Ingredients
Method
- Keep the modak mould, a small bowl of ghee and a plate for the finished sweets ready before you start. Sift the cocoa powder if it is lumpy — lumps of cocoa are almost impossible to smooth out once they are inside the mixture.
- Heat the ghee in a heavy, non-stick pan on the lowest heat. Crumble in the mawa and cook, stirring and mashing continuously, for 5 to 6 minutes. The mawa will soften, turn glossy and come together into a loose mass that moves as one piece when you stir. It should not brown or catch at the base.
- Take the pan off the heat for a moment. Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and cardamom, and mix vigorously until the colour is an even, deep chocolate brown with no pale streaks. The sugar will loosen the mixture slightly — that is expected.
- Return the pan to low heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more, stirring without stopping, until the mixture thickens into a soft dough and leaves the sides of the pan cleanly. It is done when a small pinch, cooled for a few seconds, can be rolled into a smooth ball that does not stick to your fingers.
- Tip the mixture onto a plate and let it cool for 8 to 10 minutes, until it is just warm and comfortable to handle. Do not mould it hot — the modaks will slump — and do not let it go cold, or it will crumble as you press.
- Grease the inside of the modak mould lightly with ghee. Take a portion of the mixture, press it firmly into the mould so every pleat is filled, level off the base, close and press once more, then open the mould and ease the modak out. Repeat with the rest of the mixture — you should get about 12.
- Arrange the modaks on a plate, press a few chopped pistachios or almonds onto the top of each if you are garnishing, and refrigerate for 30 minutes so they firm up and the pleats set sharply. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
Low heat is the whole game with mawa. Cooked gently, it stays smooth and fudge-like; pushed over high heat, it turns grainy, releases ghee and goes chewy in the finished sweet. If your mawa was very fresh and wet, give it an extra minute or two in step 4 until the mixture truly leaves the pan.
No mawa to hand? Make an instant version: knead 1 cup of full-cream milk powder with about 1/4 cup of warm milk and the teaspoon of ghee into a soft dough, rest it 10 minutes, and use it exactly as the mawa above, adding the cocoa and sugar the same way. The flavour is a shade lighter but the modaks hold beautifully.
Cocoa brands vary in strength, so taste the mixture in step 3 before it goes back on the heat. For a darker, more grown-up modak, take the cocoa to 2 1/2 tablespoons and pull the sugar back slightly; for children, keep it at 2 tablespoons and let the sweetness lead.
Storage: chocolate modaks keep for 5 to 6 days in an airtight box in the fridge. Take them out 15 minutes before serving — eaten fridge-cold they taste muted and firm, but at room temperature the texture turns back to soft fudge.