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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An Indian Sweet without Sugar(khaskhas jo seero)

Alka Keswani — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:42:03 +0000

Khas khas or poppy seeds are usually used in Indian cuisine in making gravies and because of its highly nutritive nature it is also used in breads, cakes, cookies, pastries, curries, sweets and confectionery. Poppy seeds are like tiny hard grains. The Western type is slate blue; the Indian type, off-white. Both are kidney-shaped. They are similar in flavour and texture and their uses are interchangeable. The seeds mature in a capsule left after the flower fades. They are widely available in a dried form.It gives out a mild sweetish aroma when roasted or baked And its flavour is Mild until heated, then it becomes nutty, with sweet-spicy under-tones.Source(epicentre) This Indian sweet/dessert/pudding called Khas khas jo seero is made by my Ma-in-law on every Rakshabandhan (An Indian festival ,when sisters tie a sacred thread on wrists of their brother/s as the symbol of bonding between the siblings) Generally the trend is that Mithai or anything sweet is made for brothers on that day.Hence Ma makes this every year and not only her brothers but all the kids in family and elders too, wait for this occasion just to relish this sweet made by her. The most awesome thing about this sweet is that it can be made without using any sugar and still taste as sweet as sweets are supposed to be.Kidding???NAAAAAAH Actually the milk and khaskhas when cooked together imparts natural sweet taste to the seera and moreover chuhara and raisins serve as perfect sweet bites. So you wont miss the presence of any artificial sugar (no need to add sugar substitutes )Yes if you want it more sweet, you always have an option to add sugar. This is for you Asha Chand Ji, in response to your sugar- free- sweets- suggestion This recipe is of Ma and the above pic is of seera made by her.Hope you all will drool and enjoy! Print An Indian Sweet without Sugar(khaskhas jo seero) Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews Poppy seeds or Khas khas halwa enriched with dry fruits and nuts.A traditional winter sweet ! Ingredients Khas khas (poppy seeds)150 gm Milk 800 -850 ml (less or more will just affect the final richness of the sweet so go ahead and experiment) Vegetable oil 3-4 tablespoons Green cardamon (choti elaichi) 6-7 Mixed Dry fruits like Chuhara (dried dates), almonds, khishmish (raisins) and unsalted pistachios, all chopped into thick slices (except khishmish). Use as much quantity as you want, but at least 100 gm each Sugar (optional), around 200 gm or as much preferred. Method Soak khas khas in water for 5-6 hours. Later rinse it few times (you can use tea strainer) and let all the water drain out completely,through the strainer. Now grind this khas khas with some vegetable oil.Water or milk if added while grinding, could create lots of spluttering while cooking.So its better to use oil. Grind it till a coarse mixture is obtained. Now in a heavy bottom pan or kadai, add 2-3 tablespoons of oil.Let it heat properly, then carefully add the khaskhas paste. Beware of spluttering (you can immediately close the pan with a lid). Add elaichi now. Now roast the mixture on high flame, stirring continuously till a nice aroma of khas khas fills your kitchen.The paste should look pinkish in colour and the raw smell of khas khas should be gone.Don't over roast it, as that would give a bitter taste to the final halwa. Then carefully add about a cup of boiled milk,bit by bit and mix carefully.Add all the dry fruits now. Lower the flame, keep on adding some milk (about half cup) in intervals and let it be absorbed by the khaskhas,till khaskhas is cooked.You might need about 800 ml to 850 ml of milk to achieve this target 🙂 The final seera could be of semisolid consistency,or as shown in picture--- a dry form, which could be obtained by cooking seera till oil separates out Garnish with some cashews /almonds/pistachios and serve with love. Notes Some people find it hard to bhuno the poppy seeds, and to judge what is the correct time to stop cooking khuskhus, so many times either they overcook or under cook it. So the simpler method could be, to boil the milk first, add the chuhara, let the dried dates cook for sometime and then add the khaskhas ( No need to grinding then). Cook on low heat till the milk is almost absorbed.Add rest of dry fruits, stir well, add oil/ghee, sugar and give it a nice mix. Cook on lowest flame till sugar gets absorbed and the oil starts separating out.Though the procedure is time consuming, but not much of technicality involved here. Taste wise both taste equally good. 2.2.1

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Seero Malpuro|Two Malpua recipes| Low fat Recipe.

An Indian Sweet without Sugar(khaskhas jo seero)