Nothing beats the bliss of Diwali celebrations, like the yummy festive treats that spread sweetness and joy. KINJAL PATEL of Murlidhar Sweets, Mumbai, serves up platefuls of traditional Indian sweets to add
TO your celebrations.
ROSE WONDER
Ingredients
100 g almonds, powdered
100 g cashews, powdered
100 g pistachios, powdered
5 g cardamom powder
50 g sugar
235 g gulkand
1 kg mawa
150 g rose syrup
1 ml rose essence
45 g rose petals
Method
- Mix the almond, cashew, pistachio and cardamom powders along with sugar and gulkand to prepare the filling.
- In another vessel, mix mawa, rose syrup and rose essence to prepare the outer covering.
- Make small portions of this mixture and stuff it with a small portion of the filling.
- Coat it with rose petals and serve.
CHOCOLATE ROLL
Ingredients
500 g chocolate
10 lt milk
400 g sugar
Method
- Boil five litres of milk to get 1.5 kg mawa. Add sugar to it and set aside for cooling.
- Now, boil the remaining five litres milk separately to get 3 kg mawa, and cool it.
- Make layers of the chocolate and the cooked mawa. Roll it up and cut into pieces. Serve.
THABDI PEDA
Ingredients
7 lt milk
600 g sugar
200 g ghee
1 g cardamom powder
250 ml water
5 g thinly sliced almonds for garnish
Method
- Heat milk in a vessel. Add sugar, and mix well. Keep stirring.
- Add ghee to the mixture, and let it cook for another 30 minutes.
- Add into the mixture cardamom powder and water, and cook for five more minutes till the mixture is slightly dry.
- Place the mixture in a dish, and leave it open to cool.
- When it cools, decorate with almonds.
- Cut the mixture with a round mould and serve.
GULKAND PAAK
Ingredients
800 g ghee
1 kg cashew nuts, powdered
1 kg whole dried milk (mawa)
500 g gulkand
500 g sugar syrup
500 ml water
5 g cardamom powder
5 g rose petals
2 ml rose-petal essence
A handful of sliced almonds for garnish
Method
- Heat ghee in a pan and add the cashews to it. Then add mava and mix well.
- Add the gulkand, sugar, water, cardamom powder, rose petals and rose-petal essence to the mixture.
- Mix well and place it in a serving tray. Garnish with sliced almonds and serve.
FIG SHINE
Ingredients
100 g masala cashews
40 g almonds
40 g pistachios
100 g figs
600 g white kaju kunda
10 g cardamom seeds
350 ml sugar syrup, or as per taste
50 g kesar kunda
20 pieces of silver warq
For the garnishing
60 g figs, chopped
35 g pistachios, chopped
Method
- Powder the masala cashews, almonds, pistachios and figs, and make a paste.
- In another vessel, mix cardamom seeds, white kaju kunda and some sugar syrup. Mix well and make
a roll. Cut it into balls of 8 g each. - Stuff the balls with the dry-fruit mixture, as prepared above, by gently pressing it into them.
- Place the silver balls on a tray; decorate with silver warq and pieces of figs and pistachios.
- Top them with star-shaped slices of kesar kunda and serve.
KAJU MYSORE
Ingredients
1 1/2 kg sugar
1 lt water
900 g cashew powder
25 g pistachios, sliced
2 1/4 kg ghee
Method
- Prepare sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water in a vessel.
- Add cashew powder to the syrup and cook till the mixture turns white in colour.
- While cooking, keep adding ghee (100 g, periodically), and after 20 minutes, gently pour the remaining ghee into the mixture.
- Take mixture off the heat, pour it onto a tray, and cut it into pieces.
- Sprinkle sliced pistachios on top, for garnish.
- Hold the tray so that the excess ghee flows out. Refrigerate and serve.
ORANGE NAUGHT
Ingredients
100 g masala cashews
50 g almonds
50 g pistachios
40 ml orange syrup
100 g mixed jelly
50 g kaju kunda
100 g orange jelly
20 pieces of silver warq
50 g green pistachio dust
25 g chocolate chips
Method
- Powder the masala cashews, almonds and pistachios and mix in the orange syrup and mixed jelly.
- Add a little kaju kunda to it and mix well. Divide the mixture into balls of 8 g each.
- Take the remaining kaju kunda and cut it into balls of 8 g each.
- Fill the mixture, as prepared above, into these balls by gently pressing it into them.
- Press the balls to make flat patties, cover with silver warq and decorate with an orange jelly-flower on top.
- Garnish with green pistachio dust and chocolate chips. Serve.
HANDVO
Ingredients
For the handvo
½ cup tur dal
(soaked for a few hours)
1 cup rice (soaked for a few hours)
4 tbsp curd
¾ cup grated bottle gourd
½ cup grated cabbage
A few green peas
½ tsp ginger, chopped
2 green chillies, chopped
A pinch of turmeric powder
1 tsp sesame seeds
Salt to taste
For the tempering
¼ tsp fruit salt
2-3 drops lime juice
1 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 dry red chilli
One pinch asafoetida (hing)
Method
For the handvo
- In a bowl, mix tur dal with rice. To it, add 4 tbsp of curd and water, and stir well. This is your handvo.
- Cover it with a lid and set aside in a warm place to ferment overnight or 10-12 hours.
- Fold in the vegetables into the fermented mix.
- Then, add to it the ginger, green chillies, turmeric powder, sesame seeds and salt.
- Mix the batter well and add water to make it into a semi-thick consistency.
For the tempering
- Take half a cup of handvo batter into a separate bowl and add ¼ tsp of fruit salt to it.
- Then, add lemon juice and mix well and add it to the main batter. The handvo should have turned nice and fluffy by now.
- In a pan, take about one tbsp oil in a pan, and temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves, dry red chilli and asafoetida.
- Pour four tbsp of handvo mixture over the tempering. Let it cook on each side for five minutes with lid-on, on low heat.
- The handvo should turn golden brown in colour on each side and be properly cooked inside.
- Similarly, use the remaining batter to make more handvo. Serve hot.
recipes prepared by:
KINJAL PATEL
Get the taste at: Murlidhar Sweets, Shop No. 10, Shailesh Apartment, Opp. Ram Mandir, SVP Road, Borivali (W), Mumbai – 400103; Ph: 022-28949788
Photographs: Vinod Krishnan
food styling: Abid Mohammed
