Finally, the most awaited festival is here. With colours, music, thandai and bhaang, people are just enjoying the day. Holi is the occasion of leaving our daily stress behind and celebrating with friends and family. This festival gives us an opportunity to spend some time with our loved ones and treat them with some mouthwatering delicacies.
Till now almost every preparation for Holi is done. From purchasing abeer for evening to deciding the menu for dinner. The streets can be seen painted in pink, red and green and people are roaming and dancing around with unrecognizable faces.
But if you are still looking for some delicious dishes for treating your guests, here are two delicious recipes by renowned chefs of Bangalore:
Gujiya
By Rohan Malwankar, Executive Chef, Marriott Bengaluru
Ingredients
For Dough:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoons ghee
For Stuffing
- 1 cup khoya
- ½ tablespoon ghee
- 10 almonds
- 10 cashews
- 10 pistachios
- ½ tablespoon raisins
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- Oil as required for deep frying
Method
- In a bowl put whole wheat flour and salt.
- Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a small pan or bowl until it melts and becomes warm.
- Pour the warm ghee on the flour.
- First mix with a spoon. Then rub and mix the ghee with the flour, with your fingertips to form a bread- crumb texture.
- Add ⅓ to ½ cup water in parts and begin to knead. The amount of water needed will depend on the quality and the texture of the flour.
- Knead the dough until it is firm and tight.
For Stuffing
- Chop cashews, almonds, pistachios and raisins.
- Melt ghee in a pan on a low heat.
- Add khoya. Khoya can be made at home or purchased from the market.
- Cook the khoya until it begins to gather around itself.
- Add powdered sugar, the chopped nuts, raisins and cardamom powder.
- Make a medium-sized log of each part and slice or portion it into equal parts.
- Place about 1 to 1.5 spoonfuls of the prepared khoya filling on one side of the circle, keeping the edges empty.
Shape for Frying
- For deep frying, it is best to make pleated design at the edges. This way the stuffing does not come out while frying and the gujiya looks good too. Just keep on folding and twisting the edges till the end.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan. First test the temperature of oil.
- Turn them over carefully and fry the other side. Deep fry them till they have become golden turning over as needed.
Falooda
By Chef Rayomund Pardiwalla, Executive Chef, The Den Bengaluru
Ingredients
- 8 gm sabja seeds
- 75 gm falooda sev
- 500 gm water
- 86 gm rose syrup
- 850 gm milk
- 50 gm malai kulfi
- 15 gm mixed nuts
Method
- Soak sabja seeds in water for about 20 to 30 mins. Once they swell using a strainer drain the extra water and set the soaked seeds aside.
- Prepare the falooda sev according to package instructions.
- Boil water on medium heat. Add the falooda sev or your preferred choice of vermicelli. If the falooda sev are long, then just break or chop them prior to cooking.
- Once cooked, using strainer or colander, drain the extra water. Then rinse the cooked falooda sev in fresh water. Drain the water again. Keep covered till they are cooled completely at room temperature.
- Chop the nuts and set aside.
- In 4 tall glasses each, add 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of rose syrup. Depending upon the sweetness preferred and the size of the glass add less or more of the rose syrup.
- Then add 2 tablespoons soaked sabja seeds. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the falooda sev.
- In a slow stream, pour about 1 cup milk. Then top with malai kulfi.
- Garnish with a few raisins, sliced pistachios, almonds or cashews. For a bright pop of color, you can decorate with a few glazed cherries or tutti-frutti.
- Prepare the remaining falooda drinks in the same way. Serve the falooda straight away.
