finger and pull them apart, you should see a single thread formation. This is the right consistency
- Turn off the heat as soon as the syrup reaches that stage. Do not overcook the sugar syrup
- Now add the sugar syrup to the cooked besan and turn heat to medium
- Stir until all the sugar syrup is well combined with the besan. Cook for not more than 2 minutes, the mixture just needs to become thick and leave sides
- Transfer the mixture to a 9 x 9-inch pan lined with parchment paper
- Tap the pan to get rid of excess air. Sprinkle pistachios on top
- Let the burfi set for 2-3 hours and then cut into pieces.
If you are looking for more such recipes, you can check out decadent modak recipes to prepare this Ganesh Chaturthi at home.
