Meethe Tukde: The Simplest Avatar of Bread Pudding
Taiyaba Ali shares her family recipe for a Lucknowi-Muslim household favourite.
Meethe Tukde literally translates to ‘sweet pieces,’ which quite perfectly describes this dish. A part of my mother’s repertoire of leftover food innovations, this dessert is made of stale chapati/roti, along with five other kitchen staples, common to most Indian households. The recipe has been in my family for four generations now.
My earliest memory of eating meethe tukde goes back to junior school. Whenever we asked for an after-school snack, my Nani would have this ready for us in minutes. I would be her sous chef, carefully cut the roti into strips. Nani is no longer with us, but my mother recreates her dish, sometimes using the very same pair of scissors her mother did.
What bread pudding is to the English, and Umm Ali to the Egyptians, meethe tukde is to many Muslim households in Lucknow and its neighbouring areas. A poor man’s pudding, the dish became an all-season favourite because of its pantry-staple ingredients, and its short cooking time. Traditionally, the dish is eaten for breakfast, but a variant, where milk is replaced with water, is also eaten as dessert any time of day.
Years later, while I derive comfort from its warm sweetness, my mother finds comfort in cooking it. She gets to use up leftover rotis; nothing goes to waste, and everyone is happy.
Recipe: My Family’s Meethe Tukde
Ingredients
3 stale rotis
2 green cardamom pods (only the seeds, crushed)
3 cloves
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp ghee
4-6 tsp sugar (according to taste)
Method
Heat ghee in a pressure cooker.
Add cloves and cardamom skins and stir.
Add the roti and continue stirring till they crisp and almost become reddish brown.
Add sugar and mix well.
Add milk and sprinkle the cardamom powder. Mix well.
Close the lid and cook on a high flame for one whistle.
Simmer and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
Remove the lid and mix well.
Serve warm.
Taiyaba Ali works with a leading newspaper, and spends all her free time reading and experimenting with food.
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