Sharing the Culture

Our home is mostly infused by our Jewish culture. But every now and again I let my other secret cultures come in through the kitchen door. Up until now it's been mostly West Indian, but recently my kitchen has turned into Joshi's Indian takeaway. We have been leaning towards a vegetarian Indian diet of late and the array of countless recipes is astounding!

This weekend sees the start of the Indian festival of Diwali. For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities in the home. Of course food also plays its part, especially sweets. If you have never had the pleasure or the ecstasy of eating Indian sweets, you have so not lived! Laddus, Gulab Jamun and Burfi - ahhhh num, num, num!


Gulab Jamuns

This is my all time favourite Indian sweet. If Gulab Jamun eating was an Olympic sport, I'd be winning Gold for Great Britain!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup nonfat milk powder
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 3 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup room temperature whole milk
• Pinch of baking soda
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 4 coarsely grounded cardamom seeds
• 4 strands saffron
• 1 tablespoon sliced almonds and pistachio
• Oil for deep-frying

Method

Syrup:

1. In a large pan, add water, sugar, saffron strands and ground cardamom seeds and bring it to a boil.
2. Let the syrup boil for a minute then remove it from the heat.
3. Stir the syrup until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Set the syrup aside.

Gulab Jamun:

1. In a bowl, mix milk powder, flour and baking soda.
2. Add the butter and mix well.
3. Now add milk to make soft dough. The dough will be sticky.
4. Let the dough sit for a few minutes. Milk powder will absorb the extra milk. If the dough is dry, add more milk, as the dough should be soft.
5. Knead the dough. Grease your hands with butter before working with the dough.
6. Divide the dough into about 20 equal portions and roll them into round balls.
7. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat. The frying pan should have at least 1 ½ inch of oil. To test if the oil is the right temperature, place a small piece of dough into the oil; it should take a minute to rise. If dough rises faster, oil is too hot; if dough just sits without rising, oil is not hot enough.
8. Place the gulab jamuns in the frying pan. Note: remember gulab jamuns will expand in double the volume, so give them enough space.
9. It should take about 7 minutes to fry the gulab jamuns. While frying keep rolling the gulab jamuns around so they are evenly browned. Fry until the gulab jamuns become dark brown.
10. Let the gulab jamuns cool off for a few minutes before placing in the hot syrup.
11. The gulab jamuns should sit in the hot syrup for at least 20 minutes prior to serving.

Tips:

1. If the gulab jamuns are fried on high heat, they will become hard inside and not fully cooked.
2. Too much baking soda will cause the gulab jamuns to get too soft or they will break apart when frying.
3. Don’t place the gulab jamuns in the syrup immediately after frying. This will cause the gulab jamuns to lose their shape and become chewy.

Rava Laddus

Ingredients:

340 gm (2 cups) fine grained semolina (rava)
170 gm (1 cup) fresh grated coconut (you can also use frozen)
100 gm (1/2 cup) ghee (or use 1/3 cup)*
330 gm (1 1/2 cups sugar)
250 ml (1 cup) water
1/4 tsp saffron strands
7 to 8 cardamom pods, ground
20 cashews
20 raisins

Method:

In a large bowl, mix the semolina and coconut, cover and keep aside for about 1/2 hour to 2 hours.

In a wok, heat the ghee on a medium flame. After it melts, put in the semolina-coconut mixture, reduce the flame and roast until the semolina turns golden and plump, about 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure not to brown the semolina by continuously stirring it on low heat. Transfer the contents to a plate and allow to cool to room temperature.

Put in the sugar and water into the wok and stir on medium heat until the sugar melts. Lower the heat after the sugar melts, add the saffron strands and cook until the syrup reaches one string consistency. You can test this by putting a drop of the syrup on a plate and allowing it to cool by blowing air on it and then taking the syrup between your forefinger and thumb and pulling it apart. At first the syrup is sticky and when the syrup draws a single thread its done!

After the syrup reaches single thread consistency, turn off the flame add add the cardamom, cashews and raisins and the semolina mixture. Mix well, cover and keep aside for 20 minutes to half an hour.

When the mixture is warm, form into laddus or balls by pressing small amounts of the mixture with your palms. Store in an air tight container.

Makes 24 to 28 laddus

Points to be noted:

• Use 1/2 cup ghee for the ingredients listed above if you want a soft consistency melt in the mouth laddu. This won’t harden even when refrigerated.

• If you use less ghee, the mixture might turn too dry to form into laddus. This can be sorted by adding a few spoons of milk until the mixture is soft enough to make into laddus. But, remember this will shorten the shelf life and might need to be refrigerated. Also the laddus are not very soft, but some people might prefer this texture to the softer one.

• If the semolina is roasted well then it can be stored at room temperature for 8 to 10 days. Refrigerate it for a longer storing period.

Cashew Burfi

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of ground cashew nuts (kaju)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• About 20 strings of saffron 

Method:

1. On very low heat in a heavy bottom pan roast the ground cashews for about 4 minutes or until powder just gets warm. Do not heat for any longer otherwise powder will start getting oily.
2. In a saucepan, boil the sugar and water together on medium heat until syrup is 1 thread or 225 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
3. Next add the saffron to the syrup mix it well.  Turn off the heat.
4. Add the ground cashews to the syrup and mix it well, making sure there are no lumps.
5. To check the right consistency take a little mix in a spoon, you should be able to roll this into softball.
6. Next spread the mix quick to the greased plate. Spread before the mix cools off.
7. Allow burfi to cool and then cut them into diamond shapes.