Tag: traditional indian snack

Gune (jaggery based)

Gune (jaggery based)

Gune (pronounced – Gu, as in Guru, plus Nay: gu + nay) is a traditional sweet snack which is prepared during the festival of Gangaur in a few states of North India and is the primary sweet which is offered to Goddess Parvati during Gangaur pooja (prayer). These can be prepared with white flour and white sugar, but I have always liked wheat flour and jaggery based Gune since my childhood. And as the whole family used to like this snack so much, my mother always prepared a lot for our munching.

Gune(jaggery based)

Basically, Gune is similar to Shakkarpara (first version)  Shakkarpara (second version.)  We just change the shape and the same snack is called Gune.

Oh, I missed blogging so much and I feel so good to be back here. While typing this post I can feel as if I am already talking to all my dear blogger friends!  Little bit here and there, ups and downs, but overall things are normal at my front. The main reason for not being active here was that I got busy with my home baking entrepreneurship. It is on a small scale but the most satisfying part is that customers are happy with my cookies, cupcakes and cakes. Many of them are coming back, again and again! What else one can ask for!

This year summer is really hot in Bangalore. Many a times I wanted to try a few variety of chips and papad for the blog. But honestly speaking, there was no strength left after finishing orders, experimenting on new healthy recipes, cooking three meals and other household chores. Now virus is back with a bang, and we have cases in our apartment so we have to restrict outsiders for a few days. Again there is fear in the air so no orders for some time. I got some time to relax (somehow you have to keep positive frame of mind) and decided to revive my blog.

Try these jaggery based Gune at home and don’t worry about the shape if you feel that it is a time consuming work.  You can prepare them as thin stripes or cut them like round thinners with a cookie cutter. I am sure you will love munching this crispy wheat flour and jaggery based snack…

Gune ( jaggery based)

Ingredients:

Wheat flour 2 cups

Jaggery 160 grams

Warm water 1/4 +1 tbsp

Oil 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp

extra oil for frying

Process

There are two ways to use jaggery in this recipe. You can soak jaggery in warm water, let jaggery get dissolved completely and use this sweet water to knead the dough…

Or, grate jaggery in a big pan and follow the rest of the procedure…

Add oil, cardamom powder and start kneading the dough by slowly adding warm water. Remember, we have to knead tight dough like we prepare for poori – not soft chapati dough. With soft dough, gune will not be crisp.

Because of jaggery, dough would be sticky. So sprinkle some dry wheat flour on your palm and this will be helpful in scrubbing the sticky tits-bits of dough. Now sprinkle some half a tsp oil in the pan and collect everything along with the dough and it will be smooth.

Dough for jaggery based Gune is ready

Divide this dough in two parts.

Again, there are two ways to roll this dough…

You can use a parchment or butter paper to roll the dough evenly from all the sides and then cut the stripes horizontally and vertically. Take one strip around your finger and seal it by pressing at the end of the edges.

The other way to do is that you sprinkle dry wheat flour on dry kitchen counter and roll the dough. If dough is sticking while rolling, again use dry flour. (Don’t roll the dough too thick. Because of jaggery, Gune get fried very quickly.Thick Gune will turn soft after frying. Thin ones will remain crisp for many days or till you finish them!) Cut the rolled disk horizontally with the help of a knife. Take one long strip and from one edge roll it around your finger, break it and seal the edges by pressing both the ends together. Use the same strip in the same manner until it gets over.

Roll the stripe around your finger to give shape of Gune

Jaggery based gune are ready to be fried

Heat oil in a wok and when oil is hot, reduce the heat to sim and fry Gune on sim heat. Be very gentle while frying. Jaggery makes them very delicate – so be careful while turning so that they don’t break. After frying all let them cool down completely. Later, fill them in an air tight container and enjoy  jaggery and wheat flour based Gune.

After cooling down completely, Gune become crisp.

Gune (jaggery based)

 

Deeksha Pathak76 Comments

Moong ki daal ke pakode (green lentil fritters)

I love Makar Sankranti festival the most! In Jaipur Makar Sankranti is celebrated in its full galore. Before a month itself you can feel the vibes of the festival in the air. Even a small street corner general store starts selling kites. Immediately after coming back from school, kids will be seen on terrace with their kites till their mother starts calling them to come down because it is going to be very cold – after all it’s peak of winter season. Mothers will be drying up sesame seeds in hot sun for preparing sweets as til ki papdi and til ke ladoo. 

Kids keep their kites ready the previous night of Sankranti itself. Gaajar ka halwa is prepared and split green moong daal is soaked previous night of Sankranti. I remember at my parents’ house we used to take bath with cold fresh tap water early in the morning on the day of Sankranti (a religious custom). Mother used to be busy with her pooja preparations and we used to wait for Sun to come so that sky can be clear of fog. I remember, once my brother, Sunny, and I, tried to fly kite very early in the morning when it was still dark. We found some neighbours also along with their kites on their terrace. But unfortunately because of fog kites became wet and everyone returned disappointed.

Sankranti is the best day to be soaked up in the Sun. Whole day family members are on the terrace. If guests or neighbours visit you, they also join you on the terrace.

Streets are also full of kids – some will be there to fly kites and others to catch the kites. Have you ever caught a kite flying in from somewhere in the sky, and somehow you guessed that it’s going to cross through your territory…it creates such a wonderful scene!! Everyone on your terrace is on full alert, sometimes including your parents, not to leave no stone unturned to catch the incoming kite!!!! And the person who succeeds in catching that kite will have a wonderful sense of proud feeling!!

Whole day will be gone in watching and flying kites, making loud hullabaloo if you are successful in snapping others kite’s string, gossiping, and munching roasted groundnuts, gazak, revadi, til papdi and hot moong ki daal ke pakode /vade.

Oh, I miss so much Makar Sankranti celebration in Jaipur, 😢 I guess I can write a lot about this festival. It is that one festival which is celebrated from morning till night. After sunset also some people fly kites with lamp, even though it gets very cold.

After shifting to Bangalore I hardly saw kids flying kites. But a few days before Sankranti I read that at some place kite festival was being organized. And today when we went out to our nearby shopping complex in Banashankari 3rd stage, I was amazed to see kites being sold in shops. Just like rakhi now there were kites to attract kids with their favorite cartoon characters like Doremon, Dora, Barbies etc. Even our honourable Prime Minister Modi kite was there.

mk3

mk 2

I really hope that in coming 3-4 four years we might see sky of Bangalore filled with colourful kites on Makar Sankranti.

The main attraction of food in the whole day of Makar Sankranti is ‘chilke vaali hari moong ki daal ke pakode‘. Daal is soaked the previous night, and in the morning it is ground, spices added and this batter is used the whole day for family members and guests to have hot pakode. These are very tasty and crispy and you can have them with your hot evening tea.

Ingredients :

Split green moong daal,  green chillies, ginger, salt, red chilli powder, salt, asafoetida and water.

Process :

Wash nicely and soak daal overnight or just for 2 hours in the morning – it puffs up nicely.

IMG_20190115_084051694.jpg

Add salt, red chilli powder, green chillies, asafoetida and ginger. Without water grind it in a mixer. We need thick batter, so don’t add water while grinding.

IMG_20190115_085535368.jpg

Heat oil in a deep pan and with your finger tips take very small quantity of daal batter and drop it carefully in the hot oil. If this tiny pakoda/fritter floats in the oil, it signifies that oil is hot enough to fry. In the same way fry rest of the pakode. You can use spoon also to drop the batter in oil.

 

IMG_20190115_092532969.jpg

 

On medium heat fry pakode nicely by turning them upside down.

IMG_20190115_092929737.jpg

Take them out with a handled sieve to drain out extra oil.

IMG_20190115_093350014

Serve hot and crispy pakode with any sauce or chutney.

pakode daal

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deeksha Pathak38 Comments
Layered Papdi

Layered papdi

Layered Papdi is a crisp savory munching snack. During festivals when we are busy preparing sweets and savory stuff, we prepare something special which we can enjoy when all hullabaloo of the festival is over and we just want to relax and enjoy our evening tea/coffee with our home made snack. Layered papdi is one of my favorite snack, to have it with tea or I use them to prepare spicy chatpata chaat…..

Layered PapdiI have a few more snack recipes on the blog. You can check them also…Namakpara /Nimki and Murrukku

Ingredients :

Maida (white flour) 1 cup
Chiroti/normal rava (optional) 1 tbsp
Salt 1/2tsp (reduce or increase according to your taste)
Ajwain /jeera  (carom or cumin seeds) (optional) 1/2 tsp
Oil (for moyan) 2+1/2 tbsp
Water 1/4 cup
Oil for frying
Cloves (loung) 10-12

Process:

Take maida in a broad vessel and add salt, ajwain/jeera(carom or cumin seeds) and oil. Mix it well and slowly add water and prepare the tight dough.

Dough for layered papdi is ready

The dough should be really tight otherwise we can’t roll it thin. Cover the dough and leave it for 15/20 minutes for resting.

After 15 minutes knead the dough again, divide it into equal parts and prepare the same sized balls.

make round shape balls

Roll them very thin, in round shape on the clean kitchen counter and keep them on parchment /butter paper.

roll them round in shape

Fold one round disc along the center and then again fold it to get 1/4th of its original size. Slightly press it and prick it with a knife from all sides to avoid puffing.

fold two times in triangle shape

Also, inserting cloves in between will help in keeping the layers flat.

Insert loung in between folded papdi

Heat oil in a deep pan and fry these papdis on the sim to medium heat till they become crisp.

fry papdi till they are crisp
Let them cool down completely and store in an airtight container. Enjoy these papdis with your tea /coffee.

Layered papdi

 

Deeksha Pathak4 Comments
Namakpara/Nimki

Namakpara /Nimki

Namakpara/ Nimki is usually prepared during traditional Indian festivals in India. Generally in India sweets are prepared during festivals, but preparing savory snacks like Namakpara/ Nimki also has their own importance. But honestly speaking, salty snacks need no occasion. We can have them with our morning and evening tea or just like that for munching also.

namakpara/nimki

Namakpara is one of the most easy to prepare savory snack, and with slight changes in the dough, which we prepare for Namakpara can give us many varieties of snacks, like plain or rolled papri for papri chat, mathri, etc. Even a combination of  different types of flours can be used to prepare them. But we will prepare those versions  some other time. Today, we will be doing Namakpara with ajwain (carom seeds) flavour.

Ingredients :

Maida         2 cups

Chiroti rava (optional) (normal rava is also fine) 2 tbsp

Salt           1 tsp

Ajwain (carom seeds)      1 tsp

Oil             4 tbsp

Water    1/2 cup (minus 1tbsp)

Oil for frying

Procedure:

Take a broad sized vessel so that kneading is easy and put maida, salt, chiroti rava, ajwain and oil in it.

IMG_20170310_125433732_BURST000_COVER_TOP.jpg

Oil helps Namakpara becoming crisp. Mix it all nicely and take little mixture in your palm and hold it tight. If mix binds well instead of crumbling, the oil quantity is perfect. If mixture crumbles, add some more oil.

IMG_20170310_125447211

Slowly start adding water in it and knead it in a tight dough. Apply some oil on ready dough (so that it doesn’t dry) and keep it covered for half an hour.

IMG_20170310_130348946.jpg

Clean your kitchen slab and roll the whole dough (or divide the dough in small balls and roll them).

roll namakpara dough in round disc

Cut the rolled dough vertically in long stripes. cut namakpara lengthwise

And again cut these stripes horizontally in big or small size. cut namakpara vertically and horizontally

You can fry them immediately or if planning to fry later, then keep them on dry, clean cotton cloth (maybe your dupatta) and cover with the cloth so that they don’t become dry.

Fry them in  between low to medium heat and and take out and keep them on a sieve or butter paper, to remove excess oil. Let them cool down completely. Fill in an air tight box and enjoy your crispy, salty snack!!!!! namakpara/nimki

 

 

Deeksha Pathak4 Comments