This is my first post in the second year of blogging. On this first anniversary I thank WordPress team for their fantastic support, readers & fellow bloggers for their continuing support and my family, relatives & friends for their kind cooperation, invaluable assistance & honest reviews. I also thank Lord Ganesha by posting the most appropriate recipe for Modhagam that we usually offer to Him on the festival of Ganesh Chathurthi. I have always been delighted to share our heirloom recipes in this space, and now I share a new method that I found very helpful for making soft, smooth dough for modhagam.

Modhagam Recipe:
My childhood friend’s grandmother used to offer delicious modhagam to the pillaiyar on chathurthi thithi of every month, and I still remember her melt-in-mouth modhagam with sweet fillings. So I would prefer to set her soft dumplings as a benchmark for my recipe. Here I have posted modhagam of different shapes with various fillings so that you can try the one you like the most for the upcoming Ganesh Chathurthi. Let’s look into the recipe for modhagam :

Dough making:
It is the trickiest part of this recipe as we all like to relish soft silky modhagam rather than hard or cracked dumpling. So it is required to use hot boiling water to make the perfect dough. But it is quite difficult to handle the heat and knead the dough without any lumps. Hence I use hand mixer with kneading attachment (as shown below) that comes in handy while mixing & kneading the hot dough with no hassle.

Ingredients:
- Rice flour – 1 cup ( I used store-bought flour)
- Water – 1 to 1½ cup
- Salt – ¼ tsp
- Sesame oil – 1 tsp
Cooking Method:
- Heat a pan with water.
- Add salt & oil into the boiled water.
- In a large mixing bowl add rice flour.
- Pour hot water over rice flour and mix them using hand mixer (at medium speed) until smooth.
Tips for making the dough:
- To avoid the dough becoming sticky, we need to pour water gradually and check its consistency while kneading. For 1 cup of rice flour I used 1 to 1½ cup of water, but you may have to adjust this depending on the water-absorbing quality of rice.
- If you do not have hand mixer you can use a wooden spatula for mixing, wrap the dough in a muslin cloth and then knead well so that you don’t have to bear the heat.

Sweet & savory fillings (pooranam):
Traditional Bengal gram fillings
First we need to cook Bengal gram (chickpeas or kadalai paruppu) until soft (not mushy) and grind into a powder before adding into jaggery syrup.

Nutty sesame fillings
We have to powder the sesame seeds (ellu) after washing & dry roasting them and then mix them with powdered jaggery in medium flame.

Healthy green gram fillings
We need to roast, pressure cook and mash the green gram lentils (moong bean/ paasi payaru) before adding jaggery syrup.

How to stuff the pooranam using modhagam mould:

Delicious coconut fillings
We can grind the coconut pieces into coarse powder using mixer grinder rather than using coconut grater or scraper.


Savory black gram fillings
First we have to soak black gram lentils (ulundhu) and then grind into a coarse paste (without adding water) along with green chillies & ginger; you can steam or pressure cook this lentil mixture; cooked lentils can be refrigerated for an hour (as it helps to loosen them up nicely) before adding into the tempering.

Tips for making pooranam:
- Adding grated coconut into any filling whether sweet or savory helps to enhance the flavour.
- We need to grease our hands and moulds while forming the dough into desired shape.
Steaming modhagam:
We can grease the steam plate (or line the steam plate with wet cloth) and steam them for 5 to 7 minutes.
You can also refer to my other recipes for Vinayagar Chathurthi here.
Wish I could have these delicacies
Come over here! 🙂 Thanks Rita.
You are the real kitchen’s angel. Fantastic post.
Thank you so much!
Delicious…..can I reblog this???
Yes, you can. Thanks so much.
Thank you.
This is my first time….. how can I reblog?
I think you may have to open my blog in the Reader, and then go to Modhagam post and click on sharing button to reblog it. Hope this may work for you, lets see.
Ok….thanks…
I did….. But full thing did not come….what do I do???
Yes, this is how reblog works, it will show the first few lines followed by a link to my post.
Ok…..thank you so much for guiding me.
Can you give me your link??? Then I can add it to the post.
Happy blog anniversary! ?? yummy modhagams ?
Thanks a lot !
??
lovely modakams, Meghala. I personally love the coconut jaggery filled one.
Thanks a lot !
This looks delicious! Would love to try it someday!
Thanks, and thanks for stopping by !
Hi,
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Thanks for all your efforts! Will visit your site soon !
I love modagam – miss this. I should try it. But the Sri Lankan version is a bit different. I should post that one day. By the way, it looks to pretty made with that mold
Oh ! Nice ! Looking forward to your recipe for Modhagam as well!
Congratulations! Your blog is awesome and I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Follow this link to learn more: https://hisperfecttiming.blog/2017/09/03/versatile-blogger-award-2nd-award/. Congratulations and God bless you.
Many thanks for your lovely gesture ! Will surely look into your post.
Ooh this looks so tasty! And congratulations on your blog anniversary ?
Thank you so much !
Happy anniversary..modaks are looking delicious…
Thanks Ankita !
🙂
Congratulations!! Modaks are looking delicious…
Thank you !
Nice recipe
Thank you !
Happy Blogging Anniversary. Lot of goodies in a single post. Beautifully explained.
Thanks so much !
Wow. Superb Megala. You must be having lots of patience to try different varieties of Modhagam at one shot. They looks so delicious. Happy Anniversary as well. 🙂 Keep going 🙂
Thank you so much Malini !
Lovely traditional post! Happy Ganesh Chaturthi and a very Happy Blogiversary too! 🙂
Thank you so much Mallika!
Happy Blogiversady Megala.To many more…
Thank you so much !
Congratulation$$$$ Megala , gr8 anniversary post ?
Thanks a lot, Vidhya !
I’ve been searching for authentic modak recipe, thanks for sharing. Lovely post indeed!
Thank you for stopping by !
Congratulations on your blogiversary!
Thank you !
Happy Anniversary! So many filling recipes… thanks!
Thanks a lot !
Hi Megala, congrats on your first anniversary! Nice modhagams and you have cute-looking molds.
Many thanks !
Congrats on a year of blogging Megala!
Thank you so much !
Happy cooking..i got many useful tips from Ur blogs… chears and keep rocking..
Thanks Paru !
Happy Blogiversary!
Thank you very much !
You’re welcome!
I think I would like a sweet filling for this type of dish. I liked learning about it!
Thanks, and thank you for dropping by !
Congrats!
Thank you so much !
I just came across your site, and I must say it’s amazing. Here I am sitting well past midnight, going through your posts and drooling over the images. I’m hungry now 😉
🙂 Thank you and thanks for dropping by !
many congratulations and nice way to start
Thank you !
I am definitely going to try one of these!!! Thanks for sharing!!
So nice to hear that ! Thanks !!
Congrats Megs – your cooking is a work of art, treat for the eyes and a torture for my tummy 😉 😛 Look forward to more such delightful tortures 😀
Hahaha ! Many thanks for your constant support through this year !
Such fabulous molds you have. And congrats for your first year… Just like me!
Thank you ! Best wishes for your blog as well !!
Thank you. Keep in touch.
Congratulations Megala on your first year! The Modhagam remind me of the pierogies I make only we do the half circle shape. I love the molds you have! I have never seen them before.
Thank you so much ! Btw I would love to see those pierogies !!
You will!
Happy anniversary dear. Keep up your good work.
Thanks a lot !
Happy anniversary and thank you for all your lovely recipes!
Thanks a lot !
Very good and timely posting.
Thanks and thanks for stopping by !
Happy blog anniversary, dear Meg ???
Thanks for sharing the recipe, I am planning to make them for chaturthi this time ?
Thanks so much !
Many congratulations Megala on your milestone and first anniversary of blogging ! here’s to many more, keep rocking!! Love modagams they are my all time favorite !
Thanks so much Nisha !
Congratulations for your first blogging anniversary! Here you have given so many varieties of Modaks, the ones with sesame, green gram and black gram fillings are new to me. Thank you for sharing these recipes 🙂
Thanks a lot ! Happy that it is useful to you !!
Happy blogiversary ? And the dish looks delicious as always ?
Thanks a lot !
Congratulations Megala!!. Very nicely described recipe from scratch.
Thank you Reena!
Happy anniversary! I’ve never tried indian cousine? What do you suggest I try first? Would you mind check out my page? Maybe we can follow each other 😀
Love, Mimi
blushydarling.com
Thank you, and thanks for dropping by !
Glad to hear that ! I think you can try this, https://megalaskitchen.com/2016/11/21/rava-upma-with-fresh-peas/, it is simple yet delicious, if you can not source rava or broken wheat, you may try with roasted oat flakes or quinoa. Hope you would like it !
Can’t wait to try it
Congratulations for your blog anniversary, and my wishes to have a happy long blogging journey. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe at right time.
Many thanks for your kind words !
They look so beautiful. And congratulations on your first year of blogging.
Thanks a lot !
Wow! Many Shapes.Thats amazing preparation. Looks delicious. ?
Thank you !
Welcome #Megala ??
Happy blogging anniversary Megala. The modaks look so delicious. I didn’t know that we get a mould to shape the modaks. Will have to look out for them! Thanks for sharing this recipe in time for the festival:)
Thanks a lot Radhika! Glad to know that this post is of beneficial to you !
Happy anniversary Megala!
This looks very yummy!
Thanks a lot !
Congrats on your first year! And your treats look delicious!
Thank you so much !
Happy Anniversary and congratulations.
And we are the beneficiaries
Thank you very much ! Pleasure is mine !!
?
Congrats!! Love all the different fillings!
Thanks a lot !
Awesome.
Thank you !
Happy Anniversary Megala. Lovely recipe.
Thank you !
Happy anniversary Megala. I’m celebrating my two years anniversary tomorrow as well. More grease to our elbow. Love always.?
Thanks a ton ! Happy anniversary for your blog too !!
Thanks dear.?
Impressive and well detailed.?
Thanks for stopping by !!
Happy blogniversary!
The sweets look so very delicious. Great photos too! 🙂
Thank you for your kind appreciation !
Happy Blog anniversary Megala. Wish you all the very best. Perfect post. Modaks are looking scrumptious and very tempting.Will definitely try one of these.
Thanks a ton for your continuous support !
Pleasure is all mine…I love all your post..and a sincere follower of yours. 🙂
This looks delicious! I love all the photos that you have used.
Thank you !