• 2 cups Khoya (available in Indian Stores)
• 3/4 cups Paneer (Indian cottage cheese)
• 2-3 tbsp plain flour
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• milk to bind, approx 1-2 tbsp
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 cups water
• pinch of saffron
• few drops of rose essence ( optional)

Grate the Khoya and Paneer and mix well.

Add the flour,cardamom powder and mash them all together till everything gets combined well. For the store bought varities, a potato masher would be a great idea(!!). If dry, add few drop of milk to bind them together.

Meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup. Combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Simmer till the syrup reaches a single thread consistency.Add the saffron and the essence and store well.

(Dip the spoon in the syrup, take it out carefully (it would be HOT), touch it with the tip of your forefinger to pick a drop of syrup. Touch your forefinger with your thumb and pull apart slowly, to see how many threads are stretched between your finger and thumb. When you get a single thread, switch off the heat)

Now make small balls, about the size of ping pong balls making sure the surface is smooth. You can shape it into an oblong or just a round.

Heat Ghee -for deep frying – ( it tastes much better than just vegetable oil and this is the authentic preparation), drop a pinch of dough in it, and if it comes up immediately, then lower the heat to a minimum and drop the balls in the ghee.

The trick is to keep the heat minimum and cook the balls for a long time till it gets dark. If on high heat, the outer layer gets cooked faster but the insides remain uncooked.

Drop them in the syrup immediately. Usually when the temp is v low, the syrup starts becoming a solid mass soon, so keep it inside a preheated Oven to keep it in a liquid state.

by Pak101.com (few years ago!) / 1205 views