A Hybrid of Gyoza/Potsticker/Springroll - gluten free

Every year I make ukadiche modak (steamed rice flour covered modak) at least once and most of the times I end up with left over rice flour dough. I usually save this extra dough by covering it with plastic wrap and keeping it in an airtight container. Most of the times I make some more sweet stuffing and then use the leftover dough to make more modaks. However, this time I didn't want to indulge in more sweets and wanted to use the dough for something else. We had eaten gyozas a couple of weeks earlier and I thought why not make something similar using this dough. The filling I made was similar to the springroll filling and the resultant hybrid gyoza-springroll was crispy and delicious. I plan to use this recipe often instead of using rice flour dough only for modaks.

Ingredients
1 cup rice flour
1 cup water
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp ghee
1 small onion or 1/2 onion finely chopped
1 carrot finely grated
1/4 cabbage finely shredded
5-6 green beans, finely diced
3-4 garlic cloved, finely minced
1/2 inch ginger, finely grated
1 green chili, finely diced (optional)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp vinegar
soy sauce to taste
salt to taste
chilli sauce to taste

Method
For the dough
To make the rice dough, bring the water to a boil in a deep saucepan, add ghee and salt.  Once the water is boiling, add the rice flour, stir and turn off heat. Cover this and keep aside for 10 mins. Then knead the dough while still warm but can be handled without getting burnt,  till it is glossy and shiny.
Your dough is ready. Cover with a towel and keep aside.

For the filling
Heat oil and add the onion, green chili (if using), ginger and garlic and cook till onion is translucent. Then turn up the heat and add all the other vegetables one at a time starting with the green beans, carrot and then cabbage. Stir fry till the veggies are cooked but still crunchy. Add the vinegar, salt, soy sauce and chili sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning. Turn off heat and let this cool down.

To make the gyoza
Take a ball of dough, about a fistful, and shape into a smooth ball. Flatten it make a disc and then using your fingers, thin this disk as much as possible to create a flat round thin disc. The dough should be thin enough that it doesn't break.

Then put 1-1.5 tbsp of filling on one side of the center leaving enough space around the edges,  to fold the disc onto itself in a semi circle and seal the edges. You can pinch the edges down to make a design. You can also shape this into a modak shaped dumpling.

To cook, heat a broad saucepan (ceramic or nonstick will help prevent sticking), and add 1 tbsp of oil to the pan. Once it heats up, place the gyozas on the pan and let one side cook till the side starts to brown a little and releases from the pan easily. Then flip it over. Add 1/4 cup of water to the pan and cover the lid immediately. Let this steam on medium heat till all the water evaporates (3-4 mins). The water will splutter, so be careful during this step. Then, remove the lid and let the gyoza brown. Flip and make sure both sides are golden brown. Serve hot with a sauce of your choice (gyoza, or springroll sauce).

Tips
Use a food processor, if available,  to knead the dough this so that your fingers don't burn.

Modak - Baked or Steamed- What do you like?

This is my second modak related post and it made me realise that its been a year since I started blogging! Time truly does fly. I had made steamed modaks last year for Ganesh Chaturthi and my family had absolutely loved it. I on the other hand am not very fond of the steamed ones and prefer the fried ones. So, this year, I decided to make both kinds. For those following the blog, you know that I prefer to find alternate cooking methods to frying. So, inspired by my baked samosa recipe, I decided to try baking the modaks instead of frying them.

Ingredients
For the stuffing
See the modak recipe for stuffing ingredients. I also added
1/8 tsp of cardamom powder
1/8 tsp of nutmeg powder
2 tbsp of golden raisins

For the cover
For the steamed method, see the modak recipe for ingredients. This year I skipped the saffron and hence they turned out bright and white.

For the baked method, see the samosa recipe for cover ingredients.

Method
For the stuffing
See the modak recipe for the method. Add the nutmeg, cardamom powders and raisins towards the end of the cooking process.

For the cover
For the steamed method, see the modak recipe.

For the baked method, roll out the dough into a small round roti, about 3 inches in diameter. Pinch the sides of the rolled roti and create a bowl. Add a spoonfull of stuffing in the center. Bring all the sides together to form a modak. While you are moulding the modaks, preheat your oven to 375F. Grease a baking dish with some oil and then place all the modaks in the baking dish and bake for about 20-30 mins till the cover is well browned.

Tips
Keep the modaks and the dough under a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out. Make your entire batch and bake it at once. You can substitute jaggery with sugar if you do not have this ingredient handy to make the stuffing. Brown sugar is a better alternate if using sugar, as it has molasses and the taste is very close to that of jaggery.

Modak

This year for Ganesh Chaturthi, I thought that I would try "Ukadiche modak". This is a steamed dumpling made with sweet coconut stuffing inside it. It turned out quite well. I didn't have fresh coconut, but my family enjoyed it a lot. It is a Maharashtrian delicacy and you make 21 modaks as an offering to Lord Ganesha.

Ingredients
For the outer cover/dough
2 cups rice flour
2 cups water
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 pinch saffron (optional) - this will give a nice light yellow color to the dough

For the stuffing
2 cups coconut (fresh/ dry)
1 cup jaggery - powdered/grated




Method

The stuffing
Make the stuffing first, so that it can cool down while you work on the dough. Heat the coconut and jaggery, till the jaggery melts and the mixture comes together. When you roll it it should not fall apart. Do not over cook it and dry it out.

The outer cover
Bring the water to a rolling boil. To this add salt, ghee and saffron. Stir in the rice flour. Turn off the heat and cover. Keep this covered for 4-5 minutes. Let this mixture sit till it is warm enough to handle and knead it to smooth out any lumps till the mixture starts to look glossy.

To assemble the modak
Take about a 2X2 inch piece of the rice dough. Roll it into a ball. Then using your hands, start flattening it out evenly into a round disk. Try to make it as thin as possible withot breaking it. The disk should be about 1/4 -1/2 centimeter thick and will be about 3 inches in diameter. Place a heaped teaspoon of the stuffing. Shape your palm like a cup to ensure that the stuffing doesnt spread. Start gathering the ends of the disk and bring them all togehter in a point. See the photo above for the final shape of this dumpling. This takes a little practice, so don't be disheartened if you don't get it right the first time.
Make a batch of 5-10 modaks (depending on the size of your pressure cooker/steamer) and steam them for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy the modak with a dollop of ghee.

Tips
You can omit the saffron to retain the white color of the cover. Use a food processor to knead the hot mixture. If you live in a dry climate cover the dough with a wet cloth and also the modak while you create your batch before steaming. The dough is sticky and you should apply a little oil or ghee to your hand as you make the modak, so that the dough doesn't stick to your hand.