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.

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.

puran poli made easy | step by step recipe of puran poli

A sweet stuffed flat bread that gives the cinnamon roll a run for its' money. That is puran poli for you, a step by step recipe so you can make this decadent soft flat bread for yourself..

Stuffed with a delicate mixture of chickpea and jaggery and lightly spiced with cardamom, rolled out to make a flaky crust encasing a melting goodness of a uniquely sweet filling. As simple as that.

This sweet stuffing is so tasty that it defies the fact that it is made using a simple and cheap ingredient. Actually when I made it for my MIL when I was a newly wed, she guessed it to be khoya and jaggery. The texture of the chickpea cooked with jaggery or sugar becomes almost like khoya and given the fact that a certain khoya paratha was a family favorite there, this sweet puran poli fell in the same category immediately.

I like my puran poli stuffed with a melt in the mouth kind of filling and not a dry crumbling type which makes it tough to swallow the poli without a slug of milk. I have a similar reservation about a certain daal ki puri too which is made with a savory stuffing of chickpea. This melt in the mouth kind of filling is not that tough to make my dear friends. Actually a lot easier than the dry filling. Let's see how to make the filling of puran poli....

ingredients...
(makes about 10-12 puran polis)
for the filling..
chana daal (split chickpea) 1 cup
jaggery powdered 3/4 cup (i used unrefined brown sugar)
green cardamom 2 nos.
water 2 cups
for the pastry..
whole wheat flour 1.5 cup approximately (depends upon how much filling you can stuff in each poli, it is a skill to stuff more filling in a small ball of dough)
pinch of salt
water to knead a dough

procedure for the filling...

Boil the split chickpea in pressure cooker along with the water indicated.
Cook for 7-8 minutes after the first whistle, lowering the flame after the first whistle.
Let the cooker cool down, open the lid and add the jaggery to the cooked daal.

Now cook the daal along with jaggery till the mixture gets a bit thick (about 5 minutes).

It is time to blend the mixture now. A hand held stick blender is a useful device for such things and helps in blending the mixture right inside the pot. I used the stick blender but the mixture can be transferred to the food processor to be blended smooth.

Return the mixture back to the cooker, if doing it in a food processor and continue to cook for about 5 more minutes to condense the mixture. Transfer to a bowl .

The mixture still looks a little loose consistency to make a chapati filling. But the secret to a melt in the mouth kind of filling is this consistency of the filling mixture. Almost like molten chocolate.

It has to be kept in the fridge so it gets a little harder and manageable when cold. It will be easier to stuff inside the poli after this, but when the poli is roasted on the pan the filling will again become soft and melting kind.

Look how it looks after a half an hour rest in the fridge. It is a small portion and needs lesser time in the fridge. For large quantities you will need to keep it longer in the fridge.

As I said, stuffing the mixture inside the poli is a skill but a few pointers can work wonders if you follow them carefully. I am not uploading any pictures of the stuffing process as the instructions will be enough to understand and also because the hands get really messy and clicking pictures during stuffing is not a possibility.

Just follow the instructions and note the pointers.

procedure for the pastry...

Knead a dough exactly when required, kneading enough to make it soft and elastic and a little softer than roti dough. Refrigerated dough does not behave well with a meting type filling.

The consistency of the dough should be exactly like the filling, so if the filling is soft, the dough should be as soft, or just a bit harder than that.

Use finer dusting flour to roll the poli, using maida for dusting is a good option as whole wheat flour does not stretch as much as maida.

Also, if you are making puran poli for the first time, use maida instead of whole wheat flour to make the dough as it will be easier to roll with such a tricky filling.


Pinch a small portion of the dough, make a ball and then make a depression in the middle to shape it like a bowl. Now spoon out a bigger portion of filling and place inside the dough bowl, stretch the edges and seal the bowl to make a ball again.

Use some dusting and flatten the ball with your fingers on the rolling board first before rolling it with the help of rolling pin. Some of the filling mixture may look like being exposed and it enhances the taste but take care not to let the filling leak out of the pastry. A thin even layer of pastry over a rich filling is what you have to work for.

Carefully lift the poli and flip it over the hot pan. Roast both sides till pinkish brown patches are formed and the poli is cooked through. Apply little ghee after taking the poli off the heat.

 Repeat to make more polis and keep them in a butter paper lined container. Serve hot.

See how the filling is exposed and yet held up together inside thin layer of pastry. A right consistency of the dough makes it possible and rolling it with soft even hands is also critical. The taste will anyways be great with such a flavorful filling but if the poli is rolled perfectly it will make the effort worth.

Such a dark color of the filling is due to the dark brown colored unrefined sugar I used. This kind of filling makes a really nice and soft puran poli whose puran doesn't get crumbly and scatter in the plate. It sticks to the pastry and melts in the mouth when you take a bite.

Use of whole wheat for the pastry and a dark brown colored filling makes a rustic looking puran poli, but the taste will blow your mind away.

We have always liked it this way, the way we were introduced to this dish in younger times.

Puran poli had come to our house through a marathi friend of my younger sister and this is the way they used to make it. We adopted it and it stayed with us the same way.

Leftovers polis reheated in the microwave are great for breakfast with a glass of milk or as a meal with a bowl of fresh yogurt Although it goes well with some sweet and sour kind of pumpkin curry too, we always try and have it in more than one ways whenever I make it....

The puran (filling) keeps well in the fridge and a freshly made dough is all needed to make fresh polis anytime.

Have you tried any flat bread with a sweet filling? Some friends tell me it tastes great with fresh coconut milk. I am yet to try that.