Ingredients
Makes 12 modaks. Scale using the Modak Calculator. Tap any ingredient to tick it off.
Method
Reduce the lychee pulp
Blend lychee flesh until smooth. Pour into a small pan and cook over medium-low heat 5–7 minutes until reduced by half — the pulp becomes more concentrated and jammy. Cool completely.
Make the white chocolate ganache
Chop white chocolate finely. Heat cream to just below simmering. Pour over chocolate, rest 2 minutes, stir smooth from centre outward. Add butter and stir until glossy.
Combine
Off the heat, add cooled reduced lychee pulp, cardamom, and rose water to the ganache. Stir gently — the mixture will turn a very pale pink. The fragrance is extraordinary.
Cool and mould
Cool at room temperature until thick and spoonable — about 20 minutes. Fill greased silicone modak moulds. Refrigerate 1 hour until completely firm.
Unmould and garnish
Unmould carefully. Press a dried rose petal into the surface of each modak. The pale pink dome with a rose petal is visually beautiful. Serve chilled — lychee flavour is most pronounced cold.
Tips & Variations
Fresh lychees are available May–July in India. Outside season, use canned lychee — drain the syrup, blend, and reduce. The canned version gives a slightly less delicate but still very good result.
Lychee has a natural rose-adjacent floral note. The 1 tsp rose water in this recipe amplifies that connection — but do not increase it further. The lychee flavour is delicate and rose water can overpower it easily.
4–5 days refrigerated. The reduced lychee has less moisture than raw fruit, so the ganache is stable. Keep refrigerated — lychee modak softens quickly at room temperature.
About This Recipe
Lychee modak is the most delicate of the seasonal fruit modak series — the white chocolate ganache provides richness while the lychee adds a floral, tropical fragrance that is unlike any other fruit in the collection. The natural pairing of lychee and rose water (both floral, both cooling in the Ayurvedic sense) creates a modak that feels designed for summer festivals — light, fragrant, and immediately summery.