Holi 2021: Celebrate the festival of colours with these delectable treats

Holi is just around the corner. This means it is time to celebrate the spirit of this colourful festival with our dear ones while maintaining proper distancing and following all hygiene protocols. But what better than celebrating this much-awaited festival than with sweet delicacies that you can make at home with just a little preparation? After all, delectable recipes are the best way to usher in the festive mood.

So, what are you waiting for?

Take a look at the recipes we have put together for you on this special occasion.

Organic Palm Jaggery Malpua by chef Thimma Reddy, executive chef, THE Park Hyderabad

Would you like to try this lovely recipe? (Source: PR Handout)

Ingredients

1 cup – Refined flour
½ cup – Semolina
¼ cup – Refined grated organic palm jaggery
½ tsp – Fennel seeds
1/4tsp – cardamom powder
½ cup – Milk
120ml – Water or as required
Oil for deep frying
30 ml – Ghee
Rabri for serving
Dry fruits for garnishing

For sugar syrup
1 cup – Palm jaggery
½ cup – Water
¼ tsp – Cardamom powder
Few threads of saffron

Method

*In a large mixing bowl, take refined flour, semolina, grated palm jaggery, fennel and cardamom powder.
*Add milk, mix slowly in one direction ensuring there are no lumps in the batter. Later, add water and mix well. The batter should be of smooth pouring consistency.
*Further, whisk the batter for at least five minutes. Cover and rest the batter for 30 minutes.
*Now pour a ladle quantity batter into hot oil/ghee. Once, the malpua starts floating, splash oil over it. Press gently with the help of a perforated spoon. The malpuas will puff up like pooris.
*Now fry both sides till they turn golden brown. Drain the malpuas onto a kitchen towel to remove excess oil and soak them into hot jaggery syrup.
*Rest for 10 minutes, making sure both the sides of malpua are soaked well. Finally, serve hot with rabri (optional) and garnished with few nuts.

Mawa Apple Gujiya by Maharaj Jodharam Choudhary, corporate chef, Khandani Rajdhani

Time for some delicious gujiyas! (Source: PR Handout)

Ingredients

1 cup + 1 tbsp – Maida
2½ tbsp – Ghee
A pinch – Salt
¾ cup – Mawa, grated
½ cup – Coconut, grated
5 tbsp – Powdered sugar
2 tbsp – Cashew nuts, chopped
2 tbsp – Almonds, chopped
1 no – Apple, grated
¼ tsp – Cinnamon powder
¼ tsp -Cardamom powder
Oil to deep fry

Method

*Combine 1 cup maida, salt and ghee in a bowl, and mix well with your hands.
*Add enough cold water to knead a soft dough.
*Rest the dough for half-hour for stuffing,
*Heat a pan and add grated mava to it.
*Stir it continuously without burning. Cook till golden brown.
*Switch off the flame. Let it cool and set again.
*Add coconut, powdered sugar, dry fruits, grated apple, cardamom powder and cinnamon powder to the mava and mix well.
*Make small balls out of dough and roll into small poories.
*Now, place the stuffing on one half of the rolled dough.
*Stick the sides and make a half-moon by sticking the edges.
*Make all gujiyas and fry them in hot oil at medium-low heat till golden in colour.
*Remove onto an absorbent paper and let them cool.
*In a pan, make sugar syrup. Once it is one-string consistency, remove it from flame and allow it to cool.
*Once the syrup is cooled, put the gujiya in the syrup and soak for few minutes. Remove from the syrup and strain it. Place the gujiya on a plate and garnish the same with chopped almonds, pistachios.

Holi Special Puran Poli by executive chef Amit Kocharekar, The Resort Mumbai

Puranpoli is a sweet delicacy, traditionally stuffed with mashed channa dal and jaggery. Its unassuming taste is known to tantalise the taste buds and leave its flavours on the tongue for long. Today, we bring to you some enterprising innovations on this authentic recipe of the puranpoli to make it healthier and give it a slightly modern avatar.

Strawberry Puran Poli

Take a look at this easy recipe. (Source: PR Handout)

Though traditionally, puran is rich in natural protein, whole wheat will support required fibres and the berries will work as antioxidant to ensure a complete package. We will serve this version of the puranpoli with Gujarati Kadhi to prepare a mindblowing combination of Maharashtrian and Gujarati cuisines as we all indulge in the spirit of the colour celebration.

Serves: Up to 11 of 8 inches diameter

Ingredients

For Preparation

360g – Lentil (Bengal Gram/Arhar)
240g – Jaggery
10g – Cardamom Powder
360g – Wheat Flour
130g – Maida
½ tbsp – Salt
1 tbsp – Pure ghee
100g – Puree of strawberry (thick without added water)
For variation use kesar/saffron in dough, if desired

For decoration

50g – Pure Ghee; powder sugars

Method

*Wash and boil the lentil (Bengal gram) with water till it becomes soft.
*Cool slightly and strain the dal using a colander.
*Mash the boiled lentil properly and put it aside to cool.
*Take half of the pure ghee in the frying pan or kadhai and put on medium flame.
*Now put the mashed lentil in the heated ghee and stir continuously till it turns into a paste.
*Add jaggery and cardamom powder in the lentil paste and keep it on the stove till the mixture becomes paste-like form.
*Keep the lentil and sugar paste aside and prepare to make balls from flour dough.
*Take the wheat flour in a big bowl and mix maida and a little salt. Add water and puree of strawberry and make a dough. Do not make it too hard.
*Prepare an equal number of balls from dough and puran paste.
*Roll out dough balls to make small puris.
*Stuff these puris with puran paste.
*Roll them again into balls.
*Roll out to make round flatbreads – the poli.
*Heat a frying pan and bake the polis/flatbreads on a slow flame.
*Apply ghee on both sides when done.

Remember to clean your pan and griddle after each poli is made or else you will get black marks on the poli and it will stay half-baked. Cardamom powder can also be added to the dough if desired.

Kadhi recipe

Ingredients

760g – Fresh curd
50g – Besan (Bengal gram flour)
5g – Mustard seeds
15g – Red chilli powder
5g – Turmeric powder
4g – Asafoetida; one small pinch
8-10 – Curry leaves
Salt as per taste
20g – Coriander leaves, chopped
30g – Edible oil/or ghee

Method

*Take curd, churn and create buttermilk by adding 3 cups cold water
*Combine the buttermilk and besan in a deep bowl and whisk well till no lumps remain.
*Heat edible oil in a thick bottom (shallow) pan and add the mustard seeds.
*When the seeds crackle, add asafoetida and cook for a few seconds.
*Add turmeric powder and curry leaves in the mixture.
*Now pour the buttermilk and besan mixture, stirring continuously.
*Add chilli powder and salt as per taste. Mix well and bring to a boil for 2 minutes, while stirring continuously.
*Reduce the flame and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
*Garnish with coriander and serve hot with Puranpoli.

For more lifestyle news, follow us: Twitter: lifestyle_ie | Facebook: IE Lifestyle | Instagram: ie_lifestyle