Malpua

The batter stands for hours and is spooned into the fat as a pancake with crisp edges.

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

Ingredients

• 200 g maida, plain flour
• 60 g fine semolina
• 300 ml milk
• 100 g yoghurt
• 4 cardamom pods, seeds ground
• 300 g sugar
• 200 ml water, for the syrup
• ghee for deep frying

Method

1. THE BATTER STANDS FOR HOURS AND IS SPOONED INTO THE FAT AS A PANCAKE WITH CRISP EDGES. Its article describes the northern form exactly: maida, semolina, milk and yoghurt in some combination, the batter LEFT TO STAND FOR A FEW HOURS, then spooned into a kadhai of hot oil to form a BUBBLING PANCAKE WHICH SHOULD BE CRISP AROUND THE EDGES, and the pancakes immersed in a thick sugar syrup. The standing is what gives the edges their lace -- the semolina swells and the yoghurt loosens the batter, so it spreads thin at the rim and stays thick in the middle.
2. IT IS A DEEP-FRIED PANCAKE, WHICH IS A CONTRADICTION THAT MATTERS. Spooned onto a griddle it is a pancake and nothing more. Spooned into two centimetres of hot ghee it spreads and frills at the edge while the centre stays soft, and that difference is the dish.
3. THE BATTER IS LOOSE, LIKE A THIN PANCAKE BATTER. It should fall from the spoon in a sheet. It thickens as it stands, so judge it after the resting and not before.
4. THE SEMOLINA IS FINE AND IT IS NOT OPTIONAL. Coarse semolina stays gritty however long it stands.
5. THE SUGAR IS IN THE SYRUP, NOT THE BATTER -- EXCEPT IN ONE VERSION. Its article notes the Bihari version adds sugar to the batter before frying, which browns much faster and gives a darker, chewier malpua.
6. THE SYRUP IS THICK, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SAYS. Boiled to a two-thread consistency. This is the one sweet here that wants a heavy syrup, because the pancake is soft enough to take it.
7. THEY GO IN HOT AND COME OUT BEFORE THEY SLUMP. A minute under the syrup, no more, then onto a plate.
8. THE FRUIT VERSIONS ARE A DIFFERENT BATTER AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS SO. Crushed ripe banana, or pineapple or mango, worked into the flour in place of some of the milk. The Bengali and Odia form is made with thickened milk and only a little flour, sometimes rice flour, which gives something much richer and closer to a fritter of reduced milk.
9. IT IS A BREAKFAST AS WELL AS A PUDDING. Its article has it served with morning tea, as an afternoon snack and as a dessert, and alongside mutton curry in some households at Holi.

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