Uppu kozhakattai / Salt modak

For Ganesh Chaturti this modak is always prepared. My personal favourite. I like it more than the sweet modak. Lord Ganesh's favourite modak is easy to make. There are other varieties like sesame seed modak, paal kozhakattai, ammini kozhakattai differing in the mode of preparation.

Preparation Time : 1 hour 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 50 minutes

Servings : Makes 12 - 15 modaks

Ingredients

For the cover

Idiyappam flour – 1 cup

Water –

Til Oil – 2-3 tsp

Salt – ½ tsp

For the Filling

Soaked half urad dhal(Soak for 1 hour max) – 1 cup

Dry Red chillies – 2

Green chillies – 2

Salt – to taste

Asafoetida- 1/2 tsp

Seasoning – Oil, turmeric powder, mustard, curry leaves

Procedure 

1. Boil the water with salt and oil.

2. When it is boiling add the flour little by little and mix continously so that no lumps are formed.

3. When it becomes thick and comes together as a ball, switch off flame and let it rest for a while.

4. While it is still a little hot, make it into a soft dough and make small lemon size balls of the dough and set aside. Keep covered.

5. For the filling, grind together soaked urad dhal, red chilli, green chilli, salt and asafoetida(hing) without adding much water.

6. Heat oil in a kadai, when it is hot add mustard, curry leaves, turmeric powder. Add the ground paste to this and mix thoroughly. Let it cool. Prepare small oblong shape balls of this mix and set aside.

7. Grease your hands with oil and a little water.

8. Shape the dough into small cups by pressing the center of the ball and expanding it in size. Make sure the cover is not too thick to get the real flavour of the filling inside.

9. Keep the stuffing inside and close the modak. If the dough or filling remains don’t worry, I have separate recipes for that.

10. Repeat this for all the modaks.

11. Grease a vessel and place the modaks in it making sure they do not touch each other. This is to avoid them from breaking when you take them out after steaming.

12.  Place the vessel in the cooker and steam it for 8 -10 minutes. Delicious modaks are ready for pooja neivedyam.