Ingredients
Makes 12 modaks. Scale using the Modak Calculator. Tap any ingredient to tick it off.
Method
Reduce the strawberry puree
Blend strawberries until smooth. Cook the puree in a small pan over medium heat for 8–10 minutes, stirring frequently, until reduced to about 60–70g — thick, jammy, and intensely flavoured. The colour deepens to a vivid ruby-red. Cool completely.
Make the white chocolate ganache
Chop white chocolate. Heat cream to just below simmering. Pour over chocolate, rest 2 minutes, stir smooth. Add butter and stir until glossy.
Combine
Fold in the cooled reduced strawberry puree, cardamom, and lemon juice. Stir gently. The mixture turns a vivid pale pink-red. The fragrance is pure strawberry and cream.
Cool and mould
Cool at room temperature 20 minutes until thick. Fill greased silicone moulds. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Unmould and garnish
Unmould carefully. The modaks will be pale pink. Dust with freeze-dried strawberry powder for a more vivid colour if desired. Press a small slice of fresh strawberry into the peak of each.
Tips & Variations
Maharashtra's hill station Mahabaleshwar (Western Ghats, 1,372m) is famous for its strawberry cultivation — the cool climate produces berries that are small, intensely flavoured, and far more tart than hothouse varieties. January–April is the peak season. If available, Mahabaleshwar strawberries transform this recipe.
Frozen strawberries work well — thaw completely, drain excess liquid, then blend and reduce. The flavour is slightly less bright but the colour is often more vivid. Strawberry preserve (jam) can also work — use 3 tbsp preserve instead of fresh puree and skip the reduction step.
This pairing is underused in Western cooking but well understood in Indian: the floral warmth of cardamom and the tart brightness of strawberry complement each other perfectly. Trust the cardamom here.
About This Recipe
Strawberry modak is Mahabaleshwar's contribution to the modak tradition — the famous Western Ghats strawberry town has been producing fruit since the British period, and the marriage of those strawberries with the Maharashtrian modak form is as natural as the geography that produced both. The vivid pink of the fresh modak on a festival plate is both immediately festive and immediately local.