Adadiya

A very Happy New Year to all of you!

I wanted to start off this new year's post with a sweet called Adadiyas. These are quintessential in a Kathiawadi household during the chilly winter months. Supposedly, these little mountains of goodness increase the heat in the body,and are very healthy- despite the amount of ghee that goes into it. When I was growing up in Rajkot, these were made by my mom and grandmother in the winter months to keep us kids warm!

These delicious adadiyas were made by a family friend, Jayshree aunty who sends us these treats every winter without fail. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
500 g- Coarse Urad daal flour,
500 g- Sugar, powdered
15 g - Edible gum (gundar) available at any Indian grocery stores - pounded lightly and fried in some ghee until it puffs up. Set aside.
300g- Pure desi ghee
1/2 cup of Milk,
1 tbsp- Black pepper powder, 1tbsp- Cardamom powder, 1/2 or 1 tbsp- Ginger powder, 1 tbsp- Nutmeg powder,
Pistachios, Cashews, Almonds- chopped - 1 cup in all.

Add 1 tbsp ghee and some milk to the coarse urad daal flour and mix well. Set it aside for 30-35 minutes at least. Take the rest of the ghee in a heavy flat bottomed pan and on medium heat, slowly add the flour mixture. Keep mixing this rapidly so it doesn't burn. This will take around 15 minutes until it turns a pinkish-red color. Now add the black pepper, cardamom. ginger. nutmeg powders and mix thoroughly and then add the powdered sugar. You'll see the mixture turning thick. This is what you want. Now add the gundar that had been fried in ghee in the beginning. You might want to add more ghee to the flour mixture if it seems too dry. Add the
chopped pistachios, cashews and almonds now. Mix well and transfer into another container.
When it is slightly cool, make the adadiyas into small mountain like shapes (like those in the picture) on a greased plate. Once these are cool, they will become hard and ready to go into a storage container. These will keep fresh for about three weeks. Usually, I store these in the fridge and when ready to eat, I warm them up in the microwave for about 30 seconds.....these taste the best when slightly warm. Have one of these early in the morning or around snack time with some chai or hot cocoa....a sure way to chase the winter chills away!

Cheers,Trupti
Music of the Moment: "Ballad"-Pt.Shivkumar Sharma