Tomorrow is Bhogi Festival. Giving away the old things is customary in Bhogi, but we can never give up the old, traditional cooking, the authentic family recipes, which were prepared by all elders at home.
Bhogi is also the first festival, which heralds the Pongal Festival. At dawn, a bonfire is lit and all the discarded items are put in there (which ofcourse causes lot of pollution), and with Pongal, we all get ready to welcome new things in our lives.
Actually what every individual should do is, to burn off all hatred, enmity and bitter feelings towards others, and bring in more and more love and peace. Probably, this is what our elders actually meant, when they said, old things should be discarded.
This is a traditional, rich sweet / dessert, which, nowadays is not made in many households at all. The soft poli, just melts in your mouth, gets washed down by the rich, creamy milk , and is a real real delicacy. The creamy milk, made richer by the ground almonds, gives immense pleasure while eating this great dessert! Serve it chilled.....then you won't put a full stop to your eating!
Bhogi is also the first festival, which heralds the Pongal Festival. At dawn, a bonfire is lit and all the discarded items are put in there (which ofcourse causes lot of pollution), and with Pongal, we all get ready to welcome new things in our lives.
Actually what every individual should do is, to burn off all hatred, enmity and bitter feelings towards others, and bring in more and more love and peace. Probably, this is what our elders actually meant, when they said, old things should be discarded.
This is a traditional, rich sweet / dessert, which, nowadays is not made in many households at all. The soft poli, just melts in your mouth, gets washed down by the rich, creamy milk , and is a real real delicacy. The creamy milk, made richer by the ground almonds, gives immense pleasure while eating this great dessert! Serve it chilled.....then you won't put a full stop to your eating!
Ingredients
For the dough
Maida /Refined flour - 1/2 cup
Sooji / Semolina - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
For the milk
Milk - 4 cups
Saffron - few strands
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Almonds - 8-9, soaked in water for 2 hours
Enough oil to fry the polis
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian; Category: Dessert
Prep time: 10 mts; Cooking time: 30 mts for the milk to condense; 10 mts for frying the polis
Yields 7 polis
Saffron strands soaked in 2-3 tsps milk, and almonds soaked in hot water
Maida, sooji and ghee
Kneaded into a firm dough and allowed to rest for 2 hours.
Small balls made
Skin removed from the soaked almonds and ground to a fine paste adding 2 tsps milk
Milk set for boiling
Saffron and cardamom powder added, kept on low flames and allowed to simmer
Condensing nicely
In the meantime, roll out thin rounds......
fold them into half
and keep them aside.
Now ...back to the milk again.....add the ground almond paste, and let it simmer for 5 minutes
Add the measured sugar, allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes, and switch off.
Heat cooking oil in a pan, when it becomes hot, gently drop the half folded rounds one by one...
dip it nicely into oil
take out, and straight away, drop into the hot milk.
Immerse it into the milk nicely.
Wait for 2 minutes, then gently take it out...and
line them up separately on a plate. Don't pile them on top of each other. They tend to get stuck.
And pour the remaining milk on top. Allow to cool down, then shove the vessel into refrigerator, serve after 2 hours, when they are perfectly chilled!
This post first appeared in www.malpatskitchen.com
Notes
*My mom used to make Paal polis just with sooji, and mother-in-law used to make, just with maida. I have combined both. Adding little bit sooji gives a nice texture to the polis, otherwise, they tend to sag a lot while getting soaked in the milk.
*You can fry the polis the previous day and store in air tight container too.
*Before dropping them into the hot milk, microwave them for just 10 seconds, they become soft, and take in milk easily.
Who won,t lke this delicacy ,which is meant to slither down your throat after lapping up the essence of the softly folded crepe drenched in kesar laced frothy thickened RABDI? Wow! Just love it!
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