One of my favourite festival meals is shrikhand puri. I remember the Diwali’s I used to get invited to my friends place for lunch and this dish was always there.Puris are deep fried whole wheat breads. In India ,these are prepared during special occasions like festivals or weddings.My friends mom used to slave over the stove for hours to make the perfect round puris for all the guests at her place.The final stack of puris were a feast to the eyes as well as the tastebuds.I always thought shrikhand was something we buy from the stores,so I was impressed when my friends mom told me she made it from scratch.I didnt really bother asking aunty for the recipe as I thought it would be a long process anyway. So when I got the following recipe for shrikhand I started making puris more often as the shrikhand gets done in under 10 minutes…..Honest . Sometimes we have puris with aamras(mango pulp) and I get transported back to the summer days in India when we used to have hot puris with chilled shrikhand or aamras !!!!! Yummy…

For the Puris
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2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup rawa/semolina
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Water and oil as required for kneading
oil for deep-frying

Method:
Sift the flour and add all the ingredients except water and oil.Mix together wellNow knead the flour using little water and oil alternately till it becomes a semi soft ball.

At this stage,knead with oil alone as the dough should be slightly more tougher than the chapathi dough.

Divide these into small balls.

Heat oil in a wok or kadhai for deep frying.Heat over medium high heat.

Take 1 ball and roll it into approximately 5 inch circle.If the dough is kneaded perfectly,you should be able to roll it without the use of any flour.

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Slip the flattened circle gently into the hot oil.It should puff up.Fry the other side too and drain them on a paper towel.

Do the same for the remaining puris.Serve hot.

Shrikhand
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1 cup Greek Style yoghurt
1/2 cup Sour cream
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
Powder of 4 elaichis(cardamoms)
1 tbsp warm milk
a pinch of saffron

Method:

Put the saffron in the warm milk and keep aside.

Combine yoghurt and sour cream together with a spoon.

 Add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time and mix well till all the sugar is incorporated.

Add the elaichi/cardamom powder and mix well.

Add the saffron milk to the shrikhand and mix again.

Chill in the fridge for atleast an hour.

Serve chilled.

PS: I am sending this to Mythili for her “Gujarathi Cuisine” event.