A sweet ending to winter

When the skies are dotted with a million kites, fingers are lacerated with cuts and, most importantly, the kitchen smells of jaggery, you know it’s Makar Sankranti. Phorum Dalal gets chefs and homemakers to share simple recipes to make traditional sweets in less than 20 minutes each

Kurmure Chikki
“No festival is complete if you don’t make sweets and savouriesathome,” says homemaker Bhairavi Pandya, who makes Kurmure Chikki every year during Sankranti. Though festive foods are easily available in the market, it is shagun (auspicious) to make the sweet at home, says the Juhu resident.

Pic/Amit Jadhav

Ingredients
>> 200 g kurmure (puffed rice)
>> 350 g gud (jaggery)
>> Ghee to grease

Method
>> Melt the jaggery in a wide vessel until it changes to one shade darker
>> Mix in the kurmure a handful at a time on slow flame
>> Turn of the flame and mix well
>> Grease the bottom of a bowl with ghee and use this to spread the mixture evenly onto a plate or thali
>> Let it cool for 15 minutes
>> Cut into pieces and serve

Pati Shapta
Makar Sankranti is also known as Poush Parban (the end of Poush and winter, a month celebrated with several melas, fairs and events by Bengalis) and is synonymous with traditional homemade Bengali sweets. This is perhaps the only time that the Rosogolla or Sandesh loses out to Puli Pithey (coconut-stuffed, sweet rice dumplings in milk), Gokuli Pithey and the iconic Pati Shapta (rice-flour crepes filled with kheer and coconut stuffing). If you are not Bengali and wondering how to taste a Pati Shapta, worry not. Making the Pati Shapta is easier than pronouncing it correctly. Here’s how:

Pati Shapta at Sweet Bengal, Mahim. Pic/Atul Kamble

Ingredients
>> 250 g sooji (semolina)
>> 400 g maida (white flour)
>> 200 g sugar
>> 300 g Kheer (khoya)
>> 3 tbsp cooking oil
>> 1 litre milk

Til laddoos
Samir Pasad, owner and chef at Vegan Bites at Lower Parel shares the recipe of vegan laddoos. “In the name of festivals, a lot of people forgo healthy food, indulging in fattening sweets without realising their ill-effects. Today, some people are conscious of what they put in their mouths. One, doesn’t need to give up on their favourite foods. The sweets can be made using organic and vegan ingredients.” To place order, call 7666586430

When combined with jaggery, til ladoos are a healthy snack during cold days as it provides heat to the body. Pic/ Emmanual Karbhari

Ingredients
>> 350 g til
>> 150 g roasted jaggery
>> A pinch of dry ginger powder

Method
>> Boil the Jaggery with a few drops of water till you get a string-like consistency
>> Add the til and dry ginger powder. Mix well and turn off the heat
>> Roll it out into round ladoos while still little hot

Crushed peanut laddoos

Lohri special: Punjabis will celebrate Lohri tomorrow to mark the end of winter.

Pic/ Emmanual Karbhari

Ingredients
>> 350 g peanuts
>> 150 g jaggery
>> 5 g cardamom powder

Method
>> Crush the peanuts into a fine powder in a mixer
>> Add the jaggery along with the cardamom powder
>> Again blend this in the mixer and roll out into laddoos

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