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 Sweetmeat Composition or method of preparation Apupa A round cake of barley meal or rice flour baked in clarified butter and sweetened with honey Samyava Wheat flour fried in clarified butter and mixed with milk and jaggery (brown sugar); cardamom, pepper and ginger added sometimes Svastika A cake-like product with barley flour Modaka Sweet ball prepared with the flour of rice/pulses and sugar; it is popular even to-day (Hindi: Laddu) Ghayapunna A cake prepared with fine wheat flour mixed with milk, fried in ghee and coated with sugar Madhusirsaka or A sweet prepared from wheat flour which had honey or clarified butter Madhukroda Pupalika A small cake of rice or wheat flour fried in ghee with ghuda or jaggery inside (centre filled) Utkarika Rice flour, milk, clarified butter and jaggery Gandika Sweet prepared from jaggery and wheat flour Locika Delicious cakes prepared with wheat flour Kasara Preparation based on wheat flour, milk, clarified butter, crystal, sugar, cardamom and black pepper Udumbara Preparation from wheat flour stuffed with kasara Murmura Preparation from wheat flour and jiggery Phenaka Cakes from wheat flour coated with sugar Khajjaka Wheat flour fried in ghee and sweetened Ksiraprakara 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) Pahalika Soft cakes of wheat flour fried in oil Patrika Circular cakes of wheat flour fried in oil Mysore pak or Laddu or All based on gram flour, sugar and fat Basin Laddu Gathe 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 Amount Gramflour 1 cup Milk 1 cup Sugar ¾ cup Ghee 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 Amount Wheat flour (atta) 1kg Claried butter (ghee) 750gm Sugar (unrefined) 750gm Raisins 2 tbsp Chiraunji 2 tbsp Almonds(chopped) 2 tbsp Divide wheat flour into Add sugar, raisins, two parts and fry in ghee chiraunji, almonds and Make laddoo by giving one at a time till a golden remaining ghee to the round shape with palm brown color develops flour 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: Table 4 Recipe for Gujia It is a famous cuisine of North India. Ingredients NEEDED(gm) White flour 500 Suji 400 Khoya 400 Raisins 40 Ghee 450 Sugar 400 Almonds 15 Cardamom 5 Water as required Remove the vessel Prepare a stiff dough Fry suji in about from flame, add sugar, Add khoya and fry for out of white flour 200gm ghee till golden sliced almonds, sometime using water with an brown powdered cardamom addition of hot oil and coconut powder Add a teaspoon of the Fry the gujhia in ghee sooji mixture prepared Divide the dough into Keep the dough on a low flame until previously , fold it into small balls and roll t covered with a cloth crisp and golden half (moon shape) and em into thin puries till it becomes soft brown seal the edges with water Immerse gujhia in hot sugar syrup Figure 3 Flow diagram for the manufacture of Gujia (Verma, 2002) Ingredients Amounts 4.22 Lavang Latika or Lavang Lata: a) For Lavang Latika’s dough It is a characteristic sweet of Flour (Maida) 230 gm Bengal. It is a crispy dish, sealed Clarified Butter (Ghee) 1 cup Milk, warm 10 mL with clove (Lavang), comprising of Baking Powder 5 mg refined flour (maida), ghee, Water 10 mL semolina or khoya, saffron milk, a) For filling water, sugar, coconut and Coconut, grated 80 gm cardamom powder.