Last year, Krishna Arora found himself at the centre of a row after posting a recipe video of ravioli modak—a pasta-inspired take on the traditional sweet commonly associated with Ganesh Chaturthi. The Delhi-based content creator, 29, says the comment section was rife with criticism, with questions about authenticity, and arguments that certain traditions are best left as they are meant to be, especially when it comes to a dish considered sacrosanct to an Indian festival.
Arora came up with 10 variations of modak, including tiramisu, cheesecake and panna cotta as part of the daily offerings. “We’ve been bringing Bappa home for nearly 11 years now, each time wondering how we could take the spirit of what we present to him and reimagine it through modern techniques without losing its sacred core.” Despite the critics, there were many who gave the recipes a shot, he says.
Modak, modaka or modagam finds mentions in the Mahabharata, the ancient Sanskrit text Sushruta Samhita, and the Tamil poem Mathuraikkanchi from Sangam literature, notes K.T. Achaya in his book A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food (1998). The sweet with a filling of jaggery and coconut tucked inside a delicate rice flour shell has been part of the traditional offering or naivedya to Lord Ganesha for more than 2,000 years.
It calls for a dexterous hand—the dough pliable enough to be pleated, the fingers working in unison, and in a rhythm perfected by home cooks for generations.
But with time, as with most food rituals, the making of this delicate treat has evolved. Home cooks and enthusiasts alike now reach for moulds to achieve that precise shape and form.
Over the past few years, it has also been reimagined into modern formats. We’ve even seen everything from matcha to truffles being stuffed into them.
For a dish that has been around for centuries, does it need to be reinterpreted to stay relevant to the times? Is doing so only about creativity or about to what extent a dish can take on new avatars without losing its originality?
“It should feel like a modak first, and then surprise with what else it can be,” says chef Girish Nayak of the Mumbai-based artisanal sweet brand Bombay Sweet Shop. He and his team came up with a Bourbon chocolate biscuit modak last year, which is on sale this year as well till the end of the month. “The challenge is not to see how far you can take it, but how you can give it a new expression without losing what makes it a modak in the first place.”
Nayak believes creativity is important, but it cannot come at the cost of the cultural essence or memory of what one is making. Flavours such as orange biscuit, chocolate hazelnut and carrot halwa modaks have been equally successful in the previous years, while more recently, there have been trials with matcha. “But it didn’t work for us. Just because an ingredient is trending doesn’t mean it needs to find its way on to the menu.”
Artisanal and luxury sweet brands such as Khoya Mithai, Arq and Misree, to name a few, have experimented with unconventional modaks for a few years now. Yogisattva in Mumbai has also introduced plant-based, gluten-free modaks using cold pressed oils and organic flours.
Today, this spirit of experimentation extends to premium dining. Chefs, too, often work within the rules of traditional practices, closely following generational recipes while respecting ingredients, techniques and people who produce them. Some also question where those rules begin and end.
Chef Amit Ghorpade of Pune’s Aragma restaurant says incorporating ingredients like matcha and coffee may be taking the idea a little too far. “If I were to experiment with modak, I would not change the ingredients. I’d rather improvise and make it lighter with an egg-free meringue using rice flour and aqua faba (canned chickpea water), shape it using a mould, and make a filling of coconut-jaggery gel,” he says. Perhaps it is a reminder that when chefs choose to reinterpret a dish, it’s simply because they love it enough to want to see it in a different light.
It’s the exact sentiment that nudged chef Niyati Rao to experiment with modak for her latest venture Ringo, a bakery specialising in viennoiserie in Mumbai. “I don’t think I can ever touch something that is already perfect. If there is an ukadiche modak (Marathi-style steamed modak) or mawa modak, there can be a croissant modak too. The original versions are good enough to stay alive. But if the reinterpretations follow the same idea and principle, there’s no harm either,” she says.
Ringo’s line-up features modaks in laminated pastry dough with some unique fillings—a traditional coconut with white chocolate infusion, kaya jam with pandan custard, hibiscus and black currant. “It is our little contribution to a festival that is close to our heart.”
At a time when recipes thrive on virality, it’s the emotional identity of the modak that inspires chefs. “If you’re putting an ingredient inside a modak simply because it’s trendy, it can feel gimmicky. But if you’re using the familiar form to introduce a new flavour or technique, I don’t see that as taking away from its originality,” says chef Heena Punwani, who runs Maska Bakery in Mumbai. “Tradition gives us the foundation and context, while creativity allows it to evolve. What we now consider ‘authentic’ forms of a dish, also evolved from somewhere else.”
This year, Punwani has come up with modaks in a fudge form with varied textures and a little surprise at the centre. Her signature Maska Mawa Cakes have also been given a bite-sized modak format—a Chocolate Mawa Modak Cake with a chocolate-coconut glaze and an Anjeer Mawa Modak Cake with a lemon glaze.
When Indian food has taken on unimaginable, unique and modern forms and expressions, can tradition alone sustain a craft and knowledge of a dish like modak? “There will always be people who prefer it the way they grew up with, and that is important too. We don’t see new interpretations as competing with them,” says Nayak.
Perhaps modak brownies can stay as long as Bappa isn’t complaining.