Modak gets a makeover this Ganeshotsav, from Biscoff to Kunafa flavours

The bond between Ganeshotsav and modak is well known. The moment Bappa arrives, every home fills with the aroma of ghee, coconut-jaggery filling and cardamom, taking many back to childhood memories. The wait to get the first modak as prasad right after the aarti still feels the same today.

But if someone now asks what is in your modak, the answer is no longer limited to just coconut and jaggery. The traditional shape of the modak may remain the same, but the world of flavours inside it is changing fast.

Despite the arrival of new flavours in the market, the popularity of the ukadiche modak has not dipped. A soft rice-flour covering, a generous coconut-jaggery filling inside, the aroma of cardamom, and ghee on top, this taste has become synonymous with Ganeshotsav. Some things do not need to be reinvented; keeping their traditional taste unchanged is their speciality. The ukadiche modak falls in this category.

To give the traditional taste a slightly different touch, cashew-mix and mawa-mix modaks are also finding favour with people. The cashew and mawa give the modak a soft, creamy, melt-in-the-mouth texture, bringing together the modak and traditional Indian sweets in a single bite.

The biggest experiment in the modak's changing form is the entry of dessert flavours famous around the world. Flavours such as Biscoff, hazelnut, kunafa pistachio and cookies and cream are now available in modak form. Besides these, Oreo, blueberry and red velvet flavours have also been given the shape of a modak. Jagdish Farsan's gourmet modaks include several such flavours. Because of this, after opening the sweet box, the question is no longer whether to eat a modak, but which one to taste first.

Even as foreign dessert flavours have entered the modak, traditional Indian sweets have not been left behind. The saffron pistachio modak combines the aroma of saffron with the nutty taste of pistachio. Similarly, the familiar motichoor laddoo, known since childhood, has also been given the shape of a modak, offering the taste of a familiar sweet in a new form.

Today's modak box no longer requires choosing between traditional and modern. The same box can have ukadiche modak, saffron pistachio, mawa and motichoor alongside gourmet options like Biscoff, kunafa or hazelnut. Some want the traditional coconut-jaggery taste, while others are keen to try new flavours, meaning every generation gets to pick the modak of its choice.

The filling has changed, the flavours have changed, and the way modaks are presented has also become modern. From Indian sweets to international desserts, many tastes have found their way into the modak, but the sentiment behind it remains the same. Bappa's arrival, offering him modak as naivedya, and then sharing the prasad with family, this tradition continues even today. That is why, whether it is coconut-jaggery inside the modak or Biscoff, hazelnut and pistachio, the joy of Ganeshotsav still opens up with that same sweet bite.