Vinayak Chaturthi is just around the corner and at this time of the year most Maharashtrian kitchens are filled with wafts of melting jaggery, coconut, cardamom, sabudana, peanuts and chillies. After all, there is no better way to welcome Ganesha, known to be a lover of good food and therefore, always seen with a modak in his left hand.

According to Deepa Awchat, popular food writer and head chef and CEO of Diva Maharashtracha, it is inevitable that people will experiment with traditional dishes. “People are exposed to various kinds of cuisines and tastes, they appreciate innovative dishes and surprises and they’ve become health conscious,” she says.

For example, people want to avoid eating refined flour (maida) so I use a recipe that involves three parts wheat flour and one part refined flour to make modaks.” However, for Awchat, experimentation doesn’t stop there. Her restaurant in Matunga offers modaks filled with creamy mushrooms, green peas and cashews, mixed vegetables and even kheema and prawns. She also has her own version of the traditional kheer made with sago (sabudana) and sweet potato.

Rajdeep Kapoor, executive chef of ITC Maratha, says that the fare made for festivals is very traditional and one needs to be very careful while tweaking it to make sure one does not hurt religious sentiments. “When one thinks of Ganesh Chaturthi and food, the first thing that comes to mind is modak. Modaks are traditionally stuffed with jaggery and coconut but one can do savoury versions with cottage cheese and another sweet version with khoya and nuts. The same filling can be used for making Poli (which normally has a filling of puran — chana dal and jaggery), which is traditionally eaten on the Gauri-Ganpati puja day,” says Kapoor.

Cottage cheese modaks
Steamed modak stuffed with cottage cheese