Sweet Pumpkin Pooris are the Ultimate Rainy Day Snack
Soumitra Velkar shares the recipe for these delicately sweetened pooris, the perfect snack for rainy afternoons.
These sweet pumpkin pooris are something I deeply enjoy on a rainy day with a hot cup of ginger tea. Although this recipe has more traditional origins: My wife’s family, from the Namdeo Shimpi (tailors) community, cooks bhoplyache gharge as part of a meal that marks the 13th day after the passing of a loved one, as well as during ‘shraddh,' a time to remember and pay obeisance to the ancestors.
However, despite the poor laal bhopla holding such morbid connotations, these pooris are a family favourite. Mildly sweet and fluffy, they deflate with a puff of hot air when you tear into one.
RECIPE FOR BHOPLYACHE GHARGE
Ingredients
2 cups kaneek (wheat flour or atta)
1 tbsp rice flour
¾ cup jaggery
1 cup grated pumpkin
2-3 tsp ghee
¼ tsp cardamom powder
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
Salt, a pinch
Oil for deep frying
Method
In a pan, heat a teaspoon of ghee, add pumpkin and salt and allow to steam until slightly soft
Add jaggery. Melt completely over a slow flame. There must be no caramelising or candying of the sugars.
Add the nutmeg and cardamom powders and bring the mix to room temperature.
Add in the flours and knead to a stiff dough. Add a tsp of ghee at the end of kneading and allow to rest for 45 to 60 minutes.
(Usually, you will not need any excess water. The flour and water measures are indicative - to be adjusted individually).
Divide the dough into small balls (approx 20) and roll over oil into thin discs [Important note: Do not use dry flour to roll out)
Deep fry in hot oil until puffy and cooked through.
These stay good without refrigeration for a day or two (but in my experience, never last that long, because they are eaten immediately!)
The same dough can also be patted into thick discs and roasted for a thalipeeth like flatbread, although this is not my favourite method.
Soumitra Velkar is a partner at The Hungry Cat Kitchen which caters a wide array of delicious goodies in addition to Maharashtrian and Regional Indian cuisines.
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