Vinayaka Chaturti Special

Here is the month of Lord Ganesh which is one of my favourite festival as the preparations for this festival would start 2 or 3 months before vinayaka chaturti.The pandals,big big idols,now a days this is not only a popular festival it has become even a very important economic activity :) for many cities mumbai,bangalore,hyderabad,chennai etc.,

Here in hyderabad,Khairathabad Ganesh Idol is one of the tallest idol averaging upto 50 feet isn't it great and awesome,I don't miss visiting this place every year,lakhs of devotees visit daily for 12days event of ganesh utsav.On 12th day we sat tata bubye to this huge ganesh idol will be immersed with large cranes in Hussain sagar lake.

Not only at Khairatahbad each and every lane in Hyderabad, Ganesh idols are installed in a colorfully decorated mandapas by devotees. My family and friends visit as much as mandapas we can :),here is our Ganesh which is installed in our apartment :)

 Here is our favorite part of festival "Naivedyam".
The favorite naivedyam for lord ganesh is kozhukattai or sweet modak.

Here is the link for Kozhukattai/modak 

Kozhukattai/Modak

A modak or Kozhukattai is famous sweet dumpling in western and southern region of India,it varies only with name and few ingredients.Modak has a special importance as it is the favorite for Lord Ganesh.

The sweet filling inside modak depends on one's own taste it can be filled with n number of mixtures,few are listed here coconut, jaggery or chana dal,coconut,jaggery or moong dal,coconut,jaggery,sesame seed or sesame, jaggery here I am preparing with ellu i.e., sesame and jaggery,while the outer soft shell is made with rice flour.

Preparation:

Kozhukattai Mavu

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Water- 3/4 cup
• Oil-1 tbps
• Salt as per taste
• Milk - 1 tbps (optional)

1. Wash and soak the rice in water for an hour,after an hour drain the water and allow it to dry.
2. When excess water is drained grind the rice to a fine powder.
3. Sieve this rice to get a fine powder.
4. Now heat water in a pan add water,oil and milk,when the water boils add rice flour an mix well and remove it from flame.
5. Knead the dough well with the hand,now the kozhukattai mavu is ready to prepare.

Filling Preparation

• Roasted Ellu/Sesame - 1/2 cup
• Jaggery - 2-3tbps

Grind the above ingredients.Now your filling is ready

Kozhukattai Preparation:

• Take a small portion of dough and form it into your desired shape and place the ellu mixture in it(preferably modak shape)
• Repeat this for rest.
• Now steam all these modak for around 10 mins 

Modak is ready..:)