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Soan papdi

A pulled sugar dough whose name means golden flaky layer.

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

Ingredients

Method

  1. A PULLED SUGAR DOUGH WHOSE NAME MEANS GOLDEN FLAKY LAYER. Its article gives the name's meaning and the company it keeps, and both point the same way: soan papdi's NAME MEANS 'GOLDEN FLAKY LAYER', and it BEARS SOME RESEMBLANCE TO DRAGON'S BEARD CANDY IN CHINA, KKUL-TARAE IN KOREA, AND PERSIAN PASHMAKI, WHICH GAVE RISE TO THE TURKISH PISMANIYE. Every one of those is made by pulling and folding sugar until it is thread.
  2. THE ARTICLE GIVES THE INGREDIENTS AND NOT THE TECHNIQUE, SO THE PULLING BELOW IS A CHOICE. Its list is SUGAR, GRAM FLOUR, FLOUR, GHEE, ALMOND, MILK, AND CARDAMOM, and its description of the result is CRISP AND FLAKY, USUALLY CUBE-SHAPED OR SERVED AS FLAKES. How the flakes are got there is not stated anywhere in it.
  3. MAKE THE FLOUR PASTE FIRST AND KEEP IT WARM. Both flours cooked in the ghee over a low heat for ten minutes to a loose, smooth paste. This is what the sugar will be folded into, and it must not set.
  4. BOIL THE SUGAR, WATER AND MILK TO THE HARD-BALL STAGE. About 125C, or until a drop in cold water forms a ball you can only just dent. Too soft and it will not pull; too hard and it snaps instead of stretching.
  5. POUR IT ONTO A GREASED SLAB AND WORK IT WITH TWO SPATULAS UNTIL IT TURNS PALE AND SATINY. Two or three minutes. It goes from clear amber to opaque gold, which is the golden in the name.
  6. NOW THE PULLING, AND IT IS THE WHOLE JOB. Form a ring, stretch it to arm's length, fold it in half, twist, and stretch again. Dip the ring in the warm flour paste every second or third pull so the strands are separated by fat and do not fuse. Eight or nine folds gives hundreds of threads.
  7. WORK FAST AND WARM. The sugar is workable for about four minutes. If it stiffens, thirty seconds in a low oven brings it back once; twice and it crystallises.
  8. PRESS THE SKEIN INTO A TRAY, SCATTER ALMONDS AND CARDAMOM, AND CUT IT INTO CUBES. Press lightly -- hard pressing collapses the layers you have just made. Its article notes it was SOLD LOOSE IN ROLLED PAPER CONES before industrial production made the tight cubes we buy now.

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