Sweet nothings

I am particularly fond of Indian Sweets. This section will see lot of additions as the days pass. I keep trying to make traditional sweets as well as some fusion modifications to them. I toyed with different flavors for regular Indian sweets and they turned out really well. So developed butterscotch flavored coconut laddoos, Apple walnut Shrikhand and Apple Halwa. Vanilla essence and cinnamon go really well with apple based sweet dishes and the taste of these preparations is quite interesting. While hung curd got nicely flavored with grated apples, cinnamon and Vanilla essence, I caramelized the walnuts to add the crunch to the shreekhand. The Apple halwa utilized very less sugar because of innate sweetness of apples, which is a boon!

Gujia or Karanji in Marathi or Kaanvala more specifically for the CKP community from Maharashtra is a sweet to die for! This dish is sort of a heirloom dish for the community and easily is the pride of CKP community. The colorful layered covering that one sees here is actually made with finest semolina or rava, that has been pounded with generous amount of ghee till it reached the elastic consistency of regular flour dough. Layers of this dough are set over a mixture of ghee and cornflour and rolled and cut into balls that are further rolled to make individual Kaanvala. The filling is made of dry coconut, small amount of roasted wheat flour, powdered sugar, khuskhus and cardamom powder. 

Mohanthaal is another heavenly preparation that I learned in Gujarat. The consistency is tricky to achieve. Best Mohanthaal has a barfi like consitency that just melts in mouth. It is never crumbly or chewy. I learned the tricks from my neighbor and slowly trying to achieve that finesse. 

Quintessential Puranpoli - I prefer the variety made with sugar over that with jaggery. In the eastern Maharashtra, the Puranpoli is essentially made with Sugar. I have the distinct memory of my Grandmother, sitting on the floor and rolling out the puranpolis on a small tin platform that was covered with a butter paper greased with oil. The poli used to be baked (or rather fried) on a skillet over some more oil and finally was served with a small katori of Ghee. My Grandfather used to have it with Milk or even with coconut milk. It is said that you can never make the Puranpoli as good as your mom and your mom can not make it better than your grandmom! More experienced the hand that rolls it, tastier it comes out!. My Grandmother's Puranpoli was a melt-in-the-mouth version. She had the patience to feed it to the entire army of her children and grandchildren..Over the years, the traditional Puranpoli has undergone a crash diet, the oil and ghee have left her side or have been relegated to a far off place on the plate, but it still remains one of the most celebrated sweet dish in Maharashtra. 

My version of puranpoli is thinner and may never reach to the level of aaji's puranpoli, but it is made at least thrice a year to keep that spirit of Puranpoli alive. And the best part is my son still relishes it with loads of ghee!