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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Khoyo~AlifBe~37

Alka Keswani — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 12:09:16 +0000

Took a small break to rejuvenate and to cope up with the seasonal allergies and stayed away from social media to relax and heal . Slowed down the pace of working on the projects that I am currently involved in, including the AlifBe and the recipe videos. A lot happened in the last fortnight, some good, some bad, some ugly and some, almost surreal but life moved on! And here I am today, with the 37th alphabet of the Arabic Sindhi script ; ک i.e ख in Devanagari and Kh, as in Khajur, in Roman Sindhi. And the corresponding dish is Khoyo, a traditional fudge or a halwa like, made with poppy seeds and dried fruits/nuts, warm spices and milk. I was confused about the term Khoyo as the dictionary that I refer, mentions Khohyo (and not the Khoyo) as the sweetmeat made from reduced milk. But due to the lack of enough of information, I approached my friend Amrita lal, who went out of the way to discuss the same with some literary experts and finally it was concluded that the term used is the Khoyo and not the Khohyo as mentioned in the dictionary. If you have some more information about this, kindly get in touch with me. Thank you Amrita for always being there with me in my crazy journey of the AlifBe. Can never thank you and Barkha Di, enough! Kindly do not confuse this with the Khoya (mawa) as both are different in terms of looks, texture and flavors. Khoya: The Khoya or Khoa (Mawa) that is generally used as the base for making sweets like Gulabjamun, Kalakand, barfi etc is a kind of heat desiccated milk product in which milk is reduced to obtain granular milk solids (dried evaporated milk solids) which is then used in the different traditional sweets. The Sindhi style Khoyo, on the other hand is a halwa made with whole fat milk, ghee roasted poppy seeds and nuts, slow cooked for hours till it reaches a fudge like consistency. The unique add ons are Dharan jo magaz (coriander seeds/kernels, pounded) or Dhaniya magaz and black cardamoms, two spices that are not commonly used in sweet dishes. While Dhaniya panjiri (made for the Janmashtmi in some communities) may sound similar to the Sindhi Khoyo, it is actually very different from it. This Khoyo is ideally made at the onset of winter season and huge dhabbas (steel containers) are sent to the married daughters/sisters or aunts around Diwali. I remember my mother making this every year and the memories of her sitting on the ‘sandhali‘ (wooden chowki used for sitting), making this Khoyo often warm the cockles of my heart. The preparations would start a few days ahead. A child (mostly it would be me) was sent to the ration shop to procure Kerosene for the stove as the khoyo was always made on the kerosene stove that was placed on the floor of the living room (so that she can avoid standing in the kitchen for hours). The kerosene stove was used for few times a year to prepare Gogo, Thadri meals when one has to cook for hours at a stretch and hence it would be less tiring to cook while sitting on the floor. An order for 5-7 litres of full fat milk would be placed with the milk man and dried fruits and nuts were stocked. The large Sipri (kind of vessel) would be taken out, cleaned and kept handy. The same sipri would travel to few homes around as it was not uncommon to borrow utensils from the neighbors. My mom never wrote down a recipe. And though she was an amazing cook, she would reach out to the generous old lady, Chandra Aunty, in the neighbourhood to seek help regarding the quantities of ingredients used. Aunty would eye ball everything, suggest changes, if any and would leave only to return a few times to see how things are progressing. She would also pitch in for bhunoing the khoya so that mom could take a break. I really miss those days when neighbours would be so caring and generous. Making Khoyo is a time consuming process and it generally takes anywhere from 3 – 5 hours to cook well. Honestly speaking I never cared much about the Khoyo… firstly because I never had a sweet tooth and secondly, I find combination of Dhaniya magaz and the black cardamoms to be a misfit in the family of nutty poppy seeds, sweetish reduced milk and delicious soft, naturally sweet chuhara (kharik/dried dates) and nuts. Somehow the combination never worked for me yet I always ate a little of it, every year, when my mom would send in some, as a part of winter treats. Print Khoyo~AlifBe~37 Khoyo is a Sindhi style halwa made with milk, khaskhas, nuts and ghee. It is a winter special and is often sent to married daughters and sisters in our community. Ingredients 2 lit full fat milk 150 gm Khaskhas 15- 20 Chuhaara (dried dates/ kharik) 100 gm Almonds 80 - 100 gm unsalted pistachios 100 gm Cashews Few walnuts (optional) 10 Green cardamoms 2 black cardamoms 75 gm of Dhaniya magaz 400 - 500 gm of sugar ( I actually used around 250 gm but you can adjust as per your taste) 1 Cup ( at room temperature) of Ghee (Ideally around 400 gms of Ghee should be used) 1 gm Mace A pinch of nutmeg powder 2 gm of Moonh Lalai (Brown colored powder available at Pasari shops) or you can use some brown food color. I didn't use any. Method There are two approaches for making this khoyo. First approach: Simply boil the milk with dried dates and add blended khaskhas and ghee. Slow cook and allow the milk to reduce, add nuts, spices and sugar towards the end. Cook till the mix is dry. This is how my mom used to make. The other approach is to cook khaskhas paste in the ghee along with Dhaniya magaz and then add it to the boiling milk along with the rest of the ingredients. I find the flavors to be better by following this method. So I am sharing this method here, in detail. Soak the poppy seeds in water for 5 - 6 hours. In another bowl, soak the almonds in water for 5 hours. Later peel the almonds and cut open each into 2. Soak dried dates in lukewarm water for an hour or so, to soften it. Later, deseed and slice each into large chunks (can cut into 4-6 pieces each). Roughly chop pistachios, cashew nuts and walnuts. Strain the poppy seeds and rinse a few times, using the tea strainer to catch the seeds. The process of soaking poppy seeds and rinsing few times with water is believed to reduce the concentration of morphine or opium alkaloids, if present, in the poppy seeds. Strain well so as to get rid of as much of water as possible. Now using 2-3 tbsp of Ghee (from 1 cup of the Ghee set aside for the recipe) blend the poppy seeds till coarse. You can use milk to blend poppy seeds but then it tends to splutter a lot when you start cooking it. In a thick bottom pan add 2 lit of milk and add green cardamoms. Add chuhara (dried dates) and continue cooking the mix on moderate heat. Keep stirring at frequent intervals. In another pan, heat the remaining ghee and add the blended khaskhas paste. Keep stirring and continue cooking at medium heat. When the color of the khaskhas changes to light pink, add cashews, almonds, pistachios and stir nicely. The khaskhas should be cooked till faint brown. Add dhaniya magaz and mix well. After half a minute switch off the flame and pour this mix in the milk and dates mixture. (Beware of the spluttering). Add black cardamom, mace and nutmeg and allow the mix to simmer. Add color powder, if using. Keep stirring at intervals. The dried dates are to be cooked till soft. So if needed, add some more milk. When the dates turn soft and the milk is almost completely reduced, add sugar. Continue cooking on low flame. Cook till sugar is absorbed and the mix is dry. Some prefer the consistency of the khoyo to be little loose while others like to cook till it is dry (as in the picture). If refrigerated, the Khoyo has a shelf life of 10-15 days. Before serving, take out the required portion from the refrigerator and heat on low flame with a tbsp or so of milk. Can garnish with more nuts while serving. Note: Traditionally the quantity oh the Ghee used in Khoyo is almost the double that I have used here but I don't like overpowering flavors of ghee in any dish hence less amount of fat is used here. If using low fat milk, please do increase the quantities of ghee for better flavors and texture. Buffalo milk is preferred for making Khoyo. If after soaking in water, the dried dates are not soft enough to cut, then just gently pound the dates using a mortar pestle. The dates will open up and could be de seeded easily. Roughly chop these or use a food processor but make sure to keep the dates chunkier. You can use green cardamom powder instead of whole pods. Add ¼ tsp of powder to the boiling milk and later add ¼ tsp when you add sugar. 3.5.3251 And as always here is a short video about the how to write ک in Arabic 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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