“पाकातल्या पुऱ्या” (Indian Sugar-Kissed Cookies)

The last sweet food in Diwali Schedule!!!

My Aai (mother) is a lovely cook.While growing up,she taught me the art of associating food with tastes & textures.

Mamma (mother) said “taste” is the appreciation of tongue for the accurate appraisal (appraisal is ascending or descending too :P) of the first tantalizing touch of food and “texture” is the quality of the contents (condiments) that caters to the glutton’s gastronomy!

Very interesting definitions,aren’t they?

I thought of selecting a recipe for “Indian Sugar Kissed Cookies” that could suit the taste & texture preferences of international audiences as much as my Desi (Indians) brigade.With Halloween (31st October),Thanks-giving (4th Thursday in November for US),Turkey,Christmas (25th December) & New year (1st January) lined up back-to back,this one’s a sure winner for kids & grown-ups.

Presenting the traditional,home-made Indian Sugar Kissed Cookies !

Ingredients

• 1 muffin-full bowl of fine Semolina-My last experience with kneading semolina wasn’t great,so used only 3 tbsps of it for texture.
• 1 muffin-full bowl of all purpose flour (maida)-Instead of using semolina as the main ingredient I used all purpose flour since its easy to deal with.One can substitute all purpose flour with whole wheat flour or use the two in half-half proportions.
• 1 and half muffin-full bowls of sugar (quantity may vary)
• 1 tsp oil for kneading.I did not put hot oil into the flour as mentioned in the original recipe.
• Ghee /cooking oil for frying-I used olive oil to fry.However,one may choose to bake the cookies too.
• A pinch of eating soda
• Salt to taste.
• Few strands of saffron.
• 2 tsp cardamom powder-I added it to the dough while kneading it instead of adding it to the Sugar syrup for two reasons,to avoid loss of its distinct flavour while cooking the syrup and to avoid any wastage due to sticking of the powder on sides of the saucepan.
• 2 tsp nutmeg powder-Its my addition and I put it in while kneading the dough.
• Few drops of lemon juice (optional)-This is to be added to the sugar syrup.
• Dry fruit powder (my suggestion)-I did not use it though,but if kids are to eat this one must sprinkle a little dry fruit powder over the sugar kissed cookies.
• 3 tbsp plain curd (sour) or yogurt-I used the usual plain yogurt which wasn’t sour.
• 5 tsp poppy seeds (my addition)-I dipped the dough balls into some poppy seeds for texture before frying them.
• 1 muffin-full bowl of water for syrup.

Total Time=Cooking Time+Preparation Time=150 minutes.

Roll Thy Balls,Fry them Flat avec Kisseth de Sucre

This recipe could be simplified in 3 easy steps(I found it easy to follow them as its difficult to nose around the book while cooking :P)namely: Knead the dough-I mixed semolina,all purpose flour,nutmeg powder,soda,cardamom powder,little oil and yogurt to knead it into a less softer dough.Then,I set it aside for 2 hours (my suggestion-wrap in a tissue napkin,so that it does not get too dry or too moist).I made small dough balls post 2 hours.

 Roll the dough Balls-2 hours later,I rolled the dough balls (pressed them into poppy seeds) into small,thick circles (any shape is fine,circular is traditional one). Heat the Oil/Ghee-I added the thick circles to the hot oil and fried them.I moved them onto a tissue paper to drain extra oil from them.

Slide them into the Syrup-I made the syrup heating water & sugar together.Then I added the crushed saffron sticks for a wonderful orange colour.As the book suggests,one may add food colour to the syrup or to the dough while kneading,but I refrain from usage of artificial colours.I slowly pushed the “puris” or fried cookies into the syrup and allowed them to rest within for a while.

I arranged the cookies on my serving plate…shiny and sweet,round are they,absolutely stunning piece of art!Introduce the gen-next to the traditional yet trendy Indian Sugar kissed Cookies! These cookies could be stored for about a week..

One Halloween tip:To add some crunch to the cookies,try stuffing a walnut in each cookie while rolling them!

Treat for 10 kids (10 cookie recipe) :)