AN OUT OF THE BOX DIWALI RECIPE

We all wait for our Diwali holidays don’t we? I guess it also seems to be the most widely celebrated festival in India. It is a festival of fun, frolic and fizz with family, friends and feast. And when it comes to Diwali Mithai, obviously all the spirit has to be there in abundance. Why not? And serving home cooked Mithai when people come over to wish you is a great idea. This can be a whole lot of fun and extremely easy with KitchenAid appliances! Here is an easy yet out of the box recipe for a Diwali Mithai Enjoy!           

RECIPE BY CHEF APOORVA KUNTE, STARWOOD HOTELS

DUO OF KARANJI

Ananas and coconut, chocolate and cashew nut

Cooking time: 5 mins                                     

Preparation time: 90 mins               

Serves: 8 people

INGREDIENTS:

For the dough:

Refined flour: 500 gms; Semolina: 125 gms; Ghee: 1 tbsp; Water: 200 ml; Salt: ¼ tsp

For the filling:

Ananas and Coconut

Fresh pineapple finely chopped: ½ cup; freshly grated coconut: 1/2 cup; Khoya: 100 gms; Cardamom powder of 2 pods; Fine grain Sugar: 1/4 cup

Chocolate and cashewnut:

Chocolate (dark):100 gms; Condensed milk: 100 gms; Cake crumbs: 40 gms; Cashewnut (roasted and broken):30 gms

For frying: Refined oil

For garnish: Gold/silver leaf, chocolate ganache

METHOD:

1. Take a KitchenAid stand mixer bowl; bring in together the Flour, salt, semolina. Put the bowl on KitchenAid mixer with the dough paddle/dough hook attachment.

2. Start the mixer @medium speed and add water slowly to form dough.

3.  In the mean while the dough is formed, heat the ghee and add into the dough mixture.

4. The dough should not be too soft, so use water in discreet quantities.

5.  Once the dough is formed, take it out of the KitchenAid mixer bowl, plastic wrap and rest for half an hour.

6. After resting, using the pasta roller attachment on the KitchenAid stand mixer, roll it out into a sheet, about 1 cm in thickness.

7.  Using a round cutter (8-10 cm Dia), cut through the sheet to get discs.

8.    Plastic wraps and keep aside in a cool place.

Method for the filling: Ananas and coconut

1.Warm a pan, add the chopped pineapple (I used a KitchenAid food chopper), khoya, coconut and sugar, sauté on a low flame, till the mixture caramelizes. Add the cardamom powder and mix well.

2.  Cool and portion into 20-30 Gms dumplings.

Method for the filling: Chocolate and cashew nut

1. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler.

2. In a bowl, mix the condensed milk, cake crumbs and nuts.Pour the melted chocolate and mix well.

3. Cool the mixture and it would set into fudge, portion in 20-30 Gms dumplings and keep.

Bringing it together

1.  Bring out the earlier cut discs, place the ananas mix/chocolate mix in the centre and fold over to form a crescent shape, dip your fingers in water and line the edges moving the fingers around, make the two edges meet and press to seal, alternately you can also use a fork dipped in flour to press, so as to forma a pattern and seal the edges at the same time.

2. Repeat the same to get 10- 15 karanji’s.

3. Heat oil to a moderate temperature and fry the karanji’s to a golden hue.

4. Drain on a kitchen towel.

5. Garnish with gold leaf, chocolate sauce and serve hot or at room temperature.