Pinni & Panjeeri: Punjab's Quintessential Winter Staples
A Punjabi winter favourite that is full of the goodness of desi ghee.
“Pinni and panjeeri have kept Punjabis, especially new mothers, warm and energetic for centuries,” Kiran Bainss, my 50-year-old mother tells me. For as far back as I can remember, on a cold day in November, Mumma would spend hours in the kitchen, hovering over the stove, whipping up a flurry of those quintessential Punjabi winter staples: pinni and panjeeri.
Every time this pair is mentioned, I’m taken back to my grandmother’s verandah. There, under the soft winter sun, I’d while away countless days of winter break relishing the rich, spicy and fragrant nourishment that is pinni and panjeeri. Papa, on the other hand, enjoyed snacking on a small bowl of panjeeri, or one or two pinnis in the evening, with his sugarless chai.
Panjeeri — a nutty, aromatic mix of semolina, wheat flour, dried fruits, herbal gums, spices and khand, or raw sugar, meticulously roasted in ghee — is a sweet winter classic in almost every Punjabi household. You might think of it as a desi granola, but it’s so much more. It is coarse, grainy and crumbly in texture; sweet and spicy in taste and aroma. One small bowl of panjeeri and the nutty, sharp fragrance of dried fruits and spices will warm your senses on the coldest day.
While the ingredients used in both panjeeri and pinni are more or less similar, they differ in texture and shape. Add a couple more spoons of warm ghee into your panjeeri mixture, and press them into shape — round, oval or even short little cylinders, and you make a pinni.
Preparing both are time-consuming, but not laborious. The longest step is roasting the ingredients until fragrant and golden. This can be quite satisfying if you do it right: waiting over the kadhai, roasting the dry ingredients, a sharp, nutty aroma wafting through your kitchen. Now, let it cool a little, and then pulse in a food processor or grinder, to a coarse, grainy consistency.
Punjabi farmers, who spent long hours working in the fields, tending to crops, need large amounts of energy and warmth to keep them going through the harsh winters of northern India. That’s where pinni and panjeeri come in, and became some of the most essential farming foods for agrarian Punjabi families.
Pinnis and panjeeri are not just delicious, but are also powerhouses of energy, helping to build physical strength and immunity, build bone health, aid recuperation after illness or surgery, and act as superb nutritional supplements for pregnant women and new mothers.
They are also a big part of celebrations in Punjab. From Diwali and Lohri, to the celebrations of a newborn, Punjabis bring both of these delicacies out not just as sweet dishes, but also as prasad. On many such occasions, I have failed to restrain myself from reaching for yet another serving, deaf to warnings of the dangers of excess, since they are high in heat and sugar. This is why while many use cozy blankets and fuzzy socks and woollen clothes to keep themselves warm in the chilly winter, Punjabis reach for pinni and panjeeri to pack in that extra layer of warmth.
Because both pinnis and panjeeri are a household staple in Punjabi kitchens, there are a million ways to prepare them, each rich and authentic in its own way. Some add copious amounts of ghee, while others are restrained. Some throw in heaps of nuts and dried fruits; others stick to their favourites. And that’s the wonderful thing about them — there isn’t an exact recipe to follow stringently. Every variation preserves its flavours and nourishing qualities.
Kiran Bainss’s recipe for Pinni and Panjeeri
Ingredients
250 g badam or almonds
250 g suji or semolina
100 g kishmish or raisins
100 g moong dal (sabut)
50 g sonth powder or dry ginger powder
50 g pista or pistachios
50 g kaju or cashews
50 g shuhare or dates
50 g charmagaz or melon seeds
2-3 tbsp alsi or flax seeds
50 g goondh or herbal gum
50 g phool makhane or lotus seeds
One dry coconut, dessicated
500 g khand or sugar/jaggery
Ghee, as needed
Method
In a large kadhai, add a large dollop of ghee, followed by the almonds.
Let them roast till they turn golden and aromatic. This should happen in about 3-4 minutes.
Next, remove the almonds to set aside and cool; use a slotted spoon for this so you don’t remove any melted ghee from the kadhai.
Replenish ghee in the kadhai as and when needed.
Add the pistachios and cashews and roast until they’re lightly golden and aromatic.
Fetch them out of the kadhai and set aside along with the roasted almonds to let them cool.
Add goondh i.e. the herbal gum crystals in the warm ghee and roast. Keep stirring to avoid the gum sticking to the kadhai. The gum will swell up to almost twice its original size and get crisp. Once this happens, set it aside to cool.
Clean the kadhai with a clean cloth if needed; by now your kitchen will be filled with nutty and aromatic notes.
Next, roast raisins in the ghee and take them out once they begin to change colour.
Then, add lotus seeds to the kadhai and let them roast in the ghee for about 6-7 minutes. If they’re just starting to turn golden and crispy, quickly add melon seeds and flax seeds and give them a nice roast too.
Get them all out together and roast the desiccated dry coconut along with the dates. Make sure to remove the seeds from the dates before this step. Take them both out in a minute or two.
Wash the moong dal well and dry with a clean towel.
On a medium flame, dry roast the moong dal for about 2-3 minutes. Set aside, let it cool and then grind it to a grainy consistency.
Add a dollop of ghee to the kadhai and slowly add the powdered moong dal in it, letting it roast until it’s aromatic and changing colour. To this add the dry ginger powder and wait till it turns fragrant. Set aside to cool.
Lastly, replenish the ghee and add semolina to it. Continue to stir and toss the semolina to ensure it roasts evenly. Once it starts to turn colour and looks well-roasted, remove it from the kadhai and set aside to cool.
Once all the roasted ingredients have cooled, add them batch by batch in a food processor or grinder and pulse to a coarse, crunchy, grainy consistency.
In a large bowl, mix it all together and add khand or sugar. You can also garnish your panjeeri with chopped dried fruits and lightly roasted white sesame seeds.
To turn these into pinni, add enough ghee for it hold its shape when pressed in your fist. This is best done when the mixture is still hot. Shape them into any shape you like. Press an almond on top of the pinni as a garnish, if you’d like.
Tips
The key to a great panjeeri (and by extension pinni) is roasting the ingredients well. The ingredients should have enough ghee to turn them aromatic and nutty and also ensure that there is no residual rawness left in them.
It’s very tempting to throw in all the ingredients in one giant kadhai and roast them all in one go to save up on time. However, this way your ingredients won’t get an even roast since different ingredients roast in their own time — some may be under-roasted while others might burn and get bitter.
When pulsing all the roasted ingredients, keep checking the mixture to ensure it doesn’t turn into a fine powder. Also, if you pulse it too long, it’ll turn into a giant heap of nut butter. Pulsing it in short bursts is a good way to go.
Store them in a dry container at room temperature for over a month or two. Make sure to not touch or leave a wet spoon in them or they’re not going to last as long.
Aditi Bainss is a writer and editor currently in Bengaluru, India. When not writing about food, culture, and travel she tirelessly talks about books on @StoriesIveLoved
Banner image credit: Indian Ambrosia
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