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Authentic festive flavours

Last Updated 04 August 2017, 21:09 IST

As the festive season kicks in, our sweet cravings also seem to be on an all-time high. If you are tired of the same old barfis, laddoos and kheer, chef Vikas Singh gives us a new set of traditional recipes to make the occasion of Raksha Bandhan sweeter. Whether it is an authentic Rajasthani ghewar or a simple and luscious badam halwa, you don’t have to run to the neighbourhood mithaiwala. Indulge your sweet tooth with some authentic, homemade fare.


Ghewar
Ingredients: 3 cups of maida; a cup of ghee; 3 to 4 ice cubes; 4 cups of water; half a cup of milk and 1 kg ghee for deep frying For the syrup: 1 and ½ cups of sugar and a cup of water. For the garnish: 1 tsp of powdered cardamom; 1 tbsp of chopped almonds and pistachios; 1 tbsp of saffron-infused milk and silver vark.

Method: Prepare sugar syrup of one-thread consistency. Take solidified ghee in a large wide bowl. Add milk, flour and a cup of water. Mix these to make a smooth thin batter. Take a cylindrical aluminium or steel container. The height should be at least 12 inches with a diameter of 5-6 inches. Fill half of the container with ghee. Heat it. When the ghee is smoking hot, take a 50 ml glass full of batter. Pour in the centre of the container, on the ghee, slowly in one continuous thread-like stream. Allow the foam to settle. Pour one more glassful in the hole formed in centre. When the foam settles again, loosen the ghewar with an iron skewer. Lift it carefully and place it on a wire mesh to drain. Dunk the entire ghewar in the sugar syrup, remove and keep aside on the mesh to drain the excess syrup. Keep a vessel or a plate under the mesh and pour some more syrup evenly all over the ghewar. Cool it, and garnish with the cardamom, nuts, saffron milk and vark.

Shakarpara
Ingredients: A cup of maida; a pinch of powdered saffron; ½ tsp of ghee; 2 pods of green cardamom (powdered); 250 ml of refined oil and half a cup of water.
Method: Combine ghee and maida with little water, and knead into a hard dough. Roll small pooris out of this dough, and cut these into desired shapes (squares or triangles). Heat oil in a pan and fry these over medium flame. Once fried, place them on a paper napkin so that the extra oil is absorbed. Now, add little water to sugar and place it in a kadhai over medium flame. Add saffron powder to this and simmer till it turns thick and sticky. Remove and keep the syrup aside to cool. Now, add the fried squares and gently immerse them in the syrup. Once they are evenly soaked, remove them and transfer to a plate. Sprinkle cardamom powder on these. Serve at once.

Badam Halwa
Ingredients: Half a cup of almonds (soaked in water for 30 minutes); ¼ cup of milk; 1 ½ tbsp of ghee; ¼ cup of sugar; 2 tbsps of saffron milk; ¼ tsp of cardamom powder and a few dry fruits (chopped).

Method: Peel the skin of the soaked almonds and transfer them to the blender. Add 1⁄4 cup milk to this. You can also use almond milk. Blend the nuts into a smooth paste. Add a tbsp of ghee to a large kadhai and sauté the paste in it. Add ¼ cup of sugar and stir till the sugar dissolves. Now add 2 tbsps of saffron milk. Stir till the mixture thickens. Now add ½ tbsp of ghee and stir till the mixture becomes non-sticky. Add ¼ tsp of cardamom powder and mix well. Finally, serve badam halwa hot or chilled, garnished with a few chopped nuts.
(The author is chef de cuisine, Marriott Hotel Whitefield.)

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(Published 04 August 2017, 18:54 IST)

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