Gach For Mahalakshmi ~ AlifBe ~39
G^ach , the fried cookies are made for Thadri and Mahalakshmi festival.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour (I have used whole wheat flour but these are made with Maida too)
  • 2 tbsp Semolina
  • ½ cup Ghee / oil
  • ½ cup water
  • ¾ th cup Sugar
  • ¼th tbsp of Green cardamom powder
  • 8-10 Almonds
  • 8 -10 Unsalted pistachios
  • Some dried rose petals for garnishing
  • Oil for frying
Method
  1. Grind ¾ th cup of sugar.
  2. Use ½ a cup from this and leave the rest for the garnish.
  3. Add that ½ cup of powdered sugar to ½ cup of water and mix.
  4. It may not fully dissolve but that's ok. Just make sure to stir it well while adding to the flour.
  5. Take 2 cups of flour and add semolina, elaichi powder and ghee/ oil. You may need ½ cup or little less of oil/ghee. Do not add oil at once since if it is in excess the G^ach will crumble while frying.
  6. Adding little oil at once, in the flour, keep mixing the flour to form crumbs.
  7. Take a portion and try to bind it in a fist. If the dough retains the shape, the moyan is sufficient. If not, then add little more of ghee/oil. Refer the recipe video!
  8. Now stir the sugar water mix and gradually add it to the flour.
  9. Knead to make a hard dough.
  10. Divide the dough into two portions.
  11. Take one portion and roll it using a rolling pin to make a roti of ½ or ¼ inch thickness, depending on how thick you want the G^ach to be.
  12. Slice this 'roti' into 4 quarters.
  13. Remember that these take a long time to fry. Thicker the gach, more the time needed for frying it.
  14. The edges may be rough. The beauty of Gach lies in the rough edges but if you wish you can use a mould to smoothen the edges.
  15. Heat oil in the pan and once oil is hot, lower the heat.
  16. Carefully add the quarters (do not crowd the pan) to the hot oil.
  17. Allow it to cook on low heat. Stir the oil but do not flip the G^ach yet. Allow it to 'set' well.
  18. If you flip it too early, the G^ach will crumble. If you flip it too late, it will over cook.
  19. Carefully flip the sides and continue frying on medium to low heat, till golden brown
  20. Remove from oil and drain on kitchen towel/ tissue paper.
  21. Now garnish each G^ach with a tbsp of powdered sugar that we saved in the beginning.
  22. Sprinkle some chopped nuts, dried rose petals and pour a tbsp of hot oil on each fried g^ach.
  23. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
  24. Allow G^ach to cool well. Once cool, the G^ach turns darker and crunchier.
  25. Store in an airtight container.
  26. These stays good for almost a week if made with Ghee or for 3-4 days if oil is used. But I bet these wont last that long.
Recipe by Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes at https://test.sindhirasoi.com/2021/09/gach-for-mahalakshmi-alifbe-39/