Monday, February 15, 2010

Mouthwatering Malpua !

Our entry for
  Jihva for Ingredients (JFI) the web based food event that celebrates natural ingredients.

Hosted by:
http://siri-corner.blogspot.com/2010/01/jfi-fennel-event-announcement.html
http://www.themahanandi.org/2009/04/06/jihva-for-ingredients-2009-2010/

Ingredient:
Fennel
Malpua is a rich dessert that has as many variations as people who enjoy it all over India, Although it  appears as a labor intensive dish...it is certainly not, here is our no fuss, simple version.  It can be served by itself or with hot rabri, we  like to serve ours with thick almond milk/rabri (evaporated milk). The crunchyness of the pancake with a  mild sweet  fennel flavor from the syrup, soaked in a  smooth rabri makes it an  unforgetable treat !




The batter for malpuas  is prepared differently in different parts of india . The mixture is sometimes delicately seasoned with cardamoms. It is deep fried in oil, and served hot. The Bihar version of this dish has sugar added to the batter prior to frying, while the method prevalent in Orissa has the fritters dipped in syrup after they are fried.
Malpua is popular in West Bengal and Maharashtra where it is served during festivals along with other sweets.Different variations of Malpua use pineapples or mangoes instead of bananas. In  Bengal, malpuas are traditionally made only with thickened milk and a little flour (sometimes rice flour instead of wheat flour).
Malpuas in northern India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, don't contain fruit. There are several variations, using some or all of the following ingredients: maida (refined flour), semolina, milk and yogurt. The batter is left to stand for a few hours before being spooned into a kadhai of hot oil to form a bubbling pancake which should be crisp around the edges. The pancakes are then immersed in a thick sugar syrup. Malpua is a popular sweet to make on the Hindu religious occasion of Holi

Ingredients: serves 2-3


For thick almond milk/rabri
Milk: 1 cup
Cream: 1 cup
Almond paste: 2tbsp
Saffron: 4-5 strings
Sugar: 1 tbsp

For sugar syrup
Water: 1cup
Sugar: 2 cups
Saunf / Fennel powder: 1-2 tsp
Saffron: optional


For the pancake
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 measure
Milk powder: ½ measure
Fine rava: 2 tbsp
Baking soda: one pinch
Oil: for shallow frying
Milk: for mixing

Procedure:

For Evaporated milk/ Rabri:

In a sauce pan (heavy bottomed) add milk, cream, almond paste*, saffron and sugar (do not add more than 1tbsp of sugar as the sweetness will come from the sugar syrup). Reduce this to a fourth by simmering on medium to low heat and stir frequently. This is ‘rabri’ or evaporated milk.

*For almond paste: soak handful of almonds overnight, slip the skins off by squeezing the almonds between your thumb and fingers or buy almonds without skin which are readily available. Grind the soaked almonds into a fine paste using water.


For Sugar syrup:
Boil sugar and water together to 1 thread consistency. To test this, dip a wooden spoon in syrup, touch it with a forefinger carefully, it will be very hot! Press fore-finger against your thumb and gently tease them apart. You should get one wire stretching between finger and thumb. Two wire consistency is too thick for this dish. Add sau nf/fennel powder to the syrup; keep it warm on low heat. Don't forget the fennel powder, it adds to the sweetness of the syrup.




For the puri/pancake

Sift flour, rava, milk powder and baking powder together. Make a batter by adding cool milk. It should be thin, like pancake batter, a pouring consistency. Leave aside for 10-15 minutes.

Heat oil/ghee in a pan; drop 1 scoop of batter in hot ghee/oil so that you get a flat circles or disc of approximately 3 inch. Fry until brown on both sides with crisp edges. (Refer to picture).

Drop the pancakes/puri in the sugar syrup. Serve warm with rabri or even vanilla ice-cream. Garnish with chopped/shredded pistachios and almonds .

As we entertained over the weekend, we made this  dessert  as a perfect finale to our spread of spicy flavorful Indian dishes. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.!

* Introduction adapted from wikipedia. Print Friendly and PDF

5 comments:

  1. Wow, that looks soo yummy!!! thanks a lot.

    Siri

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi coming from siri's corner... mulpua looks fantastic..

    ReplyDelete
  3. The malpua looks mouthwatering. I remember while growing up, my dad's sister would make this for us, she would always add banana to it.

    ReplyDelete

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