Mothagam/ Modak recipe is a must to do for Ganesh Chaturthi.It can be prepared with chana dal pooranam or coconut pooranam. My mom makes Thengai poorana kozhukattai (coconut poornam kozhukattai) whereas my MIL makes chana dal pooranam. Last year during Ganesh Chaturthi, I shared an easy, coconut pooran recipe(Thengai poornam). But I love this authentic version more than the instant ones. I make coconut pooran mostly for Kerala ila ada or puran poli. This year I wanted to make this mothagam post using thengai pooranam.Coincidentally, when I was browsing to find out the North Indian style Modak recipe also known as ukadiche modak, I found its ingredients and method of preparation are very similar to our South Indian Thengai pooranam kozhukattai. So I tried this modak recipe yesterday to share it here. It came out very well. Please click on this video link and this video link to check the dough making and for shaping the modak. Do try this easy, flavorful Mothagam recipe with coconut pooran if you are looking for a quick stuffing option.You will love it.I will try to share fried modak recipe in this week before Vinayagar Chaturthi. Lets see how to make modak with step by step picture and a video.
Please click THIS LINK for full Ganesh chaturthi recipes collection.
Mothagam/Modak recipe
How to make mothagam/Modak recipe with coconut pooran.
Cuisine:Indian
Category:Sweet
Serves:12-14 nos
Prep time:10 Minutes
Cook time:20 Minutes
Total time:30 Minutes
INGREDIENTS 1 cup - 250ml
For stuffing
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Grated jaggery - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
Cardamom - 2 nos ( crushed)
Water – little to cover jaggery
For modak dough
Rice flour – 1 cup ( I used store bought idiyappam flour or kozhukattai flour)
Water – 1.75-2 cups ( as needed)
Salt – a big pinch
Ghee – 1 tbsp
HOW TO MAKE THENGA POORANA KOZHUKATTAI - METHOD
Grate coconut and jaggery. Heat a kadai and put the coconut & jaggery together. Add 1 tbsp of water if needed. Mix it well. Jaggery gets melted ( If you feel jaggery has mud, then you must melt jaggery adding little water. Make a syrup & strain it using metal filter. Then you can mix grated coconut and proceed). Mixture will become watery and if you keep stirring in medium flame, the mixture will become thick and start to leaves the sides of kadai.
(Note: The quantity of coconut should be more than jaggery. So start with 1/2 cup of jaggery for one cup of coconut for mild sweetness)
Switch off the flame as soon as the mixture starts to leave the sides. If you stir more, pooranam will become hard and chewy. So switch off the flame at the right time. Initially pooran will look wet. But when it cools down, it will thicken and becomes non-sticky. Transfer the pooran to another plate to avoid heating up more.
To make the kozhukattai dough, heat water adding ghee & a pinch of salt in a pan. Here I used 1.75 cups of water for store bought rice flour. But this quantity may vary.so keep some hot water ready in hand so that you can add it while making dough.
When the water starts to roll boil, simmer the flame completely and add the rice flour. Mix well without lumps. Do it quickly. Rice flours absorbs all the water and becomes a thick mass. Switch off the flame.
When the dough becomes warm, grease your hands with oil and knead the dough. Make it smooth without cracks and cover the dough with a wet cloth till use.
Take a big gooseberry sized ball from the dough and make a cup by pressing the sides. Stuff 2 tsp of pooran inside the cup and close to make a coconut shape. Grease the idli pot and arrange the modak. You can also use a mold to make modak.
Heat water in an idli pot and when the water starts to boil vigorously, keep the idli plate and cook the modak for 7-8 minutes. Switch off the flame and let it be in the idli plate for 10 minutes before you remove the modak. When the modak turns warm, carefully remove them into a plate. Offer to God !
TIPS FOR SOFT AND CRACK FREE KOZHUKATTAI
Use good quality rice flour. If you are planning to make by grinding rice, buy raw rice ( in Tamil nadu we call as “maavu arisi) ie. the rice used for making rice flour. Its a different quality, not the one we use for pongal.It is cheaper in cost too.
Always add the required water while making the dough. If the dough becomes sticky or dry, you’ll get cracks. Keep the unused dough covered with a wet cloth & then with a lid while you make mothagam.
Its always better to prepare the outer covering after making pooranam/ stuffing to prevent the dough sitting for long time.
U can refrigerate the unused dough by keeping in an air tight box & use the next day or the same evening.
Pooranam can be prepared the previous day and refrigerated.
Apply sesame/gingely oil in your hands every time when you make the shape.
Last but not the least, do not cook the kozhukattai in idli pot for long time which may lead to cracks.( maximum of 8-10 mins is enough)
Always place the idli plate arranged with kozhukattai after the water in the idli pot starts roll boiling. This helps for quick cooking & also the kozhukattai remains white in color and crack free..
U can identify the cooked kozhukattai by its shining look. Always remove the kozhukattai after it becomes warm. Do not remove when it is hot. Kozhukattai may break.
Try this easy, flavorful coconut pooran modak for this festival and enjoy !
I wanted to make a post on How to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi at home during last year itself. So I had clicked pictures of our Ganesh chaturthi pooja procedure / Puja Vidhanam and kept in draft. In this post, I have shared how to perform a simple Ganesh chaturthi pooja at home, festival date, things required for pooja and Vinayagar/Ganesha abishekam items list and its benefits, pooja procedure, Ganesh chaturthi neivedyam/prasadam recipes like Kozhukattai varieties and appam recipes with links.
Please check THIS POST for complete Ganesh chaturthi Pooja vidhanam/Puja vidhi with sloka and mantras in PDF format. I have also shared a short video on how to make an eco friendly Ganesha idol using kozhukattai maavu/Kozhukatte dough. Hope you find these ideas useful :)
This year 2023, Vinayagar Chaturthi festival falls on September 18th, Monday as per Vaakiya panchangam. Time to perform pooja - Auspicious time of the day as per the calender ( Nalla neram). Avoid Rahu Kalam and Yama Kandam. Usually we do the pooja in the afternoon. i.e after 12 noon based on the day.
Ganesha is the Lord who is first worshipped before any holy occasion or puja. Ganesh Chaturthi also known as 'Vinayak Chaturthi' or 'Vinayaka Chavithi' is celebrated by Hindus all around the world as the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is observed during the Hindu month of Bhadra in Hindi /Avani in Tamil (mid-August to mid-September). He is revered as the preserver of all good things and prevents Vigna (meaning obstruction/bad omen). His motto is Shubh-Laabh (good prospect and good prosperity).
Generally Ganesh Chaturthi preparations commence from almost a month before the festival. The celebrations last for around ten days (from Bhadrapad Shudh Chaturthi to Ananta Chaturdashi). On the 11th day, the idol is taken through the streets in a procession and immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of all the people.
At home, Ganesha pooja starts from bringing or making a clay idol of Lord Ganesha. Various special food items are cooked for offering/Neivedyam (bhog). Although there are a large number of sweets offered to Lord Ganesha during the pooja, Modak is known to be the lord`s favorite sweet and is therefore one of the main dishes made on this day. Other dishes include Karanji, laddu, barfi, peda, vada, sundal and appam.
The idol is given a bath(Abishek) with scented water and then decorated with flowers. Jyoti is lit and then the aarti begins. People read Ganesh Chaturthi story after pooja. Various bhajans and mantras are chanted at this time. It is believed that chanting the mantras with complete devotion brings life to the idol. It is also believed that during this period, Ganesha visits the home of his devotees and bring prosperity and good fortune with him. He removes all the obstacles that you experience on the spiritual path. Along with Ganesha, Gouri idol is also placed in South Indian families and worshipped. Gouri Vrata is performed as “Mangala Gauri” by women for good life and prosperity.
Let me share our celebration procedures with list of items for abishekam, Pooja and neivedyam. Hope you all find it useful. Please consult with your mom or mil and do the pooja accordingly.
I have also shared the audio links in Tamil, Telugu for Ganesh chaturthi Pooja Vidhanam. I have also shared a youtube video link for Ganesh chaturthi Pooja vidhi in Hindi. Please refer the end of "How to do Pooja" section for the links.
Click this Video on how to make Homemade Ganesh using Kozhukattai dough.
Tulsi can be used for decoration but its allowed only on this festival day.
Flowers
Kumkum and Sandal powder
Incense stick
Camphor
Sesame oil and ghee for lamp
All Fruits, coconut, betel leaves & betel nut for offering
Banana leaf
Turmeric powder for manjal pillayar
For Neivedyam recipes
Coconut
Jaggery
Chana dal/Moong dal
Sugar
Besan
Urad dal
Green chillies, ginger, salt ( for pooran)
Raw rice for payasam
Urad dal for vada
Wheat flour,banana & jaggery for appam
Sesame seeds for ellu urundai
Click HERE to see the no onion no garlic lunch menu cooking with ingredients
On the previous day morning, make pooran and laddu( if making). Store in a box. On the same day night, wash all the lamps, put the thread, oil & keep it ready for pooja. Soak chana for sundal & urad dal for vada.
Generally we do the neivedyam in the noon or during the auspicious time of chaturthi day. Usually it happens in the afternoon. We also make full meals like rice, sambar, poriyal, thayir pachadi on that day. So we prepare the lunch recipes, vada, kozhukattai recipes and sundal on chaturthi morning. Start cooking around 8 am in the morning. You can finish everything by 11am.
If you keep the pooran ready, you can make 21 kozhukattai in 30-45 minutes. In that 45 minutes, you can pressure cook dal for sambar. Inside the cooker, keep a tiffin box with the chopped vegetables for poriyal or kootu. Prepare the rice in another cooker. By this time, you can make kozhukattai and steam it. Make Dal, sambar, poriyal, pachadi and keep them ready for neivedyam. Click HERE to see how to cook a no onion no garlic lunch menu easily.
Abhishekam should be done by the elders of the family.
But in our house, my daughter sits with my husband and do the abhishekam when she was young :) Take all the abhishekham items in a plate as shown in the picture. Keep a bowl full of water. Keep some flowers in a plate. Keep an incense stick and a camphor ready. Take a wide plate ( thambaalam). Keep a wooden plank inside it and keep the Ganesh idol. Start the abhishekam by putting some flowers and few drops of water. Before doing abhishekam, keep this mind. Ganesh idol should not fall down during abhishekam. So do not pour more water and touch the idol carefully with support. First do the sesame oil abhishekam, then apply shikakai powder. Wash it well by adding water. Then apply turmeric powder. Light the incense stick and show the dhoop & dheep. Mix rice flour in water and do the abhishekam. Then comes milk, lemon juice, tender coconut water, curd, panchamirtham followed by honey. Collect the panchamirtham with honey in a plate. Pour some water and then continue with sandal paste, kumkum and lastly viboodhi abhishekam. Finish the abhishekam with little milk. Show the dheepam.
Pour water and start to decorate the Ganesh. Collect all the abhishekam water in the wide plate and pour in tulsi plant or under some trees. Put a poonool/Mupiri nool (3 thread string) from left to right keeping Ganesha facing towards you. Then wear a new cloth for the idol. Decorate with Vellerukku malai, arugampul malai and flowers. (If you are using homemade clay Ganesha, pour water and other abhishekam items only in spoons else Ganesha will dissolve in water). After abhishekam & decoration, start doing the pooja.
You can chant this Ganesha Gayathri mantram while doing Abhishekam.
Please check THIS POST for complete Ganesh chaturthi Pooja vidhanam/Puja vidhi with slokhas in PDF format.
Take the decorated Ganesh and place it over peeta/Wooden plank. Light the lamp on the sides of Ganesha. Keep a small turmeric Ganesha( made of turmeric powder mixed with little water) nearby the idol. Keep kumkum & flowers. Place a plate with 5 types of fruits, coconut, betel leaves & nuts in front of the God.
In another plate or banana leaf, spread the nevideyam recipes.Kozhukattai varieties comes to the left side of Ganesha. Rice and other items has to be kept in the usual order. Refer picture for the idea. Keep payasam and aval.pori kadalai/Puffed rice with peanuts in small bowls. Chant Ganesha ashtothram and do the archanai. Then show the dhoop & dheep. Finally do the mangala aarti.Finish the pooja. Some people have the practice of keeping Kalash and do the pooja. SoI have made a separate post about "Pooja Vidhanam/Puja Vidhi" with mantras in PDF format. You can download it and use if interested. Please check THIS POST .
On Chaturthi evening, make wheat flour appam and do the neivedyam. The next day morning, you can keep idli for neivedyam or simply fruits would do. On afternoon, keep dal & rice with ghee for neivedyam. Continue this neivedyam till Ganesha stays in your house.
Ganesha Visarjan
The next day or the third day, take the ganesha idol along with flowers & vastram, some puffed rice, jaggery and fried gram dal (Do not remove anything from idol) and put it in water. Let the Ganesh idol dissolve in water and take away all the misfortunes of people.
AUDIO, VIDEO LINKS
Click thisLINK for Pooja Vidhanam Video, Audio in Telugu
Check this LINK , LINKfor Pooja Vidhanam Audio in Tamil
Please click this LINK for full collection of neivedyam recipes. This LINKfor Kozhukattai making Videos & Homemade Ganesh idol using rice flour dough.
Disclaimer : I have shared the procedures based on our tradition. Please take the as a reference,consult the elders of your family and do the pooja as per your practice. Beginners can follow this if you don’t have any specific procedure at home.
Hope you find this post useful. Wish you all a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi !
My sister Radha’s Son – My chella kutty Krish Karthik :)
For the past few months I have been getting requests from my readers to share a collection of breakfast recipes and lunch box ideas for Indian kids. Some people specifically asked me to share recipes excluding the usual idli , dosa , poori , pongal. Not just by mails, some of my new friends who visit my blog for the first time asked me whether I have a collection of kids lunch box and after school snacks ideas. At that moment,I realized there are many people like me worrying and thinking about what to prepare for kids breakfast,what to pack for their school lunch box,snack box,how to make them eat healthy foods etc etc. When I told about my readers request to my friend Shalini, she helped me to frame this list of recipes for kids. Most of these recipes are the ones we usually make for our childrens breakfast & lunch box and can be prepared easily in busy mornings. We took nearly 2 hours over phone to prepare this exhaustive list. I should thank my readers for insisting me to do this list. And Many Many thanks to you my dearie Shalini. But for your help,this post would not have come up. In this post, you can find the list of Indian style sandwich varieties, North Indian Paratha recipes, pasta & Noodles recipes, rice varieties, wraps & rolls, Salad & milkshake recipes that are generally liked by kids. I have given the links for recipes that are already available in my blog.I will share the remaining in my upcoming posts. Nowadays most of the kids are picky eaters. So Friends, please take this list as a reference, make your own variations if you are a non-vegetarian and plan your kids breakfast, lunch & dinner recipes based on their liking. Do share your ideas & mention the names of recipes that are left out in this list. I will add them up. I hope this list would be useful to all the moms landing on this page. I have also shared a picture of Sample daily menu of my daughter’s healthy meal program catered by Amrutha Caterers in her school. Many working women have opted this meal program for their kids to give a balanced diet.+919036060369 is the contact number of Amrutha caterers. You can also frame a table like this and follow it.
A very special thanks to my sister Radha for sharing her son Krish Karthik’s picture as a cover photo for this post.Once she had made my badam halwa and clicked a pic while he was eating .When I told about this post,she happily shared this picture with me.Thanks dear,Love you. I will start posting Ganesh Chaturthi Festival recipes from Saturday.Lets check out the list of kids recipes below.
General Ideas for food decoration
Basically kids love colorful dishes and food that look small in size( mini). So you can try to present the food more colorful and make small sized poori , paratha , idli & dosa for them.For example, we can make mini uttappam kind of dosas by adding vegetables like carrot,coriander leaves & onions. When my daughter was young, I used to make dosas like alphabets, numbers & in different shapes. Buy some cookie cutters in various shapes and cut the idli, dosas, poori in those shapes. It would be attractive for them. While making sandwich,make bite sized or finger like pieces for them to hold easily. You can add ghee, cheese, nuts & choco syrup in the dishes to fascinate the kids but remember to use them in moderate quantity. Try to google search for various decoration ideas and make the food attractive to the kids.
Here is the picture of sample healthy meal menu from my daughter’s school. Right click & save the image to view the actual size of this picture.
Thanks for visiting this page.Happy cooking !
Disclaimer : I have made this post based on my own idea. Please give credits to this post & do not copy it without my permission. Thanks for understanding.
Here is an Eggless vanilla cupcake recipe without butter (with oil) and without condensed milk. It comes out super soft, spongy and moist in texture. Yesterday my daughter Raksha told me to bake a cake using Vanilla essence as its her favorite flavor. She told ” Mummy, when I come back from the school, I should see a cake in your hand”. Its been months since I baked a cake in my kitchen.
For the past few months, I have been making only microwave mug cake recipes(refer side bar) for her after school snacks very easily within minutes. I think she got bored of them. So she badly wanted me to bake a regular cake this time. As I had already bookmarked some good cake recipes, I quickly browsed through them and tried this eggless vanilla cupcake. This recipe uses simple ingredients.
The cake raised beautifully and tasted great with moist, soft and spongy texture. I couldn’t feel its a no egg, no butter, no condensed milk cupcake. You can dare to try this recipe even if you are a beginner in baking. I have used choco chips in this cake to attract my daughter. You can add chopped nuts or even decorate the cake with simple chocolate frosting or buttercream frosting if you are interested.
Lets see how to make this super moist cupcake from scratch.
If you are eager to know the differences between a cupcake & muffin, here you go
Cupcakes tend to be sweeter than muffins; there are savory muffins such as cornbread.
Cupcakes are often iced or frosted, whereas muffins tend to have no topping, or a simple crumb topping.
Cupcakes usually have a head or top no larger than the body of the cupcake; muffins are often encouraged to overflow their baking cup, so that their top is larger in diameter, giving them somewhat of a mushroom shape.
Cupcakes are almost always, well, cupcake shaped; muffins can be made as just muffin tops.
Cupcakes are almost never crispy or crunchy; muffins are often encouraged to brown and develop texture, especially on the top.
Eggless vanilla cupcake recipe
Eggless,moist cupcake recipe - Easy to make n bake !
In a wide bowl sieve maida, baking powder & baking soda and a pinch of salt. Add choco chips to it. Mix well and set aside.
In another bowl,mix the vinegar & milk. It will curdle slightly (U can replace vinegar with lemon juice. But I used vinegar).To this add oil,sugar and vanilla essence. Mix well till sugar dissolves.
Add the sieved flour to it and mix in one direction. It will become a thick batter. It should flow like a ribbon. If you feel, the batter is too thick, add 1-2 tsp of milk. Do not add more milk because cake will become sticky.
Line a muffin tray with muffin papers. Pour the batter till 3/4th of the cup. Preheat the oven in convection mode at 180c. Bake the cupcakes for 15 minutes at 180c. Remove and check it with a tooth pick. If the tooth pick comes out clean, cake is done else keep it for 1-2 minutes more. Do not over bake.
Remove the cake from the tray and enjoy with tea !
Note
Add 1-2 tbsp more sugar & extra vanilla essence for more sweetness & flavor.
You can bake this as a regular cake instead of cupcakes. I guess it will work.
Do not over bake the cake because the outer layer will turn chewy.
You can use lemon juice if you don't have vinegar in hand.
Enjoy this easy, spongy cupcake recipe with tea ! Tastes yum !!
Matar paneer(in Hindi) / Green peas cottage cheese gravy(in English) is a classic Punjabi style masala gravy that is served as a side dish for Roti, Naan, Kulcha & Pulao varieties.I have been making it for years following the recipe of”My dhaba”. Recently I came across this low fat restaurant style recipe in “Saffron Trail” blog.I combined both the recipes & came up with this version.I prepared it for Sendhil & Raksha’s lunch box and packed with chapathi.It came out very well.As it is a low fat version,I have not fried the paneer pieces or used fresh cream here.I loved this gravy a lot.I am sure you will like it too.Do give a try.Lets see how to make this yummy Paneer recipe – Mutter Paneer Masala.
Matar Paneer Recipe
Punjabi Matar paneer recipe - Side dish for roti,naan,kulcha & pulao
Boil a cup of water and immerse the paneer pieces till use.Make sure the water is not too hot.Cook the peas in required water.If you are using dried peas,soak it overnight and then pressure cook it before adding to the gravy.Chop the onions & tomatoes.Peel garlic & chop ginger.
Heat 2 tsp of oil and saute the cashews,ginger,garlic,whole garam masala like cinnamon, cloves, cardamom ,onions & tomato pieces. Saute everything until tomato turns mushy.Cool & grind them to a smooth paste adding enough water. ( If you wish, you can add red chilli powder, dhania powder and garam masala powder along with tomato while sauting. But make sure you don't burn the spice powders.) I added all the spice powders in the next step.
Now heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds, saute slit green chilli.Add the ground paste.Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, dhania powder & saute until the paste turns thick.Add the boiled peas.Add some water and let the gravy boil till it leaves oil.
Lastly add the paneer pieces,sugar , curd & crushed kasoori methi. Boil for a minute & switch off the flame. Do not make the gravy too thick because this gravy thickens over time.So make it semi thick.Serve with roti/naan/kulcha ! Enjoy !
Note
You can skip the whole garam masala while sauting onion,tomato if you don’t want spices to be dominant.It tastes good in either ways.
Add more chilli powder to make a spicy gravy.I used medium spice here.
You can add fresh cream at the end to make this gravy more rich.You can also fry the paneer pieces in little oil till golden brown and add to the gravy.
Yummy & colorful Matar paneer is ready to serve with roti !Enjoy !