Diwali Sweets Archives | Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes

Majoon Barfi | AlifBe~43

Alka Keswani — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 10:01:44 +0000

Firstly, wishing you all a very happy Diwali! May the light of peace, joy, prosperity and love erase the darkness of fear, sorrow, misfortune and hatred! AlifBe 43: The 43rd Alphabet of AlifBe of Sindhi Food is م in Sindhi, म in Devanagari and M in Roman Sindhi. M as in Milk, Mawa or Mithai and well, the corresponding dish also is a Mithai made from milk, mawa and dried fruits/nuts. Majoon Barfi is the dish of the day and let me clarify that it is different from the Majoon in terms of color and texture. You can find the recipe of traditional Majoon here! Majoon comes from Majoun, a Unani preparation used to make different variations of medicines for varying illness. Basically a Majoun is made by a mix of Cannabis, ghee, specific medicinal herbs and honey. Poppy seeds and dried fruits and/or nuts may or may not be present in Unani Majoun. Recipe Video of Majoon Barfi: It could be in dry powder form or could have a jam like consistency. Sindhi style Majoon is a similar preparation but instead of using herbs/cannabis and honey, assorted nuts and mawa (Khoya) are added to make it more like a dessert that could be relished in winters to boost the immunity and provide warmth to our body! Though Majoon is made in various ways in homes across the community, most of the Sindhis prefer it to be a dark brown halwa like sweet that tastes bit similar to Bhuna hua mawa (khoya). Many confuse it with Khhoraak but both are different in terms of taste, texture and ingredients used. Please do check this link to know the difference! Actually Majoon is faint brown because mawa is not to be bhunoed till dark brown, while Khhorrak is darker in appearance because of the roasted wheat flour and sugar syrup used. I hope now you all will know the difference between a Majoon and a Khhorak. Traditionally Majoon is of halwa like consistency but I cooked it for prolonged time to remove most of the moisture because I wanted to make a Barfi like sweet since it is easier to distribute and consume while serving it in the get togethers during the festive season. Print Majoon Barfi | AlifBe~43 Majoon barfi is inspired from the traditional Majoon sweet, made around Diwali and in winter season, by Sindhi folks. Ingredients 1 Cup Almonds (Or ½ cup Almonds and ½ cup Walnuts) ½ Cup Cashews ¼ Cup Pistachios 7-8 Dry dates ¼ Cup Khas-Khas 1 Cup Sugar 500 ml Milk 1 Cup Mawa ¾th Cup Grated Kopra 4-5 tbsp Ghee 7-8 Green Cardamoms Method Soak Poppy seeds (khaskhas) in water for 6 hours. Many skip the process as soaked khaskhas splutter a lot while cooking. But it is an important process as soaking removes the trace morphine from poppy seeds, if present. You can then dry khaskhas (in shade ) to avoid spluttering while cooking. I just soaked it and strained it using a tea strainer. Rinse well the dried fruits and nuts and spread on a kitchen towel to remove excess moisture. Soak dried dates if too hard, drain on kitchen towel, pound with a pestle, discard seeds and either chop or grind coarse. I preferred chopping dried dates as mine were not very hard. In a pan, dry roast almonds, cashews, pistachios (and walnuts, if using) on low flame to make the nuts moisture free. Cool and either pound in a mortar pestle or coarsely grind (using pulse mode of mixer grinder). Due to the lack of time I was unable to make mawa at home, in the traditional way. And I don't use store brought mawa. So I used cheat method and mixed around 1 cup of milk powder, 2 tbsp ghee and few spoons of milk and microwaved it for 3 minutes. Since the milk powder was sweetened, the resulting mawa was sweet. Also, since this barfi would be consumed by diabetic family members, I used only 2 and half tbsp 'added sugar ' in the barfi. Kindly adjust sugar quantity depending on whether the mawa used is sweetened or unsweetened and upon your level of sweet preferences. Heat a pan and add 3-4 tbsp of Ghee. Add strained poppy seeds and cook on low flame till slight brown. Add mawa and cook further. When the mawa is slightly cooked, add grated Kopra (dried coconut). You can use desiccated coconut too. I used a mix of both. Roast this mix till faint brown (10-12 minutes). In another pan, heat the milk. Add chopped chuhara (dried dates or Khareek) and cook the mix for 8-10 minutes so that chuhara softens a bit. Add pounded green cardamoms. Now add the khaskhas+khoya+kopra mix and stir well. Whole cooking process is to be done on low flame/heat only. Keep stirring and allow the mix to cook till the milk evaporates. You can add Moonh lalai or the edible brown food colored powder (available at pasari shops) for better color. I didn't use any. Add sugar and mix well. Sugar will release moisture so the mix will again look bit gloopy. Keep cooking further till the mix is dry. Grease a thali (flat plate with elevated edges) or a square baking dish. Transfer the Majoon mix on the plate and spread evenly. Flatten the mix and garnish with chopped nuts. Allow to set slightly. Mark the cuts (I forgot to do that when the mix was hot) and let the mix cool down completely. Cut into pieces and store in an airtight container, preferably in the refrigerator. Many people claim that majoon could be stored for many months. But actually it is the Khhorrak that has better shelf life and not the majoon cooked using milk and mawa. But it still stays good for a week or more in refrigerator. 3.5.3251 Check this short tutorial about how to write alphabet ‘M’ in Sindhi.

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Phulan Ji Laai|Puffed Rice Candy

Alka Keswani — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:03:08 +0000

It is that time of the year when Indians are busy cleaning their homes and shops, decorating it with flowers, lights and lanterns, buying new clothes, making sweets and savories and visiting relatives, family and friends. Yes, it’s Diwali, the festival of lights, when the evening shimmers with rows of tiny flames of earthen lamps and when the darkest new moon night (as per Hindu calendar) is turned into one of the brightest, glowing night by the hundreds of lamps and lanterns, swaying outside homes and shops, on terraces and crossroads. The spectacular display of fireworks fills the sky with colorful, sparkling shower of light and though I dislike the deafening sound of loud crackers, there is something very heartwarming about watching kids burning the sparklers, hopping and giggling, feeling scared but enjoying at the same time. Every year I get requests for the Phulan ji Laai recipe, a puffed rice candy that is mandatory to use for Hatri pooja. Generally we buy it from the sweet shops since it is easily available during Diwali, in my part of the world. But those who reside in areas that do not stock Sindhi sweets feel disappointed. I avoid cooking with white sugar since I find the flavors of jaggery and honey to be more rustic. But then, this recipe of Phulan ji laai is for those who wish to go traditional way and offer this sugar candy to the Hatri. The recipe is very simple and this laai gets ready in a jiffy. Print Phulan Ji Laai|Puffed Rice Candy Puffed rice candy for Diwali Pooja Ingredients 2 cups of Puffed rice 1 cup of Sugar (a little less) 1 tsp of Ghee A pinch or Green cardamom powder Method Before making the laai, grease a flat plate or a clean surface to spread the candy. In a thick bottom pan dry roast the puffed rice for a minute or so. Remove the roasted puffed rice from pan and keep aside. In the same pan put 1 tsp of ghee and add sugar. Heat it on the low flame. Keep stirring the sugar and let it melt completely without changing its color. Put off the flame Add the elaichi powder and puffed rice and mix quickly to evenly coat the rice. Immediately spread this mixture on the greased surface and using a spatula or rolling pin, level down the mixture to make a disc of ½ inch (or as thick or thin as you wish) or so. You can cut it into pieces before it sets and harden up. Store it in an airtight container. To make this laai with jaggery just use half cup of jaggery instead of a cup of sugar. 3.3.3077

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Anjeer Ain Kharkun Ji Mithai

Alka Keswani — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:32:14 +0000

Shubham Karoti Kalyanam Arogyam Dhana Sampadah Shatru Buddhi Vinashaya Dipa Jyotir Namostute “I fold my hands before the light that brings prosperity, auspiciousness, good health, abundance of wealth and destruction of the enemy’s intellect”. (Source:Here) May the festival of lights, fill your life with joy and contentment ! Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Diwali ! Not a fan of overly sweet mithais, with loads of synthetic colors, adorned with silver varq, kept in display of sweet shops during festive season, I prefer to make a small batch of mithai for the Laxmi Pooja ! So here is the recipe of what I made today~ Dried fig and dates barfi, with roasted nuts, coated with roasted poppy seeds. There is no need to add any sugar since the natural sweetness of figs and dates is more than enough to satiate your sweet tooth. Print Anjeer Ain Kharkun Ji Mithai Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 8 Dried figs, dates and nuts barfi, coated with poppy seeds Ingredients 10 dried figs 10-12 de-seeded dates (Khajur) ¾ th cup roasted and chopped/ crushed nuts 2 tsp Ghee 2 tbsp unsweetened Khoya (mawa) 2 tsp or more slightly roasted poppy seeds Method Soak separately, dates and dried figs for about an hour or so. Discard the water and puree/ blend both, if possible, without adding any water. Dry roast nuts (I used cashews, almonds, unsalted pistachios) and crush or finely chop them. In a thick bottomed pan, add 2 tsp ghee and cook the fig and dates puree, mixing frequently. Add khoya and cook further till almost all the moisture dries up. Add chopped nuts and cook further till the mixture start leaving the sides of pan. Put off the flame, and transfer the mixture to either a greased plate/ tray or on a parchment/ butter paper. You can either roll it to cut in roundels or flatten it to cut in square or diamond shape. Garnish it with roasted poppy seeds . Let it cool completely, then refrigerate it for 2 hours allowing it to set properly. Cut in desired shape and store in airtight container. 3.2.2708

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Maakhiya Waara Borinda|Honey And Sesame Seeds Balls

Alka Keswani — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:03:39 +0000

Each year on 13th January, Sindhis celebrate Laal Loi, or Lohri, as known in Punjabi, also famous as a ‘Festival of Bonfire’ ! Laal Loi is celebrated to express the feeling of gratitude to the natural and supernatural forces for the bounty of Rabi (Winter) crops.So it is a harvest festival of Hindus and is celebrated with fun and folklore, while gathering around a bonfire, singing, dancing, performing rituals and gearing up for the upcoming harvest of Rabi crops. Sindhis celebrate Lal loi in the same way as Punjabis do! Young folks gather loads of dry wood/ logs/ sticks/old furniture and place these inside a circle marked by the boundary of bricks. In the evening all the members of families staying around, gather around the bonfire, doing the parikramas (circling around the bonfire) and offer Ber (Zizyphus jujuba), red carrots (Delhi carrots), sesame seeds, revdi (crunchy sugar based sesame candy), basically the fruits/vegetables/seeds that are locally available in winters. The bon fire remain lit till past midnight and friends and neighbors catch up with each other lives while enjoying the warmth provided by the bonfire, on one of the coldest night of the year, the 13th of January! The most common Prasad (Religious offering) distributed during Laal Loi are Borinda~ The sugar syrup/ Jaggery /Honey based sesame balls, similar to that of Maharashtrian ‘ Til gud ladoo‘. Sesame seeds could be easily nicknamed as wonder seeds, because of the nutritional and medicinal quality of these oil seeds. The nutty seeds when roasted, turn crunchy and could be used in variety of dishes; to make sweets, snacks, salad dressings, Tahini, hummus etc. Sesame seeds are great sources of vitamins, minerals, Folic acid, Oleic acid (reduces ‘bad cholesterol’) , Sesamol (anti-oxidant), Niacin ( B complex vitamin ), calcium, iron, magnesium etc etc. These amazingly healthy seeds when combined with jaggery or honey provides warmth to the body during winters, and raise the immunity levels of our body ! The famous Til gud ladoo (Til = sesame seeds, gud= jaggery, ladoo=balls ) vary in their avatars, flavors and textures depending upon the base sweet used and the degree of caramelization of the sugar/jaggery/honey. Read more about rules of caramelization here ! The following recipe is of Honey based sesame balls and as the name suggests, I have used honey to make these Greek Style Sesame Honey Pasteli, known as ‘ Maakhiya Waara Borinda‘ (Maakhi= Honey in Sindhi, Borinda= balls in general, made using either puffed rice or sesame seeds) or Honey and sesame seeds balls. The sugar syrup based Sesame balls are rocky hard in general, the jaggery based are softer, while honey based ones are most chewy. But then, it all depends upon the degree of caramelization. The darker the caramel (which means the more you cook/boil the sugar , honey or jaggery) the chewier shall be our Borinda. The colour of borinda varies from pale white to amber coloured ones, and so does the texture! Print Maakhiya Waara Borinda|Honey And Sesame Seeds Balls Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Lal loi or Lohri special, roasted sesame seeds with caramelized honey ! Ingredients Makes 20 portions Sesame seeds 1 cup Honey 1cup (The seeds to honey proportion should be 1:1) Salt, less than ¼ tsp Dried nuts like unsalted pistachios or dried Tutti frutti- the assorted candied fruits (Optional) Method In a small pan, pour 1 cup of honey and heat the pan. Within 2 minutes the consistency of honey will turn thinner. Put off the flame and set aside. In a thick bottomed and preferably a wide pan, dry roast (toast) sesame seeds on low flame, tossing frequently with a spatula. Soon the seeds will turn bit crisp.(Nicely toasted seeds when crushed between fingers will easily turn into powder).Be careful as not to burn the seeds or else the end product will be bitter in taste. If using pistachios, slightly toast them separately and set aside. Now in the toasted seeds, carefully add the warm honey, some salt and give it a gentle stir, so as to mix the ingredients. Now let the mixture cook till the honey changes the colour, to few shades darker and is almost completely absorbed by the seeds. Do not mix the ingredients or else the sheen (shine) might be lost. Towards the end, you can add roasted pistachios or tutti frutti by sprinkling these over the mixture, without stirring in with spatula. Switch off the flame and pour this hot mixture on either a greased plate or on parchment paper- laced plate. Let the mixture stand for a while, and then roll a spoonful of this mixture in between your greased palms to make a small rolled Borinda (ball). If the mixture is too hot, it will scald your palms and if cold, it will harden and you wont be able to roll these. In such case, just let the mixture cool down and just cut into rectangles/ squares or uneven shaped brittle. Pack these in airtight containers after letting these cool down till the core. 3.1.09

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Seero Malpuro|Two Malpua recipes| Low fat Recipe.

Alka Keswani — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:58:41 +0000

Now that we are done with Holi, the festival of colors for Indians, its time to share with you, this year’s Holi Special Sweet, Seero Malpuro or Malpua served with Sooji Halwa. Making a sweet dish is always a challenging job for me, because I am paranoid about adding the heaps of sugar as suggested in any recipe of ‘sweets’. I, almost always, halve the quantity of sugar while following a recipe, fearing that the sweet dish might turn out ‘too sweet (Duh !!) This backfires many times, especially while making some traditional sweets where the texture of sweet depends upon the consistency of sugar syrup or amount of sugar added. This is the reason, I dislike making sweets, and my teeny weeny sweet cravings, if any, are easily calmed down by a bite of semi-dark chocolate or by some raisins or dried apricots. But Indian festivals fail to make a mark, if not celebrated with some sweets. So while Gujiyas and Ghear (large jalebies), shakarpada etc are generally made on the occassion of Holi, I attempted to make Malpua , known as Malpura in Sindhi. Traditionally, Malpua is a sweet made from All purpose flour mixed with reduced milk (Milk of very thick consistency), and mawa/khoya. The batter is then fried as pancakes in batches, dunked in sugar syrup and served with either Rabri or curd/yogurt. Some prefer it with milk, while Sindhis generally serve it with ‘ Sooji jo seero‘ or semolina halwa, which is again made from semolina, milk, sugar syrup etc. Though it makes a yummy combination and any lover of sweet will drool over it, I dread making it, considering the amount of sugar that goes in, to cook this double whammy. But festivals being time to indulge, I took a plunge this time. I was up for the disaster, but somehow all was well in the end.Read further to unfold the whole drama that almost ruined my Holi, or else simply scroll down, for the recipes of the mighty Malpura (Malpua) and skip the later part. First let me share the traditional recipe, followed by some notes and tips to make a healthier, low fat version. Traditional Recipe of Malpua :(Note:There are many *traditional *ways to make this !) (Makes approx. 15-18 pancakes depending upon the size) Print Seero Malpuro|Two Malpua recipes| Low fat Recipe. Malpura is a sweet , shallow fried Indian style pancake, dunked in sugar syrup and generally relished with curd (yogurt) or Sooji halwa. Ingredients Maida or All purpose flour 250 gms Baking powder, just a pinch Milk around 650 ml (Boil around 500 ml of milk till reduced to almost half, set aside remaining 250 ml to adjust the consistency of batter) Khoya/mawa 40-50 gms Oil for shallow frying ( Prefer Ghee, for an authentic flavor) Fennel seeds 1 tsp or more Black pepper corns 4-5 Maida or All purpose flour 250 gms Baking powder, just a pinch Milk around 650 ml (Boil around 500 ml of milk till reduced to almost half, set aside remaining 250 ml to adjust the consistency of batter) Khoya/mawa 40-50 gms Oil for shallow frying ( Prefer Ghee, for an authentic flavor) Fennel seeds 1 tsp or more Black pepper corns 4-5 Sugar 500 gm Water 1 and half cup or more (we need syrup of one string consistency) Green cardamom 2-3 Saffron strands few (optional) Unsalted pistachios to garnish Method Sieve the maida with baking powder. Be very very cautious about adding just a pinch of baking powder. Anything more than that will burst your Malpuras while frying. Trust me, I went through this :-(. Boil approximately 500 ml of milk and simmer till reduced to half of its quantity.Gently mix khoya /mawa to this to make the mixture more creamy and thick. If mawa is unsweetened then add around 2 spoons of sugar to the mixture. Now take a deep mixing bowl, add maida and baking powder mixture, fennel seeds, pepper corns, and mix the warm or cooled (never hot) milk -mawa mixture and mix well to form a lump free batter. The batter should be of thick pouring consistency , so if needed keep on adding the reserved 150 ml of milk, adding very little at a time. The amount of milk required to achieve the perfect consistency varies from 75 ml to 200 ml, depending upon how thick your milk-mawa mixture is.So trust your instincts. In the meantime make sugar syrup by boiling sugar, cardamom and water .If adding saffron, soak it in warm milk for sometime and then add in sugar syrup anytime in between. Now in a flat bottomed fry pan or kadai, heat ghee/ oil or mixture of ghee and oil to shallow fry Malpuras. Carefully spread a ladle full of batter in ghee to make a small pancake. Fry on medium to low flame.Turn it gently and fry on other side till it is crisp brown from sides. Remove from oil and soak in sugar syrup (warm) for about 2 minutes or so and then drain on a colander . Repeat the procedure for the remaining batter. Depending upon the size of pan, you can fry 2 -3 pancakes in one single batch. Garnish with sliced unsalted pistachios and serve with either Rabri or curd or like seen in picture, with Sooji Halwa. Now let me share with you all some problems faced by me while making malpuas and some tips to make healthy ones. In hurry, I added hot, reduced milk to the flour, that left me with a lumpy batter. I tried to whisk a lot, to smooth-en the batter, but the stubborn lumps refused to disappear. I made the next blunder mistake... I tried to blend the batter, simply being forgetful about the presence of fennel seeds and pepper corns. The blended mixture was pasty, sticky (due to the hot milk), and bit bitter due to grounded pepper. Then despite of being careful, I added a tad bit more of baking powder. As a result the pancakes just kinda disintegrated into small pieces in hot oil. Darn, I never thought I could be that stupid in kitchen 🙁 Well, not willing to give up, I prepared a fresh batter, this time with mixture of wheat flour and Maida (simply because of lack of sufficient maida). I applied the process of mixing a cake batter while mixing the malpua batter. So I mixed flour and a pinch of baking powder and sieved it in a huge mixing bowl. I made a well in the center of flour and added some of the milk (yes, plain milk..not condense or reduced). Slowly, with a fork spoon, I mixed some batter in the milk that was in the ' well'. Slowly and gradually, kept pulling in some flour in the 'well' and adding some milk, mixing,incorporating more flour, adding milk, mixing...so on and so forth, till whole of the flour turned into a smooth batter. There wasn't a single lump..I swear !!!!. Then added fennel seeds and pepper corns. Remember to always shallow fry malpuras in a flat bottomed pan or kadai. Though shallow fried, these tend to absorb lots of oil, hence I first drained these on a kitchen towel and then added in the warm syrup. For trial, I tried to cook these as normal pancakes, with just few drops of oil on a nonstick pan and the results were not bad. Since cooked in less oil and that too on a nonstick pan, the malpuras were not as crispy and heavenly as the fried ones, but taste wise it was not bad at all. So now I know, that even though there was no reduced milk and khoya/mawa in the malpuras, but still these tasted good enough to be labelled as a festival food. These malpuras were served with sooji halwa.You can find its recipe here 2.2.1

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