Pheni

Finer strands than seviyan, and sutar means thread.

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

Ingredients

• 300 g maida, plain white flour
• 4 tablespoons ghee, for the dough
• about 130 ml water
• 100 g rice flour, for dusting
• 150 g ghee, melted, for layering
• ghee for deep frying
• 250 g caster sugar
• 40 g almonds, slivered
• 30 g pistachios, slivered
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Method

1. FINER STRANDS THAN SEVIYAN, AND SUTAR MEANS THREAD. Its article makes the comparison itself -- ALTHOUGH SIMILAR TO SEVIYAN, PHENI USES FINER NOODLES -- and takes sutarfeni from two words, of which SUTAR means thread. So the whole aim is thinness: a pheni that can be told apart strand by strand has been rolled too thick.
2. AND IT IS EATEN AT A PARTICULAR MOMENT, WHICH THE ARTICLE GIVES. Pheni IS RITUALLY USED FOR THE KARVA CHAUTH FESTIVAL, where it is one of the dishes on the sargi thali and IS CONSUMED JUST BEFORE THE FAST ASSOCIATED WITH THE FESTIVAL BEGINS. A last meal before a day without food, which is why it is as rich as it is.
3. THE STRANDS ARE MADE BY LAYERING AND CUTTING, NOT BY EXTRUDING. A stiff dough rolled paper-thin, brushed with ghee, dusted with rice flour, stacked, rolled up and sliced across. The rice flour between the layers is what keeps them separate.
4. MAKE THE DOUGH STIFF AND REST IT AN HOUR. Ghee rubbed in, then as little water as it takes. It has to be rolled thinner than a pasta sheet.
5. ROLL FOUR SHEETS AND BUILD THEM UP. Each one brushed with melted ghee and dusted generously with rice flour before the next goes on. Skimp on either and the strands weld together in the oil.
6. ROLL THE STACK INTO A TIGHT CYLINDER AND SLICE IT ACROSS, AS THIN AS YOU CAN. A millimetre or two. Each slice is a coil of many threads.
7. OPEN EACH COIL GENTLY AND FRY IT FLAT. Medium ghee, a minute a side, until pale gold. They crisp as they cool.
8. DUST THEM WITH CASTER SUGAR AND NUTS RATHER THAN SYRUPING THEM. Cardamom through the sugar. Its article names khajla and sutarfeni as the near relatives, the latter from Rajasthan, and notes that both khajla and pheni are made for Ramadan in Pakistani cities.

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.

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