gudpaarey, gud waley shakkarpaarey | fried pastry coated with jaggery

Our Diwali has always been quite and this time was no exception. Yes we try and do the mandatory spring cleaning on the pretext of welcoming the Goddess Laxmi, get some earthen diyas and some tealight candles to light them on Diwali eve, and make some mithai for the prasad offering to Laxmi Ganesh puja. And that prasad offering is always a simple besan ka laddu and shakkarparey that my mother in law used to make.

Arvind loves these sweet treats that are made so rarely now, not that I don't like these but someone else's choices are greater excuse. Over the years I have realised that our traditional sweets are way more healthy than the industrially made desserts and pastries, even though the calorific value may not be less.

Here is all my effort that took the shape of some sweets and savouries. The white coloured trail mix is a popped rice and peanuts trail mix with a tempering of chillies, curry leaves, cumin and hint of turmeric just like my mother used to make. We get popped rice (called Kheel or dhaan ka lava) only during Diwali season and I try and make the most of this opportunity. This kheel ki namkeen is quite an old favourite of mine. More about that later.

Today I am sharing the recipe of jaggery coated shakkarparey. This is a deep fried pastry (fried dough) coated with fennel infused jaggery. It can be called as jaggery glazed fried cookies too.

I normally make these sugar coated shakkarparey but this time my brother came home and we started talking of the things we liked as kids. We were reminded of the jaggery coated miniature khaja (a deep fried flaky layered pastry) and a jaggery coated sev (finger shaped sticks made of chickpea flour) and of course these gudparey. You know we had a collective obsession about all things jaggery.

I changed my shakkarparey plan to gudparey conveniently and all of us loved them. When I posted the picture on Instagram someone asked for the recipe. The recipe in fact is quite simple but someone who wants to make it for the first time would need instructions. So here it is.

I made a lot of it, packed some for my brother and gave some to the house help and still have some to enjoy over a month. A couple of these is good enough to bring a rich taste. It is not like overly sugary stuff that makes you keep craving for it the whole day.

ingredients 
(make more than a kilo of gudparey)

500 gm maida (or atta)
80-100 gm ghee (for shortening)
cold (not chilled) water to knead the dough
300 gm jaggery (see *note)
3 tbsp or 50 ml water
1 tbsp fennel coarsely pounded
ghee for deep frying (about 500 gm total, about 200 gm gets used)

procedure

Rub the 100 gm ghee in the maida till it looks like breadcrumbs and binds together when you press a portion of the flour in your fist. Now add cold water slowly and knead in quick movements. You have to be careful not to overwork the dough, just let it get together in a ball. Overkneading doesn't allow the layers form in the shakkarparey.

Now divide the dough into 4-5 parts and roll out 1 cm thick sheet. Cut the sheet into bite sized diamond shapes. Repeat till you use up the whole dough.

Heat ghee and deep fry the diamond shaped shakkarparey in batches. It has to be fried on low flame so the layers of the shakkarparey open up while frying.

Once all the diamond shaped shakkaparey are fried start working with the jaggery.

Chop the jaggery and mix with water and fennel in a wide and deep kadhai. Cook till the jaggery melts and starts frothing. You have to make *teen taar ki chashni* which means a thick syrup that is ready to crystallise. There is a way to check this stage of the syrup.

In the beginning when you let the jaggery syrup drop from the stirring ladle it drips in one thick stream, later it forms 2 thinner streams and when you cook it further for a few more minutes it starts making three thin streams dripping off the ladle, *teen taar ki chashni*. This is when you have to work quickly.

Pour the syrup over the fried shakkarparey and start mixing them in soft but quick movements. In about a couple of minutes the syrup starts getting dry and each diamond shaped shakkarpara gets separated from each other. Let it cool and then pack in air tight container after the initial round of tasting.

We were four of us to do the tasting round this time. What pleasure when there are more people to enjoy the food being cooked. Festivals are just about cooking and eating together, praying together and welcome the changing season.

*Note : I have practice of making these and other jaggery or sugar coated snacks like this jaggery coated almonds, so I can handle an even and thin coating of jaggery over these. If you are making it for the first time it may not get evenly coated but there is nothing to worry about, just use more jaggery and keep stirring the shakkarparey or nuts being coated till they are all separated from the sticky drying jaggery syrup. The extra jeggery will remain in the pan that can be used to make some other dessert or simple maleeda.

easy diwali mithai : kaddu ka kalakand or pumpkin kalakand recipe

My Diwali greetings to you all with this easy recipe of pumpkin kalakand. May you find more light, fight darkness successfully and lead others towards light too. Diwali brings that kind of vibes if we are open to it. And there is some mithai, some diyas and candles after a mandatory spring cleaning exercise. The woollies will be out soon and we will soon eat some chooda matar with the fresh tender green peas. Every banarasi starts dreaming of chooda matar breakfasts as soon as there is the first sign of winter.

I have been away for quite a long time, was traveling for the good part of it and then got caught up with pending work that had to be finished on priority. Thank you for writing back to me and let me know you all were missing my posts here. I shall try and write more regularly and bring the food we love. Will come back with storied from Mysore too.

I hope you would like this pumpkin kalakand. Kalakand is a soft cheesecake like dessert with granular solids of lightly curdled milk if I have to describe it, but the good thing is that kalakand can be made with many shortcut methods with very minute difference in the resulting taste and texture. Since the milk is reduced first and curdled lightly in the traditional method of making kalakand the texture is richer with the traditional method. But then we make the recipes suitable for a modern lifestyle, to be able to cook them in lesser time, make them healthier etc etc. and try and replicate the original.

This short cut kalakand recipe that also includes some good fiber and carotenes is very close to the texture of original kalakand with added taste of ripe pumpkin and a hint of nutmeg. I had made an apple kalakand (in microwave) last year and many of my friends and readers had made that at home within a couple of days. And I remember how I kept getting requests regarding how the recipe can be adjusted to stove top method and if one could replace the milk powder with something else.

In the last year I have made that apple kalakand several times both in microwave and a heavy bottomed pan and recently I taught that recipe to the volunteer Chefs at ISKON Mysore as well. Even they wanted an alternate recipe of such an easy and tasty mithai so I decided to work on another kalakand recipe that is fairly easy and takes a little more time than the apple kalakand.

Using grated pumpkin was on my mind for some time and I had to do it. I did two trials and found that precooking the grated pumpkin works better. I microwaved a cup of grated pumpkin for 2 minutes before using it for kalakand and used freshly made paneer for it. Minimal sugar to sweeten it as always.

Total time that this recipe takes would be around 30 minutes of grating pumpkin, making paneer (chhena) and cooking again and about an hour of refrigeration to set the kalakand properly.

ingredients
(for 16 regular sized kalakand)

grated pumpkin (use the orange fleshed ripe pumpkin) 1 cup packed
whole milk (6%) 1 kilo
fresh cream 3 tbsp
lime juice 2 tbsp diluted with 2 tbsp water
nutmeg powder 1 pinch
sugar to taste. I used 4 tbsp
chopped pistachios to garnish (or any other nuts)

procedure

Microwave the grated pumpkin for 2 minutes or cook them till they get limp and soft but not mushy. Keep side.

Heat the milk in a large pot till a thin film of fat starts forming on top. Wait till the point where the milk is just about to boil. Add the lime juice 1 tsp at a time at this point and keep stirring the milk. Stop adding the lime juice as soon as you see curdled milk and clear whey.

Line a strainer with muslin and keep it over another pot to collect whey. Pour the milk into the strainer and let the whey separate (the whey can be used to knead bread dough). Collect the milk solids and crumble it using a potato masher nicely.

Now place this crumbled paneer (or chhena) into a pan along with the half cooked grated pumpkin and sugar and cook for about 5 minutes on medium flame. It would release some water and start drying up. Add the fresh cream and nutmeg powder together and cook till it is all dry but moist.

Empty the contents on a greased tray or plate and flatten the mixture using a flat knife. Make the edges smooth and shape it so you can cut uniform pieces. Or just use a suitable square dish to spread the mix. Sprinkle chopped nuts and press them so they stick well.

Refrigerate this plate for an hour or so. Cut pieces and serve as required. This kalakand stays well in the fridge for 4 days easily. Keep it in an airtight container lined with butter paper.

The texture of this kalakand is crumbly as it should be but it binds well and doesn't break into your hands. If it breaks while lifting it means it needs some more cooking so cook it again and let it dry a bit more and let it set again.

You can add any spices of your choice to this kalakand as pumpkin takes spices really well in desserts. You would be surprised at how well it works with this kalakand. A mild hint of nutmeg and a deep rich taste of pumpkin with taste and texture of a regular kalakand. That's how this pumpkin kalakand tastes.

Make this diwali healthier with home made mithai I must add. We never buy any mithai during festivals as there is a lot of spurious stuff added to them during season of high demand.

Ever wonder how much milk production do we do in the country not to disrupt regular milk supply and still convert the world into a big mithai shop during festivals?

hare chane ki gujhia, chukandar wali gujhia and more colours in my food this holi...

Hare chane ki gujhia is not a new recipe invented by me, I have tasted it in Banaras around holi festivities many a times. Hara chana (tender green garbanzo beans) is a seasonal delight around this time of the year and many enterprising home cooks use it in many different ways. I have had burfis, halwas, gujhia and stuffed parathas made with hara chana apart from the nimona, ghugni and alu chane ki subzi. I have known some really creative home cooks and more importantly, I have remembered all that I have had as good food in the past. I remember how people would be scared to eat any green gujhia on the occasion of holi fearing it might be laced with bhang. Some of those really were. You never knew. You can disguise bhang in hare chane ki gujhia well and no one would get to know.

Incidentally, hara chana is also called 'hora' or 'horha' in the Hindi heartland and the name is linked to 'hori' which is the vernacular name of the festival holi. The whole mature shrubs of chickpeas are fired along with the 'holika dahan' on the eve of holi and the char grilled chickpeas are distributed as prasad. So 'hora' is the much loved produce related closely with 'hori', a gujhia made using this produce is not much of a surprise.

This time when I was feeling lazy about making gujhia and kept procrastinating till the last day, the thought of colourful gujhia made me get going with the ingredients. I made instant khoya from milk powder in microwave, mixed a bit of grated beetroots to the regular nuts, raisins and khoya mixture to make a red gujhia stuffing. And then I made use of the hara chana to make a green stuffing as well. It was fun to make people keep guessing about the stuffing as we had all gathered at my brother's place for holi. My nieces had a good time gobbling up more gujhias that had holi colours in them. Or so they thought.

For the red gujhia, 1/2 cup of grated beetroot was sauteed in a tsp of ghee and then added to 300 gm khoya and more chopped nuts and raisins, grated dry coconut etc to make the regular gujhia stuffing. Rest of the procedure was the same as these gujhia. The only change I did in the beetroot stuffing is, I changed the cardamom flavouring in usual gujhia to a combination of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon flavours. These spices complemented the beets flavours really well.

For the green gujhia I made a coarse paste of 250 gm of hara chana, sauteed it with 1 tbsp ghee till it becomes a little dry and darker green. Doing it on low flame in a thick base kadhai helps in getting the right consistency in about 10 minutes. Then I added 1 cup of fine grated dry coconut (kopra), 3/4 cup of sugar and mixed everything well. Cardamom powder and finely chopped pistachios were added for flavours. The remaining procedure of the pastry dough, rolling and stuffing the gujhia was the same as this recipe.

And I also baked some gujhia this time too, I actually made gujhia 3 times this season, but all of them got over really quickly. My dad loved the baked ones I made without any added sugar. The pastry dough was kneaded using fresh malai and the total fat content was minimal and yet a nice rich taste in the final baked gujhia. Even I liked those as I never enjoy having too much sugar, the natural sweetness of khoya is enough for my taste buds. Try doing that next time you make gujhias and see how you like them.

modak, patholi, patole or pitha : a steamed rice dumpling with coconut jaggery stuffing, wrapped in turmeric leaves...

Haldi patra pitha for bengalis, patholi for Konkanis and patole for Maharashtrians, this wonderfully aromatic steamed sweet stuffed dumpling is something that definitely evolved in the oriental-tropical world. You would see a Kaa noom sword side in Thailand which is another variation of the same rice dumpling. How food connects the world.

Steamed desserts have a certain charm to them. Especially if the steamed desserts are made of rice with a coconut and jaggery stuffing. I don't know if you have tried any of those modaks and pithas but I took to them like fish takes to water as soon I got introduced to these sweet nothings. These were not made at my mother's place although a steamed round modak was made occasionally. I learnt this turmeric leaf wrapped modak or pitha on Sanjeev Kapoor's show more than a decade ago and steamed this aromatic treat the same day. There have been many repeats since then. That I grow turmeric in my garden helps, else you would have to get hold of some turmeric leaves if you want this subtle aroma.

This year interestingly, I couldn't replant my turmeric tubers and was missing having them. So when I saw turmeric growing in the backyard of a friend's place I immediately got a few for myself. That greedy for food I am. Made these the very next day.

The recipe is simple and you can make this dumpling by using raw rice paste as this patole recipe, but I made it with a cooked rice dough because I wanted the taste of ukdiche modak redolent with the aroma of turmeric leaves. And that's what I did.


To make the rice flour dumpling this way.. Cook the rice flour with twice the amount of water. For a cup of rice flour you need 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt. Boil the water and salt in a pan and dump the rice flour at once into it as soon as the water starts boiling. DO NOT stir, cover the pot and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. Take the pan off heat, open the lid and holding the pan with a mitten clad left hand, whisk the rice flour vigorously with right hand. The whole process takes about 10 minutes for this quantity. Use a wire whisk for convenience.

Now mix this lumpy dough with the help of a sturdy spatula or spoon, till the mixture becomes smooth and looks like a malleable dough. You would be able to make small balls out of it as soon as it is colder.

You can make the stuffing in the meantime. Half a fresh coconut peeled, sliced and coarsely shredded in food processor, added with jaggery to taste is cooked till everything incorporates together. I microwaved it for 2 minutes. And I used a raw rich brown sugar which made my work easy.

Now spread the clean turmeric leaves, grease them with ghee and flatten a rice dough ball over it. Place a generous amount of coconut jaggery mix over it and fold it nicely so the dumpling becomes half moon shape.

A little bit of leaked stuffing is not a problem, as the turmeric leaf is going to wrap around the dumpling.

 Shape and wrap all dumplings and place them all on a ghee greased plate. I used a ceramic plate as I was microwaving them all together. You can use a perforated steel plate if you are steaming the dumplings in steamer.

It needs to be microwaved covered so I normally cover the plate with an inverted bowl. These required a 5 minute microwaving time. Just go by how many or how big your dumplings are, and a little raw dumplings wont be a problem since everything is cooked anyways.

 But steaming them for some time helps the dumpling to hold better. The rice starches settle down to hold the stuffing better and you can pick up the patholi or pitha in your hands to have a bite.

 This was heavenly. The turmeric leaf marks look really gorgeous.

How simple cooking techniques can make food so exotic, I wonder how our ancestors experimented with simple ingredients to cook such wonderful food. The slightly salted rice dumpling with a rich sweetness of jaggery and aroma and taste of coconut is something that satiates the senses immensely.

Please note that a modern baked dessert with all the butter, sugar and flour would NOT make you feel sated, it would make you want another sweet once the multiple helping dessert is over. With these modaks, you eat many of them and feel blissfully sated. And do not crave for more sweet once they are over. There is a reason for it. Real food makes your system behave well.

PS : Note that the turmeric leaves need to be cleaned really well, soak them, rinse them and wipe the leaves both sides with a clean muslin twice. The urban dust on them is not easy to get rid of.

Singhade ka halwa or singhade ki katli | vrat ka khana..

Singhada is the Hindi name for Water Chestnuts.

A halwa made with the flour of this dried nut is a delicacy in the central parts of India. These nuts are a good source of potassium and fiber, overall rich in carbohydrates. The Chinese use this nut (a false nut) in various ways, I have seen them making a slurry of it's flour and some sweet fudge like dish in a TV show but didn't remember the name of the dish. There should be a Chinese recipe similar to this halwa somewhere. Let me know if you have come across any. I would keep looking for and let you all know whenever I succeed.

The dried Water Chestnuts are sold in the market during Navratri in my part of the world. The fresh ones are available in season only.

I used to buy them whole and get the flour made in my trusted mixie. Milled at home, the flour is a lovely white color, a fresh aroma and the best taste possible. The flour available in the market is not always good quality and dull in color and almost no aroma of water chestnuts. It has a specific nutty aroma which enhances when you fry or roast the flour with ghee. So get the whole water chest nut if possible, break them into smaller pieces using a mortar and pestle and then mill them in whatever machine you have. Once broken in smaller bits, the dried water chestnuts become very easy to powder.

When buying Water Chestnut flour, take care to watch the color, it should be light and slightly aromatic. Discard the flour if it smells rancid.

ingredients...
(for about a dozen squares)
Singhade ka atta (Water Chestnut flour) 150 gm
ghee 2 tbsp or more if you wish
sugar 2 tbsp (or more if you like it sweeter, my version is mildly sweet)
water 1 cup approximately

procedure...

Heat the ghee in a kadai and tip in the Singhada flour in it.

Start on a low flame and keep stirring the flour and ghee mixture till the flour becomes pinkish brown and there is a pleasant nutty aroma wafting from the kadai.

Some lumps of flour may be difficult to break if you are using less ghee like I did, just use your spatula to break them and keep stirring continually for about 5-8 minutes for this quantity.

 Lower the flame better the results, though it might take some more time. Using a thick base kadai helps.

Now add water and sugar and start mixing the resulting slurry in circular motion.

It would feel like a batter first and then would start getting thicker, resisting the circular motion of your spatula. Go on mixing and breaking any lumps that might have been left.

The above picture shows the halwa still needs to be mixed and cooked for a couple of more minutes. It takes about 3-4 minutes after adding water for this quantity.

Once the halwa gets thicker, still not looking set, and has a sheen to the surface, pour the contents in a steal plate or thaali.

Pat the lump of halwa with the spatula to flatten it. Wait for a couple of minutes till it gets set.

The water chestnut flour has a tendency to set like jelly when cooked with water. So this halwa would set itself in the shape of the plate used. Cut in desired shape and serve warm or at room temperature.

This halwa squares keep well in the fridge but do not taste very good when chilled. So warm them in your microwave when required.

These are great snacks for kids too and can be good for their tiffin boxes as there is no fear of leaking liquids and there is much ease in handling this kind of food.

Have you ever tasted this halwa?

This is a regular feature of UP kitchens during Navratri. People have it with a glass of milk for breakfast or for any meal of the day as there are many restrictions and some people don't even eat any kind of salt. So this halwa made with minimal sweetening becomes a staple food for some.

The halwa can be made even without a trace of ghee. Just roast the flour without any ghee almost the same way demonstrated here, on low flame and then proceed with the next steps. The Water chestnut flour gels well when poured in a plate and you get perfect squares or diamonds.

Ghee makes is richer and a little complex in taste. This halwa is anyways a simple recipe to put together. With minimal ingredients.

Do not use Cardamom or any flavoring spice in this halwa, as the nutty flavor of the roasted Water Chestnut flour will be overpowered. 

And you wouldn't want that if you have ever tasted a good Singhade ka halwa.

Another Water Chestnut halwa made using the fresh green nuts is a much flavorful recipe. I make that one often whenever we get fresh Singhada. You can see the recipe posted here on this blog.

Some folks I know observe the fasting days just for these goodies.

Would you do that too ?

Til gud, Tilgul, Til ka laddoo or Til ki chikki | the desi Sesame brittle with loads of ginger

Til ki chikki is one winter treat I always look forward to. And I amke it minimally sweet just as my dadi used to make them. Yes, this is one sweet treat where you don't have to worry about the portion size at all. The sweetening is so minimal and that too with natural brown sugar or jaggery, that it's just a hint of sweet and you get a rich nutty taste of sesame all the way. A rich taste that satiates big time.

This recipe always brings back memories of my grandmother. She used to make huge quantities of this Til ke laddoo and it used to be the happiest of the times. My mother never made these but I used to watch my grandmother make them perfectly year after years, roasting the sesame, bubbling the jaggery and then mixing them together before binding them into laddoos (balls) which was the toughest task as the hot mixture would hurt the palms and the sticky nature of hot jaggery would make it really difficult to roll the balls. She would wet her hands in cold water n make small balls tirelessly. She was the most happy when she made such treats for us. Worth mentioning that she lived a hundred and six years all because of healthy food, active life and a very positive attitude towards life that she had. Fond memories.

I started making these laddoos as soon as a started missing them in winters. That was just after we got married 13 years ago. The husband loves all types of sesame and jaggery preparations going by the names like Gajak from western UP, Til ki patti from eastern UP, Tilkut from Bihar and Tilgul from Maharshtra and Til-mungfali ki patti found all over the country I guess. He used to bring home all such sesame brittle in large quantities and I would always tell him they were not good as I had tasted better things at home.

As a new homemaker I was a bit apprehensive to try such a difficult looking recipe but my craving for that nostalgic taste and the husband's love for everything Til and Gud made me try this in my own little kitchen. The first attempt was not that great as I could not bind the balls perfectly and almost half of the mixture got cold and had to be eaten like a crumble. The taste was perfect as I have an innate sense of bringing the  flavors right. After a little practice I learnt how to bind the balls well and what else to do when  want to save time. I started making bars with the mixture.

ingredients...

500 gm white sesame
200-250 gm jaggery (I use 200 gm or even less)
2-3 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger root
1 tbsp of plain water (sometimes I even use about 100 ml water and cook the syrup longer*)
ghee to grease the baking tray or plate

procedure...

Dry roast the sesame in a pan on low to medium flame, stirring it all the while. It will be ready in about 10 minutes or as soon as a nutty aroma starts emanating and the color of the white sesame turns a nice golden brown.

Now mix the grated or curled (using a paring knife) jaggery and grated ginger in a heavy pan or kadhai. I use a trusted iron kadhai or a thick base aluminium one for this.
If the jaggery is in small pieces it can be used directly.

Heat these ingredients on high flame with just a tbsp of water and watch the melting of jaggery. The jaggery and ginger mix would cook together, first melting to make a syrup and then bubbling to become a frothy mass.See the picture to get an idea. the mixture gets frothy and smells of caramel and ginger. Looks glossy and makes a string when you drop it through the spatula.

This is the time when you have to tip in all the roasted sesame to it and mix quickly so every grain of sesame is coated with the sticky syrup of jaggery. It is quite an easy thing to do as the minute seeds of sesame get mixed really well. This has to be done quickly and then is the time to either wet your hands with chilled water and shape small balls with the medium hot mixture or to make bars with it.

If you find it difficult to shape balls you can always grease a baking tray or plate with ghee and spread this mixture over it evenly. Press the mixture firmly and smoothen it using a cold and greased knife so it becomes smooth. Here I used a silpat lined baking tray and pressed it using a wooden block. Use butter paper for lining the tray or plate for convenience.

Let the brittle cool down completely, invert on a wooden work surface, peel of the silpat (or butter paper) and cut in desired shapes, using a sturdy knife.

 It makes a really tasty and healthy sweet treat even if it doesn't bind well into bars or balls. You can enjoy it like a loose crumble. As it is or sprinkled over your oatmeal or any other porridge breakfast.

It is a typical winter delicacy. Made mostly during Makar Sankranti...but can be enjoyed all through winters.

Binding the sesame seeds with minimal quantity if jaggery needs a lot of practice but it's worth practicing this. It is not a very time consuming process if you make a small quantity like this. Took me half an hour to make a dozen balls and nine huge bars this time.

A new learner might need some more time and may be some more jaggery to start with. You can use as much jaggery as you want. Going up to equal to sesame.

I wrap these bars or squares in butter paper if we are traveling during winters as it makes a nice snack while walking and shopping.... peeling off the butter paper and smelling these bars makes one hungry at once. 

Posting this recipe while we are still enjoying our winters so you can try if still wanting to get a healthy Calcium and iron boost. This is essentially winter food , rich and nutritious.

Sesame is nourishing food. Include it in curries if you don't do it already. Or make chutneys with it.