When people ask me if I am South Indian, I always say that I am half Mallu (Malayali) and half Maharashtrian. When they have a confused look on their face, I further clarify and tell them that my parents are from Kerala, but I have lived in Maharashtra all my life. Then they give me a thoughtful nod and I give them a thoughtful smile.

But this is the truth about most of the people in my generation. Our parents left Kerala looking for greener pastures, some, like my parents, found it in Pune and then formed their social circles and created a life here. Pune being such a culturally rich Maharashtrian city, I strongly believe that my identity is equally Mallu and Maharashtrian. I have equal loyalty towards Vada Pav and Dosha– yes, these two are my top favourite go-to food.

And this comfortable mélange you will find in all parts of my personality. I like Hindustani music as much as I like Carnatic music. I like the Dhol tasha as much as I like the Chenda. I like the Navari saree as much as I like the set saree. I like Marathi as much as I like Malayalam.

In a country as diverse as ours, such a cultural duality is a common thing – so common that we don’t even give it a second thought. I feel that’s the beauty of being an Indian.

But sometimes we have more in common than we think. Like there are similarities in our coastal cuisines. The same dish with a different name and a bit different looking is found in some other coastal states as well.

Like my favourite Modak. Every time the Ganapati festival is in its full fervour, I go on a binge-eating spree of the Modak. If you remove ghee as an ingredient from it, then it becomes vegan and it still tastes ravishing.

It is believed to be the favourite food of Ganapati and is served as prasad during the festival. 

Modak, which is made in Maharashtra, is the same as Kozhukatta, which is made in Kerala, just skip the ghee part. For the unversed, Kozhukatta is a steamed rice dumpling with the filling of coconut and jaggery with a hint of cardamom. And the best part is that it is vegan.

When you take a bite of this piping hot Kozhukatta, you first taste the soft mildly salty taste of the steamed rice covering and then tumbles out of it the moistened juicy coconut and jaggery mixture slowly revealing its richness. The subtle fragrance of cardamom then catches your attention. That mixture turns into a flavoursome delight in your mouth, and you can’t stop eating just one. And mind you, the taste lingers for a long time after you have finished eating it.

Eating a Modak or Kozhukatta simply takes me to an elevated state of being, no wonder it is Ganapati’s favourite.

A similar version is called Kozhukattai in Tamil Nadu, a flat version of it is Sihi Kadubu in Karnataka, Patholi in Goa, where the dough with filling is steamed inside turmeric leaves and in Kerala they steam the flat version in banana leaves.

We can call it by any name, but the soul satisfying quality of it remains the same. Give me Kozhukatta or Modak and I will enjoy it with equal delight and stay in that blissful state for a long time. Try it if you haven’t.