Ganesh Chaturthi

Has it ever happened to you that you are out of your city during a festival and the new place does not celebrate it at all. It is as if that festival does not exist. Since we moved to Delhi we missed action on some festivals that Bombay celebrates, like Ganesh Chaturthi. Mumbai would have witnessed so many idols being transported by big and small vehicles to homes and sarvajanik pandals. Chants of "Ganpati Bappa Morya" would be heard all around to the beat of Nasik dhol. The local pandal would bring Ganpati Bappa in a truck with a groups of youngsters dancing to film music in front of the idol. We would stand in our balcony and see them going by tapping our fingers in tandem with the music. In complete contrast, we don't see any action in Delhi and the lone Sarvajanik Ganpati we know of is at the Maharashtra Sadan on Copernicus Marg.

 

Last year, we went to the Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav at the Maharashtra Sadan and for the first time we saw few Marathi speaking people, together at one place in Delhi. The pandal was decorated simply and had a beautiful Ganpati Bappa, with a pujari doing the pujas. There was lunch set up on the grounds and hoping for a good Maharashtrian meal we went to the grounds only to find out it was a regular buffet Punjabi food. With our hopes dashed we went to the Canteen on the first floor and tried their thali. Nothing great to write about and yes, it could be described to a very small degree as a Maharashtrian thali. We were hoping they would have modaks, the steamed variety (ukdiche modak) but no luck on that front as well. Feeling disappointed we promised ourselves that we would try to be in Mumbai for the next year's Ganesh Chaturthi. But again this year, we are in Delhi, ruing that there is no indication of the festivities that Mumbai must be witnessing right now. So as appeasement we promised ourselves a visit to the Maharashtra Sadan for the evening aarti.

The evening aarti was at 6.45pm and it was simple with a few people, most probably employees at Maharashtra Sadan, singing the aarti songs. There were in all about 80 to 100 people gathered for the aarti. People could go and take darshan and prasad was distributed to all. There were 4 stalls in the grounds selling vada pav, puranpoli, modak, pani puri and some crafts. We were only interested in the vada pav, puranpoli and modak stalls and made a beeline and stood there even before the stall was set up. While we waited for them to get the stuff, more people had started gravitating towards the vada pav stalls. Goes to show how much the vada pav is missed by the Maharashtrians here! The minute one stall was set up we placed our order of vada pav, enough to take home for dinner and then bought some more from the other stall to eat right there. Satiated, we left from there with our booty - vada pav, fried modak, puranpoli and shengdaana chutney.

Ganpati Bappa at the pandal

Ganpati Bappa at the pandal

 People crowding at the vada pav stall

People crowding at the second vada pav stall

People on the dais seeking darshan

People on the dais seeking darshan

People on the dais seeking darshan



Naivedyam of Ukdicha Modak / Kozhukattai

Kozhukatta / Kozhukattai or Modak is the most favorite naivedyam of Lord Ganesha. And today being Ganesh Chaturthi, I made kozhukattai / ukdicha modak as offering to the food loving, pot bellied, Lord Ganesha. I normally prefer making sheera or sooji ka halwa for naivedyam and was a tad bit apprehensive about making kozhukatta / modak, until today. But this year, I decided to give this a shot and hoped it would turn out well. Once I got rolling, it seemed really easy, so my advice to all those as yet unsure people, do try it, it is not so difficult. As you can see I did not get the shape right but a little practice will definitely yield a modicum of success.  

I did check a few sites for exact measurements and tips and primarily followed the recipe given on chitrasfoodbook.com & tarladalal.com. Both these sites give good tips and pointers on getting the kozhukattai right. Below is the recipe that worked for me. I used readymade rice flour to make the dough.

Ingredients

Outer rice dough

Rice Flour - 1 cup

Water - 1 + 1/3 cup and about 3tbsp more in case needed

Salt - 1tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Inside filling

Coconut grated - 12tbsp

Jaggery - 12tbsp

Elaichi pwd - 1 pinch

In a kadhai add grated jaggery and 2tbsp water on low heat and start melting the jaggery. Stir it and press any jaggery pieces with the back of the spoon to melt it quickly. Once it is done, take off the heat and sieve it to remove any impurities. Put the clean jaggery syrup back on heat and add the grated coconut and mix well. Keep on very low heat and stir so that the mixture does not stick to the bottom. Keep stirring till the mix starts coming together, take it off the heat and keep covered.

To make the rice dough, I followed the recipe given on Chitra's blog. Heat water, add the salt and bring to a boil. I would suggest then take 3tbsp water out and keep it nearby if needed. When the water is boiling add the rice flour slowly in a steady stream stirring all the while with a wooden spatula. I used the recommended 1 1/3rd cup and since the flour was still dry I added 3tbsp water additionally to get a soft and pliable dough. Once the dough wasn't as hot, I took it into a bowl and kneaded it well and applied oil onto it and kept it tightly covered.

To make the kozhukatta

Make equal sized balls of the rice dough and the filling, this mix should give you 11 equal balls. I did not make equal balls and hence got 9 kozhukattas mostly big sized. Flatten each ball to about 2 or 3 inches diameter circles. Place the ball of filling in the center and bring the ends of the stuffing together to form the shape of the kozhukatta. I tried making folds at the top when bringing the covering together and then pinched it at the top to make that mooku. Once all kozhukattas are done heat water in a cooker or idli cooker, place these kozhukattas on the stand making sure the water does not touch the stand. Steam for 8 to 10 minutes. Open the steamer a minute after taking off the heat and then after a few minutes take the kozhukattas on to a platter. The kozhukattas should look shiny from the outside. Serve after offering to Lord Ganesha.