Rice Balls / Modaka / Malenada modaka

ಮೋದಕ / Modaka / Rice balls make me nostalgic of my child hood memories. Rice ball is called as Modaka in Malenadu region of Karnataka. It is also called as Pundi in Mangalore region.

Modaka was our staple food for breakfast in child hood days. Amma used to prepare this with homegrown rice and we used to eat with home made curd & ghee.

We used to feed our farm laborers lunch during peak work seasons. Majority of such days, Amma used to cook Modaka with home grown Mangalore cucumber and Jackfruit seeds Sambar for them with Modaka. That way laborers used to get strength with this food and it used to be inexpensive too.

Well, I have tweaked the recipe slightly by adding coconut & chillies to improve the taste:). Here you go.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 Cup
Grated Coconut - 1 Cup
Green Chillies - 3 to 4
Oil - 1 spoon
Salt to taste

Method

Soak the rice for 4 to 6 hours. Grate the coconut. Wash the soaked rice and grind the same along with grated coconut & green chillies into fine paste by adding water gradually. 3-4 cups of water will be required for this depending on the type of rice used.

Ideally it is good to manually grind the rice using grinding stone, which may not be possible these days!

Consistency of the batter should be slightly watery than the Dosa batter. Add salt and mix the batter well.

Heat a thick bottomed Kadai, apply one spoon of oil throughout. Now pour the batter on to the Kadai and keep stirring till it becomes solid enough to make the balls. Switch off the stove and keep aside the content for 5 minutes.

Prepare medium lemon sized balls and place it on Tatte Idli Plates or Steam Cooker and cook it for 15 minutes. Yummy Modaka can be eaten with Chutney or even with just ghee to feel the taste of it.