11 January 2016

Atte-Alsi-Bajre Ki Pinni

             It shall soon be the time for harvest festivals across India, our own Thanksgiving, when we give our gratitude to the forces of nature without whom our food sources wouldn't have been nurtured. Sankranti in itself denotes transition of the Sun from one Zodiac sign or Rashi into the next. At this time, Sun's transition into the sign of Capricorn or Makar gives the festival its name of Makar Sankranti.
             In terms of food (ah, our favourite topic :) ), different regions have different prepartions that mostly have their roots in the agricultural produce, such as grains, millets, pulses and so on, which in turn is offered back in the form of cooked food, as a thanks to Sun and other complimentary natural forces.
            Here's my experiment - Pinni, using Wheat flour, Flax seeds and Bajra flour. Yep, couldn't leave the millet alone!!! Pinni is a traditional dessert that's popular in winters and one benefits from the goodness of wheat flour, ghee, jaggery and dry nuts, all of which provide our body with much needed warmth and energy that keeps us going in the colder months.


ATTE-ALSI-BAJRE KI PINNI



Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup (200 gms)
Flax seeds meal (coarsely ground) - 75 gms
Bajra (Pearl millet) flour - 50 gms
Ghee or clarified butter - 50 gms
Gud or Jaggery - 100gms
Elaichi or Cardamom pwd - 2 tsps
Roughly chopped dry nuts of choice - 2 tbsps

Method

1. Melt / heat ghee in a non-stick pan. Simultaneously melt jaggery in another saucepan using about 3-4 tbsps water. We need a syrup of 1-string consistency.

2. Add wheat flour to the ghee, keep flame on low and roast for about 5 minutes. Add the flax seeds meal and stir for another 2-3 minutes. Finally add in the bajra flour and give it a stir for 3 minutes more.

3. Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Once jaggery syrup is ready pour it into the flour mix, stirring well so the syrup is incorporated properly into the flour. Add in the chopped nuts as well and stir for 5-7 minutes till a nearly dry halwa consistency is reached. You will also notice the ghee gradually separating from the mixture. Remove from flame and set aside to cool a bit. 

4. While the flour mix is still tolerably warm, start preparing the laddoos or pinni. If you wish to have it as barfis instead, you can pour the mix into a greased tin, level using a greased knife, let cool and once set cut into desired shapes. 
Store in air-tight containers. 

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