1 fresh coconut, grated
1/2 cup grated Jaggery
9-20 cashews, broken in small pieces
1 tsp. Cardamom Powder
2 cups Rice Flour
2 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1tsp ghee/butter
1. To make filling, scrape coconut. Take 1 cup grated coconut with 1/2 cup grated Jaggery along with cashews. Cook on slow flame together in pan. Once Jaggery starts melting, mix it thoroughly. Keep stirring till it becomes thick and add cardamom powder. Turn off the flame and cool the mixture.
2.Take a pan and boil 2 cups of water. Add salt and once the water reach to boiling point, turn off the heat. Add rice flour slowly, keep mixing with water. Cover with the lid for 5 minutes so that mixture will be cooked in trapped steam.
3.Then take the mixture in plate and knead the mixture to make a soft dough. If needed, put oil on your palms and use some drops of warm water to knead the dough.
4.Make 2 inch of balls of dough so all modak will be of same size. Apply ghee or oil on thumb and using your thumb, press in center of ball to make a circular dish.(It is like we have to roll Puri, but here we are making Puri with thumb).Hold that circular Puri in left hand and put 1 tbsp coconut mixture in the middle of Puri. Now, press the edges of Puri together and make a shape like shown in picture. Make all modak like this.
5.I have used modak mould to get similar shape of all modak. For this, we have to put ball inside the mould and press the ball on side of moulds and remove extra dough from mould. Put 1 tbsp coconut mixture inside the mould and close the bottom of the mould with dough as shown in picture.
6.Put water inside steamer and grease the plate with ghee. Dip each modak bottom in water and put on the greased plate. Cover with the lid and steam cook all modak for 10-15 minutes. Check with toothpick by inserting into modak, if the dough is not sticking to stick, it means modak are cooked.