This year, let Bappa be spoilt for choice with barnyard millet modaks

Every year, when I prepare modaks on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, I love adding millets to them to make them healthy. But, as we evolve in our millet journey, I have learnt that it is the simplicity of the recipe and availability of its ingredients that win millions of hearts. As such, this year, do make these super simple and quick barnyard millet modaks that, I guarantee, Ganesha and your family will love.
You can also check for the cheesy millet modaks I made for kids last year and the recipe for little millet modaks. Select the one that works for your health and make sure not to compromise your health during the festive season. Read more about the step–step recipe and refer to the video below.

Barnyard millet modak
Ingredients: (makes 12 modaks)
For covering:
·      1 cup boiled barnyard millet·      200 ml coconut milk·      ½ cup desiccated coconut·      ¼ cup rock sugar powder·      A pinch of cardamom powder (optional)
For stuffing
·      ½ cup cashew·      ½ cup water·      ½ cup chopped dates·      ¼ cup rock sugar powder·      A few drops of rose water
For garnishing
·      ¾ cup pachios·      Dried rose petals

Method
1. Begin with the stuffing first. Soak cashews in equal amounts of water for 2 hours and then grind them into a fine thick paste. Keep aside.
2. Chop clean and deseeded dates and keep them aside.
3. In a pan, heat the cashew paste, and add dates and rock sugar powder. Please note jaggery won’t taste good here, you can go for any other natural sweetener if you can’t find rock sugar or can increase chopped dates to adjust the sweetness.
4. Once the mixture is well cooked and thickens up, keep it aside. Add a few drops of rose water. Now for the outer covering, cool the boiled millet. Make sure the millet is boiled in optimum water and is not mushy or mo in texture. Drain the excess water while boiling and you can use up that water for your curries, dough kneading, etc.
5. In a separate pan, heat coconut milk and add boiled millet along with desiccated coconut and rock sugar. You can add a pinch of cardamom powder too. (I usually avoid it as I want the flavour of rose petals and rose water to dominate.)
6. With the help of modak mould, start shaping the modaks and add stuffing. Once nicely shaped, coat them with finely ground pachios and some dried rose petals on top.
7. Consume the same day. You can use fresh rose petals and rose petals powder for this recipe. You can improvise with this zero-oil, gluten-free dessert in many other ways.
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all!
(Shalini Rajani is a millet coach, the founder of Crazy Kadchi and holds innovative millets cooking workshops and gluten-free sourdough baking workshops for all age groups)
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