Khhoraak for AlifBe ~17

Alka Keswani — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 07:41:35 +0000

Technically the 17th letter of AlifBe or the Sindhi Alphabet is ح i.e ‘H’ but this particular alphabet is not used for words of Sindhi origin (there is another ‘H’in the AlifBe and it will be covered in future post when we will arrive on it) and hence there is no corresponding dish in Sindhi cuisine. So we will jump to next letter which, again, is used to write words of non Sindhi origin but thankfully we have a popular Sindhi dish starting with that letter. Any guesses?? Well, the 17th letter is خ which is ख़ in Devanagari (Kindly note the Nukta or the dot) and ‘Khh’ in Roman Sindhi. Many a times people are unable to differentiate between ख़ (with a dot) and ख (without a dot) and hence use the latter one inappropriately. A word starting with ख़ is Khalifa as in Burj Khalifa. In Roman Sindhi it is Burj Khhalifa and बुर्ज ख़लीफ़ा in Devanagari ! And a Sindhi dish starting with this letter is Khhoraak! It probably comes from the word Khhoraak or Khhurak i.e a diet (portion of food). Khorak also means a dose of medicine. A small portion of this sweet is good enough to have for a meal with milk (breakfast) and it provides good immunity and nourishment hence the word Khorak is well justified for this sweet. Khhoraak Khhoraak or Khorak as many call it, is a traditional Sindhi sweet made exclusively in winters. It is also popularly made for new mothers as a part of post natal care wherein the new mother is fed with healthy, nutritious food. Since Khhoraak is made using plenty of dry fruits/nuts, ghee and Khaun (edible gum) it is also considered very beneficial for lactating mothers. Sindhis do not consume this sweet in summers since it could lead to heat production in the body and hence I was reluctant to make this. There were no enough nuts in the pantry nor any poppy seeds and since the lockdown (from March 2020) we do not venture out or call in for home deliveries until inevitable. Also from past many days, I have been experiencing moments of (emotional) meltdown thinking of all those near and dear ones fighting with the deadly virus and about all those who succumbed to the disease. Losing a dear friend, Chef Dinesh Keswani was yet another blow and things got more difficult to deal with. I am still struggling to absorb all that is happening around and I know that most of us are going through the hard times, physically, financially and emotionally. So the thought of cooking anything festive or rich in such a scenario felt stupid and inconsiderate and I was actually on the verge of giving up the AlifBe series. But then I needed something to keep me occupied, something to distract me from the chaos around, something that can help to calm down my nerves, to push me out of the bed, to temporarily stop thinking about all the conversations happening over social media with friends as well as strangers, madly seeking help to deal with the crisis. Strangely, I often find cooking therapeutic and sometimes it does help me to gain control over the overwhelming emotions! I don’t know how far I can carry on with this series since circumstances are so unfavourable. Not only I feel emotionally drained out but also the lack of resources to procure required ingredients is slowing down the pace of AlifBe series. And I am in no mood to go out of the way to hunt for the required ingredients. But I will keep marching on, till I can! Coming back to Khhoraak: Khhoraak is a winter delicacy made from whole wheat flour, ghee, nuts, poppy seeds and edible gum. The texture of Khhorak is generally soft crunchy or brittle but it totally depends on the quantities of fat (ghee) and edible gum used. If you use less ghee or gum it will turn out crumbly soft, if you use oil or mix of ghee and oil, then again, the sweet will be more fudge like than crunchy brittle. If you use sugar syrup then too the consistency will vary. Thin syrup will yield softer Khhoraak while thick syrup will make khhoraak hard. Ideally poppy seeds are added but since I didn’t had any, I used thick rawa (semolina). Also I didn’t add any melon seeds as there were none at home. There are no hard and fast rules about the types of nuts/seeds used and about the quantity of each. It’s flexible! Many people confuse Khhoraak with Majun, yet another winter delicacy. But both are very different in terms of texture, ingredients and flavors too. Khorak is made from roasted flour. Majun is made without using any flour. Mawa is used in Majun while Khorak is made without mawa. Edible gum is used in Khorak but not in Majun. Print Khhoraak for AlifBe ~17 Khhoraak is a winter delicacy made from whole wheat flour, ghee, edible gum and nuts. Ingredients 1 and half cup whole wheat flour 1 and half cup Ghee (I used 1 cup) 1 and half cup Sugar (I used 1 cup) 30 gms of Edible gum 2 tbsp of Poppy seeds (Khaskhas) 12-15 Almonds 10-12 Cashew Nuts 10 Unsalted Pistachios A handful each of of Black raisins and Kishmish ¼ cup of melon seeds (I didn't add any) 5-6 green cardamoms peeled and pounded or powdered ¾ cup hot milk or hot water Few thin slices of Kopra chopped into bits or 3-4 tsp of desiccated coconut powder Method Dry roast melon seeds if using. You can dry roast some almonds and pistachios that you can use for garnishing. Mix sugar in hot milk or hot water and keep aside. The idea is to allow sugar to melt as much as possible. Chop or slice nuts. Reserve some chopped nuts for garnish. Take a flat plate with sides or any cake pan/tray and grease it with oil/ghee. This will be used to spread the Khhoraak. Heat a tbsp of ghee in a thick bottomed pan or kadai. Fry edible gum, in batches, till nicely puffed. Drain and let it cool. Grind to make fine powder. Keep aside. In the same pan pour remaining ghee and add flour. Keep the flame on low. Roast the flour on low flame, stirring continuously, till light brown. This will take anywhere from 15-25 minutes depending on the flame and quantity of flour. Add powdered edible gum, poppy seeds, kopra or desiccated powder (whichever using) and elaichi powder. Keep roasting on low flame and add chopped almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts and melon seeds. Reserve some nuts and seeds for the garnish. Once the flour turns nice brown, add raisins and sugar that was mixed with hot water or milk. Mix quickly as the flour will absorb liquid pretty fast. Switch off the flame and quickly pour the contents on the greased plate. Take a flat steel bowl and press the Khhoraak with the base of the bowl, all over, to smoothen the surface. Garnish with remaining nuts/seeds and press a bit again. Let Khhoraak cool down a bit and then using a sharp knife slice it into desired shape (square or diamond) and size. Do not move the slices. Allow it to cool for a few hours and then separate out slices of Khhoraak. Store in an airtight container. It stays good for a few weeks and beyond if refrigerated. A small slice of this with a glass of milk is an ideal breakfast option during winters. 3.5.3251 And before I sign off, here is a small video about how the letter خ !

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Bitto Lolo for AlifBe~3

Alka Keswani — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 20:29:33 +0000

Third letter of #AlifBe i.e Sindhi alphabet is very interesting. The consonantal sound of this alphabet is used in only a handful-of languages spoken across the world like: Ega or the West African language spoken in South central Ivory coast or Vietnamese, Zulu etc if I am not wrong. The alphabet is ٻ and is written as B^ in Roman Sindhi. In English language the sounds of consonants are articulated when the air from lungs move outwards and hence such sounds are known as pulmonic sounds (Try saying A, B, C, D….and you will be able to relate). But in some languages, and particularly in Sindhi language there are some consonants where the airstream direction is different. And one such example is b^. This unique alphabet with sound of “Voiced bilabial implosive stop” is difficult to pronounce unless learnt in early childhood. ‘Voiced‘ means the vocal cords vibrate when this sound is made. ‘Bilabial’ means that both the lips are brought together to create this sound. ‘Implosive’ means that the sound is produced by restricting airflow in vocal tract or by pushing the air inside and partially closing the glottis (Kanth Dwar in Hindi). Kindly refer to this video to understand the formation of this alphabet. Print Bitto Lolo for AlifBe~3 B^itto lolo is jaggery stuffed paratha, a winter speciality enjoyed with fresh white butter Ingredients 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour (chapatti flour) ½ cup finely crushed jaggery Water to knead flour Oil or ghee for shallow frying Salt to taste Few pinches of black pepper/red chilli powder, optional Method Add salt and pepper to the flour and using little water at time, knead soft dough. Let the dough rest for a while. Divide the dough into 2 portions. Roll one portion into a roti and place ¼ cup crushed jaggery on one half of the roti. Pull over the other half to make a semi-circle. Press the edges and by pinching and twisting all along the sealed edges make a gujiya kind of stuffed roti. Repeat the same with the remaining dough. Cook on a hot griddle, flipping intermittently and pouring some ghee, till brown specks appear on both sides. Serve hot with yoghurt or white butter. 3.5.3251 The jaggery used here is not your regular sugarcane jaggery. It is Patali/ Khejur Gur (DatePalm Jaggery) courtesy Mr.Arun Kumar Pandey, who patiently explained me about this jaggery. “This year we have made ‘solid’ khejur gur ( patali) at the WB project site. Solid is difficult to achieve and feasibly only when night temperatures are below 10deg C, the sap collected overnight in such climate is of highest quality and results in solid jaggery. It’s much sought after ingredient for makar sankranti in Bengal and used to make payesh, other traditional sweets ( pitha). It’s hard to get pure and is soft, delicate, prone to melting with temp change”. I simply loved the flavors and the texture of Patali and it worked so well in b^itto lolo too! If you wish to buy one of the best Khejur Gur (Date palm Jaggery) then try your luck @ : Trendy Taste, Irla Road, Vile Parle West, opp KVIC, Near Cooper Hospital, Mumbai – 400056 M: 9870005590 You can also order from their Chennai dispatch office: Mobile no: 7395984874 Or check out the website : http://www.pprpf.org And here is a video to give you a glimpse of the melted jaggery! Enjoy!!

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Khhoraak for AlifBe ~17

Bitto Lolo for AlifBe~3