Ingredients: one and a half cups of pulao rice, half a cup of binni rice, 1 cup coconut, condensed milk to taste, a quarter cup of powdered milk, one cup of jala (sprouted) rice powder and salt to taste.

Method: Wash the rice and soak it in water for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 6 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of salt to the boil in a pot. When the water boils, add the drained rice and cook it soft over a medium flame. Stir it with a stick every so often so it does not stick to the pot. When the rice turns sticky, lower the flame further, cover and leave for five minutes. Then remove the lid and stir.

After 10 minutes, take the pot off the stove, sprinkle in the jala rice powder a little at a time and mash it in well with a masher. Press half a cup of jala rice powder neatly over the top to cover the rice. Now cover the pot with a thick cloth and leave it in a warm spot indoors for 12 hours.

After 12 hours, check whether the top of the rice has cracked. If it has, turn all the rice into a bowl. Before serving, mix the coconut, powdered milk and the rest with a spoon and sprinkle over the rice. Many people eat modhu bhat thinned down.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.