Holi 2018: Ricotta gujiya or thandai macaron? Try these 4 recipes with modern twists

For Holi this year, you need to think beyond traditional recipes. To give a twist to your celebrations, we’ve suggested these modern Indian versions of the tried-and-tasted recipes. Do give them a try for a fun-filled festival.

Monkey Gujiya

Recipe by Chef Manu Chandra, chef partner Monkey Bar

Ingredients:

Ricotta Cheese: 75gm

Cream cheese: 50gm

Mascarpone cheese: 50gm

Sugar: 160gm

Almonds (chopped): 15gm

Cashews (chopped): 15gm

Raisins: 30gm

Cardamom powder: 2 to 3gm

Dessicated coconut: 50gm

For Dough:

Refined Flour: 500gm

Ghee: 100gm

Garnish

Dry cranberry

Dusted Sugar

Method

For Filling:

•Drain the ricotta cheese in a cheesecloth line overnight in the refrigerator.

•Combine the cheese and the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan or a non-stick pan. The sugar will dissolve, and the cheese will begin to look liquidy in consistency. Cook the mixture, stirring it often for 20-25 minutes on medium-high heat, until the moisture completely evaporates. The cheese will leave the sides of the pan and will resemble a solid mass.

•Then turn off the heat and mix in everything else. Stir to mix evenly. Cool completely.

Note: You can adjust the quantity of sugar to your taste.

For the Dough:

•Take refined flour in a big mixing bowl and add ghee into it. Mix it well. Now add water in small portions and knead the dough to a stiff consistency. The dough should be stiffer than the kind required for making pooris. Less than ½ cup of water is usually needed for kneading the flour. Cover the dough and keep aside for 20 minutes to rest

•Once again knead the dough well. Divide the dough into small balls. Pick each ball and roll it between the palms to make it smooth circular ball. Prepare the pedas. Lift a peda and roll it out into a 4-4.5 inch diameter poori with the help of rolling pin and stuffed with the filling prepared above. Fold over the disk to form a crescent shaped gujiya. Seal the sides of the gujiya with water and then pinch the sides forming an interesting pattern

•Deep fry them on medium heat in ghee.

•Garnish with Dry cranberries and dust icing sugar over the gujiyas

Doodh Jalebi

Recipe by Chef Milan Gupta, head chef, Taftoon, Bandra Kurla Complex

For Jalebi

Wheat flour or All-purpose flour: 250gm

Baking powder: 1.5tsp

Thick Curd: 30gm

Granular sugar: 10gm

Lukewarm Water (to adjust consistency): 1/2 - 3/4 cup

Ghee for Frying

•Make this mixture at least a day or two in advance, so the fermentation is complete, whip it well before filling into nozzled bottle of Jalebi piping cloth.

•Then make small spirals almost touching each other. Do this on medium heated ghee and then slow it down for the spirals to cook through before dunking them into hot sugar syrup

For sugar syrup

Sugar: 250gm

Water: 150ml

A Pinch Cardamom Powder

Rose water or any essence: A few drops

Lemon Juice (to clarify any impurities): 1/2 lemon

Saffron strands: 1/8tsp

Doodh or Reduced Milk

•Take ½ a liter of Full cream or full fat milk and chop up 5-6 almonds.

•Bring to a boil and then simmer while stirring continuously till the milk is reduced to around half the quantity and strands of fat are formed. The colour of the reduced milk will turn pale yellow.

•Add chopped almonds. Its better to not add sugar to this milk as the sweet jalebis will impart the same when dunked into the milk

Thandai Macaron

Recipe by Chef Nilesh Mandadkar, pastry chef, The Chocolate Spoon Co Pvt Ltd

Ingredients for making macaron

Castor Sugar: 120gm

Almond powder: 90gm

Icing sugar: 80gm

Egg white: 50gm

Ingredients for filling

Melted white chocolate: 200gm

Guruji thandai mix: 100gm

Butter: 30gm

Recipe

•Sieve the icing sugar, add almond powder in a large mixing bowl

•In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add castor sugar little at a time and continue to whisk until the mixture is thick. Gently stir in the icing sugar and almond mixture

•Use a piping bag with a nozzle, fill with the macaron mixture. Place the silicon mate or a paper template onto a baking sheet. Pipe small rounds onto the sheet.

•Gently tap the baking sheet few times on the work surface to break any air bubbles then leave it to dry for 20 minutes.

•Bake the macaron at 130 degrees for 24 minutes.

•Do not remove the macarons until they are cold or you will break them.

•Make the filling.

•Beat the butter until it’s softened and fluffy. Add white chocolate and thandai flavour and mix it well.

•Place approximately half a table spoon of the filling on the flat side of macaron and sandwich together.

•Before serving refrigerate the macarons for a couple of hours.

Ricotta Dahi Bhalla

Recipe by Chef Manu Chandra, chef partner Monkey Bar

Ingredients:

Urad dal: 120gm

Water: 60gm

Salt: 10gm

Oil for frying

For stuffing:

Ricotta cheese: 70gm

Walnuts: 20gm

Salt

For topping:

Mint chutney

Tamarind chutney

Sweetened curd

Pomegranate

Potato salli

Method:

•Wash and soak urad dal in water for 30-40 mins. Drain the water out and then grind the urad dal in a grinder to a smooth batter adding the measured quantity of water a little at a time.

•Transfer the batter into a large bowl and beat the batter in a circular direction with your hand for 5 minutes to incorporate air into the batter and making it fluffy. Now add salt to taste, and mix lightly. Do not rest long after adding salt, as it leaves water and makes batter watery.

•Now dip your hand in water, and start make small sized vadas, stuffed with ricotta and walnut mixture. Drop them one by one in the hot oil. Keep the flame on medium heat and stir the vadas occasionally. Fry the vadas till they turn golden brown. Drain the oil off the vadas by placing them on a kitchen towel.

•Immediately after, drop the vadas into a bowl of lukewarm salted water and allow the vadas to be immersed completely. Allow them to soak them for 5 minutes and absorb the water. Now take the vadas out of bowl and squeeze out the extra water by squeezing it between the palms of your hand.

•Place 3-4 vadas on the serving plate. Pour 3- 4 tablespoons of thick whisked curd over the vadas. Drizzle some green chutney and tamarind chutney over the curd. Garnish with few coriander leaves, pomegranate seeds and potato salli.

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