Rajasthani mini Ghevar topped with kesar rabdi

       HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 TO SNC !!!

Now lets move to this months challenge.. This months challenge for south team will be A  honeycomb shaped delicacy made using plain flour and ghee that has originated in Rajasthan- “Ghevar”. But to make it a bit easier am challenging the team with a mini ghevar topped with rabdi .

 

Taddda here comes my ghevar topped with rabdi …

For frying :

• Ghee or refined oil or olive oil

For syrup:

•  Sugar: 1 1/2 cup
•  Water: 1 cup
• Saffron strands few

Ingredients for  Kesar Rabdi

• whole milk – 3 cups
•  sweetened condensed milk – 1 can
•  cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp, (crushed, if powder not available) pistachios – 2 tsp, crushed
• saffron strands – 1/2 tsp

For garnishing

• Shopped almonds and pistachios
• Silver Varak (optional)
• Saffron strands few

Method of preparing Ghevar :

Preparing Batter (Method 1):

• Sift the flour, and keep it aside.
• Take ghee and  sifted flour in a large bowl and mix them well.
• Add maida to it slowly, and keep mixing  softly till they nice ans fluffy  in texture,. in this stage if you want to add color to your ghevar’s  you can soak the saffron strand in water or milk and add to the batter. I did add the saffron stands soaked in the milk .

• Now add water to this dough gradually, and not in one shot. Pour in a little water and mix with the dough; be careful that there are no lumps formed. Keep on adding water slowly, and make a smooth, lump free batter.

• Take a round deep and flat bottomed  vessel ( I used a vessel as shown in the pic .. Use a cylindrical vessel ) and fill more than half of it with ghee. Heat it on high flame till the ghee gets really hot. Check the correct temperature by dropping a small portion of the batter and see if it immediately comes up, and doesn’t stick to the bottom.
• Once the ghee is optimally hot (don’t over heat the ghee otherwise your ghevar will start burning) , take the batter ( I used a loti and ladle as shown or you can use a glass or a spoon with a sharp edge), and pour it in the middle of the vessel in a thin stream from 1 foot height. You could actually increase or stretch the height as much as you can; greater the height, better the texture. I stretch out my hand fully over the vessel to reach the best height I can before I pour in the batter.

Note : you are working with oil or ghee so be sure that you on your exhaust fan or open your windows 🙂 .If your oil or ghee is too very hot its going to splatter out..

                                           

• As soon as the batter touches the hot ghee, bubbles start to appear. Be sure that the ghee bubbles do not start jumping out of the vessel. If you see that the bubbles are getting high enough, stop pouring for a while, and continue later.

• After the first spoon or after pouring quarter part of the batter , wait for a few seconds till the bubbles settle, and then pour the second spoonful  . Repeat this for 3-4 times if you want to increase the size of your ghevar I poured  only 2 spoon full to make mini ghevar . This actually depends on the size of the vessel; the bigger the size, more are the number of spoons or the number of times you have to pour the batter  required.
• If the ghee or oil  is not hot enough, the batter will start sticking to the bottom, so keep the flame on medium to high depending on the temperature required. That is while pouring it should be in low if the oil or ghee is very hot  and while cooking it should be low..
• When you pour in the batter, you’ll see that the batter starts scattering and collects near the sides in a circular fashion. As you keep increasing the batter, the disc starts taking its correct shape. In the meanwhile, if the batter sticks in the middle after pouring, use a skewer to detach that. Keep on increasing the center space by using that skewer after the batter has settled. After 2-3  pourings this is completely your choice on how thick enough you want your ghevar be i am making a mini ghevar so i just poured two ladle full of batter, a complete disc will be formed.

• Let this disc go golden brown on medium flame.
• Once it is properly fried, take it out very carefully by inserting that thin skewer in the middle hole of the disc and lifting the whole ghevar with it.

• Keep the ghevar slightly tilted on a plate to remove excess ghee.

• For preparing syrup, take 1 and a half cups sugar and 1 cup water in a pan. Bring them to boil with occasional stirring. After the boil, heat it on low flame for 5-6 minutes till you get a one-string consistency.
• Now for checking one string consistency – stir the syrup with a spoon and then lift the spoon up – lift a tiny amount of the syrup with your  forefinger and press the forefinger to your thumb. Now gradually separate the thumb and the forefinger – if the sugar syrup is of ‘one string’ consistency, you should be able to see a single string between your thumb and forefinger.

• Now spoon the hot syrup on top of the ghevar if you are making a thicker ghevar you even dip them in the sugar syrup . Do not keep the ghevar in the syrup for long, as it will make them very soggy and wet.

• Again keep them tilted in a plate to remove excess syrup.
• Let them dry in open air for about 1 hour or more.
• Now you can store them in closed containers and refrigerate for further use.
• If you wish, you could garnish the ghevars with sliced almonds and pistachios.

•   You can prepare Ghevar ahead..
•    Apply some ghee or butter on a pan and grease it well with this ghee/butter.This avoids burning of the milk.
•  Now heat the milk on low heat while stirring frequently.
•   Get the milk reduced to half of its original quantity.     Now add the cardamom powder, saffron strands and 1 tsp of crushed pistachios, mix them well.

•   Add the condensed milk to this mixture and bring it to a boil. Don’t forget to stir constantly and scraping the sides.
•     After the milk is of thick consistency then off the stove.

•     Your delicious rabri or malai is ready, let it cool naturally then top  the rabri or malai on top of crispy ghevar.

Tips:

• Dry ghevar’s without syrup can easily be stored for 15 days. When you want to have them, dip them in the hot syrup an hour back and serve then. As our ghevar’s are mini once you just have to top the hot syrup on the ghevar and not dip they might break if you dip.

• While making the batter, if lumps still go stubborn and trouble you, simply use a blender/mixer for getting the smooth consistency. Be careful not to blend it for a long time else the ghee would separate; just 1 round of mixing is enough to break the lumps.
• If you find the batter sticking to the bottom, do not panic; take a break,  put the flame on high, and try after 1 minute. I’m sure the trick will work.
• Pour the batter in very thin streams, almost like pouring drops.
• Keep the height for pouring at its max.
• Do not overdo pouring. Begin with 1-2 spoons and gradually increase if you go successful.
• After topping them with hot syrup, keep them for some time; do not just be ready to jump over and eat, else you’ll find them a bit harder.
• You can also garnish the Ghevar with fresh khoya.

Variations Of Ghevars

A ghevar recipe is very popular during the festive seasons. On Raksha bandhan, people love to enjoy this delicacy in paneer ghevar form. It is garnished with grated khoya.  Desi ghee and mava ghevars are usually made during the celebrations of Teej festival as i said before.

Ghevar cake

Ghevar cake is a  Indian dessert a very good alternative for people who prefer egg-less cake and do not wish to resort to milk cake.
Ghevar cake was made in a master chef challenge and the innovation done in it was ghevar was frosted with cake frosting and topped with fruits . I have topped the ghevar cake with some strawberries and pista…