Sugar syrup Archives | Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes

Mithi Dhabhal~Sweet Bread

Alka Keswani — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 15:08:22 +0000

Making Indian sweets at home could be tricky since most of these require perfect consistency of sugar syrup to obtain perfect texture of sweet dish. While some Indian sweets are little forgiving when it comes to syrup consistency (malpua, rasgulla, gulabjamun etc), the texture of batter/dough needs to be perfect for satisfactory results in such cases. For some sweets, the temperature is a deciding factor while some like laddoo need ‘tagar’, a most crucial ingredient to nail the texture and flavours, made by re crystallizing sugar syrup, by vigorously mixing it off flame, till it turns into a coarse powder. Some desserts need Khoya/mawa and if you don’t trust the quality of commercially available khoya, making it at home is an easy but time consuming process. To cut the long story short, if you have a family who wait in anticipation for a sweet dish to arrive at the end of a meal, you need to think of ‘quick fix’ options to whip up a sweet dish. And ‘Mithi dhabhal’ is one such dessert that you can make in minutes (literally) with readily available ingredients in your kitchen/pantry. You just need bread slices (white/brown), sugar, water and green cardamom. That’s it!!And well, it tastes like Gulabjamun ;-). It is one of the most popular sweet made in Sindhi homes. Ps: If you have some leftover gulabjamun syrup then you can use it to soak fried bread. Print Mithi Dhabhal~Sweet Bread Rating 5.0 from 3 reviews Prep time: 2 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 12 mins Serves: Serves 4 Easiest sweet dish to make, Mithi dhabhal is nothing but deep fried bread soaked in cardamom flavored sugar syrup. Ingredients 8 bread slices 100 gm Sugar Half cup of water 2-3 Green cardamoms Saffron, a pinch (optional) Few drops of rose water/essence (optional) Oil/ghee for frying Nuts for garnishing Method Cut bread slices in desired shape. I generally cut each slice in 4 quarters or even disc shape, using a small katori. Heat oil in the pan and deep fry the bread pieces in hot oil on medium flame, till golden brown. Drain on tissue paper. In a pan, mix sugar and water and add slightly crushed cardamom.Let the mixture boil till bubbles appear. The consistency of syrup should be similar to that of Gulabjamun syrup. If using, add saffron too. Put off the flame, and add rose water or essence. Now soak the fried bread in the warm sugar syrup for few minutes and remove them on a serving plate using slotted spoon or fork. If you prefer crisp bread then use less warm syrup and reduce the soaking time.Inversely if you like the bread to have soft gulabjamun like bite, then make sure you dunk your fried bread in tad hot syrup. Garnish with chopped nuts. Could be served warm or cold. 3.4.3177

The post Mithi Dhabhal~Sweet Bread appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Gheear~Sindhi style Jalebi

Alka Keswani — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 15:58:34 +0000

Holi, the spring festival of India, is around the corner.With just few days remaining in the festival of colours, many people asked for the recipe of traditional Holi sweet of Sindhis, Gheear or the jumbo jalebi. For sindhis, Holi means going crazy over sweets like Praghree, Gheear, Malpura etc. The recipe of typical Sindhi sweet, Praghree, the crispy layered pastry stuffed with Khoya, is already shared here, while that of malpura is here Last year I tried making gheear too but my attempts went into vain, when the under- fermented batter refused to turn into slim pearly droplets that bind together to make a circular mesh like sweet called gheear! All I got was the thick jalebi like sweet, that didn’t look even remotely related to gheear. This year things were better, yet far from perfect. Hopefully till next Holi, my gheear making skills will improve 😉 The batter is almost same as that of jalebi, but the way the batter is pipe out is different in gheear. Unlike concentric shaped jalebis, the gheear is made by squeezing out the batter through tiny hole of cloth or nozzle of bottle, in random directions. More details in the recipe that follows… Print Gheear~Sindhi style Jalebi Crisp and juicy jalebi like sweet, soaked in saffron mixed cardamom flavored syrup, enjoyed during Holi festival Ingredients For Gheear (Makes 7-8 pieces ) 1½ cups All purpose flour ¾th cup Yogurt (Yogurt is always half the quantity of the flour , 2:1 ratio) 2 tbsp cornflour Few drops of Jalebi colour (Red orange or yellow) Optional For Sugar Syrup 2 cups of sugar 1½ cups of water 3-4 green cardamons or ¼ tsp of cardamon powder ½ tsp of good quality saffron Unsalted pistachios and dried rose petals for garnish Method To make the batter, in a large bowl, mix 11/4 cup of maida (and save the remaining ¼ th cup), 2 tbsp of cornflour and ¾ th cup of beaten yogurt and mix well. Add little amount of water (Around ¼ to ½ cup, depending upon the consistency of yogurt), and mix vigorously to make a smooth, lump free batter. Keep whisking or mixing with your fingers for at least 15 minutes. Cover the bowl with a lid and let the batter ferment for 24 hours. The batter is generally made with just water and flour, but it might require around 32-48 hours to ferment well, depending upon the weather. Hence Yogurt is added to add the sourness and aid the process of fermentation. When the batter is fermented well, add the remaining ¼th cup flour and food colour (if using..I didn't used any!) and mix vigorously for around 10 minutes. Meanwhile in another pan, mix sugar, water, cardamom and saffron and make a syrup of one string consistency. Heat ghee or refined oil in flat bottomed pan. The diameter of pan should not exceed 12 cm. Or else use the shallow, 10 cm in diameter, metal cooking ring. Place it in the pan and pour the batter inside the ring. The aim is to make gheear that is around 8-10 cm in diameter or else it might break while turning in hot oil. Now pour the fermented batter into ziplock bag (and snip off one of the corner, making a tiny hole) , or muslin cloth (and make potli of it, then cut a small hole), or in a plastic squeeze bottle with small nozzle. Quickly pipe out the freely flowing batter in random directions to make a mesh like design. It needs patience and practice to make perfect design. For now, lets be contented with the taste of gheear rather than the look of it. Remove the ring, if using, and turn gheear gently, once or twice, frying it on medium to low flame, till light golden colour. Remove from oil, and soak for a minute or so, in warm syrup (neither hot nor cold). Drain and keep aside, un covered till the syrup coated gheear becomes more crisp. Repeat the procedure till all the batter is consumed. Store in airtight containers, only after thoroughly cooled. Shelf life is 2-5 days depending on the weather. 3.2.2265 Wishing you all a very happy, colourful and safe Holi !

The post Gheear~Sindhi style Jalebi appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Praghree| Deep Fried Crunchy layered Puffs|Sindhi Sweet

Alka Keswani — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:55:04 +0000

Praghree (Praghri/Pragri), a deep fried crunchy, layered puff stuffed with Khoya/mawa, is a seasonal delicacy, made only during Holi Festival ( Indian Festival of colours). Rarely will you find these crunchy, sticky delights during rest of the year. Very high in calories but an addictive sweet, Praghree have many fans; specially from Sindhi Community. Almost every Sindhi sweet shop will stock this around Holi and generally there are two varieties of it. One is stuffed with Khoya and other with Chabu Halwo (cornflour pudding/Bombay Karachi halwa). This fascinating sweet could be made at home, but you need to have a heart to fry these in Dalda ghee (hydrogenated vegetable oil ) if you want the sweet to remain crunchy for long. As for me, I chickened out and fried it in sunflower oil. Well, there are many minute details that I need to share with you all, regarding this recipe, so stay focused here! Generally everyone around, buy Praghree from sweet shop, during the festive season. Seldom people make these at home.Hence not much of the reference was available online or in cookbooks. So let me first thank the people who helped me out to gather information and provide tips. I had the brief idea of making Praghree and the rough measurements of ingredients, thanks to Late ‘Baba’, an elderly person in my neighborhood. I have some of his recipes, on this blog of mine. So the base recipe is of ‘Baba’. But sadly he left us before I can get exact details of ‘folding’ and ‘rolling’ praghree, in traditional ways. After loads of research, I found that the texture and look of praghree resembles Spiral curry puffs, not exactly, but I think that the similar method of rolling might work. Before I could make up my mind to take a plunge, I came across the BLC’s ‘Flavors of Sind‘ book and I was happy to find a workable method of making Praghree. I went ahead with the method mentioned in the book and followed the recipe casually shared by Late ‘Baba’, and voila ! I got nice, crunchy, crisp golden Praghree. After all the efforts put in, I was happy to munch on a home made praghree, but then I realized that though it was crunchy and sweet, the sweetness lacked the depth of flavor. Also by next day, the leftover Praghree went soggy, unlike store brought ones, that stay crunchy even if stored for days. And then I did, what I always do, when I get stuck up with any Sindhi recipe; sending a distress call to Suresh Hinduja~The celebrity Chef of GourmetIndia !. As usual he enlightened me with some handy tips and of course I am going to share those with you all, at the end of the recipe Also my friend Kurush Dalal helped me a lot in my ‘research’, while I was trying to understand the origin and basics of this recipe. Thanks to him, I now know that even Parsi and Bohri cuisine have a sweet delicacy named Mawa Nu Khaja, which is made in somewhat similar way. The Parsi version also makes use of clotted cream apart from mawa/khoya. PLEASE NOTE: The recipe have loads of scope for hits-and- miss. So in case, you try out this recipe, please let me know whether it worked for you or not. Your inputs will help me and other readers of this blog, to fine tune this recipe further. Also I used ‘unsweetened mawa’ instead of sweetened one and added few spoons of powdered sugar to it (not a good decision !). Please try to grab some sweetened mawa for better flavor. I generally do not use any kind of essence (except vanilla essence for the bakes) and artificial colours in my food. This too backfired, and excluding out rose essence made the syrup very bland. So please use Rose and/or Kewra essence in the syrup…just few drops ! So now lets head towards the Recipe… Print Praghree| Deep Fried Crunchy layered Puffs|Sindhi Sweet Rating 4.7 from 6 reviews Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Serves: 7 Traditional SIndhi Sweet, deep fried crunchy puffs stuffed with Mawa and soaked in flavored sugar syrup Ingredients For the puff pastry: All Purpose flour (Maida) 2 and ¼ cups Dalda/Ghee ¼ cup Water to knead the dough For uncooked Roux (Paste) ¾ cup melted ghee 3 tsp All purpose flour For Sugar syrup: 11/4 cup sugar ¾th Cup water Few Saffron strands soaked in 1tbsp of water Few drops of Rose essence 3-4 green cardamom pods, crushed Other Ingredients: 300 gm mawa (sweetened) Dalda/ Ghee/ Oil for frying Dried rose petals for garnishing (optional) Varq (Varak, or thin, beaten silver foil) and/or unsalted pistachios for garnishing (Optional) Method For Sugar Syrup: In a pan, mix 1¼ cup sugar with 1 cup of water, add crushed cardamoms and soaked saffron (along with the water in which saffron was soaked) and boil the syrup for around 3-4 minutes, or till a thin syrup is made. Put off the flame and add 2-3 drops of rose essence.Mix and keep it covered with a lid. For the Crunchy crust : Mix the maida and Dalda/ghee and knead a stiff flour using some water. Let it rest for a while. The rested dough is now ready to roll. Divide the dough into 7 portions. Take one portion (let us call this portion as Portion A) out on the rolling board/clean surface and cover the rest of the dough so that it doesn't dry out! Now divide this Portion A, into 4 smaller portions, each being of the size smaller than a lemon/lime. Roll these four individual portions into small chapatis.Roll the dough Alternatively, you can a take a portion of dough and roll out a huge, thin disc, then using a steel bowl (katori), cut out small portions (the way cookies are cut using cookie cutters), put aside the cut discs and mix the remaining dough back to the kneaded dough. Make rest of the smaller discs in similar way...i.e rolling out a portion of dough, cutting out smaller disc using bowl..so on, so forth!) Prepare an uncooked roux/paste of melted ghee and maida. Smear each small chapati with this paste (Approx. 1-11/2 tsp for each chapati), by spreading the paste well. This roux or paste will work as binding agent between the layers. Now cut each chapati into 2 cm wide strips. Place the strips one on other . Repeat the same with rest of three chapatis and place all the strips on each other, to make a stack.Press this stack, gently! Now cut this stack into four portions (as shown in picture, below) and again stack each portion, one over top of other. Press it gently Here's how the tower of the strips look likes! Sprinkle some dry flour on rolling board/ clean surface and roll the prepared stack into more or less circle shape. Place a heaped tsp (or a bit more) of sweetened mawa in the centre of the rolled chapati.Now dip your fingers in water and gently tap your fingers around the mawa (be careful as not to press the edges ). Gently fold over the rolled dough, to make a half circled, filled chapati (Like Gujiya). Press the dough around the mawa stuffing (and not around the edges of the half circle). This will be our first Pragri (puff). Repeat this whole procedure with the remaining 6 portions. (Remember? We have divided the original dough into 7 portions and so far we were working on just portion A.Repeat this with Portion B, C,D...) (Phew!) Keep all the puffs covered with a cloth to avoid formation of any crusts. Now heat dalda/oil/ or mixture of dalda and oil, in a frying pan. Deep fry each puff, one at a time, on the lowest flame, turning intermittently, very gently, till golden brown. Frying on higher flame will leave the puffs undercooked from inside. Drain on kitchen towel/ tissue paper and fry the rest of the puffs, one at a time! COOL THE PUFFS COMPLETELY ! Once all the puffs have cool down completely, simply warm the syrup (just warm) and dip each puff in this syrup.Make sure that the puff is completely coated with the syrup.(You can hold each puff in syrup for few seconds) Place the syrup coated puff on a plate and garnish with petals/ varak/nuts. Cool and store in airtight containers.These stay good at room temperature for few days. Notes 1) You can add chopped nuts or crushed dried fruits to the sweetened mawa.2) You can stuff the puffs with Bombay karachi halwa (Place a piece of halwa in the centre of rolled chapati,instead of mawa.TIPS SHARED BY Mr. SURESH HINDUJA FOR CRUNCHY PRAGHREE !1) Adding 'Khasta' or ghee to the dough. (Shall make the pastry crisp)2) Using Dalda ghee to make roux (paste).3) Frying Praghree in Dalada ghee instead of oil (This will ensure that the pastry will stay crisp for long)4) Adding a bit of rose essence and saffron to the syrup (This will enhance the flavor of syrup)5) Keeping the syrup thin and not thick ( Thicker syrup will make the pastry soggy)6) As soon as the syrup is ready, cover it with a lid to trap the aroma.I am sure that if anyone making the Praghree at home, will be able to make it better than mine, since now you all have the handy hints by Suresh. Thank you Suresh, for the kind help and handy tips ! 3.5.3251

The post Praghree| Deep Fried Crunchy layered Puffs|Sindhi Sweet appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Lahori Gajhar|Sweet Potato in Sugar syrup

Alka Keswani — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:23:16 +0000

Sweet potatoes are the sweeter tuberous roots that are long and tapered, and have a rustic look , feel and taste. There are many varieties of these roots available around the world, ranging from pale yellow skinned to orange or from red to purplish hued skin. A rich source of Vit A and Beta-carotene, it is also a good source of many other essential minerals and nutrients. Generally in India, one can find the purple/Red variety of sweet potatoes with pale or whitish flesh. These varieties are generally less sweet and more on dry side than its orange or yellow counterparts.One can easily spot the hand carts, selling the hot/warm, coal roasted or fire roasted sweet potatoes. The smoky aroma, the buttery smoothness and the rustic feel, as you unwrap the charred skin, will surely charm you. If at all, you are not really happy with the tad less sweetness and bit of dry potatoes, then Sindhi style of cooking sweet potatoes in sugary syrup might tickle your sweet taste buds. Print Lahori Gajhar|Sweet Potato in Sugar syrup Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Serves: 3-3 Sweet potatoes cooked in sugary syrup ! Ingredients 1 large (or 2 medium sized) sweet potatoes Water for boiling 1 cup sugar 300-400 ml of water Method Thoroughly scrub and rinse well the sweet potato to make sure that its rid of all the dirt and grim. Boil in sufficient water till almost cooked.( I pressure cooked it whole, till the pressure of cooker was released just once.Switch off the gas immediately). In the meanwhile, cook the sugar along with water till it just dissolves. Now Cut the boiled sweet potatoes into 1- inch thick slices and add into boiling sugar syrup. Cook on medium flame till the syrup is thick and the flesh of sweet potatoes appear juicy and translucent. Serve warm. Notes Once boiled, or cut, do not keep the sweet potatoes exposed to air or else these will start to oxidize and turn black.Always let them soaked in water or syrup till consumption. Always boil these with skin intact.But make sure to thoroughly scrub the skin of Sweet potatoes clean. Peel the skin only just before actually eating it ( This means, serves these with skin intact, soaked in syrup ) 2.2.1

The post Lahori Gajhar|Sweet Potato in Sugar syrup appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.

Awran Jo Murrabo|Amla Murraba|Gooseberry Conserve

Alka Keswani — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:47:08 +0000

Awran Jo Murrabo or Indian Gooseberry Conserve is very popular amongst Sindhis, particularly, it is the most favorite of elder generation, because they are well aware of the health benefits of Amla or Indian Gooseberries. Probably all of us have heard about this ‘Wonder Berry’ and the numerous health benefits of consuming Amla on regular basis. Because most toxins in the natural world are bitter, the human body is fine tuned to detect them. A bitter taste on the tongue usually makes us want to spit food out, and the taste receptors we also have in the stomach can detect bitterness, too. The sensation of bitterness triggers the release of extra stomach acid to make sure any offending food or toxin is thoroughly digested. The process of completely digesting Amla ensures that any foods eaten at about the same time are also completely digested. Potentially allergenic proteins are broken down, and the net effect is “cooling,” stopping the slow autoimmune reactions that generate inflammation all over the body.(Source : Here). It aids in digestion, its a good laxative, one of the best source of Vit. C, it has antibacterial properties and works as a good antioxidant, improves eyesight, great for your hair, strengthens heart and liver muscles . It also is a great source for the important nutritional trace element, Chromium. Chromium is necessary for Insulin to work positively for our body and hence this trace mineral in a way, helps to keep Diabetes fairly under control. Also, the body absorbs chromium well, in presence of Vitamin C, which is abundant in Amla. Do you need any more reasons to enjoy this berry? Though dried Amla and Amla candy are the best ways to enjoy this fruit, it can be consumed in forms of dried powder, juice and also in Chyawanprash ;-). But there is yet another way to have your daily dose of Amla, and that’s what we will talk about today…Home made Amla Conserve..deliciously sweet and sour Amlas in a spiced sweet sugar syrup, cooked until the syrup is golden honey like. Enjoy it everyday with your breakfast, especially in winters and boost your immunity..Out you nasty ‘cold and cough’ !!!!! A conserve, or whole fruit jam, is a jam made of fruit stewed in sugar. Often the making of conserves can be trickier than making a standard jam, because the balance between cooking, or sometimes steeping in the hot sugar mixture for just enough time to allow the flavor to be extracted from the fruit and sugar to penetrate the fruit, and cooking too long that fruit will break down and liquefy. This process can also be achieved by spreading the dry sugar over raw fruit in layers, and leaving for several hours to steep into the fruit, then just heating the resulting mixture only to bring to the setting point.As a result of this minimal cooking, some fruits are not particularly suitable for making into conserves, because they require cooking for longer periods to avoid issues such as tough skins.Currants and gooseberries, and a number of plums are among these fruits.( Source:Wiki) Print Awran Jo Murrabo|Amla Murraba|Gooseberry Conserve Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews A Conserve made from Gooseberries or Awlas, a famous Sindhi Murraba recipe ! Ingredients Indian gooseberries or Amla 15-17 For soaking Water 2 lit Alum 1 tsp For Cooking Water 2 lit For Sugar syrup Sugar 1 kg Water 1 lit Bay leaves 2 Black pepper corns 5-7 Green Cardamom 4-5 Saffron 2 small pinches, soaked in 2 tsp of water For preserving Sterilized porcelain or glass jar/ container Method Pick around 15-17 gooseberries, taking care that these are free of blemishes. Dissolve Alum in water and soak the berries for 12 hours or so, to get rid of some of the bitterness. Drain and rinse well the gooseberries to get rid off any traces of alum. Prick well each one, with a fork. Do not skip this process or else the berries will not soak syrup well and hence will taste bitter at the end. Boil around 2 liters of water in a pan. Add gooseberries in the boiling water and let these boil for around 8-10 minutes. Drain and keep aside. Now in a thick bottomed pan, add all the ingredients listed under 'Sugar syrup', except saffron When the syrup starts boiling, add the drained gooseberries and cook for around 20-25 minutes. Add saffron soaked in water, cook for a minute or so and put off the gas. Note: You can cook the Amlas for longer duration at one go, or you can cook these in syrup for 20 minutes. Let these soak in syrup for a day, so that the syrup steeps in well. And again on next day cook more, to make the syrup thick.Thick syrup ensures that the Amlas can be preserved for months and probably for a year or so.I actually cooked it in parts for three consecutive days :-). Allow these to cool at room temperature. Later store this conserve in a sterilized jar. No refrigeration is needed, and this conserve or Murraba stays fine for months. Enjoy it everyday with your breakfast ! 3.3.3077

The post Awran Jo Murrabo|Amla Murraba|Gooseberry Conserve appeared first on Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes.