Atte gur ki Thekuye; Whole wheat flour and jaggery cookies; for Chhat Puja. ( Offerings for Sun God )

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Sun is the most powerful of all cosmic bodies. Our whole existence revolves around sun. Our ancestors realized very early on that we would be nowhere without the sun. Hence celebrating ‘Sun’ is important in our lives. “Chhat Pooja ” a celebration of Sun.

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Thekuas are the sweets associated with “Chhat pooja”. There are many ways of whipping up these beauties. I have a recipe with All purpose flour and sugar, here. These ones are the healthier version using Whole wheat flour and jaggery.

Give it a try, it stores very well. Excellent for travel or for a student in the dorm!

Recipe : made 25 pieces

Ingredients;

Wholewheat flour ( Attta )                                      2 cups

Gur ( Jaggery )                                                    1 cup

Grated coconut                                                   1/2 cup

Cardamom powder                                             1/4 tsp

Ghee                                                                 3 tbsps

Saunf ( aniseed )                                                1 tbsp

Canola oil for frying

Method;

Take the jaggery and half cup water on medium flame, let it melt. Turn the gas off. Let the mixture cool completely. Set aside.

Take the  flour, ghee and cardamom powder in a bowl. Mix. Rub the ghee and flour with both your hands, so that the flour grains are coated with ghee. Take a bit of this mixture and press tight, it should hold like a ball. If not add a bit more ghee.

Now add the aniseeds, jaggery syrup, a little bit at a time, to form a tight dough. Let it rest covered for half hour.

Divide the dough into a tablespoon amount to form balls, flatten it like a disc. If you have the “Thekua” mold press the disc on it. If you do not have the mold use the back of the glass or end of the fork to imprint a design.

Deep fry in canola oil, on low to medium heat. When one side gets light brown colour, very gently flip it over, fry the other side. It took about 15 minutes to fry a batch.

Collect them on kitchen towel. Let it stand on cooling rack.

It can be stored in air tight container for about two weeks.

Enjoy!

Kolar bora: Sweet Banana fritters

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There are some foods which take you directly to the “bygone” days. For those of you that are born in circa “Post cell phone”, wont be able to relate to the story.

You see, in those times, evenings were meant to go outside and play games with ‘real’ friends. No video games, netflix, mobile, meant you had to play games involving real physical activities. When the street light went on, it was time to stop whatever you were doing and head home.

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Rain was the only time you were allowed to stay indoors with friends. Rain also meant there would be some fried food at home. There is this connection between rain and fried food, that only people from Bengal would agree. These fritters remind me of evenings such as those, sitting down with friends, giggling for no reason at all and popping these in mouth.

Try it out friends. Friendly warning, it is really hard to stop after a couple. Please factor this in while planning.

Recipe: Enough for 8 people

I have adapted the recipe from “A homemaker’s diary”, with minor changes.  Check her wonderful blog,

Ingredients;

Overripe bananas                                         6

Semolina                                                     1 cup

All purpose flour                                            11/2 cup

Rice flour                                                       2/3 cup

Aniseeds coarsely grounded                           2 tbsps

Sugar                                                            1 cup

Baking soda                                                   2/3 tsp

Salt                                                                 2/3 tsp

Canola oil for frying.

Method;

Dry roast the semolina till lightly coloured.  Put the gas off. Add 2 cups water , stir and let it sit for 15 minutes. Add the APF, rice flour, sugar, aniseeds, salt. Mix some water to make a batter, The consistency should be that of a cake batter. Add the baking powder just before frying.

Heat oil, about 2 inces deep in a pan on medium heat. Drop a tablespoon of batter in the oil, fry till both sides are dark brown.

Collect them on kitchen towel. On cooling, sprinkle some icing sugar on top.

Enjoy!