Sweet Snacks… Muh meeth to karlo
What comes up in your mind
when someone says snack or a healthy breakfast , if you are a North Indian its
Paratha (Aaloo , Gobi or Paneer ) with achar or dahi , if you are a South
Indian it would be Idi , Dosa or Vadai with piping hot Sambar and Chutney , if
you are a Gujrati it would be Dhokla , Khanvi or simply Fafda and if you the
harried cosmopolitan living in a fast paced city where you are always short of
time then it would be Bread Butter or a Cornflakes and a bowl of Milk .But can
you imagine any sweet dish as a morning or tea time snack.Yes a sweet recipe
for a sweet day.
The best know and all time
favorite sweet snack is the Pineapple Sheera with its yellow hue and lots of
ghee to brighten up your day early in the morning. You will get this in any
Udpi joint across town . Made of semolina or rava , sugar , chopped pineapple and raisins and garnished
with roasted cashew.
One of the most favourite sweet
dishes for my wife and daughters is the regular Sheera. Like her mother my
wifey makes the best ever Sheera as a late after noon snack which is devoured
by both my dauthers . Coming back from school with loads of home work and a
backpack as heavy as a trekkers napsack climbing the Everest. A steaming bowl
of this yummy delight surely takes away the lethargy and brings a smile on
their faces .
Another sweet snack that I remember from my childhood is the Surnali or
the sweet dosa similar to the western Pancake that my mum used to make . Surnali
is a typical South India Konkani dish. Its fluffy , spongy and made of puffed
rice (kurmura ) or soaked poha made into a thick batter and sweetened with
jaggery or sugar cane juice. Best eaten with dollops of home made butter
(makhan) or ghee or spicy Indian pickles or chutney. Normally Indians do not
prefer anything sweet as their breakfast dish. We usually eat our doasas,
idli’s puri’s or upma etc. which are all savory. Godu surnali is an exception
in a Konkani household. A snack with lots of childhood memories when aai used to make these sweet and
porous pancakes for the entire family.
Everybody loves cakes and
pastries and a few years back the most trending cake was the “Red Velvette Cake
“ made or beetroot but have ever come across a cake made of cucumber . We ate
this yummy at home all the time. Doesn’t require any special culinary expertise
or exotic ingredients ,.
Well…this is what Dhondas is made of – along with jaggery and rava (sooji). And
all ye veggies out there – this will gladden your heart as there is no egg
involved! Dhondas is a traditional sweet made in most GSB or Konkani households
from coastal regions of Maharashtra , Goa and Karnataka. It’s a huge favorite
with every body from kids to grown ups., The cucumber to be used here is the
large variety – which is at least a 3/4th foot long and a couple of inches in
diameter. Try not to use the regular small slim ones that we use for salads
etc.All this is mixed with dollops of ghee and baked or rather steamed in
cooker to give it that spongy texture . In our home we had the traditional ring
type baking container , the Dhondas coming out would be like a large doughnut
with a hole in the middle. Cut into pieces and served to hungry kids with
rumbling tummy. Bite into it as savor its taste as it melt in your mouth. No
cream , no egg or any fancy ingredient but pure magic . You absolutely MUST try this out….
Speaking of Dhondas another traditional sweet snack is the
Bonda or Mulkaa . This is typical fried snack from coastal Goa and Karnataka .
You can use over ripe banana mix it with jaggery and rawa (to make it crispy)
make into a semi thick batter , made into small balls and deep fried to make
these tasty fritters – bajji type sweet snack called the Kela Bonda or Mulkaa.
Served hot with green chutney tastes like heaven. Sometimes these are given out
in temples as Prasad . Even when cold they are yummy to taste and really
filling.
One
more sweet snack is the Buns , a popular breakfast and tea time snack in
Udupi-Mangalore region. Buns are sweet, soft fluffy puris made using banana.
Usually, served with a spicy coconut chutney and sambhar, but they also
taste great without any accompaniment. They're amazingly flavorful &
delicious.
They're
super soft, super fluffy and is amazingly delicious with a hint of sweetness
from bananas used. I obviously love them extra sweet.
To
make them mix plain flour along with
bananas, sour buttermilk, ghee, vanaspati and let them rest overnight to give
us a super soft fermented dough. So that when deep fried, they give you an
aerated, super soft, puffed doughnuts or what we in India call, puris.
You
must have eaten the Ukdiche Modak during Ganesh festivals this again becomes a
sweet snack but only on special occasions like Ganesh Chaturthi , Ekadashi or a
Vinayaki. But there is one more similar dish famous among the Goans and
Konkanis called the Patoli or Patoleo . The simplest version of the Goan Patoleo is
prepared by smearing parboiled rice (ukadicha tandul) paste on fresh turmeric leaves (holdi pan) to which a filling of
freshly grated coconut (choon)
and coconut jaggery (maddacho
godd) is added. Lastly, the leaves are folded, sealed and steam cooked,
preferably in a traditional utensil known as chondro. These are served hot on a platter with the leaves on
and eaten after peeling them off. Best eaten with a spoonful of melting ghee . Eat
this ,I assure you Tum ungliyan chaat jaoge.. really a finger licking snack.
I
started this blog with Sheera and I will end with a recipe of sheera but in a
different Avataar. The Sheera Poli or Sanjyachi Poli or Sanjori as we call in
my home. Sanjori is almost similar to north indian stuffed parathas. We
can find the difference only on tasting as the stuffing in this paratha is sweet
sheera (roasted semolina halwa). The outer covering is usually
made of maida but it can be made even more healthy buy using wheat instead of
Maida. You can make these polis more flavored and nutritious by
adding cinnamon powder to plain sheera or adding drynuts like chopped cashews
and raisins. You can also try adding some fruits in the stuffing eg mango
sheera, pineapple sheera or apple sheera. A simple but tasty sweet paratha and
sure to be a hit with the kiddos.
So go ahead eat these sweet snacks either in the morning or at tea
time and make your day a little bit sweeter.
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