Holi is a festival of fun and what is celebration without good food! On this festival of colours, IBNLive dishes out some traditional Holi specialities.
Puran Poli
In Maharashtra, the fire god is made an offering of the sweet delicacy, puran poli. This dish is Bobbatlu in Andhra Pradesh and Holige in Karnataka.
Ingredients:
300gms channa (yellowgram) dal
300 gms jaggery (molasses)
1 tsp cardamom powder
150 gms plain flour
1 tbsp ghee
Warm water to knead dough
Ghee to serve
Method:
Boil dal in plenty of water till soft but not broken.
Drain in a colander for 10-15 minutes.
Pass through an almond grater little by little till all dal is grated.
Mash jaggery till lumps break. Mix well into dal.
Put mixture in a heavy saucepan and cook till a soft lump is formed.
Take care to stir continuously, so as not to charr. Keep aside.
Mix ghee, flour, add enough water to make a soft pliable dough.
Take a morsel sized ball of dough, roll into a 4" round.
Place same sized ball of filling in centre, life all round and seal.
Reroll carefully to a 6" diameter round.
Roast on warm griddle till golden brown.
Repeat other side.
Take on serving plate. Apply a teaspoon of ghee all over top.
OR
Shallow fry on griddle like a paratha for a better flavour.
But this method will consume more ghee and therefore calories.
Serve hot with dal or amti.
Note: The water drained from boiling dal is used to make the amti. (a thin curry made using black masala, garam masala and some mashed dal.)
Dosti Chappati
Ingredients:
Dough for chapattis, made with two cups flour.
Oil
Method:
Pinch off two small pieces of dough, each about the size of a walnut. Roll out to a small circle, about three inch in Diameter.
On one side of one circle, smear a little oil, put the other circle down on the oily side, press down lightly.
Dust with dry flowers. Roll out the two circles, now stuck together to a big circle, almost the size of your rolling board. This will be surprisingly easy to do since you have two together.
Put the chapatti on the hot pan. When one side seems cooked, turn it over to the other side and bake.
Press down gently with a clean cloth, if needed to ensure even cooking. Take the chapatti off the fire, and separate the two. They will pull off very easily because of the oil you smeared before cooking.
Fold each chapatti into a triangle, and keep covered in a clean cloth till you are ready to eat. Makes about 20 to 22 chapattis.
PAGE_BREAK
Pakoras
Pakoras are a favorite in India. Vegetables are dipped in a spicy batter and deep-fried to make fabulous fritters
Ingredients:
Use vegetable of your choice. For example, you can use thinly sliced potato, or eggplant, cauliflower broken into florets, spinach leaves, or chopped onions.
250 gms of besan (chickpea flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chili powder
Water
Method:
Mix besan, baking powder, turmeric, coriander and chili in a bowl. Add water, and stir to mix to a thick battered consistency. Dip vegetable pieces into the mixture, pick up, and deep-fry in moderately heated oil, until golden brown.
You can add as many vegetables as your frying bowl allows. Drain the pakoras on absorbent paper, and serve hot with sauce.
Barfi
Barfi is a milk fudge treat that can be made with several ingredients - nuts, fruits, flour, and even vegetables! The ground ingredients are cooked with sugar to a fudge-like consistency.
Ingredients:
4 cups or 1 liter milk
1/4 cup or 60gms sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
20 gms pista or any other nuts
20 gms silver almonds
Method:
Place milk in a saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 40 minutes or until milk has a porridge like consistency. Stir frequently. Add sugar, stir over heat until dissolve. Add cardamoms, pista nuts, and almonds. Pour into a greased lamington pan, and cool. Cut into diamond shapes to serve.
Serves six to eight
Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients:
6 medium-sized firm tomatoes
1 small onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed.
30 gms ghee
125 gms minced chicken
1 tsp curry powder
Method:
Cut a slice from the top of each tomato to form a lid, scoop out some of the inside and reserve.
Melt ghee in a frying pan, saute onion and garlic, until tender.
Add minced chicken and curry powder, saute for five minutes, or until brown. Add reserved tomato pulp.
Spoon mixture into tomato cases, replace lid, and place onto a baking tray. Bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until tomato case is cooked, but still retains its shape.
Serves six
PAGE_BREAK
Gujjia
In north India, gujjia is the traditional sweet. Made from khoya and dry fruits, they are shaped like a half moon
Ingredients:
500 gms maida (flour)
1kg khoya
3tbsps kismis (raisins)
200 gms almonds (cut into thin strips)
6 tbsps cooking oil. ( keep some more aside for deep frying)
200 ml water
500 gms sugar
Method:
Mix the six tablespoons of oil with the maida. Using fingers, mix well so that the mixture takes the form of breadcrumbs and binds to a certain extent.
Now add some water and knead lightly. Keep adding water as required and knead into a soft dough. Set aside and cover with a damp cloth.
Put the khoya in a deep-frying pan and fry to a light brown colour. Add sugar into the khoya and mix well. Add almonds and kismis. Fry for a few minutes and remove from the fire.
Let it cool, roll out the kneaded dough into a chapati, thicker and smaller than a normal chapati. Fill half the chapati with the khoya mixture, fold the chapati and seal the round, twisting the edges inwards.
Take care that the filling does not ooze out. Deep fry these gujjias, a few at a time, till they are a deep golden brown. Fry on a slow fire. When done, take them out with a sieve type ladle, draining the oil completely.
Let them drain further on a spread out newspaper, till all the grease is soaked up. Store for use in an airtight glass jar.
Papri
Ingredients:
1/2 kg besan
1 tsp mustard oil
1 tsp (heaped) salt
1 small tsp red chilli powder
1 cup water
1 tsp methi leaves (chopped fine)
1/4 kg maida
Method:
Mix besan, salt, red chilli powder and oil well. Knead the mixture into dough. Knead for about five minutes.
Add the methi leaves. Knead for another three minutes. Make the dough into a big round ball and throw the dough on the plate to soften it. This should be done for about seven minutes.
Heat oil in a deep-frying pan, on very high heat. While oil is heating, rub some oil on your palm and roll out the dough into a long strip one inch thick.
Cut the roll into inch size pieces. Keep rubbing oil on your palms to keep the roll moist. Flatten each piece out into a round shape and roll it into small chapatis.
Lightly dust both sides of the small chapatis or papris with maida. Fry very lightly, turning the flame from medium to low as required.
Do not let the papris turn brown or red. They should look golden yellow when ready. Drain oil and store in an airtight container.
PAGE_BREAK
Kanji ke Vade
Ingredients:
1 kg urad dal.
2 pcs (small) hing
3 tsp salt
4 tsp rai (finely ground)
2 tsp red chillies (pounded)
6 jugs water ( 1 jug = 6 glasses)
Oil for deep-frying
Whole red chilies for garnish
Method:
Soak urad dal overnight and grind to a fine paste. It should have the consistency of cake batter. Put it n a vessel and whisk it very well so that the mixture is fluffy Heat oil well in a deep frying pan. Test if the oil is ready by dropping a little of the mixture into the pan if it fluffs up and floats to the surface the oil is ready.
Take a piece of wet cloth on your left palm. This allows the vadas to slide off into the pan without difficulty. Put some of the mixture onto the cloth and flatten it, shaping it into round one-inch vadas.
Slide these off one by one into the oil, and deep fry. They should be fried through and through, and have a golden brown colour. Take care not to make the vadas too thick.
Keep a tawa (pan) on the fire and put crystals of hing (Asafetida) in it. Take a matka or an earthenware pot, and as soon as the hing emits an aroma, turn the matka upside down on the tawa to soak up the smell.
Take it off the fire and fill it with warm water. Mix the rai, salt, red chilli powder and whole red chillies into the water. The fried vadas are now put into the matka. The top of the matka is covered with a clean muslin cloth and securely tied. The matka is left out in the sun during the day for eight days. It is then ready to be served.
Bhang ke Vade
As a dietary supplement and tasty treat, bhang is still prepared and served as it has been for millenia throughout the Himalayan foothills. Using a mortar and pestle, the buds and leaves of Cannabis are squashed and ground into a green paste, to which milk, ghee, and spices are added.
This bhang base is made into a nutritious, refreshing drink – Thandai, which is a very healthy alternative to alcohol. Bhang is also mixed with ghee and sugar to make a tasty green halvah, and into peppery, chewy little balls called Goalees.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 litres water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 tbsp almonds
1 tbsp kharbooj/tarbooj seeds skinned (commercially available)
(these are skinned dried seeds of watermelon and cantaloupes)
1/2 tbsp khuskhus (poppy seeds)
1/2 tbsp saunf (aniseed)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder or 15 whole pods
1/2 tsp rose water (optional)
1 tsp peppercorns whole
1/4 cup dried or fresh rose petals (gulkand variety)
Method:
Soak sugar in 1/2 litre of the water used. Keep aside. Wash clean all other dry ingredients, except cardamom if using powder. Soak in 2 cups of remaining water. Keep aside.
Allow all soaked items to stand for at least two hours. Grind all soaked ingredients to a very fine paste (except sugar). Use a stone grinder (manual or electric) if possible. When the paste is very fine, mix remaining water.
Place a strong muslin strainer over a large deep vessel or tie a strong muslin cloth over rim of vessel and use to strain. Press through muslin with back of hands, extracting the liquid into vessel.
Add remaining water, a little at a time to extract more. Pour back some of the extract and press, repress. Repeat this process till the residue becomes dry and husk-like. Add milk, sugar and rosewater to the extracted liquid.If using cardamom powder mix it in with the milk. Mix well. Chill for a hour of two before serving.
Comments
0 comment