With flowers inside our palms and eyes closed for concentration we recited the “mantras” after the priest. At the end of saying the prayers we offered the flowers to the goddess. The harder I tried to concentrate, the more my eyes would veer off to all the myriad of sweets that were kept as offerings to the goddess. After the prayers these would be distributed to all the devotees. Some burfis arranged as a pyramid on a tray, some  peeking through the top of terracotta bowls, some others on fresh banana leaf…

I always loved the syrup dunked sweets over the dried ones. In fact I would do some trade offs between us siblings, collecting their share of syrupy sweets in exchange for my dried ones.  The Navaratri days were special.There were no restrictions, we ate till we couldn’t…

Times have changed now. My taste buds welcome both syrup dunked and dried sweets these days. Alas, sweets, deep fried, salty are all  under “classified”  eatables now.  Only measured quantities, with a detailed examination of the ingredients, if store bought are allowed.The joy now is in making them in my kitchen and reliving those moments from the past.

Happy Navaratri friends.

Recipe :

Ingredients; Made 16 pieces.

Chhana                                              2 cups

Patali gur ( Date palm jaggery )            1 cup ( or to taste )

Ground pistachio                               1 tbsp

Method:

Take the first two ingredient in a pan on medium heat and keep stirring, taking care it does not stick to the pan. I used liquid jaggery , it took about 25 minutes for the mixture to come to a dough like consistency and leave the pan. Take a spoonful of this mixture and try to form a ball betwen your palm. It is ready if you are able to form a ball. Switch the gas off. Take a table spoon of the mixture while it is still warm, taking care not to burn, form it into a ball. Garnish with ground pistachios.

Enjoy.

Notes:

Chhana is paneer or home made cheese. Take a litre of full fat milk in a pan on high heat. Just before it starts to boil, put the gas off. In a bowl mix 2 Tbsp white vinegar and same amount of water. Pour this in the milk. It will separate into milk solids and whey. Take a colander lined with a cheese cloth, drain out the whey, wash with water, and let it drain for an hour.This is now ready to be used in Kanchagolla making.