Sunday, October 18, 2009

diwali wishes : recipes of malpua and sooran ke shami kababs


Wishing all of you a happy festive season as it is quite late to wish you all for diwali. My diwali was very good as people gifted me so many valuable things, somebody prayed for me at the kaali temple, some more friends communicated without sounding like a formal diwali wishing, Mithi eating a small piece of malpua and understanding that it's prashad and the husband finally deciding that the lights (electric ones) are not that important for a happy diwali......all that time could be saved for being together........what could have been happier than this..

There was no rangoli....though I placed a terracotta urli with paarijat flowers and floating candles at the entrance ....lit the diyas, terracotta ones, and soaked into a quite diwali (quite?? it was very noisy outside with all the crackers...:)....as I told you, it was beautiful......

Coming to the the recipes now.....

Malpuas are kind of gulabjamun descendants, a banaras specialty.....the gulabjamun mixture is made a bit runny and fried like pancakes and soaked in syrup.....easy and yumm...

I had planned to make jalebis for diwali earlier but at the last minute I was reminded that I had made some khoya for diwali and that needed to be consumed.......no plans work for me you know..

Yam kababs are made every diwali as yam (the zamikand) is considered auspicious for diwali ...it is supposed that once planted it keeps growing by it's own and is never destroyed (due to it's bulbils and suckers).....we want laxmi to stay like this forever in our house :):)

ingredients for malpuas ..

khoya (made by reducing whole milk till it becomes a pasty granular mass) 1.5 cup
maida (all purpose flour) 3/4 cup
milk 1 cup or more, as required
baking powder 1 tsp
ghee for shallow frying ( about a 100 gm if using a nonstick pan)
sugar 300 gm or more if you want it more sweet
water 600 ml

procedure for malpuas

the khoya, the maida and the milk along with baking powder have to be blended together .....i used a hand blender for this , the batter should be like a pancake batter with some granules of the khoya visible....

boil sugar with water to make a thin syrup ....the syrup can be made a bit heavier if you want the malpuas to be sweeter...and sticky....keep this syrup ready ( warm) on the side when frying the malpuas ........



heat a tbsp of ghee in a wide nonstick pan and drop spoonfuls onto it to make small pancakes.......traditionally it is deep fried in a jalebi kadai) ......flip when small bubbles appear on top ...add some more ghee to fry them till well browned , and crisp......drain and dunk them into the syrup ....

fry another batch of malpuas and in the meantime remove the malpuas with a slotted spoon when they have soaked enough syrup........they will become soft after soaking the syrup.......arrange in a deep dish , pour some extra syrup into the dish as well ...the malpuas keep soaking the syrup later too........


repeat the process with the next batch of malpuas and garnish with slivered almonds and cashews........



they are best when served warm......keep well in the fridge but has to be warmed before serving........
enjoy..

ingredients for yam shami kababs

yam peeled and cubed 500 gm
chana daal or split chick peas 200 gms
salt to taste
turmeric 1 tsp
finely chopped green coriander leaves (more stems and a few leaves)1 cup
finely chopped ginger 3-4 tbsp
finely chopped green chillies 4-5 tbsp
black pepper powder 1 tbsp
special aromatic garam masala powder 1 tsp
ghee for frying ( no replacements) i used about 1 tbsp for frying 10 kababs for breakfast today
*corn meal if can't manage the kababs*

procedure for yam kababs

since this is a shami kabab , you have to treat you yam with some respect ...so what if it has not come from the shoulder of a goat...it's called elephant's foot anyway........treat it with respect and you get good yummy crumbly shami kababs .....i tell you whenever you will eat a mutton shami kabab you'll think about this one too.....i keep the procedure of this kabab similar to the mutton shami kabab...just the cooking time differs....

boil the first four ingredients with a cup of water into a pressure cooker till 2 whistles and let it cool.....
the mixture can be mashed well to make a paste...i used my hand blender to make it smooth....

one thing to note here is that you do not want your kabab mixture to become dry like a dough...it should look like a paste...actually it should be as soft as you can handle while making the kababs...it is tastier that way.....if you make the mixture dry and dough like to shape perfect tikkis....the tatse will suffer....

okay, if the mixture looks too gooyi , heat it over medium flame while stirring all the time to dry a bit and then keep it in the fridge...it will become manageable once it cools down to that temperature......yes, you have to make this mixture well ahead of time...it's worth....as you see i made it for diwali dinner and then i made it again today as a second round of breakfast after a fresh fruit salad.......

the kabab mixture keeps well in the fridge for a week if chopped things are not added to it...otherwise for 2 days maximum....

**take out the mixture when you need to make the kababs...now if you find the mixture too gooyi , you can add some *cornmeal* or makki ka atta......mix all the chopped ingredients and the powders and shape the kababs...


smear ghee in a nonstick pan over heat and drop spoonfuls ( yes you can use your hands too but you just have to drop blobs of the mixture into the pan) like this....


now take another spoon , dip in a bowl of water and smooth out the blobs to make flat kabab shapes....


the kababs need to be rough edged as to be crisp...drops of ghee are poured aside every kabab so that they get crisp without soaking all the ghee....flip when browned on one side...


serve hot with a fresh green chutny ( no sauce or other chutny is good enough)...lots of coriander greens , green chilies, a couple of garlic pods, salt and lemon juice....don't you love your mixie for this........:)


any leftover kababs can be wrapped into a wholewheat chapati with some chutny and salad and you have nice kathi rolls for dinner...


enjoy ...the diwali treat on your screen........:)

19 comments:

  1. Dear Sangeeta
    The dises look so terrific.
    Really great. Never had Yam Sammi Kebab..but once heard about it.Will try soon as the detailed instructions make me comfortable to handle.
    Malpuas are my most favorite sweet. This is bit different than many of the Malpua recipes I know or use. WIll make it soon.
    Many thanks for these recipes.
    Ushnish

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  2. Sangeeta, I'm here for the first time. Lovely mouth watering malpuas...which I like very much...and thanks for sharing your yam shami kababs.

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  3. just yesterday i thought of making malpua but felt lazy, but now seeing yours i def feel like trying this now itself...looks very tempting and delicious sangeetha, even the kababs, perfect snack and sweet dish for diwali...happy diwali....

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  4. Glad to read that you guys had a rocking diwali. I can imagine the sound...but to tell you the truth somehow I was missing all that noise and fun here and to think of it I hated crackers while in Delhi :)

    You made all that?? Gosh I just made Badam Barfi and Kheer!! two easy recipes I could think of in a jiffy!!

    Kisses to mithi and belated diwali wishes to you all

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  5. I have recently tasted malpua and completely fell in love with them...Both the dishes look yummy..

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  6. Happy Diwali to you too Sangeeta and to your whole family. It is always fun during Diwali time in India. Not so out here, though this year we decided to do a Diwali party and had fun. But still no firecrackers allowed so it wasn't the same.
    I have had malpuas a few times before so I know they are yummy. Never had yam shami kababs. LOL on treating the yam with respect. In Indore, I grew up eating elphant foot fries or garadu as we call them and they are yummy. So, yes, I will treat them with respect when I find them. :)
    As per my karanjis, I know the dough was loaded with butter, which is why I did not eat more than a couple. :)

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  7. Hi first time here you have a nice blog with Delicious recipes. both recipes are looking great Malpuas are my fav. dessert looks so tempting.

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  8. Those Kebabs would be my choice as I am better off a spicy person..yumm...but on festive times some sweet is unavoidable aint it..:)

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  9. Hey sangeeta
    Thanx a lot for visiting kothiyavunu and leading me to ur lovely space...
    Malpuas is new to me..I I haven't tasted..gr8 recipe...will try soon...see you often... :)

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  10. You are back with so many beauties. :-) Love malpua ... had no idea of yam kebabs. Gotta try. A thing called 'suran' is sold here ... is it the yam?
    Btw ... I made the wheat pancakes with your idea of not melting the jaggery. It was fun seeing them oozing out. Will post soon. :-)

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  11. Hi Sangeeta, the Malpuas are inviting me, I just love them. I have tried this version of making Kababs with the yam, they are simply too good. Faced a small accident at home and recovering out of it.
    You take care and love to the kido.

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  12. Hi Sangeetha, first time to ur blog. All recipes are good. Following uuu. Thanku for ur sweet comments....

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  13. Sageeta,

    Hope you had a great Diwali...belated wishes, dear.

    Thanks for your lovely comment and informimg me that you updated with my fav' yam kebab...I really love yam. I make vada, dahl and all. Kebab sounds much classic (one of my aunty used to utter often). Ghee, I wont compromise either. Pictures are very inviting.

    And Malpua...sounds interesting too. Maybe in South they do in a different way...I remember people usng bananas in malpua. You version sounds authentic, a must try one.

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  14. Both looks yummy and tempting. looks delicious.

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  15. Wow yummy Malpua & Yam kabab.looks good.Do visit my blog when u find time

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  16. I dont get this even colors... :-( mine gets red @ patches like kulcha... aap kaise karte ho... when i use 1 tbsp ghee its more like shallow fry... :-o and how long should i soak in syrup for the syrup to seep in properly...

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  17. If the malpua get patchy you can add some more ghee from the sides so that they get fried nicely... they need to be soaked just for 5-10 minutes in the syrup . They soak fast if they have been fried well , the surface becomes porous after frying them...if it is not patchy ...should be uniformly browned , a slightly darker lace like margin is an indication of perfect frying.

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  18. Hi
    Although I followed the recipe for Malpuas to the t and the end result was yummy to say the least but it had disintegrated as soon as I dipped it in the sugar syrup. Could you please tell me where I erred in the procedure? Even the dissolved pieces were to die for and hence I would like this to work.
    Thanks
    Ruchi

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