I have always wanted to start writing about food
and share my love for cooking. I have spend endless hours sitting in front of
my laptop going through numerous blogs and recepies . To be honest I do not
know much about the various methods of cooking, and am always at awe about the
so many ways. But what I know for sure is that I love to cook and feed my
people. I have culminated my love for cooking seeing my Amma (my paternal grandmother) cook and tasting her food. Plus I have my two amazing Pishis and Kammi (aunties) who are I believe the best cooks in the world. I cook to experiment with new recepies whenever I have the time, & at times it is not edible (ask my sister). They cook everyday and every time it turns out to be mouth-watering and delicious.
So even with all the inspiration and ideas every
time I sit to write something constructive nothing comes out. Finally I decided
that I have to start from somewhere and what better way to start than giving
you all a sneak peak at the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at our home and all
the yumm food cooked.
We Bengalis love to eat and for us festivals are
another reason to eat tasty food and be happy. At our house we all love
our food and this is what we cooked on day1 for Bappa. We made steam modaks (recepie
below) , Luchi (small fluffy fried breads or puries made with all purpose
flour) , pointed gourd (potol or parwal in hindi) potato
and pumpkin curry , ladoo and milk. In the evening my sister R made banana
fritters (recepie below) for the phashad .
 |
| GANESH CHATURTHI AT OUR HOUSE IN MUMBAI |
 |
| The first batch of Modaks |
 |
| Banana Fritters made by my sister R |
MODAK RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1 cup rice flour
1 cup water
2 tablespoon ghee
150 grm grated coconut
A pinch of cardamom powder
50 grm jaggery
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon khuskhus
METHOD
Take water in a vessel and add 1 tablespoon ghee
and the salt and bring to a boil.
Add the rice flour and stir for 30 sec and remove from heat.
Mix nicely with a thick spatula making sure that no lumps are left.
Knead the dough and keep aside.
For the Filling
In a frying pan add the rest of the ghee and add khuskhus and sauté for
30 seconds.
Add the jaggery and let it melt
Add the grated coconut and mix for 2-4 min.
Ensure that you don't overcook or the jaggery will harden and become
stiff. This is what happened on my first attempt.
Add the cardamom powder and mix well.
Remove from heat and keep aside.
Now assembling the Modak
Apply water over your palm. Make small balls from
the rice flour. Flatten the balls with your palms gently giving round shape.
Ensure that the discs are neither too thick nor thin.
Put the coconut mixture in the middle and form pleats toward the edges or just get the edges together and close towards the top.
The Modak should look conical from the top.
THE EASY WAY OUT :: You can buy the modak moulds that you
get in markets for 10/- for the small ones and shape your modaks. They look
pretty and taste the same. It just saves a lot of time.
I have myself used the moulds for a non messy and faster way to make
these tasty bites.
To steam the modaks , take a steamer and if you don't
have one like me , then simply take a big vessel and add water and
bring to a boil. Place a slotted dish over the vessel. Arrange your modaks and
steam them for 10-15 min depending on the size.
Serve them as offering to Lord Ganesh and then eat them because they
taste best when warm and freshly made.
Banana fritters RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
3 bananas
3 tablespoon sugar
3tablespoon grated coconut
Rice flour to bind it all in a mixture
Oil for frying
METHOD
In a bowl smash the bananas. Add sugar, grated
coconut and rice flour and make a mixture.
Heat oil in a pan.
Now take small portions of the banana mixture and
fry them till crisp from outside and well cooked inside.
This will take around 5 min on medium heat.
This will take around 5 min on medium heat.
If you want to take an extra step, you can also dip
these fried delights in sugar syrup like my sister R did. In that case don’t
add sugar to the banana mixture.
