If you have gone through the Diwali round up , you have seen an entry by Anupama Anantharaman, who has been grouped as an Individual participant. She sent in the recipe for penuri, which I am reproducing here in Anupama’s words. Penuri’s are these yummy treats that are flaky and sweet and really tedious to make. Anupama gives away her secrets for making these and they look gorgeous.
In her own words, she doesn’t have a blog yet. So, we can look forward to this amazing cook joining the blogging community sooner if not later. Here’s a glimpse , though, of the kind of food we can expect when she does decide to join in.
Over to Anupama…
Here is the recipe for this months JFI event. The dish is “sweet
penuri.” This one’s a winner. It’s heavenly aroma will fill you with
the Diwali spirit of joy and sharing.
Ingredients
2 cups plain flour/maida
1.5 tbsp ghee (I suggest you use pure, home-made ghee unless you are
absolutely sure that you can buy high-quality, authentic ghee from
outside)
2 tbsp rice flour
3 cups regular sugar for syrup
½ cup powdered sugar
8 cardamoms (Optional)
This recipe will make approx. 45 penuris penuris, each about 2.5
diameter in size. I think this size is perfect because a smaller size
will leave you wanting for a few extra bites and a bigger size will
make you hate yourself for breaking that resolve to watch your calories.
Who says you can’t have best of both worlds?
Procedure
The secret of making crispy and flaky penuri lies in the dough and the
sugar syrup. The dough should be pliable yet stiff and the sugar syrup
should be of 1-thread consistency, no less, no more.
1. In a mixing bowl, mix 2 cups of plain flour and 1.5 table spoons
ghee thoroughly well with your palm and fingers. This will take about 3
minutes. Knead a stiff dough by adding about 3/4 cup water. You will be
tempted to add more water because it gets quite tough to knead this
into a stiff dough. Resist this temptation and you will be glad you did.
Knead the dough well for about 7-8 minutes, at the end of which, it
willfeel smooth and pliable.
2. In a sauce pan, mix 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water. Boil it
on medium-high heat to get 1 thread consistency. For me, this took
about 12 minutes. Remove the sauce pan from stove.
3. Pull a golf-ball size ball from the dough, roll it into a thin
puri of about 5 inch diameter. Spread ghee on top of the puri. Then
sprinkle some rice flour on the puri (about 1/8th of tea spoon). Make a
second 5 inch diameter puri and put it on top of the first puri. Spreak
ghee and sprinkle rice flour. Now make a third puri of about 4 inch
diameter and put it on top of the second puri. Spread ghee on top. Now
roll all the three puris tightly and make ½ inch divisions. You should
get about 8 of these. Take each division and keep the side with curved
lines facing you, on top. Press the piece with your palm and then roll
into a puri of about 4 inch diameter. Repeat this for all pieces. Fry
few puris at a time. Once done, dry them on a paper towel for about 3
minutes and then immerse these puris in the sugar syrup until the next
round of puris is ready. Arrange the puris on a flat plate.
4. Repeat the 3rd step for the rest of the dough.
5. Once all puris are done, sprinkle some powdered sugar on each of
the puris. If you like, you can sprinkle powdered cardamoms as well.
Variation:
Instead of dipping the fried penuris in the sugar syrup, you can
sprinkle 1 tea spoon sugar on both sides of the puris and arrange them
on a platter.
Past, Present and Me 