The Lord likes coconut but you get to choose from Nutella, marzipan and fudge filling
There's one thing that we all love about Ganesh Chaturthi, beyond the exuberant festivities and pandal-hopping. It is the modak, the ubiquitous coconut-filled, steamed or fried sweet, known to be the elephant god's favourite.
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This year, home chefs and bakers are experimenting with flavours, textures and ingredients to create new varities. There are paneer, marzipan and chocolate modaks, stuffings that include dehydrated fruit, fudge or Nutella, and even cupcakes with the traditional modak filling. We're sure the elephant god would love them.
Marzipan modaks
Add some 24 karat gold and 18 karat silver to your celebrations with marzipan chocolate modaks. "This year, we've created silver and gold marzipan modaks for those who want their modaks to be something special," says Thea Tammeleht, founder, Nordic Kandie. These modaks are made using almonds imported from Iran, covered in Belgian chocolate and pure edible gold and silver; they are available in hampers too.
At Nordic Kandie, Vasant Villa, Peddar Road. COST R180 (plain), R280 (silver), R562 (gold)
Call 9699641112
Cupcake modaks
Anees Khan of StarAnise Patisserie has created modak cupcakes, in collaboration with Rushina Ghildiyal of APB Cook Studio. These vanilla cupcakes are topped with coconut-flavoured buttercream and filled with freshly-grated coconut with jaggery and brown sugar. "This gives you the taste of a modak but in a different form," says Khan.
Cost Rs 550 for 10
At StarAnise Pâtisserie, Linking Road, Bandra (W).
Call 26404386
Chocolate fried modaks
"These are my take on traditional fried modaks. The textures remain the same — they are crunchy outside and soft inside," says Bhumika Bhurani, founder of Hot Mama Bakes that's introduced these modaks for the first time. The modaks have a coconut filling mixed with chocolate, giving it
the texture and taste of fudge. There's also a Nutella version with a gooey centre.
Cost R150 for five, Rs 300 for 11 pieces, Rs 550 for 21 pieces.
Call 9833739961 (orders close by September 1)
Paneer modaks
The versatile cottage cheese finds prominence in modaks created by Minnie Pooja of Madezze. The modaks come in flavours like custard, coconut, gulkhand, chocolate and kesar pista. The paneer is made using cow's milk so the modaks are low in fat. "This is a new type of sweet that people love — they use our modaks for puja and to give as gifts. We use good-quality ingredients and our paneer is one of the best you will find in the city," says Pooja. The modaks last four days.
Cost Starts at Rs 80 for two
Call 7738760333
Modak pops
IF YOU prefer carrying the modaks around, try a modak pop. Khushboo Doshi's Bliss over Bite will be selling chocolate modaks in two ways — as a pop or in a shell (so that it looks like an acorn). The modak pops are made of white, dark or raspberry-flavoured chocolate. The shell modaks have a wafer shell holding a chocolate modak. "I wanted to do something fun for the season," says Doshi.
Cost Rs 100 for five pops, Rs 200 for five shells
Call 9699850002 (three days of advance notice)
Mango, kiwi, orange modaks
Every year, Deepti Chandnani, founder of the four-year-old Cocheta Chocolates, comes up with fun new sweets for the festival. Last year, it was cake-filled chocolate modaks. This year, she is focusing on fruit. Her chocolate modaks come in orange, kiwi, blueberry, mango, and roasted almond. The centre of the modaks is filled with dehydrated fruit or nuts. "Customers prefer them as they are different, have a longer shelf life and work as great gifting options," says Chandnani who makes the chocolates herself and uses an oil-based essence for the flavours.
Cost Rs 200 onwards
Call 9702054064 (four days of notice advance notice)
Belgian chocolate
"This is my favourite festival and I wanted to do something interesting for it. I thought it needed a bit of jazz and the chocolate modaks you get outside aren't interesting. So I decided to create something that I would want to eat," says Ayesha Gotla, founder of R Deli. The company, started last December makes handmade chocolates. For Ganesh Chaturthi, they are stocking chocolate modaks with soft centres, filled with lemon rose, nutella, coconut, white, milks or dark chocolate. Each modak is hand painted and can be customized by colour; you can even write messages on it.
Cost Rs 150 onwards for mini modaks, Rs 550 onwards for a big modak
Call 9987573456 (one day advance notice)
Fudge modaks
Divisha Jadhwani, founder of Jars and Journeys, makes chocolate fudge modaks. "These have my homemade fudge and are flavoured — chocolate, dry fruit or walnuts," she says. The modaks last for two days.
Cost Rs 600 per kg (10 pieces)
Call 9920464566 (one day advance notice)
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