Rice Modak (Coconut Pastries)
Rice flour modak are steamed coconut and jaggery dumplings with a soft, smooth shell instead of a fried one. The dough is cooked in salted, buttered water, then left to finish in its own steam, which keeps it pliable enough to shape while warm. Each one is pinched closed into the form of a fresh fig around a sweet filling of coconut, raisins, cashews and cardamom, then finished with melted ghee.
Instructions
Prepare the filling first, using the coconut, jaggery, raisins, chopped cashews and cardamom, following the method for the wheat flour modak. Set it aside while you make the dough.
Heat 2 cups of the water in a large pot and add the salt and butter. When the water starts to boil, tip in the rice flour, lower the heat and stir until the mixture is a smooth paste with no lumps.
If the paste looks too dry, stir in some or all of the remaining ½ cup water. Keep cooking on low heat until the rice flour is cooked through.
Cover the pot and take it off the heat, so the dough finishes cooking in its own steam.
While the dough is still warm, rub a little ghee on your palms and pinch off a small portion. Roll it into a ball, then press your thumb into it to shape a cup.
Put 2 teaspoons of filling into the cup and close the edges so the modak takes the shape of a fresh fig. Make 10 modaks in all.
Place them in a colander or steamer basket greased with ghee, leaving space so none of them touch each other.
Set the colander in a steamer and steam the modaks for 10 minutes. Drizzle each with a teaspoon of ghee and serve hot.
Make it personal.
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