We are now at 6th letter of AlifBe i.e Sindhi Alphabet series and the letter is ت which is त in Devanagari while in Roman Sindhi it is written as T~ i.e by using a Tilde (~) as suffix as we don’t have a corresponding alphabet in English. It is pronounced as T~ as in Taiwan, Taliban, Tabassum etc. In Sindhi it is taught as T~ for Taaro i.e a star!
And the Sindhi dish starting with T~ is Tosha!
Tosha are very popular Sindhi sweets and these are mostly distributed in Temples as prasad and also in condolence meets, particularly if the departed soul was an elderly person!
There are many theories about why this particular sweet is called Tosha (Singular is Tosho).
Tosha in Swahili language means enough/suffice but then the word Tosha comes from the Persian word Tosha which means provisions. Also the term ‘Toshasi rah’, which in Persian means ‘provisions for the journey’ or Viaticum, points out the connection as the Tosha sweet was also carried by many people in the past when they would travel for official purposes or otherwise!
Also in Punjabi the word ‘ToshaKhana’ is used for the secured storehouse for valuables and there is a Toshakhana in Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Toshakhana (Meaning Treasure house) in Jammu and Kashmir, during the Dogra rule were the secured rooms in Mubarak Mandi complex where precious antiques were stored.
It is interesting to note that there is sweet dish called Tosha (Toosha) popular in North of Kashmir which is different from Sindhi Tosha but is similar to Sindhi Bhori (crumble) and is made by first crumbling a maida roti (Sindhis make whole wheat flour rotis) and mixing it with sugar and nuts along with poppy seeds and the crumble is then shaped into oblong balls.
In Punjabi the term Tosha means happiness or satisfaction and in Fazilka (a place in Fazilka district, Punjab) Tosha sweets are immensely popular but those are made using cottage cheese as base.
Sindhi Tosha too are made in varying ways. Some use beaten curds while other use milk to knead the dough. Some add pepper and shahi jeera while others don’t. Some add sweetened milk while others add sweetened water in the dough. Sometimes rose essence is used in the syrup made for coating Tosha.
Basically Tosha are oblong or pod shaped fried dough rolls coated with sugar syrup ( somewhat similar to the syrup coated Shakar para!)
The syrup is of almost 3 thread consistency and hence once cooled, it crystallises as a crumbly coating on Tosha. If the syrup is of less than 2 thread consistency when you add Tosha to it, the fried dough will turn soggy after cooling.
I have tried many recipes for making Tosha but today I am sharing the one that gave me best results!
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- 2 tsp Ghee
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3-4 tsp of water
- 2 very small pinches of Baking soda
- A pinch of salt
- A tsp of milk powder
- Oil for frying
- ½ cup Sugar
- ¼ cup water
- Few strands of Saffron (optional)
- In a small bowl mix a tsp or so of sugar and 3-4 tsp of water till sugar dissolves. You can use milk or beaten curds in place of water.
- In a mixing bowl (or use a paraat or thali) mix the flour, milk powder, a pinch of salt, baking soda (be very careful, as excess of soda will not only impact the flavors but also the texture) and ghee till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. The mix when packed in a fist should retain the shape and not crumble. Add more ghee if needed.
- Using the sweetened water, knead the dough. It should neither be too hard nor too soft (somewhat like the dough for samosa/ pakwan).
- Let the dough rest for 30 min.
- Knead the dough again to smoothen it as much as possible and then cut small portions and roll each to make smooth oblong shaped rolls.
- From one cup of maida I got 8-9 rolls. You can increase or decrease the size of the rolls.
- Take a frying pan and add sufficient oil for frying. Heat oil till medium hot.
- Fry Tosha, in batches, first on medium flame and then on low flame, constantly stirring so that the Tosha are fried evenly.
- Once pale brown, remove Tosha from oil and drain on kitchen towel/Tissue!
- Take a pan or Kadai and add ½ cup sugar and ¼ cup water and let it boil.
- Cook the syrup till it starts to froth. Check the consistency. It should be around 2 thread consistency.
- Mix in the fried Tosha and stir well so that the syrup coats each Tosho evenly.
- By this time the syrup would be too frothy. Switch off the flame when you can see only a little of syrup around the edges.
- Remove Tosha from the pan and spread on a plate. Make sure that Tosha are not piled up on each other.
- Once cooled, the syrup will crystallized and form a pale while crumbly coating on Tosha.
- Allow Tosha to cool down completely before consuming.
- Store in an airtight container. These stay well for 4-5 days!
And if you are interested in learning how to read and write Arabic Sindhi then do join me in my journey of exploring the Sindhi language and script along with Sindhi food.
To begin with you can check these small videos that are created to help you understand how the consonants/alphabets are formed or written. To make it easier to understand Devnagari and Roman Sindhi Alphabets are given alongside!
Do let me know if you too are learning the script and the language along with me. I can share helpful tips/notes or learning material that will help you immensely!
Can you guess the next alphabet or the dish??
