Ingredients
Makes 12 modaks. Scale using the Modak Calculator. Tap any ingredient to tick it off.
Method
Toast the poppy seeds
In a dry pan, toast poppy seeds on low heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly, until they turn slightly golden and begin to pop. Remove immediately. This step is not optional — raw poppy seeds have a chalky taste; toasted seeds have a warm, nutty flavour that lifts the entire filling.
Make the poornam
Melt jaggery with 2 tbsp water. Add coconut and cook on medium heat, stirring, for 6–7 minutes until dry. Add toasted poppy seeds, cardamom, dry ginger (if using), and nutmeg off the heat. Mix well. Cool completely.
Make the dough
Same method as ukadiche — boiling water, salt, ghee, rice flour all at once, stir, rest 5 minutes, knead 2–3 minutes. Keep covered.
Shape kudumulu
Andhra-style kudumulu is rounder and less sharply peaked than Maharashtra modak. Use 28g dough portions. Shape into a disc, add filling, bring edges up. The traditional Andhra pleat count is 3–4 wider pleats rather than 5–6 narrower ones. The peak is soft and rounded rather than sharp.
Steam 10–12 minutes
On banana leaf at medium-high heat for 10–12 minutes. The shell turns translucent and the surface feels firm but yields slightly when pressed. Rest 5 minutes.
Tips & Variations
Ganesh Chaturthi is called Vinayaka Chavithi (or Vinayaka Chaturthi) in Telugu tradition. The festival has enormous importance in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — public celebrations in Hyderabad rival those of Pune in scale. Kudumulu is offered alongside other traditional Telugu sweets.
Dry ginger powder (sonth) in the filling is an Andhra variation not found in Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu. It adds a warmth that complements the jaggery without being distinctly spicy — just a background note. Use ¼ tsp or omit if preferred.
Some Andhra families add 2–3 tbsp cooked chana dal to the filling alongside the coconut and poppy seeds — a variation that blends the Karnataka kadubu and Andhra kudumulu traditions. Worth trying.
Same as ukadiche — best the day of making. 2–3 days refrigerated in an airtight container.
About This Recipe
Kudumulu is Andhra Pradesh and Telangana's expression of the sacred steamed dumpling — and the poppy seeds in the filling are its unmistakable regional fingerprint. No other state uses poppy seeds in the modak filling as a standard ingredient, which means the first time you taste an authentic Andhra kudumulu, the flavour is distinctive and immediately placeable.
The Telugu word kudumulu is the plural of kudumu — and the plural form reflects the reality that this sweet is always made in quantity. You do not make one kudumulu. You make 21, or 101. The singular form barely exists in practice.
In Hyderabad, where Telugu and Maharashtrian food traditions overlap significantly, it is not uncommon to find both kudumulu and ukadiche modak on the same festival table — the family navigating its dual cultural inheritance through the prasad plate.