Easy Chocolate Modak made with mawa, sugar and cocoa powder. These are an easy festive treat to make for Ganesh Chaturthi and you can make these in 30 minutes or less.

Modak is the quintessential festive sweet for Ganesh Chaturthi. The traditional modak which is steamed and made with rice flour and stuffed with jaggery needs some serious skills and also takes time. However if you are short on time and looking for any easy treat for the festival, then try these Chocolate Modak.

These Chocolate Modak can’t be easier to make and who doesn’t love chocolates? I love adding chocolate to my mithai like in this chocolate burfi and it just goes so well in these modak too.

You can make these for prasad or as a festive treat. They come together quickly and are enjoyed by everyone.

Ingredients

You essentially need only 3 ingredients for this recipe!

Mawa: also known as khoya makes the base of this recipe. Mawa are milk solids and are very commonly used in Indian desserts. In the US, mawa is available in the frozen section at Indian stores. My preferred brand here is Vadilal and I have used unsweetened mawa here. If you have the time, you can of course make mawa at home but it takes a lot of time to make it from scratch.

Cocoa powder: for the chocolate flavor, I use unsweetened cocoa powder. You can also use a chocolate bark or chocolate chips if you like. For cocoa powder, I use Anothny’s brand (not sponsored, sharing what I use).

Sugar: to sweeten these modaks, I have used granulated white sugar. You can adjust the amount of sugar to taste. For me this was perfect, for a sweeter modak you can add up tp 1/2 cup of sugar (100 grams).

Ghee is optional here, you can skip it but the 1 teaspoon helps in making sure the mixture doesn’t stick. I also like to stuff these chocolate modak with cashews and chocolate chips but that’s completely optional as well.

Step by Step Instructions

1- Heat 1 teaspoon ghee in a pan on medium heat. Then add mawa to the pan.

2- Saute the mawa for 2 minutes.

3- Then add sugar and mix well.

4- The sugar will melt immediately. Lower the heat to “low”.

5- Keep stirring and cooking the mixture on low heat. After around 5 minutes the mixture will start bubbling.

6- Add in the cocoa powder (you may sift it before adding). Also sprinkle some cardamom powder (if using).

7- Mix until all of it is well combined.

8- Keep cooking the mixture on low heat. It’s done when it leaves the sides of the pan and starts coming together. It should not be a solid mass and still have molten lava like consistency. If you take a small portion from this mixture and try to roll it – you should be able to form a ball. This took me around 13 to 14 minutes on low heat to reach this stage.

Do not over-cook at this point else the modak will turn chewy.

9- Transfer mixture to a plate, I use a parchment paper and let it cool down.

10- Once it has cooled down, take your modak mold and grease it with ghee. Take a small portion of the mixture and press it inside the mold using your index finger. You may place few chocolate chips and nuts in the dough, seal and roll and then push it inside the mold.

11- Remove excess dough from the sides and gently open the mold, the dough will now have a modak shape.

12. Using your thumb and index finger, pinch the top to make it pointed if the shape isn’t perfect after you take out the modak out from the mold. Make all modaks similarly. I got 10 modaks from this dough.

Storage

Store these modaks in the refrigerator and consume within 3 to 4 days.

If you plan to consume them on the same day, then keep them at room temperature.

Variations

Keep them plain: you can keep these modaks plain. Just plain modaks made with mawa, sugar and coco powder.

Chocolate cinnamon: this is one of my favorite combination and if you like it too, add 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon powder to the modak mixture.

Stuff them up: I have stuffed some of these chocolate modak with chocolate chips, cashews. You can also add golden raisins, pistachios, almonds, tutti frutti in the stuffing.

Tips to Make Perfect Chocolate Modak

The recipe seems really simple but where you can go wrong is cooking the mixture to the right stage.

If you don’t cook it enough: the mixture will never set and you won’t be able to shape it into modak.

If you over-cook it: the modaks will turn chewy.

So, it’s important to know the right stage until which you need to cook. First of all, keep the heat on low once the sugar melts. You have to cook on low heat at all times after that. The correct stage to remove the pan from heat is-

• when the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
• It should start to come together but not form a thick mass or something, don’t cook till that point. The mixture should still have a molten lava like consistency at this point.
• It takes around 13 to 14 minutes on low heat to reach this stage. This time may change depending on the type of pan and heat.
• If you take a small portion from the mixture, you should be able to roll it into a ball. Be careful while doing this though, let the mixture cool first and then try to roll it.

Let the mixture cool completely before you shape it into modaks. If even after the mixture has cooled down, the modak are unable to hold their shape, then put the mixture back on pan again, let it melt again and cook for 1-2 more minutes on low heat. Remove pan from heat, let it cool completely again and then shape. It will be fine this time around.

Hope you guys give this Chocolate Modak a try this Ganesh Chaturthi!

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