Does Anupam Kher’s Heavenly Dessert Have Foreign Connections? 

The veteran actor who has given tremendous performances in Bollywood and managed to fulfill the Hollywood dream too, Anupam Kher is having a gala time taking an auto ride in Mumbai. The former chairman of Film And Television Institute Of India (FTII) has done over 500 films in his career till date, giving us great performances. He featured in the recent film, The Kashmir Files and it was a film very close to his heart because he’s of Kashmiri Pandit origin. Apart from being such a great actor, the 67-year old is also a bonafide foodie. For him, being served his Kashmiri delicacies at the table gets him excited. We remember how happy he seemed when he went for a family get together at his brother’s place some time back. He gorged on all the regional food and enjoyed it to the core. 

Similarly, the actor was also spotted having breakfast at a South Indian restaurant two days back. He was with a friend and showed us all that was there on his breakfast table. From idlis to masala dosas, the South Indian breakfast treats were accompanied by sambhar and coconut chutney. After this delicious breakfast spread, we saw him having a box of Indian sweets. He took to his Instagram stories to share a box of an Indian mithai and captioned it as, “Patisa”. There were plenty of small yellow squares inside the box and each one was topped with two almonds. It looked absolutely delicious. 

For those untouched by the phenomenon, patisa is a North Indian flaky, cube-shaped dessert. Some people often confuse Patisa with another Indian sweet called Soan papdi. However, there are slight differences between the two. While patisa is a thicker and denser piece of fudge or barfi, soan papdi is flakier. The texture of these two flaky confections should not be confused with one another. Besan is used for making thick and sweet chunks of patisa. The interesting bit is that the idea of fudge that is flaky and sweet isn’t Indian alone. 

The patisa has many counter parts within and outside India. Take the Mysore Pak as a case in point. Simply understood as a besan barfi, the southern version of this dessert require more roasting of the flour and a rich colour and robust flavour. Then there’s Soan Papdi, the identical cousin of Patisa. What makes it different is the light colour of the sweet dish. There’s also a Rajasthani sweet that is similar to this, called Feni which is more inclined towards vermicelli. 

 Moreover, you’d be amazed to know that Patisa also has foreign roots. It is linked to the Turkish sweet meat, Pismaniye. Here, the flour and butter are roasted together along with pistachios and the sweet has multiple thin layers which are when touch tongue, melt into the mouth. The Soan Papdi has a closer connection to the Turkish Pismaniye where the garnish of pistachios for a nutty flavour is replaced by melon seeds.