Eco-friendly Ganesha Idol using Rice Flour

Eco-friendly Ganesha, homemade idol using rice flour. Easy home-made Ganesha idol with modak flour, which can be immersed in a tub of water at home.

Every year , Ganesh pooja falls in the month of Shravan on the 4th day after new moon day. We usually buy fresh clay-idols for the pooja, since i don’t get fresh clay idols, i make my Eco-friendly Ganesha idol with rice flour and do the immersion at home in a tub of water and use that water for my plants.

I have never attempted to make my ganesha before, because me and art stand in opposite direction. But seeing many home-made eco-friendly ganesha idols, i too wanted to try one. 

How I made my Eco-friendly Ganesha

I have made mine using Rice flour/Kozhukattai maavu/dumpling flour. It is pretty easy to make and all you need is little bit creativity to decorate. Trust me , when me with zero creativity can do a Eco-friendly Ganesha with rice flour and make it look like one, anybody can do it!!! 

I named my rice flour Ganesha, The Spice Ganesha. You can say bye to him by dipping him any water body or immerse him in a bucket of water at home, which i normally do and use that water for my plants.

Important to remember

The idol we are making is of rice flour, and is suitable only for 2 days of pooja. Do not try this idol for 5 or 10 days of pooja.

The ingredients for making rice flour idol

• Rice flour, i have used modak flour. you can use any finely ground rice flour for making the Ganesha.
• Spices, i have used cardamom, peppercorns to decorate eyes and jewels of idol.
• Colors, i have used Vermilion and turmeric to color the idol. If you want you can use food colors too.

How to make it

• Make a dough using rice flour and boiling water, detailed instructions given in the Recipe box below.
• When the dough is warm enough to touch, collect and knead the dough into a ball.
• Keep a clean pooja plate to place the Ganesha. Now let us start. Hope the pictures are self-explanatory.

Keep a bowl of water mixed with little oil by your side, Wet your hands whenever you shape a piece of dough, slightly wet dough sticks better. 

First we will be making the tummy or the lower-body of the idol. Take an orange-sized dough ball for the tummy of Ganesha, place it on the plate. Place a tooth pick in the center to support the structure.

Take a little smaller ball for the head. And fix it on the tooth-pick.

Now the body of the idol is ready. We are now going to make the ears of the idol. Take two lemon sized dough balls to make the ear.

Shape the dough ball to look like a leaf. I flatten them first and pinch one of the corners together to look like a leaf.

Take a tooth-pick and break into two halves. place them by the side of the head to support the ears.

Insert the ear-shape into the tooth picks placed by the head-side to support them. This part might be a little tricky, as the shapes are bit odd to insert into the tooth pick.

Make sure the side that goes into the tooth-pick is a bit thick, this way it stays put in its place.

Next step is to make the legs of the idol. Make 2 logs of dough for the legs. Shape them both to look like a question mark.

I wanted the idol to look like it is seated with one leg crossed and another kept like a mountain. So, i placed right leg of the idol to look like a mountain and the left leg like he sitting crossed.

If you want the idol to be in a cross legged posture, then place both dough logs in a way they intersect each other towards the end.

Place 2 black peppercorns for the eyes.

Now let us make the crown for the idol. Take a small lemon-sized dough ball and shape it into a cone shape and place it on the head of the idol.

Now for the trunk, shape little dough to look like J

Place the J-shaped dough on the face, resembling the trunk of Ganesha.

Now for the hands, take 2 small marble-sized dough balls and flatten them to look like open palms. shape on ball like a spoon for the left-hand of Ganeshaand other like a spoon turned other way for right hand.

Place 4-5 small balls of dough on the left hand, to look like he is holding modagams.

Here your rice flour idol  is ready, decorate him as you wish. I have used vermilion and turmeric for the decoration, cardamom pods for the tusks and earrings.

I made a similar ganesha with tumeric added to the dough for my Ganesh pooja.

If you have tried this recipe and like it, give it a star rating or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #icampinmmykitchen and tagging me @priyasrinivasan
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