Air fried modak

Ganesh chaturthi festival is round the corner. So are the modaks, karanji and laddus. Ganesh chaturthi celebrations are a 10 day long festival especially in Maharashtra. Hence, many different dishes are served. This 10 day long festival is celebrated across India. People love visiting pandals across the city and wait for hours in queues to see their favourite Bappa. Air fried modaks is our take on fried modaks or talniche modak, the favorite sweet of lord Ganesha.

Traditionally, this Maharashtrian dessert resembles a fried sweet dumpling. It is made with whole wheat flour or atta. It has the same filling as ukadiche modak consisting of jaggery coconut and spices. Ukadiche modak is made with rice flour and is gluten free. Unlike fried wheat modaks, it is steamed. Apart from that you can also make mawa modaks in various fruit flavors like strawberry and chocolate or peanut butter for a vegan version.

Some of the other snack recipes that can be prepared in the airfryer include air fryer cutlet , air fryer khari biscuits , air fryer kothimbir vadi,air fryer pakoras, roasted mung beans,air fryer pani puri,air fryer pecans,air fryer pizza toastie, air fryer sev - Air fryer namkeen & ragi biscuits recipe.

How to make your own eco friendly Ganapati idol?

Over the years, we have tried to make our on idol in an eco friendly manner. We tried to make  Ganpati idol, using raw vegetables, chocolate, using playdough (cream of tartar/vinegar). Here are our small experiments to help you make your own idol.

• Ganesh idol using cream of tartar
• Ganapati idol using vinegar/ raw vegetables
• Chocolate Ganpati

Click here to make homemade eco friendly colours for decoration and Rangoli.

What are modak recipes?

• Ukadiche modak
• Chocolate modak / Mawa modak 
• Fried modak
• Vegan peanut butter modak
• Strawberry modak

Equipment

• Air fryer
• Frying pan

Ingredients

Modak filling (refer to recipe card below for quantity)

• jaggery/ palm sugar /gur
• Fresh coconut , shredded
• poppy seeds/khuskhus /khuskhus
• nutmeg powder /jaiphal optional
• cardamom powder /elaichi optional
• oil/ghee if vegetarian

Air fried Modak covering/pastry (refer to recipe card below for quantity)

• plain flour / all purpose flour /maida
• whole wheat flour /atta
• semolina /shoji
• oil
• water
• pinch of salt

How to make fried modak?

For the filling

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil and add jaggery to it, in a pan until it starts to melt.

2. Add elaichi powder, jaiphal powder and khuskhus. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.

3. Add shredded coconut and mix well.

4. Keep it aside.

 

For covering/pastry

1. In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients for the pastry along with oil.

2. Slowly add water to knead a medium stiff dough. When you press between fingers, it should bind together.

3. Cover it and keep it aside for 30 minutes.

4. Divide it into small balls and roll them into small circles of equal size using a rolling pin. Use a cookie cutter for best results. Add 1tablespoon filling to each of these dough circles.

5. Hold each in your palm and try to fold the pleats together. (Optionally, you can make it as a ball and serve as kudumu or make a potli out of it.)

6. Fold the edges of each modak, slowly between fingers and close their loop, by slowly rotating it( like you would do for any dumpling).

7. Repeat this for all of the dough.

8. Air fry the modaks for 10 min at 190 deg C and for 10-12 mins at 170 deg C. Spray oil every 5 mins.

9. Initially, you may feel the texture is bit uneven or rough.Don't worry about it. However, as it cooks, the pastry will expand smoothen and taste extremely crispy.

Store in an air tight jar.

Variations

You can also make the above recipe until step 7. Later deep fry modaks in a kadai as in the traditional method to make crispy modak. South India also makes modakam in round shapes.Also known as kozhukattai or kozhukatta. So don't worry about the shape. Perfect modaks can be round too 🙂

Storage

Store them in an air tight container once it cools down. It tastes crispy.

Click here to see YouTube tutorial to make Ganpati idol.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Air fried Modak recipe

Air fried modak is the low oil version of traditional fried modak recipe. Making it in air fryer makes it low oil and yet retains the taste.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Resting time30 minutes mins

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: air fried modak, fried modak, how to make modak, modak fried or air fried, traditional marathi modak

Servings: 14

Author: bhavana bhatia

Equipment

• Air fryer
• frying pan

Ingredients

Modak filling

• ¼ cup jaggery/ palm sugar /gur
• 1 cup fresh shredded coconut
• 1 tbsp. poppy seeds/khuskhus /khuskhus
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder /jaiphal optional
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder /elaichi optional
• 1 teaspoon oil /ghee if vegetarian

Air fried Modak covering/pastry

• ¾ cup plain flour /maida
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour /atta
• 1.5 tbsp. semolina /sooji
• 3 tbsp. oil
• ½ cup water (little more than)
• pinch of salt

Instructions

For the filling

• Heat 1 teaspoon oil and add jaggery to it , in a frying pan till it starts to melt.
• Add the poppy seeds, nutmeg powder, cardamom powder and cook for few minutes.
• Add shredded coconut to jaggery and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes. Keep it aside to cool.

For covering/pastry

• In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients for the pastry along with oil.
• Slowly add water to knead a medium stiff modak dough.
• Cover it and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
• Divide it into small balls and roll them into small circles of equal size using a rolling pin.
• Add 1 tbsp. filling to each of these dough circles and hold it in your palm.
• Fold the edges of each modak, slowly between fingers and close their loop, by slowly rotating it( like you would do for any dumpling).
• Air fry the modaks for 10 min at 190 deg C and 10-12 mins at 170 C | 340 F. Spray oil every 5 mins.
• Store them in an airtight container once they are at room temperature.

FAQ

Conclusion: You will love this variation of the much popular steamed modak. It has the same chewy coconut filling with a golden brown outer covering. It has a nice crunch even without deep frying. Plus no extra calories! This Ganesh chaturthi special will be something you will cherish all year!

Happy vinayaka chaturthi!