Modhagam - மோதகம் - Moong dal stuffed rice dumplings - Vinayagar Chathurthi special

      Wishing my viewers, friends a very happy "Vinayagar Chathurthi". I was offline for almost 2 months. Was in a hibernation or a blog break. Thanks to everyone, who was keep on asking about my blog break. This motivated me to blog again. This vinayagar statue was gifted by my friend P.So happy to use it in my post.

       When I was in India vacation ,bought this cute little mould for makign modhagam. Was happy to use it today. It made the job easier and perfect. The filling has moong dhal, which is good for kids too. If you don't have a mould, you can also make it using free hand technique. Don't overcook the modhagam, if not it may turn hard.

Check my other kozhukattai recipes here.

* Paal Kozhukattai

* Coconut stuffed Kozhukattai

* Pidi Kozhukattai

Ingredients:

1.Rice - 1 cup

2.Grated Jaggery - 3/4 cup

3.Cardamom pwr - a pinch

4.Moong dhal - 1/2 cup

5.Boiling water - as needed

6.Oil - for greasing

7.Turmeric powder - a pinch

8.Salt - a pinch

Method:

* Let us prepare the rice flour as in my tutorial . I prefer to use home made rice flour compared  to the store bought ones. But you can also use store bought rice flour. While my rice was soaking, I prepared the filling.Cook the moong dhal ,with turmeric powder. When the pressure is released, mash it well.Take grated  jaggery in a pan and melt.   * When  jaggery is melted, add the cooked dhal and mix. Before adding  dhal, we can also sieve  jaggery to remove the impurities.  * Mix the dhal with jaggery . Instead of moong dhal, we can use chana dhal.  * At last add salt and cardamom powder to the mixture. Let the mixture cook, till it looses its moisture and forms as a mass. Let the filling get cooled well. Divide the mixture into equal sized balls. Cover and keep it ready. * Roast the rice flour in a pan, till it gives out nice aroma. Make sure the flour doesn't burn. This will remove the excess moisture from the flour.  * Take water in a bowl and bring it to rolling boil. Pour it little by little to the roasted rice flour. Mix with a spoon or wooden spatula to make it a soft and pilable dough . Cover it with a wet cloth.  * Divide the rice dough equally . Now grease the mould with oil . Take a rice dough and press it on the mould evenly without any crack. Also prepare a disc of rice dough amd keep it ready. We are going to seal the modhagam at the bottom using this disc.  * You can see how the dough is pressed on the mould. Remove excess and close the mould . You can see prepared modhagam seen along with the disc, which is going to seal the modhagam. * Now take the filling and stuff it inside the modhagam. The filling should be more ,for a tasty modhagam. Now take the disc and seal it to the bottom of the modhagam. Slowl, open the mould and release the modhagam from the mould. * Prepare the remaining modhagams similarly . Steam them in a idli pan for 10 minutes. Serve hot .                                                           Modhagam is ready to serve.

Notes:

* Preparing the rice flour at home makes the modhagam softer.

* We can also use chana dhal instead of moong dhal.

* Increase or decrease the amount of jaggery ,according to your taste.

* We can prepare modhaagam without the mould too.

* Adding little salt to the filling, makes it tastier.

* The outer covering should be bit thin, for the modhagam to be tastier.