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Chandrakanti

The flour is split green gram as well as rice, and the shape is a choice the source does not make.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE FLOUR IS SPLIT GREEN GRAM AS WELL AS RICE, AND THE SHAPE IS A CHOICE THE SOURCE DOES NOT MAKE. Its article is 155 characters long and says exactly this much: a deep-fried dessert made from green gram, rice flour, sugar and ghee. That is a complete composition and a cooking method, so the dish is recoverable -- but whether it is a ball, a disc, a diamond or a slab is not in there anywhere. What follows is a disc, because a disc fries evenly at this ratio, and that is a decision taken here rather than something read.
  2. THE GREEN GRAM IS ROASTED BEFORE IT IS GROUND. Dry, in a heavy pan, until it smells nutty and has coloured a shade -- six or seven minutes. Raw ground moong tastes green and chalky.
  3. IT IS GROUND FINE AND SIEVED. Through the finest sieve you have, and whatever will not go through goes back in the grinder. Grit in a sweet of this kind is obvious.
  4. THE RICE FLOUR IS THE SMALLER PART. A hundred and fifty grams against two hundred of gram flour. Its article names the green gram first and that is the right order of importance: the gram carries the flavour and the rice holds the shape.
  5. THE SUGAR GOES IN AS A SYRUP AT SOFT-BALL. Boiled with the water to a hundred and sixteen degrees, then beaten into the flours with the two spoonfuls of ghee.
  6. THE DOUGH IS WORKED WHILE WARM AND SHAPED AT ONCE. It stiffens as it cools and cracks if shaped cold.
  7. THE DISCS ARE PRESSED, NOT ROLLED. About as thick as a pound coin. Rolling compacts a dough with this much sugar in it and the middle stays dense.
  8. THEY ARE FRIED IN GHEE AT A LOW HEAT. Its article names ghee among the four ingredients and it is both the fat and the flavour. A low heat, turned once, until an even mid-brown. Hot fat and the sugar burns before the centre sets.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes