Paper No.: 09 Paper Title: Bakery and confectionery technology Module 35: Overview of Popular Indian Flour Confections Paper Coordinator: Dr. P. Narender Raju, Scientist, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal Content Writer: Ms. Latika Bhandari, Research Scholar, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal
Overview of Popular Indian Flour Confections
Outline Introduction History Importance Popular Flour Confections
1. Introduction Sweetmeats are very popular in India and difficult to resist. A sumptuous meal in every Indian house is always incomplete without sweet dish Sweetmeat making earlier was confined to the kitchens of sweet shops and small dealers, but now has come up as a technologically advanced industry The Hindustani word used to refer to sweets and confectionery is mithai Milk being staple in East India, is the basis for the most sweets The main feature of Indian desserts from the sweets of other lands is that they are not prepared to satisfy a sweet-tooth alone but also intended to provide nutrition
2. History Hindus spirituality is the root for Indian sweets or mithai which is offered by a devotee to please the God or Goddess Mithai are generally served during auspicious occasion and festivals such as Diwali, Eid, or Rakhi/raksha bhandan People from other lands like the Mughals, Portuguese, British invaded our country and left the stamps of their cuisine on ours Mughals acquainted us with aromatic culinary tradition, Goan cuisine complemented by the Portuguese while the Parsis brought a whiff of Iran along with
3. Importance Indian desserts shares a unique relationship with any good news in our country A striking feature of Indian sweets preparation is that it requires a level of reduction with an essential of cardamom powder and kewra, which is speckled on the dessert at the time of serving Indians are fond of sweets and have a mind-boggling variety of sweets ranging from ice cream like kulfi in north to the plentiful payasams of the south, the westernized cakes of goa and paneer based sweets of eastern India
Table1: List of some traditional Indian sweetmeats Apupa Samyava Svastika Modaka Sweetmeat Ghayapunna Madhusirsaka or Madhukroda Pupalika Utkarika Gandika Composition or method of preparation A round cake of barley meal or rice flour baked in clarified butter and sweetened with honey Wheat flour fried in clarified butter and mixed with milk and jaggery (brown sugar); cardamom, pepper and ginger added sometimes A cake-like product with barley flour Sweet ball prepared with the flour of rice/pulses and sugar; it is popular even to-day (Hindi: Laddu) A cake prepared with fine wheat flour mixed with milk, fried in ghee and coated with sugar A sweet prepared from wheat flour which had honey or clarified butter A small cake of rice or wheat flour fried in ghee with ghuda or jaggery inside (centre filled) Rice flour, milk, clarified butter and jaggery Sweet prepared from jaggery and wheat flour
Locika Kasara Udumbara Murmura Phenaka Khajjaka Ksiraprakara Pahalika Patrika Mysore pak or Laddu or Basin Laddu Gathe Delicious cakes prepared with wheat flour Preparation based on wheat flour, milk, clarified butter, crystal, sugar, cardamom and black pepper Preparation from wheat flour stuffed with kasara Preparation from wheat flour and jiggery Cakes from wheat flour coated with sugar Wheat flour fried in ghee and sweetened Boiled milk precipitated using a sour substance; the solid mixed with rice flour, formed into various shapes, fried and coated with sugar (loke Jamun, Rasagolla) Soft cakes of wheat flour fried in oil Circular cakes of wheat flour fried in oil All based on gram flour, sugar and fat Gram flour, Maida, sugar and fat (Prabhakar, 1986)
4. Popular flour confections 4.1 Puran-poli: A typical Marathi dessert savored at festivities, bears a close resemblance to a stuffed roti. It is prepared with a filling of cooked lentil paste and jaggery known as Puran while the outer shell termed as Poli comprises dough, prepared out of refined flour, milk and ghee. The latter is used as a stuffing in the dough balls, rolled and cooked over a hot grill and may be served with ghee or milk. 4.2 Modak: A modak is a sweet dumpling very popular in Western and Southern India for the worship of the Hindu god Ganesh. The dumpling can be either fried or steamed.
Continue 4.3 Halva: It refers to a dense confection sweetened with either sugar or honey. Halva is prepared by frying the flour in oil and then cooking it in sugar syrup. Table 2 Recipe for Besan Halva Ingredients Gramflour Milk Sugar Ghee Amount 1 cup 1 cup ¾ cup ½ cup
Fry the flour in ghee to golden colour Add 2 cups of water, sugar and cardamoms, cook till it turns thick Continue cooking by adding milk till all the moisture gets absorbed Serve hot Figure 1 Flow diagram for the manufacture of Besan Halva (Reejhsinghani, 2001)
4.4 Laddoo: It is a ball-shaped sweet made with either besan (chickpea flour), rava (wheat semolina) or atta (whole wheat flour). Table 3 Recipe for Magad Laddoo Ingredients Wheat flour (atta) Claried butter (ghee) Sugar (unrefined) Raisins Chiraunji Almonds(chopped) Amount 1kg 750gm 750gm 2 tbsp 2 tbsp 2 tbsp
Divide wheat flour into two parts and fry in ghee one at a time till a golden brown color develops Add sugar, raisins, chiraunji, almonds and remaining ghee to the flour Make laddoo by giving round shape with palm Cool and store in air tight container Figure 2 Flow diagram for the manufacture of Magad Laddoo (Mathur, 2000)
4.5 Ada or Ela: It is a traditional Kerala delicacy, comprising of parcels made with rice flour dough filled with sugar or jaggery and grated coconut steamed in banana leaf. 4.6 Adhirasam: It is a doughnut like pastry and is popular in Tamil civilization as an offering to the god. 4.7 Ariselu: It is a Telugu word which means rice. It is a traditional dish made from rice flour, ghee and jaggery or granulated sugar during Sankranti.
4.8 Boorelu: It is the traditional sweet dish prepared in the Telugu festivals. It is served hot with ghee. 4.9 Gavvalu: It is a famous sweet of Andhra Pradesh. It is made by shaping the dough made with rice flour and water or milk into small rounds further flattened and rolled to the shape of gavvalu (cowrie shells). The resulting shells are fried in oil and transferred into sugar syrup. 4.10 Mysore pak: It is a delicacy from the Mysore Palace is a sweet dish of Karnataka, served as dessert.
4.11 Kakinada Khaja: It is a sweet delicacy of Andhra Pradesh having close resemblance to Gulabjamuns, introduced to Andhra s by Muslims. There are two types of Khajas, madatha khajas being dry from outside and full of sugar syrup on the inside are rolled up into ribbons of pastry, whereas gottam khajas have melt in mouth characteristic and are made of cylinders of pastry.
4.15 Balushahi: It resembles distinctly to a glazed doughnut having a slightly flaky texture. It is a traditional dessert of northern India, also known as Badushah in South India. 4.16 Jalebi or Jilawii: Served as the "Celebration Sweet of India" is made by deep-frying the batter of wheat flour and yogurt formed into circular shapes, which are then dunked in sugar syrup. They have a crisp crystallized sugary exterior coating. 4.17 Panjiri: A delicious North Indian dessert, generally given to new mothers, to promote lactation. It is normally consumed with warm milk.
4.18 Imarti or Jaangiri: It is a modification of jalebi wherein the batter is prepared with urad flour and formed into compact circular flower shape. These are often served with rabri (condensed milk). 4.19 Soan papdi or patisa: It is a square shaped sweet with a crisp and flaky texture, was originated in Uttar Pradesh. 4.20 Shakkarpara: It is common in North India, also called Shankarpali in Western India.
4.12 Palathalikalu: It is a sweet prepared by cooking sifted rice flour added with ghee to boiling water. The hot mixture is kneaded to get a dough and divided into small balls which is later shaped into long strings. The strings are cooked in boiling milk added with sugar and cardamom powder 10 minutes. This dish is made during Sankranthi in Andhra Pradesh. 4.13 Malapua: It is a pancake very popular in Bangladesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra and is one of the Chapana Bhoga of Lord Jagannath.
4.21 Gujia: It is a famous cuisine of North India. Table 4 Recipe for Gujia Ingredients NEEDED(gm) White flour 500 Suji 400 Khoya 400 Raisins 40 Ghee 450 Sugar 400 Almonds 15 Cardamom 5 Water as required
Fry suji in about 200gm ghee till golden brown Add khoya and fry for sometime Remove the vessel from flame, add sugar, sliced almonds, powdered cardamom and coconut powder Prepare a stiff dough out of white flour using water with an addition of hot oil Fry the gujhia in ghee on a low flame until crisp and golden brown Add a teaspoon of the sooji mixture prepared previously, fold it into half (moon shape) and seal the edges with water Divide the dough into small balls and roll t em into thin puries Keep the dough covered with a cloth till it becomes soft Immerse gujhia in hot sugar syrup Figure 3 Flow diagram for the manufacture of Gujia (Verma, 2002)
4.22 Lavang Latika or Lavang Lata: It is a characteristic sweet of Bengal. It is a crispy dish, sealed with clove (Lavang), comprising of refined flour (maida), ghee, semolina or khoya, saffron milk, water, sugar, coconut and cardamom powder. Table 5 Recipe for Lavang Latika Ingredients Amounts a) For Lavang Latika s dough Flour (Maida) 230 gm Clarified Butter (Ghee) 1 cup Milk, warm 10 ml Baking Powder 5 mg Water 10 ml a) For filling Coconut, grated 80 gm Raisins 10-20 Green cardamom 2 Sugar 50 gm Clarified Butter (Ghee) for frying 10-12 cloves for securing a) For syrup Sugar 1.5 cup
Make a stiff dough with flour, clarified butter, warm milk, baking powder and water Lie dough for atleast 2 h Make filling by mixing filling ingredients Make the sugar syrup and keep aside Drain excess oil and transfer to pan with sugar syrup Secure with a clove and deep-fry over very low heat till golden brown Put filling mixture in the middle and fold to make small parcels Divide the dough into small rectangular shapes Remove with a slotted spoon and refrigerate Serve chilled Figure 4 Flow diagram for the manufacture of Lavang Latika (Verma, 2002)
4.23 Bebinca: It is a traditional Goan dessert and a must have at any celebration. Traditional Bebinca has 16 layers. Table 6 Recipe for Bebinca Ingredients Flour 1/2kg Amounts Eggs Coconut milk Caraway seeds Salt Ghee 2 dozen 2 coconuts 1tsp pinch For greasing
Add a little water to sugar to get a thick syrup Remove it from fire and cool Prepare a batter of coconut milk, egg yolks, flour and add into the mixture of syrup, caraway seeds and salt Put the batter into a deep greased baking pan forming a thin layer Keep making the layers until all the batter gets over Bake for another 5-10 min till it gets golen brown As the first layer gets brown drop in 1-2 tablespoons ghee, press down gently sprinkle over castor sugar followed by poring another layer of batter Cover the pan tightly,put coal over the lid and bake till the layer gets firm At last cook all the layers of bebinca together for 5min and then cool it Take out the bebinca by gently inverting the pan, cut into slices and serve Figure 5 Flow diagram for the manufacture of Bebinca (Reejhsinghani, 2001)
Suggested readings Banerjee, S. (1994).The Book of Indian Sweets. Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India. Mathur, S. (2000). Indian Sweets. Ocean Books Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India. Reejhsinghani, A. (2001). Best of Indian Sweets and Desserts. Jaico Publishing House, Mumbai, India. Sheth, V. (2011). Flavours of India. iuniverse, Inc. Bloomington. Verma, N. (2002). Delicious Indian Sweets. Fusion Books, X-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-2, New Delhi, India.