Panjiri

It stays dry and loose, and the spices are cumin, coriander, dry ginger and fennel rather than cardamom.

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

Ingredients

• 250 g whole wheat flour
• 180 g ghee
• 200 g powdered jaggery, or powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, ground
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, ground
• 1 teaspoon dry ginger powder, saunth
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, lightly crushed
• 60 g almonds, chopped
• 40 g cashew nuts, chopped
• 40 g raisins
• 30 g melon seeds

Method

1. IT STAYS DRY AND LOOSE, AND THE SPICES ARE CUMIN, CORIANDER, DRY GINGER AND FENNEL RATHER THAN CARDAMOM. Its article gives both the method and that unusual spice list in one line: prepared by ROASTING WHEAT FLOUR IN GHEE and adding dry fruits AND SPICES LIKE JEERA, DHANIYA, SAUNTH AND SAUNF. Cumin, coriander, dry ginger and fennel are savoury spices, and no other sweet in this group uses any of them -- they all reach for cardamom. And nothing here is set, rolled or cut: it is a dry loose mixture eaten by the spoonful.
2. THE NAME COUNTS THE SPICES, WHICH ITS ARTICLE EXPLAINS. Panjiri is derived from the Sanskrit panchajiraka, from panch for five and jiraka for cumin or herbal ingredients -- and it quotes a Marathi dictionary giving the five as ginger, coriander, ajwain, pepper or coconut, and sugar. So the five are the point and the exact five vary.
3. IT GREW OUT OF A MEDICINE AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS SO. The sweet EVOLVED FROM an Ayurvedic preparation called panchajiraka, which is why the spicing reads as it does.
4. THE FLOUR IS ROASTED UNTIL DEEP AND NUTTY. Fifteen minutes in the ghee over a low heat, as with the other wheat sweets here.
5. THE SPICES GO IN AFTER THE FLOUR IS OFF THE HEAT. Ground cumin and coriander scorch in a second in hot fat, and dry ginger turns harsh.
6. THE SWEETENER IS POWDERED AND STIRRED IN COLD. Jaggery or sugar, powdered, into the cooled mixture. Melted in warm it would bind the whole thing into a mass, which is the opposite of what this is.
7. IT IS LEFT COARSE AND CRUMBLY. No pressing, no levelling, no rolling.
8. THE SEEDS AND NUTS ARE PART OF THE BULK. A hundred and seventy grams of them against two hundred and fifty of flour -- enough that every spoonful has several.
9. IT KEEPS IN A JAR FOR WEEKS AND IS EATEN A SPOONFUL AT A TIME. Its article records it as made for Krishna Janmashtami and distributed on birthdays.

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