SHA(N)KARPALI & PANJAARAPAARA

This is a popular item called ‘Sha(n)karpali’ among Maharashtrians, it finds a pride of place as a part of ‘faraal’ during Diwali. It goes by the name 'Shakkar para' in North India. It has a South Indian cousin 'Panjaarapaara' which is prepared with the same ingredients in a different manner.

This is easy-to-make and tasty – though of course, it did give me a minor jolt when I started draining off the first batch from the oil. They weren’t crisp as expected but soft – like a cloth! I thought ‘Oh oh! This trial is a failure – luckily I have started with just one cup of maida’. As my mind was trying to think up a good way of utilizing the rest of the dough, my hand reached out to the ‘shakarpali’ ….! Lo! It had turned crisp alright! Whew …. I popped one into my mouth – yummm … So I continued …. So don’t give up!

Ingredients

1. Maida (all purpose flour) – 1 cup
2. Powdered sugar – ¼ - ½ cup
3. Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
4. Ghee (melted) – 2 tbsp
5. Oil for frying

Method

1. Mix maida, cardamom powder and powdered sugar well.
2. Add melted ghee and mix well with your hands.
3. Sprinkle water and knead into a tight dough and set aside for 10 minutes.
4. Take a big lemon-sized ball of dough and roll into a chapathi.
5. Cut into diamond shapes.
6. Heat oil in a kadhai.
7. Put one batch of diamond cuts into the hot oil and fry on low flame.
8. Gently flip them over till both sides are uniformly light brown.
9. Drain off from the oil on to a tissue paper.
10. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
11. Store in a clean, dry air-tight container after cooling.

Tips

1. If you like the ‘sha(n)karpali’ to be sweet, add ½ cup of powdered sugar. But remember they will be brown.
2. If you are particular that they be of a lighter shade (forget about its sweetness), then add just ¼ cup powdered sugar.
3. At home, I prefer sweetness, hubby loves it brown – so it is a win-win situation - I don’t have to compromise – I add ½ cup powdered sugar. 

Panjaarapara

A slightly modified version of the above, it is also an easy-to-make snack prepared in South Indian homes.

Ingredients

1. Maida – 1 cup
2. Melted ghee – 1 ½ tbsp
3. Sugar – ½ cup
4. Cardamom – 1 ½ tsp
5. Oil for frying

Method

1. Add melted ghee to maida and mix well.
2. Add water little by little and make a stiff dough and set aside for 15 minutes.
3. Take out a big lemon-sized ball of dough and roll out like a chapathi.
4. Cut into diamonds using a knife and place them on a plate without touching one another.
5. Repeat with the entire dough.
6. Heat oil in a kadhai.
7. Transfer one portion of the maida cuts – from one plate to the hot oil and gently separate them with a ladle so that they don’t stick to one another.
8. Fry on a medium flame till the diamonds are uniformly golden brown and crisp.
9. Drain off the oil and transfer to a tissue paper.
10. Fry the entire diamond cuts.
11. Drain off the oil from the kadhai and use the same to make sugar syrup.
12. Add ½ cup of sugar and ¼ cup of water and heat.
13. Stir and prepare a very thick syrup.
14. Add cardamom powder.
15. Turn off the heat andtransfer the maida cuts into the syrup.
16. Stir gently till all of them are uniformly coated with the sugar syrup.
17. Allow to cool and store in a clean, dry container.

© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.